What leads to coordinated attention in parent–toddler interactions? Children's hearing status matters

Coordinated attention between children and their parents plays an important role in their social, language, and cognitive development. The current study used head‐mounted eye‐trackers to investigate the effects of children's prelingual hearing loss on how they achieve coordinated attention with their hearing parents during free‐flowing object play. We found that toddlers with hearing loss (age: 24–37 months) had similar overall gaze patterns (e.g., gaze length and proportion of face looking) as their normal‐hearing peers. In addition, children's hearing status did not affect how likely parents and children attended to the same object at the same time during play. However, when following parents' attention, children with hearing loss used both parents' gaze directions and hand actions as cues, whereas children with normal hearing mainly relied on parents' hand actions. The diversity of pathways leading to coordinated attention suggests the flexibility and robustness of developing systems in using multiple pathways to achieve the same functional end.     

Enhancing the language development of toddlers in foster care by promoting foster parents’ sensitivity: Results from a randomized controlled trial

Young children in foster care are at increased risk for problematic language development, making early intervention a critical tool in enhancing these children's foundational language abilities. This study examined the efficacy of an early preventative intervention, Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch‐up for Toddlers (ABC‐T), in improving the receptive vocabulary abilities of toddlers placed in foster care. All the children had been removed from their biological parents’ care and placed into foster care. When children were between 24 and 36 months old, foster parents were contacted by research staff and consented to participate. Parents were randomly assigned using a random number generator to receive either ABC‐T (n = 45), which aimed to promote sensitive parenting for children who have experienced early adversity, or a control intervention (n = 43). Foster children's receptive vocabulary skills were assessed post‐intervention using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Third Edition, when children were between 36 and 60 months old. Children whose foster parents received ABC‐T demonstrated more advanced receptive vocabulary abilities than children whose foster parents received the control intervention. The positive effect of ABC‐T on foster children's receptive vocabulary was mediated by increases in foster parents’ sensitivity during parent–child interactions. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01261806.     

Toddlers’ social evaluations of agents who act on false beliefs

Mature social evaluations privilege agents’ intentions over the outcomes of their actions, but young children often privilege outcomes over intentions in verbal tasks probing their social evaluations. In three experiments (N = 118), we probed the development of intention-based social evaluation and mental state reasoning using nonverbal methods with 15-month-old toddlers. Toddlers viewed scenarios depicting a protagonist who sought to obtain one of two toys, each inside a different box, as two other agents observed. Then, the boxes’ contents were switched in the absence of the protagonist and either in the presence or the absence of the other agents. When the protagonist returned, one agent opened the box containing the protagonist's desired toy (a positive outcome), and the other opened the other box (a neutral outcome). When both agents had observed the toys move to their current locations, the toddlers preferred the agent who opened the box containing the desired toy. In contrast, when the agents had not seen the toys move and therefore should have expected the desired toy's location to be unchanged, the toddlers preferred the agent who opened the box that no longer contained the desired toy. Thus, the toddlers preferred the agent who intended to make the protagonist's desired toy accessible, even when its action, guided by a false belief concerning that toy's location, did not produce a positive outcome. Well before children connect beliefs to social behavior in verbal tasks, toddlers engage in intention-based evaluations of social agents with false beliefs.     

SOCIOEMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS IN TODDLERS WITH LANGUAGE DELAY

Toddlers with language delay are at risk for persistent developmental and behavioral difficulties; however, the association between socioemotional/behavior problems and language in young children is not well understood. This study explored socioemotional/behavior problems in a unique sample of toddlers with language delays using a measure developed explicitly for this age group. Toddlers identified by 18 months with receptive and expressive language delay (LD; n = 30) or typical development (TD; n = 61) were evaluated at 18 and 24 months of age using the Infant‐Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (ITSEA) and the Mullen Scales of Early Learning. Compared to toddlers who had TD, toddlers with LD had significantly more concerning scores at 18 and 24 months on all ITSEA domains. The rate of “clinical concern” on most domains was not high in either group, except that >60% of LD toddlers were in the clinical concern range on the Competence domain. Socioemotional/behavioral problems were dimensionally related to receptive and expressive language, with greater language delay associated with more concerning ITSEA scores. Socioemotional and behavioral problems are related to receptive and expressive language abilities in 18‐ and 24‐month‐olds, indicating the need for screening of both types of concerns in toddlers identified with potential language delays.     

