Children's comprehension of visual formal features in television programs

A review of previous studies on children's comprehension of visual formal features did not warrant predictions about children's understanding of the formal features as used in three items from Sesamstraat, the Dutch version of Sesame Street. Therefore, a study was designed in which 45 children in the age range of 4–6 years watched the items and were interviewed. In the first item, a split screen was used to visualize simultaneity of actions. The second item used a subjective camera to suggest the construction of a home video by one of the characters. Version 1 of this item did not show the character while making home video, whereas Version 2 did show the character while filming. The third item contained a dissolve (Version 1) or a cut (Version 2) to indicate the end of a dream. A general conclusion was that although older children (mean AGE=5.9 years) understood the visual formal features better than younger children (mean AGE=4.4 years), the extent to which children in both age groups understood the visual formal features appeared to vary between items and versions. Most children in both age groups understood the split screen in the first item. The younger age group did not understand the subjective camera if the making of the home video was not shown. Both the younger and the older age group understood the version with the cut better than the original version with the dissolve. In the discussion, the question was addressed what the findings of this study and previous studies teach us about children's understanding of visual formal features in general.     

Relationship Between Performance on the Rotter Aspiration Board and Various Types of Tests

A Completely Randomized Factorial analysis was used in assessing the effects of sex of E, sex of S, and age of S on WISC performance. The Ss were 511 male and female, black and white public school children ranging in age from 6 years and 0 months to 14 years and 11 months. The sample was restricted to those referred for possible mental retardation or learning disability. Results indicated that for white Ss, female Es obtained significantly higher scores for the youngest age group, while male Es obtained higher scores for the intermediate age group. It was also found that performance decreased with age and that males generally performed better than females. Implications of the study include increasing sophistication in interpreting test results and avoiding E-S combinations that increase the chance of poor results.     

Developmental Changes in Response to Frustration among Physically Handicapped Children

Methods of coping with frustration were examined in handicapped and nonhandicapped children at three different age levels, by means of the Rosenzweig P-F Study. While an extrapunitive approach was predominant in both groups and did not differ between the groups, significant differences were found in the use of secondary coping strategies. When compared with nonhandicapped counterparts, handicapped six year olds were more likely to minimize or deny frustration. At 10 years, handicapped Ss were more likely than nonhandicapped Ss to be intropunitive or self-blaming. There was a developmental tendency for handicapped Ss to make greater use of intropunitive responses with increasing age.     

Monetary Awareness in Children

This study investigated children's interest in and understanding of money. Children's interest was evaluated in a recall memory task and by simple choice of a favorite item. Understanding of money was determined by giving children a choice of 100 pennies or one dollar bill and by evaluating the reasons that they gave for making their choices. One hundred thirty-four children ranging from 3 through 11 years old participated in the study. Between the ages of 5 and 7, children showed a marked increase in interest in money and rational understanding of money. These results concur with recent findings concerning children and altruism with money.     

Relationship of the Thyroid with Intelligence and Personality

Once again it has been demonstrated that children's verbal behavior changes as a function of social approval. There is no indication, however, that the number of choice-alternatives (within the limits of two to six alternatives) in the experimental task has any effect upon the rate of change or upon the frequency of Ss verbalizing awareness. It appears that more children can or will verbalize awareness of the response-reinforcement contingency when an expanded and more suggestive inquiry is used. A greater rate of change in verbal behavior was found in Ss who do verbalize awareness as compared to those who do not.     

Children's utilization of emotion expectancies in moral decision‐making

This study investigated the relevance of emotion expectancies for children's moral decision‐making. The sample included 131 participants from three different grade levels (M = 8.39 years, SD = 2.45, range 4.58–12.42). Participants were presented a set of scenarios that described various emotional outcomes of (im)moral actions and asked to decide what they would do if they were in the protagonists' shoes. Overall, it was found that the anticipation of moral emotions predicted an increased likelihood of moral choices in antisocial and prosocial contexts. In younger children, anticipated moral emotions predicted moral choice for prosocial actions, but not for antisocial actions. Older children showed evidence for the utilization of anticipated emotions in both prosocial and antisocial behaviours. Moreover, for older children, the decision to act prosocially was less likely in the presence of non‐moral emotions. Findings suggest that the impact of emotion expectancies on children's moral decision‐making increases with age. Contrary to happy victimizer research, the study does not support the notion that young children use moral emotion expectancies for moral decision‐making in the context of antisocial actions.     

