Consistency-based compliance: when and why do children become vulnerable?

This study examines the nature and development of behavioral consistency pressures in children. Specifically, we examined the effectiveness of the foot-in-the-door procedure in producing consistent prosocial behavior and self-attributions in kindergartners and second and fifth graders. Children were either induced to comply with a request to share prize coupons or were not given this initial prosocial experience. Those who complied either were labeled as helpful by an adult or were not. Later, children were given the opportunity to help under public or private circumstances. Moreover. children's understanding of trait stability, their internal preference for consistent behavior, and their belief that adults prefer behavioral consistency were assessed. Consistent responding began to occur within the foot-in-the-door procedure in the second grade, and this developmental shift was paralleled by a shift in children's understanding of trait stability. Furthermore, once the foot-in-the-door effect appeared among the second and fifth graders, its strength was significantly affected by the children's internal preference for consistency.     

Speaker bias in children's evaluation of the external consistency of statements

The hypothesis of this study is that an assumption of speaker credibility affects children's judgments of the external consistency of statements. In two experiments, first and third grade children (6 and 8 years of age, respectively) and college adults were read short paragraphs containing contradictory information from a contextual source and a speaker. The contextual source was described as either authoritative or nonauthoritative and discredited. The speaker was either an adult or child. Thus the contextual source was either more or less reliable than the speaker. Subjects were asked to affirm or contradict the speaker's statement, and to choose either the source or the speaker as most believable. The results showed that adult responses varied with the contextual source alone, while the responses of the first graders varied primarily with the speaker's age. The responses of the third graders varied with both factors. The results suggest young children can assess the external consistency of statements but frequently do not because of their assumptions about speakers and other performance factors.     

Body esteem, eating attitudes, and gender-role orientation in three age groups of children

The purpose of this study was to assess body esteem, eating attitudes, and gender-role orientation in three age groups (first, third, and fifth graders). The first graders were interviewed individually; the third and fifth graders completed a questionnaire in a group setting in which the questions were read aloud to set a pace and help those who may have had difficulty reading. All children completed the Children’s Sex Stereotypes Measure, the children’s version of the Eating Attitudes Test, and the Body Esteem Scale. It was hypothesized that children as young as six or seven do understand the connection between eating and body weight, that a proportion of children do experience eating and weight concerns, and that feminine children are most likely to experience such concerns. The results demonstrated that children, as early as first grade, were indeed engaging in eating disordered behaviors and expressing dieting and weight concerns. The children appeared to understand the connection between eating and weight, and body esteem was found to be significantly lower in the fifth than the third graders. However, feminine children were not more likely to exhibit eating disordered behaviors. An earlier version of this article was presented at the 1993 meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association in Arlington, VA.     

The N400 and the fourth grade shift

While behavioral and educational data characterize a fourth grade shift in reading development, neuroscience evidence is relatively lacking. We used the N400 component of the event‐related potential waveform to investigate the development of single word processing across the upper elementary years, in comparison to adult readers. We presented third graders, fourth graders, fifth graders, and college students with a well‐controlled list of real words, pseudowords, letter strings, false font strings, and animal name targets. Words and pseudowords elicited similar N400s across groups. False font strings elicited N400s similar to words and letter strings in the three groups of children, but not in college students. The pattern of findings suggests relatively adult‐like semantic and phonological processing by third grade, but a long developmental time course, beyond fifth grade, for orthographic processing in this context. Thus, the amplitude of the N400 elicited by various word‐like stimuli does not reflect some sort of shift or discontinuity in word processing around the fourth grade. However, the results do suggest different developmental time courses for the processes that contribute to automatic single word reading and the integrative N400.     

