Stability in cognition across early childhood. A developmental cascade

Children confront the formidable task of assimilating information in the environment and accommodating their cognitive structures to that information. Developmental science is concerned equally with two distinctive features of these processes: children's group mean level of performance through time and the standing of individual children through time. Prevailing opinion since the inception of the mental-measurement movement has been that individual development is unstable-that individual children change unpredictably in their abilities. We report results of a large-scale controlled, multivariate, prospective, microgenetic, 4-year longitudinal study that reveals a statistically significant cascade of species-typical cognitive abilities from infancy to childhood. Infancy is a recognizable starting point of life; we find that to a small but significant degree, infancy also represents a setting point in the life of the individual.     

Categorization of two-dimensional and three-dimensional stimuli by 18-month-old infants

In two experiments, 18-month-old infants’ categorization of 3D replicas and 2D photographs of the same animals and vehicles were compared to explore infants’ flexibility in categorization across different object representations. Using a sequential touching procedure, infants completed one superordinate and two basic-level categorization tasks with 3D replicas, 2D cut out photographs, or 2D images on photo cubes (“2D cubes”). For superordinate sets, 3D replicas elicited longer mean run lengths than 2D cut outs, and 3D replicas elicited equivalent mean run lengths as 2D cubes. For basic-level sets, infants categorized high-contrast animal sets when presented with 3D replicas, but they failed to categorize any of the 2D photograph sets. Categorization processes appear to differ for 3D and 2D stimuli, and infants’ discovery of object properties over time while manipulating objects may facilitate categorization, as least at the superordinate level. These findings are discussed in the context of infants’ representation abilities and the integration of perception and action.     

Measurement variability in infant and maternal behavioral assessment

Evaluations of methodological assessments sometimes show similar, sometimes different patterns of findings reflective of different approaches to the same problem. In this study, frequencies of behaviors of infants and mothers in two cultures based on continuous coding were compared with frequencies based on time-sampling, and resulting patterns of findings were evaluated. Time-sampling and continuous coding give different estimates of absolute frequency of typical infant and maternal behaviors between individuals and between cultural groups. However, time-sampling adequately preserves the relative ranking of infant and mother behaviors among individuals and between cultural groups. If research is concerned with the relative standing of individuals and/or groups on frequency of infant or maternal behavior, then (under specified circumstances) time-sampling and continuous coding yield comparable results.     

A continuous interference-filter monochromator

An inexpensive continuous interference-filter monochromator is described.     

Mothers', fathers' and children's perceptions of parents' expectations about children's family obligations in nine countries

Children's family obligations involve assistance and respect that children are expected to provide to immediate and extended family members and reflect beliefs related to family life that may differ across cultural groups. Mothers, fathers and children (N = 1432 families) in 13 cultural groups in 9 countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand and United States) reported on their expectations regarding children's family obligations and parenting attitudes and behaviours. Within families, mothers and fathers had more concordant expectations regarding children's family obligations than did parents and children. Parenting behaviours that were warmer, less neglectful and more controlling as well as parenting attitudes that were more authoritarian were related to higher expectations regarding children's family obligations between families within cultures as well as between cultures. These international findings advance understanding of children's family obligations by contextualising them both within families and across a number of diverse cultural groups in 9 countries.     

Repeated testing in eyewitness memory: a means to improve recall of a negative emotional event

Participants viewed either a violent, arousing film or a non-violent, control version of the same film. After viewing the film, they made three successive attempts to recall details of the event. Participants who were exposed to the negative emotional event were better than control participants at recalling details of the event itself, but they were worse at recalling details that preceded or followed the violence. Both groups of participants recalled significantly more information over successive recall attempts, suggesting that memory impairment due to arousal can be alleviated by repeated testing. Repeated testing was also associated with a small but reliable increase in memory intrusions. The implications of these findings for research on hypermnesia and on the relationship between arousal and memory are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chaos,danger, and maternal parenting in families: Links with adolescent adjustment in low‐ and middle‐income countries

The current longitudinal study is the first comparative investigation across low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs) to test the hypothesis that harsher and less affectionate maternal parenting (child age 14 years, on average) statistically mediates the prediction from prior household chaos and neighborhood danger (at 13 years) to subsequent adolescent maladjustment (externalizing, internalizing, and school performance problems at 15 years). The sample included 511 urban families in six LMICs: China, Colombia, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, and Thailand. Multigroup structural equation modeling showed consistent associations between chaos, danger, affectionate and harsh parenting, and adolescent adjustment problems. There was some support for the hypothesis, with nearly all countries showing a modest indirect effect of maternal hostility (but not affection) for adolescent externalizing, internalizing, and scholastic problems. Results provide further evidence that chaotic home and dangerous neighborhood environments increase risk for adolescent maladjustment in LMIC contexts, via harsher maternal parenting.     

Self-compassion mediates the link between dependency and depressive symptomatology in college students

Depression is highly prevalent among college students and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Dependency is among the known personality traits that predict an elevated risk for depression. Prior research has focused on the depressogenic role of self-critical thoughts among destructive overdependent (DO) individuals but has not considered other internal processes (such as self-compassion) that might influence mental health. The current report examined whether self-compassion had either moderating or mediating effects on the links between dependency and depression in college students. In a cross-sectional study, 85 college students completed measures of dependency, self-compassion, and depressive symptoms. Analyses suggested that self-compassion mediated both the effect of DO on depressive symptoms and the effect of healthy dependency (HD) on lower depressive symptoms; self-compassion did not moderate links between dependency and depressive symptoms. Our exploratory findings suggest that positive self-schema (in the form of self-compassion) may contribute to the downstream mental health effects of both adaptive HD and maladaptive DO.