Children's Selective Use of Peer Informants: Criteria for Making Information-Seeking Decisions

Children from preschool, first-grade, and fourth-grade classrooms (N = 60) were randomly assigned to two different instructional conditions to assess (a) their recognition of the significance of knowledge versus physical (age or gender) criteria for making information-seeking decisions and (b) their reliance on these criteria in actual need-for-information situations. The results suggest that older children are more likely than younger children to recognize the salience of a peer's knowledge for making information-seeking decisions. Depending on the context, however, even young children may be able to view a peer's knowledge of a particular task as a dimension that takes precedence over such competing cues as gender or age. Age differences in children's tendencies to recognize and apply these criteria are also discussed.     

4-6岁儿童数学认知中的多元表征研究

本研究以早期儿童数学认知中的数、数运算以及模式三个维度为切入点,对来自上海市的120名4-6岁儿童采用个别面试法考察其数学认知中的多元表征,采用描述性统计、多元方差分析、卡方检验等方法探查儿童多元表征的发展特点、相互关系及影响因素。结果表明：4-6岁儿童已具备初步的数、数运算、模式的多元表征能力,其中数的多元表征能力最好;4-6岁儿童在数、模式的多元表征中未出现明显的年龄差异与性别差异,在数运算多元表征中有明显的年龄差异,无性别差异;儿童使用的表征形式数量随年龄增长相应增加,且更倾向于使用描绘性表征中的实物情境表征与教具模型表征;4-6岁儿童数、数运算、模式的多元表征能力之间存在一定的相关;除年龄之外,已有学习经验、学习材料的呈现样式也是影响儿童多元表征的可能性因素。     

6~8岁儿童公平行为的内在动机：社会信号的作用

公平行为是个体对自己或别人不偏不倚的行为,存在本质公平与表现公平。本质公平,即个体本身渴望公平,能够依据某种公平原则做出公平行为;表现公平,即个体在行为上做出公平的表现而实质并非来自本身的意愿。研究1选取270名6~8岁儿童,采用资源分配任务考察儿童在有无社会信号作用下表现公平行为的发展特点,研究2选取300名6~8岁儿童,采用抛硬币任务来考察儿童是否会用公平程序来掩盖其不公平行为。结果表明：(1)有无社会信号条件对儿童公平行为存在显著影响,并存在显著的年龄差异。有社会信号条件下,儿童更多选择公平行为,无社会信号条件下,儿童更多选择对自己有利的不公平分配。(2)儿童选择通过抛硬币的方式来获取奖品的人数随着年龄增长显著上升,抛硬币的儿童报告自己得到好的奖品的概率显著多于得到不好奖品的概率。结论：社会信号作用下儿童更多会做出表现公平而非本质公平。     

Preschoolers' inferences about gender and emotion: The mediation of emotionality stereotypes

This study examined childrens' stereotypes about sex differences in emotionality. Thirty preschoolers were presented with hypothetical emotional situations and asked to indicate the gender of the expressor and reasons for their choice. Although fear was consistently associated with females, gender attribution was situation specific for anger and happiness. Examination of preschoolers' explanations for gender attributions revealed that females made greater use of sex-role and imagery categories than did males. Furthermore, a significant age difference in the use of categorical and noncategorical responses was reported, with younger children making a greater number of noncategorical explanations. Children who used imagery to mediate gender choice relied primarily on hair color and length as gender-specific cues.     

Children's event reports: Factors affecting responses to repeated questions in vignette scenarios and event recall interviews

When adults repeat questions, children often give inconsistent answers. This study aimed to test the claim that these inconsistencies occur because children infer that their first answer was unsatisfactory, and that the adult expects them to change their answer. Children aged 4, 6, and 8 years (N= 134) were asked about vignettes in which an adult repeated a question, with manipulation of the adult's overt dissatisfaction (high vs. low pressure) and knowledge about the information sought. On a separate occasion, the children were given an unrelated event recall interview containing repeated questions. All age groups showed sensitivity to adult dissatisfaction, interpreting question repetition as an implicit request for answer change more frequently in the high than in the low‐pressure vignettes. Overall, however, these ‘change‐expected’ interpretations were least frequent in the younger children, who were the most prone to shifting. Also there was no evidence that these interpretations were associated with more frequent shifting in the recall interview. The results do not provide clear support for a simple conversational inference account of shifting, especially in younger children.     