3～6年级儿童整数数量表征与分数数量表征的关系

研究主要探讨了整数数量表征和分数数量表征的关系以及年级对两者关系的影响。实验对155名三至六年级儿童进行0~1分数数字线估计任务和0~1000整数数字线估计任务的测量。结果发现:(1)对于整数数字线估计,所有年级儿童均主要采取了线性表征;(2)对于分数数字线估计,五六年级儿童主要采取了线性表征,三四年级儿童没有明显的线性表征或对数表征的倾向;(3)整数数量表征和分数数量表征呈显著正相关,不过年级对两者的关系产生了影响,表现在只有五六年级儿童的整数数字线估计对分数数字线估计有显著预测作用。     

A sequential analysis of private and social speech in children's dyadic communication

The purpose of this study was to perform a sequential analysis of private and social speech in children's dyadic communication. To investigate the communication patterns, a category system was applied to the communication of 64 paired third (M = 8 years and 8 months) and fifth (M = 10 years and 8 months) graders, while playing with a Lego-set (construction material). The results revealed that: (a) at both grades, when one child addresses the other child about the task, it is highly probable that the latter will address the first child immediately afterwards and will adapt to task-related semantic content; (b) at both grades, children's private speech about the task stops them from communicating a task-related production to their partner immediately afterwards; (c) at third grade, task-relevant private speech favors the prolongation of the break in interpersonal communication and the use of inner speech by both children; and (d) at fifth grade, children are more able to distinguish private speech from social speech than at third grade.     

Development of Map Construction Skills in Childhood

Two studies examined children's map construction skills when drawing demands were removed from the task and scenes were highly simplified. Study 1 compared the performance of first graders and third graders on their ability to preserve configuration during transformation of pictured arrays from eye-level to aerial views. For children with difficulties, Study 2 exposed groups to enhanced vantage points, either pictured from an elevated view or displayed with actual blocks, to investigate effects of support on performance. Results on eye-level to aerial transformations showed that children's ability to map spatial relations developed significantly between the first and third grades, basic configuration skills were gender-neutral, and specificity of details was better for boys by third grade. Enhanced vantage points significantly improved configuration accuracy for both grades (favoring first graders) and both genders (favoring girls). Enhancements eliminated depth errors that were common in arrays with occlusions. In sum, improvement in map construction skills between first grade and third grade demonstrated increased understanding of alternative spatial perspectives, and enhanced vantage points promoted use of projective spatial concepts that were already active in younger children.     

儿童数字估计的表征模式与发展

探讨中国儿童数字估计的表征模式与发展趋势。包括两个实验,均采用数字线估计任务,实验一以92名幼儿园、一年级及二年级儿童为被试,考察其在0~100范围的数字估计,结果显示,幼儿园儿童在数字估计更多地采用对数表征,而一二年级的儿童在数字估计中更多地采用线性表征;实验二以86名一、三、五年级儿童为被试,考察其在0~1000范围的数字估计,结果显示,一年级儿童有一半采用对数表征,另一半采用线性表征,而三五年级儿童大多采用线性表征。中国儿童的数字估计表现出与美国儿童相同的发展模式,都是由不精确的对数表征逐步向精确的线性表征发展;人的数表征有多种形式,即使在同一年龄阶段,也会因任务难度的不同而选择不同的表征模式。中国儿童精确数字估计能力的出现要早于美国儿童。     

Attributions of Deviance to Self and Peers by Japanese and U.S. Students

Abstract

The author examined self-enhancement bias among 5th and 11th graders in the United States and Japan. After listening to stories describing aggressive, depressive, oppositional, and school-phobic behaviors of hypothetical peers, the participants rated the likelihood that they themselves and other students their age would act like the story protagonists. The U.S. students generally showed no greater self-enhancement tendencies than did the Japanese students; in addition, the relationships between positive and negative self-concepts and ratings of self-similarity to deviant exemplars were similar in both samples. In the depressed and oppositional stories, the 11th graders rated themselves less like the deviant characters and more different from their peers than did the 5th graders.     

Occupational sex-role liberality of third-, fifth-, and seventh-grade females

A multimethod approach was used to assess the liberality of attitudes of third-, fifth-, and seventh-grade females toward sex-role division in adult occupations and activities. Significant differences on responses to an occupational attitude survey were found between grades. Attitudes became more liberal with grade level for some of the survey items, while others remained stable across grades, with grade 7 females being the most liberal. Evidence was found that choosing one's own occupation may not be directly related to responses to a general attitude questionnaire. Career choices of seventh-grade females showed a wider range of possibilities compared to the third and fifth graders.The author would like to thank the parents, children, and staff of Parkwood Elementary and Ankeney Junior High Schools for their help and cooperation in this study; also, Lawrence A. Kurdek, Wright State University, for his advice, encouragement and assistance. Author's address: 7446 Stonecrop Court, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80919.     