“Should I or shouldn’t I?” Imitation of undesired versus allowed actions from peer and adult models by 18- and 24-month-old toddlers

Imitation is a common way of acquiring novel behaviors in toddlers. However, little is known about toddlers’ imitation of undesired actions. Here we investigated 18- and 24-month-olds’ (N = 110) imitation of undesired and allowed actions from televised peer and adult models. Permissiveness of the demonstrated actions was indicated by the experimenter’s response to their execution (angry or neutral). Analyses revealed that toddlers’ imitation scores were higher after demonstrations of allowed versus undesired actions, regardless of the age of the model. In agreement with prior research, these results suggest that third-party reactions to a model’s actions can be a powerful cue for toddlers to engage in or refrain from imitation. In the context of the present study, third-party reactions were more influential on imitation than the model’s age. Considering the relative influence of different social cues for imitation can help to gain a fuller understanding of early observational learning.     

Humor, abstraction, and disbelief

We investigated humor as a context for learning about abstraction and disbelief. More specifically, we investigated how parents support humor understanding during book sharing with their toddlers. In Study 1, a corpus analysis revealed that in books aimed at 1-to 2-year-olds, humor is found more often than other forms of doing the wrong thing including mistakes, pretense, lying, false beliefs, and metaphors. In Study 2, 20 parents read a book containing humorous and non-humorous pages to their 19-to 26-month-olds. Parents used a significantly higher percentage of high abstraction extra-textual utterances (ETUs) when reading the humorous pages. In Study 3, 41 parents read either a humorous or non-humorous book to their 18-to 24-month-olds. Parents reading the humorous book made significantly more ETUs coded for a specific form of high abstraction: those encouraging disbelief of prior utterances. Sharing humorous books thus increases toddlers' exposure to high abstraction and belief-based language.     

Toddlers’ joint engagement experience facilitates preschoolers’ acquisition of theory of mind

Forty‐two children participated in a longitudinal study that investigated the relationship between their joint engagement experience when toddlers and their development of theory of mind when preschoolers. Controlling for language comprehension at 30 months, higher preschool false belief scores were associated with more time in coordinated joint engagement earlier (18–21 mo, β= .34) and in symbol‐infused joint engagement later (27–30 mo, β= .35) in toddlerhood. Findings suggest that the early foundation of theory of mind development is laid as toddlers attend to both social‐emotional and symbolic aspects of shared events.     

Guess who? Children use prosody to infer intended listeners

This study examined the relative influence of prosody and semantic content in children's inferences about intended listeners. Children (n = 72), who ranged in age from 5 to 10 years, heard greetings with prosody and content that was either infant or adult directed and chose the intended listener from amongst an infant or an adult. While content affected all children's choices, the effect of prosody was stronger (at least, for children aged 7–10 years). For conditions in which prosodic cues were suggestive of one listener, and content cues, another, children aged 7–10 years chose the listener according to prosody. In contrast, the youngest age group (5‐ to 6‐year‐olds) chose listeners at chance levels in these incongruent conditions. While prosodic cues were most influential in determining children's choices, their ratings of how certain they felt about their choices indicated that content nonetheless influenced their thinking about the intended listener. Results are the first to show the unique influence of prosody in children's thinking about appropriate speech styles. Findings add to work showing children's ability to use prosody to make inferences about speakers' communicative intentions.     

Early humour production

The current studies explored early humour as a complex socio‐cognitive phenomenon by examining 2‐ and 3‐year‐olds’ humour production with their parents. We examined whether children produced novel humour, whether they cued their humour, and the types of humour produced. Forty‐seven parents were interviewed, and videotaped joking with their children. Other parents (N= 113) completed a survey. Parents reported children copy jokes during the first year of life, and produce novel jokes from 2 years. In play sessions, 3‐year‐olds produced mostly novel humorous acts; 2‐year‐olds produced novel and copied humorous acts equally frequently. Parents reported children smile, laugh, and look for a reaction when joking. In play sessions, 2‐ and 3‐year‐olds produced these behaviours more when producing humorous versus non‐humorous acts. In both parent reports and play sessions, they produced novel object‐based (e.g., underwear on head) and conceptual humour (e.g., ‘pig says moo’) and used wrong labels humorously (e.g., calling a cat a dog). Thus, parent report and child behaviour both confirm that young children produce novel humorous acts, and share their humour by smiling, laughing, and looking for a reaction.     

Understanding pro‐environmental intentions by integrating insights from social mobility,cosmopolitanism, and social dominance

To offer an integrative account bridging individuals’ sociocultural orientations with pro‐environmentalism, the current research tested the mediating and moderating relationships among pro‐environmental intentions and three person‐level factors: perceived social mobility, cosmopolitan orientation, and social dominance orientation (SDO). With a Singaporean college student sample (N = 220), we found support for the hypothesized second‐stage moderation model that perceived social mobility positively predicts cosmopolitan orientation, and in turn, cosmopolitan orientation is moderated by SDO to positively predict pro‐environmental intentions. Specifically, lower levels of SDO strengthen the pro‐environmental advantages of endorsing higher levels of cosmopolitan orientation. These findings add novel knowledge to the environmental psychology literature by advancing an integrative approach that demonstrates how the interplay of people's perceptions about the social, cultural, and group standing impacts their likelihood to engage in pro‐environmental actions. We discuss the implications that an egalitarian worldview toward other cultures, social groups, and human–nature relations might be the key to addressing the global challenge of climate change.     