Mnemonic elaboration and recency judgments in children

Recency judgments in second and fourth grade Ss were examined when contextual or spatial locations were correlated with sequential order. No age differences were apparent when the cues were not available; however, unlike fourth grade Ss, the younger Ss failed to take advantage of the additional cues when they were provided. In Experiment 2, second grade Ss were successfully trained to use the appropriate strategy, suggesting that the age related deficiency was one of production rather than mediation. The effectiveness of mnemonic elaboration as an aid to recall of order information was established, together with the short-term efficiency of training such mnemonic strategies in young children who do not adopt them spontaneously. The data support the hypothesis that memory tasks are developmentally sensitive when a deliberate mnemonic strategy can be applied but insensitive to developmental differences when no strategy is appropriate.     

The Children’s Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale: Reliability and Validity for Use Among 5 to 8 Year Olds with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

The Children’s Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS) is the instrument of choice for assessing symptom severity in older children (i.e., 8–18 years) diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The reliability and validity of this measure for use among younger children (i.e., 5–8 years of age), however, has never been examined. The primary aim of this study was to examine this scale’s use among those presenting with early childhood OCD. Forty-two children with OCD between the ages of 4 and 8 years of age were recruited as part of a larger treatment outcome study, and the reliability and validity of the CY-BOCS was examined. Results revealed questionable reliability for the measure’s 5-item Obsessions subscale but good reliability (i.e., internal consistency, temporal stability) for the 5-item Compulsions subscale and 10-item total scale. Results also revealed that the CY-BOCS total scale demonstrated mixed discriminant validity but strong convergent validity and sensitive to change. Collectively, the 10-item, CY-BOCS total score yields a reliable and valid scale for the assessment of symptom severity in early childhood OCD. However, we urge caution in use of the Obsessions subscale in isolation for either clinical or research purposes. Limitations and future areas of research are discussed including the potential benefit of developing a measure of OCD-related symptom severity specifically for younger children with greater attention to developmental differences among children within this population.     

First-grade boys' responses to a new task following noncontingent feedback

Sixty-four first-grade boys trained on a two-choice discrimination task received positive feedback either contingent upon their correct responses or in the same amount but noncontingently. Each child was then asked to choose between two alternate ways of accumulating pennies. He could solve problems and earn pennies for correct responses to a contingent task, or he could collect pennies at the same rate by remaining passive. The purpose of this research was to determine if the usual effects of noncontingent feedback would transfer from a simple training procedure to a different contingent task. It was found that the total amount of time spent at the passive alternative did not differ between training conditions. However, a significantly greater number of noncontingently trained children did choose the passive alternative early during testing; these children either gave all of their time to the passive alternative or, very shortly after attempting the task, switched to the passive response. When the noncontingently trained children did choose to work actively during testing, their performance reflected ineffective problem-solving strategies. These results suggest that even when conditions change, experience with prior noncontingent feedback disrupts the ability to utilize contingent information.     

USING A DICTIONARY: ITS INFLUENCE ON CHILDREN'S READING,SPELLING, AND PHONOLOGY

The developing use of a dictionary has the potential to provide self-teaching opportunities to improve reading, spelling and general phonological skills. Children's dictionary use was examined in two studies to find out patterns of use, skill and frequency of use and the relationships between these and reading, spelling and phonological development. In the first study 39 poor readers were compared with two groups of average readers, one consisting of 39 younger average readers of the same reading age and the other group of 31 average readers matched by age. In the second study 241 children (7–11 years) were divided on the basis of being above or below 9 years in age to examine developmental change. In both studies levels of non-verbal IQ were controlled between groups. Tests of reading vocabulary, spelling, non-word reading and speed and accuracy in looking up words in a dictionary were given. Examining dictionary skills in poor readers showed that they were significantly slower and less accurate in looking up words in a dictionary than their age peers who were average readers. Patterns of dictionary use varied with age with younger readers being three times more likely to give first preference to using a dictionary to look up spellings, whereas older reader expressed a preference that was much more evenly divided between checking spelling and looking up for meaning. Poor readers were much closer to their age peers in pattern of use. Self-rated frequency of dictionary use correlated significantly with spelling skill only in the younger readers. Persuading younger children to use a dictionary more could develop their spelling skills, possibly by encouraging them to be more proactive.     