小学3-6年级学生解决比较问题的研究

本研究对465名小学3—6年级学生解决不同类型的比较问题进行了研究。结果表明：(1)小学生解决比较问题的成绩受问题类型及年级的交互影响。儿童在一致算术问题上的成绩都很好,且显著优于不一致算术问题。在不一致算术问题、一致代数问题及不一致代数问题上,存在年级差异。5、6年级学生优于4年级学生。(2)小学生在算术问题上的通过率高于代数问题,5、6年级学生的通过率高于3、4年级。除一致算术问题外,其它类型比较问题的通过率较低。(3)小学生解决比较问题的成绩无性别差异。     

On the origins of age‐of‐acquisition effects in the perception of printed words

Children from different grades were tested in a lexical decision task. Word‐stimuli consisted of words acquired in their respective grades, and in grades previous to their own. The results showed that the proportion of errors for newly acquired words increased steadily with grade (i.e. first graders made fewer errors with words of grade one than fifth graders with words of grade five). However, the proportion of errors for words acquired in a given grade remained constant throughout the following grades (fifth graders made as many errors with words acquired in grade one as first graders did). These results indicate that the strong impact that age‐ or order‐of‐acquisition of words has on the way words will be recognized is in place at a very young age.     

SITUATIONS SOCIALES À POTENTIEL CONFLICTUEL ET CARACTÉRISTIQUES SOCIO-COGNITIVES D'ENFANTS AGRESSIFS ET REJETÉS*

Twenty aggressive and rejected children (boys and girls), twenty socially competent and popular children, and twenty children having average social skills - all of which were first and second graders attending regular school - participated in this study. All were presented on videotape with nine typical peer-conflict situations. Each child was asked about the way that he/she felt, and the way that he/she would resolve each problem situation. In addition, each child had to specify what he/she thought to be the offender's intentions in each problem situation. Several points differentiated first grade from second grade subjects. However, aggressive, socially skilled and average subjects distinguished themselves on only a few items. Differences relating to subject's sex were also scarce. Data support the view that aggressive children know as well as other children how to appropriately resolve interpersonal conflict situations. However, they do not use this knowledge because of impulsivity control problems, an inability to correctly identify others' intentions or a lack of motivation.     

Developmental changes in memorial comparisons: the effects of stimulus presentation mode.

First graders, fifth graders, and college students made comparative size judgments of either pictures (line drawings) or names (spoken words) of common objects by designating the "bigger" item in real life. Care was taken to equate the picture and word conditions on a number of critical parameters including method of item-pair presentation and activation of response-time intervals. All groups exhibited a symbolic distance effect. While judgments were faster with pictures than words, the magnitude of the difference did not change with age. Previous research suggesting a marked developmental decline in the magnitude of the "pictorial superiority effect" may have confounded reduced memory demands with stimulus presentation mode for young children. Finally, slopes of the symbolic distance functions were found to decrease with increasing grade level, at least from first to fifth grade. This is the first demonstration of an age-related decline in slopes for magnitude comparisons of concrete objects.     

Developing normal reading skills: aspects of the visual processes underlying word recognition

Visual word recognition performance of first graders (mean age: 6.6 years) through fifth graders (mean age: 10.8 years) was investigated using an experimental technique that is known to elicit the "viewing position effect" in skilled readers. The results showed that this effect, which consists of a systematic variation of performance as a function of fixation position within words, emerged early at the end of the 1st year of reading instruction. Visual field asymmetries in recognizing individual letters in words were also observed starting from first grade. Effects of word familiarity were obtained as early as in second grade. In contrast to skilled readers, children showed a marked word-length effect, which persisted through the first 5 years of instruction. No other qualitative differences between beginning and skilled readers were apparent. Hence, the basics of reading skills, as measured by the present technique, seem to be attained very early during acquisition. Further experience mainly reduces the time a reader needs to extract visual information from print.     

