Children's selective trust decisions: rational competence and limiting performance factors

Recent research has amply documented that even preschoolers learn selectively from others, preferring, for example, reliable over unreliable and competent over incompetent models. It remains unclear, however, what the cognitive foundations of such selective learning are, in particular, whether it builds on rational inferences or on less sophisticated processes. The current study, therefore, was designed to test directly the possibility that children are in principle capable of selective learning based on rational inference, yet revert to simpler strategies such as global impression formation under certain circumstances. Preschoolers (N = 75) were shown pairs of models that either differed in their degree of competence within one domain (strong vs. weak or knowledgeable vs. ignorant) or were both highly competent, but in different domains (e.g., strong vs. knowledgeable model). In the test trials, children chose between the models for strength‐ or knowledge‐related tasks. The results suggest that, in fact, children are capable of rational inference‐based selective trust: when both models were highly competent, children preferred the model with the competence most predictive and relevant for a given task. However, when choosing between two models that differed in competence on one dimension, children reverted to halo‐style wide generalizations and preferred the competent models for both relevant and irrelevant tasks. These findings suggest that the rational strategies for selective learning, that children master in principle, can get masked by various performance factors.     

Multilevel Correlates of Childhood Physical Aggression and Prosocial Behavior

The study identified independent individual, family, and neighborhood correlates of children's physical aggression and prosocial behavior. Participants were 2,745 2–11-year olds nested in 1,982 families, which were themselves nested in 96 Canadian neighborhoods. Hierarchical linear modeling showed that the total variation explained by the three-level model was 28.03% for physical aggression and 17.57% for prosocial behavior. For both childhood behaviors, approximately 66% of this explained variance was between individuals and up to 30% was between families. The smallest amount of observed variation was between neighborhoods. Significant individual-level predictors common to both childhood behaviors were child's sex and maternal hostility toward the target child. Specifically, boys had more mother-reported physical aggression and less prosocial behavior. Children who experienced greater-than-average maternal hostility (compared to siblings) were more physically aggressive and less prosocial. At the family level, significant common predictors were mother depressed mood and punitive parenting. Children had higher levels of physical aggression and lower levels of prosocial behavior in families where mothers had greater depressed mood and used more punitive parenting practices. At the neighborhood level, greater perceived problems and lower poverty level were associated with higher levels of physical aggression. Results are discussed with reference to past and future studies of multilevel effects on children's socialization.     

Question asking and eye tracking during cognitive disequilibrium: Comprehending illustrated texts on devices when the devices break down

The PREG model of question asking assumes that questions emerge when there is cognitive disequilibrium, as in the case of contradictions, obstacles, and anomalies. Participants read illustrated texts about everyday devices (e.g., a cylinder lock) and then were placed in cognitive disequilibrium through a breakdown scenario (e.g., the key turns but the bolt does not move). The participants asked questions when given the breakdown scenario, and an eyetracker recorded their fixations. As was predicted, deep comprehenders asked better questions and fixated on device components that explained the malfunction. The eye fixations were examined before, during, and after the participants' questions in order to trace the occurrence and timing of convergence on faults, causal reasoning, and other cognitive processes.     

Predictors of resilience in maltreated and nonmaltreated Latino children

To date, few studies have sought to investigate the effects of child maltreatment and processes influencing maladaptation and resilience in Latino children. In the current investigation, multiple aspects of functioning, personal resources, and relationship features were examined in school-age maltreated and nonmaltreated Latino children. Maltreated Latino children were found to have fewer areas of resilient functioning. Ego-resiliency and ego-control, as personal resources, and the ability to form a positive relationship with an adult figure outside of the immediate family predicted resilience. However, certain aspects of interpersonal functioning were differentially related to resilience for maltreated and nonmaltreated Latino children. These findings have implications for understanding how resilience can be promoted in maltreated and nonmaltreated Latino children.     

What Front-Line CBO Staff Can Tell Us About Culturally Anchored Theories of Behavior Change in HIV Prevention for Asian/Pacific Islanders

Few rigorously tested primary prevention programs have been developed to prevent HIV infection among immigrant communities in the United States. This is in part because of the lack of culturally specific behavioral theories that can inform HIV prevention for immigrant communities in the United States. This article aims to develop such theories for a population—Asian/Pacific Islanders (A/PIs) immigrant communities—who have been overlooked in theory development and program evaluation. Frontline community-based organization (CBO) peer educators, an underutilized source of expertise regarding cultural factors specific to HIV infection among A/PI communities, are the sample of study Asian/Pacific Islander peer educators working at an urban AIDS service organization devoted to health promotion for this population; (N=35). They were interviewed to examine (1) detailed narratives describing instances of behavior change and (2) culturally anchored theories of behavior change which the narratives imply. Theories of the influence of positive cultural symbols on the taboo of HIV/AIDS, moderators of the effectiveness of social network influences on behavior change, and setting- and community-level processes predicting HIV risk behavior were implicit in the peer educators' narratives. Implications for future research, methodology and prevention practice are discussed.     

Validity and reliability of the Test of Early Reading Ability-Second Edition with preschool age children

Criterion validity and test-retest reliability across the two forms of the Test of Early Reading Ability-Second Edition were examined. 18 preschool age children, 4 boys and 14 girls, between the ages of 37 and 59 mo. (M = 48.5, SD = 7.6) were randomly administered Forms A and B as well as the sound-blending, letter-word identification, spelling, and sound-awareness reading subtests from the 2001 Woodcock Johnson-III. Correlations were moderate between the children's performance on the Test of Early Reading Ability-2 Forms A and B and their reading subtest scores from the Woodcock Johnson-III and also between Forms A and B of the Test of Early Reading Ability-2. However, Forms A and B of the Test of Early Reading Ability-2 were not clinically equivalent.     

Hierarchical stimulus processing by dogs (Canis familiaris)

The purpose of this study was to assess the visual processing of global and local levels of hierarchical stimuli in domestic dogs. Fourteen dogs were trained to recognise a compound stimulus in a simultaneous conditioned discrimination procedure and were then tested for their local/global preference in a discrimination test. As a group, dogs showed a non-significant trend for global precedence, although large inter-individual variability was observed. Choices in the test were not affected by either dogs’ sex or the type of stimulus used for training. However, the less time a dog took to complete the discrimination training phase, the higher the probability that it chose the global level of test stimulus. Moreover, dogs that showed a clear preference for the global level in the test were significantly less likely to show positional responses during discrimination training. These differences in the speed of acquisition and response patterns may reflect individual differences in the cognitive requirements during discrimination training. The individual variability in global/local precedence suggests that experience in using visual information may be more important than predisposition in determining global/local processing in dogs.