Early socialization of prosocial behavior: Patterns in parents’ encouragement of toddlers’ helping in an everyday household task

Patterns in parents’ socialization of prosocial behavior in 18- and 24-month-olds (n = 46) were investigated during an everyday household chore that parents were asked to complete with their toddlers. Two socialization approaches were distinguished, one focused on specific requests for concrete actions needed to complete an immediate, concrete goal (“action-oriented”), and a second focused on the more abstract needs and emotions of the parent and the child's role as a helper (“need-oriented’). Parents were equally active at both ages in trying to elicit children's help but used different strategies with younger and older toddlers. With 18-month-olds they used more action-oriented approaches, whereas with 24-month-olds they increased their use of need-oriented approaches. They also regulated the attention of younger toddlers more, and more often socially approved older toddlers’ helping. Thus, how parents prompt, support, and encourage prosocial behavior changes over the second year from utilizing primarily concrete, goal-directed requests in the service of the immediate task, to increasingly emphasizing more abstract needs and emotions of the recipient and the child's role as a helper.     

Drawing what lies ahead: False intentions are more abstractly depicted than true intentions

The aim of this study was to examine how people mentally represent and depict true and false statements about claimed future actions—so‐called true and false intentions. On the basis of construal level theory, which proposes that subjectively unlikely events are more abstractly represented than likely ones, we hypothesized that false intentions should be represented at a more abstract level than true intentions. Fifty‐six hand drawings, produced by participants to describe mental images accompanying either true or false intentions, were rated on level of abstractness by a second set of participants (N = 117) blind to the veracity of the intentions. As predicted, drawings of false intentions were rated as more abstract than drawings of true intentions. This result advances the use of drawing‐based deception detection techniques to the field of true and false intentions and highlights the potential for abstractness as a novel cue to deceit.     

Within a hair's breadth of buying the product: The impact of tangible and intangible bodily cues of contamination: The role of disgust and mental imagery

In most retail environments, customers can handle products. However, the downside of this freedom to touch products is product contamination. The objectives of this paper are threefold: (a) to examine the effects of contamination cues (tangible vs. intangible) on consumer responses; (b) to show the mediating role of contamination, disgust, and mental imagery; and (c) to assess the robustness of the results on three product categories for different levels of contact intimacy. Three experimental laboratory studies on different product categories (a book [n = 95], T‐shirt [n = 118], and apple [n = 102]) showed that tangible contamination cues decreased product evaluation and purchase intentions more than intangible contamination cues did. Moreover, contamination, disgust, and mental imagery mediated the effects of contamination cues on product evaluation and purchase intention. The findings provide theoretical and practical insights to help researchers and retailers understand the effect of tangible contamination cues on consumer responses.     

The effects of social comparison,emotion induction,and parent vaccination status on parental intentions for COVID-19 vaccine uptake in children

Parental vaccine hesitancy—delays in vaccine uptake for children—is a significant public health concern. Using an online adult sample of U.S. parents (N = 183), the current research experimentally examined how exposure to cautious or risky social comparison models on social media (in terms of their COVID-19 beliefs and behaviors) influenced parental intentions to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 in the early stages of the pandemic. Additionally, we examined whether the influence of social comparison models was moderated by emotional state (fear or contentment) and parental vaccination status. Overall, we found that parents exposed to cautious (vs. risky) comparison models and vaccinated (vs. unvaccinated) parents reported greater vaccine intentions for their children. We further found that vaccination intentions were highest among unvaccinated parents after exposure to cautious (vs. risky) comparison models, whereas intentions were highest among vaccinated parents after exposure to risky (vs. cautious) comparison models (but only when induced to feel content). Overall, our findings highlight the importance of understanding the additive and interactive impact of psychological and situational factors in shaping parental vaccine hesitancy.     