Degree of Disturbance in Figure Drawings as Related to Mode of Approach to Problem Solving

Spontaneous and induced hierarchical organization was investigated with 72 first, third, and fifth graders (12 females and 12 males at each grade level). Stimuli consisted of an initial set of 20 unrelated pictures and a second set of 20 pictures which could be classified according to four super ordinate categories. Ss were randomly assigned to either the spontaneous or induced condition for the second set. Both recall scores and clustering indexes indicated that induced organization facilitates recall(p < .01 and p < .05, respectively). The effect of the induced presentation condition was most pronounced for third and fifth graders (p < .05). The clustering analysis indicated sex differences in the induced presentation condition (p < .05); with increasing age, girls exhibited a greater improvement than boys in induced organizational ability.     

Aggressive rejected children: Implications for school psychologists

By a sociometric rating procedure, 32 third-grade and 32 firth-grade boys were classified as peer-rejected. Standardized teacher ratings were completed for all rejected children in order to identify those children who also exhibited clinically significant levels of aggression. A significant portion of the rejected sample at each grade were rated as highly aggressive (t score≥65). Among third graders, however, 69% of the rejected group were classified as aggressive, but only 41% of the fifth graders were similarly classified. The aggressive rejected groups at both grade levels were also rated as exhibiting lower achievement motivation and higher levels of hostile withdrawal than their nonaggressive rejected counterparts. At the fifth-grade level, nonaggressive rejected children were rated as more anxious than aggressive children. Implications for both the identification and treatment of these children are discussed.     

Developmental differences in children's labeling of movement

Children's encoding of information, specifically, the correct use and application of labels, is one factor frequently used to account for developmental differences in verbal learning. Labels may also be used in connection with remembering positional movements. The purpose of this study was to evaluate developmental differences in the effects of labels upon remembering movements. In addition, the study evaluated whether better or poorer labeling strategies would increase or decrease performance in the age groups studied. Subjects consisted of kindergarten children (N=27), fifth grade children (N=27), and adults (N=27) randomly assigned within each age level to one of three groups: subjective label, irrelevant label, and relevant label. Subjects were tested on a two-dimensional positioning task allowing estimates of radial, location, and distance errors. Results indicated that relevant labels (clock face) improved performance for remembering positions within all age conditions. Of major interest was the finding that relevant labels increased performance of the kindergarten children to the approximate level of the irrelevant label (animals) group for fifth graders. The same finding was evident for the fifth graders with the relevant label group approximating performance of adults forced to use a less sophisticated strategy (irrelevant label, i.e., animals). This finding suggests that a significant portion of the differences between younger and older children and adult performance is due to the processing deficit of poor encoding strategies used by children.     

Child age, parent and child gender, and domain differences in parents’ attributions and responses to children’s outcomes

The influence of children’s age, and parents’ and children’s gender on parents’ attributions and emotional and behavioral responses to their children’s successful and unsuccessful social and academic outcomes, was investigated. Seventy-six dual-parent families (mothers and fathers) of fifth (n=28), eighth (n=23), and eleventh grade (n=25) children participated. The results of this study suggest that from fifth grade on, at least, the ways parents explain the causes of and respond to their children’s social behavior and academic outcomes involves a complex interaction of children’s age, children’s gender, parents’ gender, domain, and outcome. Results are discussed in terms of children’s socialization. This paper is based in part on a master’s thesis at Clark University by the first author. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Providence, RI, April 1994. The authors would like to thank the parents, teachers, and school administrators of Holden and Auburn, Massachusetts, who participated in this project. We would also like to thank Kristen Rotis and Leslie Edwards for their tireless help in revising and preparing the questionnaires, and for entering data for this project.     

Assessment and selection of paired associate strategies: A developmental study

First, third, and fifth graders who had been instructed to use an interaction strategy and a repetition strategy on two separate paired associate tasks were asked on which task they had remembered better and why. Subjects were then given another paired associate task and told they could use any way they wanted to remember. Memory performance was better when the interaction strategy was used than when the repetition strategy was used. A significant majority of third and fifth graders correctly judged which task they had performed better on, and the number of subjects doing so increased with grade. Only among fifth graders, did the majority of subjects explain their judgments by referring to the use of the interaction strategy. Use of the interaction strategy on Task 3 did not increase with grade but was shown by a significant majority of first and fifth graders. Use of the interaction strategy on Task 3 was more frequent among subjects who referred to the use of the interaction strategy in explaining their choice of their more successful task than among those who did not.