Children and Aging: Attitudes,Differentiation Ability,and Quantity and Quality of Contact

The attitudes and age differentiation ability of forty-seven 3- to 5-year-old children toward pictures of older and younger people were assessed. In addition, cognitive performance on a seriation task as well as the quantity and quality of each child's contact with adults over 60 years of age were measured. Chi squares were performed by sex and age of stimulus photograph on the attitudinal questions. One of the chi squares reached signficance on the age comparison and two on the sex comparison. In addition, sign tests were used to assess the direction of the trends on the questions, and both age and sex trends were significant at the .05 level with children being more likely to choose pictures of younger rather than older models and female rather than male models. Ability to correctly order pictures by age was signficantly related (r = .53, p < .001) to the seriation ordering task. Four of the 18 correlations between contact and attitudinal variables were significant and negative.     

Measuring Postural Sway in Sitting: A New Segmental Approach

Global measures of trunk sway are traditionally used even though the trunk comprises a multiple number of segments. The authors’ aim was to measure the seated sway of typically developing children using a multisegment approach. Twenty typically developing children divided into 2 groups, older and younger than 10 years old, participated in this study. The children sat unsupported for 30 s while their posture and sway were quantified using stereophotogrammetry. The tendency in both age groups was to sit with a backward tilted pelvis and a kyphotic trunk. The sitting position was most varied in the younger group. Marker sway amplitude and velocity in sitting were age dependent, with reduced sway amplitude and velocity with increased age for all segments. Anteroposterior intersegmental angular sway was not age dependent. The difference in marker sway in the anteroposterior direction for the younger group appeared to result from an equally stable trunk supported on a less stable pelvis. Mediolateral marker sway and intersegmental angular sway showed a clearer age dependency. Trunk postural control does not appear to differ between children older and younger than 10 years old, but sagittal plane pelvic stability can explain the increased sway reported in younger children.     

Developmental changes in the perception of adult facial age

The author studied children's (aged 5-16 years) and young adults' (aged 18-22 years) perception and use of facial features to discriminate the age of mature adult faces. In Experiment 1, participants rated the age of unaltered and transformed (eyes, nose, eyes and nose, and whole face blurred) adult faces (aged 20-80 years). In Experiment 2, participants ranked facial age sets (aged 20-50, 20-80, and 50-80 years) that had varying combinations of older and younger facial features: eyes, noses, mouths, and base faces. Participants of all ages attended to similar facial features when making judgments about adult facial age, although young children (aged 5-7 years) were less accurate than were older children (aged 9-11 years), adolescents (aged 13-16 years), and young adults when making facial age judgments. Young children were less sensitive to some facial features when making facial age judgments.     

Sociometric Technique and Experimental Method in Social Psychology

Summary

Tasks adapted from Piaget's studies of concepts of geometrical space were presented to 133 Zulu youths from rural and urban areas of Natal. Ss' ages ranged from 11 years to 20 years, and schooling from nil to seven years. The association of performances with age, schooling, and rural-urban residence suggested that youths who grow up in town and attend school from an early age proceed to a Euclidean concept of space, while others are likely to retain the topological ideas usually associated with much younger groups.     

Paired-associate learning by normal children and retardates with relevant redundant compound stimuli

During daily sessions four first-grade boys each played a two-choice marble dropping game. When one colored light was presented a plain token was dispensed as soon as S dropped a marble, and when another light was on a token with a hole in its center was delivered. During choice trials that were interspersed among single-color trials S had to choose one of the two different colored holes. At the end of each session S traded tokens with holes for pennies and then turned in the remaining plain tokens which were not exchanged for money. After S had developed a preference for the response that earned the tokens with holes (tokens that were backed up with pennies) E instructed S to try to get as many plain tokens (unexchangeable tokens) as he could. All Ss immediately switched to the response that earned unexchangeable tokens but as soon as E left they returned to choosing the backed up response. When the adult reentered, Ss again chose to work for unexchangeable tokens. Two different Es (male and female) served and the instructions of each were effective in controlling responding as long as the adult was present, except for one S who did not respond to one E, but did respond as described for the other.