Transfer of Responsibility in Parent–Child Play During the Second Year

The purpose of the present study was to examine changes in parental support for play during the toddler's second year. Thirty toddlers and their parents were observed when the toddlers were 13,14,20 and 21 months of age. Parents' production of facilitating behaviours and exploratory play increased over time, whereas their production of combinatorial, symbolic and sequential play decreased. Correlational and sequential analyses indicated that, at the early visits, parents responded to their toddlers' combinatorial and symbolic play with similar types of play, whereas at the later visits, only symbolic play was followed by comparable actions. Sensitive parents ‘transfer responsibility’ for play actions as they believe their toddlers become more competent. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of experience and discourse in children's developing understanding of pretend play actions

The present work investigated the development of an explicit understanding of pretend play actions. Study 1 revealed a long décalage between earlier implicit understanding of pretence as an intentional activity and a later more explicit understanding. Study 2 was a training study. It tested for two factors – systematic pretence experience and explicit pretence discourse – that may be important in development from early implicit to later explicit pretence understanding. Two training groups of 3.5‐year‐old children received the same pretence experiences involving systematic contrasts between pretending, really performing and trying to perform actions. In the ‘explicit’ group, these experiences were talked about with explicit ‘pretend to’ and ‘pretend that’ language. In the ‘implicit’ group no such discourse was used, but only implicit discourse in talking about pretence versus real actions. The two training groups were compared with a control group that received functional play experience. After training, only the explicit group showed improvement in their explicit pretence understanding. In none of the groups was there any transfer to tasks tapping mental state understanding, false belief (FB) and appearance‐reality, (A‐R). The findings are discussed in the context of current theories about the developmental relations between pretence, discourse, and mental state understanding.     

How parents introduce new words to young children: The influence of development and developmental disorders

This study documents how parents weave new words into on-going interactions with children who are just beginning to speak. Dyads with typically developing toddlers and with young children with autism spectrum disorder and Down syndrome (n = 56, 23, and 29) were observed using a Communication Play Protocol during which parents could use novel words to refer to novel objects. Parents readily introduced both labels and sound words even when their child did not respond expressively or produce the words. Results highlight both how parents act in ways that may facilitate their child's appreciation of the relation between a new word and its referent and how they subtly adjust their actions to suit their child's level of word learning and specific learning challenges.     

To Brexit or not to Brexit: The roles of Islamophobia,conspiracist beliefs,and integrated threat in voting intentions for the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum

We used an identities approach to examine voting intentions in the June 2016 UK referendum on membership of the European Union (EU). In April 2016, 303 British adults (58.7% women, age M = 34.73) indicated their voting intentions for the referendum and completed measures of identification with the national in-group, perceived threat from Muslim immigrants, belief in Islamophobic conspiracy narratives, Islamophobia, general conspiracist beliefs, ambiguity tolerance, and belief in a clash of civilizations. Path and mediation analyses indicated that greater belief in Islamophobic conspiracy theories mediated the link between Islamophobia and intention to vote to leave. Islamophobia and Islamophobic conspiracist beliefs also mediated the effects of perceived threat from Muslims on voting intentions. Other variables acted as antecedents of perceived threat or Islamophobic conspiracy narratives. These findings highlight the role that identity-based cognitions may have played in shaping voting intentions for the UK EU referendum.     

Spanish-English bilingual toddlers’ vocabulary skills: The role of caregiver language input and warmth

There is a well-documented link between bilingual language development and the relative amounts of exposure to each language. Less is known about the role of quality indicators of caregiver-child interactions in bilingual homes, including caregiver input diversity, warmth and sensitivity. This longitudinal study examines the relation between caregiver input (lexical diversity, amount), warmth and sensitivity and bilingual toddlers’ subsequent vocabulary outcomes. We video-recorded caregiver-child interactions in Spanish-English Latino homes when toddlers (n = 47) were 18 months of age (M = 18.32 months; SD = 1.02 months). At the 24-month follow-up, we measured children's vocabulary as total vocabulary (English, Spanish combined) as well as within language (Spanish, English). Results revealed that Spanish lexical diversity exposure at 18 months from caregivers was positively associated with children's Spanish and total vocabulary scores at 24 months, while English lexical diversity was positively associated with children's English scores; lexical diversity and amount were highly correlated. Additionally, caregivers’ warmth was positively associated with children's Spanish, English and total vocabulary scores. Together, these factors accounted for substantial variance (30–40%) in vocabulary outcomes. Notably, caregiver input accounted for more variance in single language outcomes than did caregiver warmth, whereas caregiver warmth uniquely accounted for more variance in total vocabulary scores. Our findings extend prior research findings by suggesting that children's dual language development may depend on their exposure to a diverse set of words, not only amount of language exposure, as well as warm interactions with caregivers. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://youtu.be/q1V_7fz5wog

Highlights

• Video-recorded observations of caregiver-child interactions revealed warmth and high sensitivity from Latino caregivers.
• Linguistically-detailed analyses of caregiver input revealed wide variation in the diversity of Spanish and English directed at 18-month-old bilingual toddlers.
• Bilingual toddlers’ vocabulary (single language, total) was positively associated with caregivers’ diverse input and warmth, thus extending prior findings on bilinguals’ amount of language exposure.
• Findings suggest that caregivers’ lexical diversity explains more variance in bilingual toddlers’ single language outcomes, whereas warmth explains more variance in total vocabulary scores.