“Pretend you didn't know”: Preschoolers' talk about mental states in pretend play

Fifty preschoolers (mean age = 47 months; SD = 5 months) were recruited from local inner-city nurseries to take part in a study of early friendships and the development of social understanding. Friendship pairs (10 boy-boy pairs; 10 girl-girl pairs and 5 boy-girl pairs) were filmed playing together for 20 minutes in a quiet room supplied with toys and dressing-up materials. The videos were then transcribed and coded for mental-state talk and pretend play. The children were also given a battery of tests tapping theory-of-mind skills and verbal ability. The results indicated a strong association between children's engagement in pretend play, and the frequency and nature of mental-state talk. This association is discussed in relation to (1) effects of context, (2) individual differences in children's understanding of mind and verbal ability, and (3) the social nature of pretend play.     

Origins of children's career aspirations: II. Direct suggestions as a method of transmitting occupational preferences.

Analysis of responses of 576 children in kindergarten and Grades 2, 4, and 6 in both public and private schools shows direct suggestions particularly from significant others are recalled increasingly frequently as children grow older. Children, however, are less likely to select suggested occupations with age. These data do not account for high aspirations of children to parental occupations.     

A microcomputer-based cardiotachometer with video display

A KIM-1 single board microcomputer implementation of a cardiotachometer that provides a low-cost versatile heart-rate data acquisition system is described. Unique features include telemetry, a composite video output signal of a video frame displaying elapsed time and heart-rate, and a TV camera signal of the behavior. Data is videotape- and/or audiotape-recorded for further analysis with a larger computer.     

Differential production of positive and negative discriminative stimuli by normal and retarded children

Using an observing procedure similar to Wyckoff's (1969), two normal and two mentally retarded children were studied. The children were initially trained to earn pennies by pressing a rectangular key according to a multiple variable-interval extinction schedule of reinforcement. After discrimination training, the children were allowed to produce the discriminative stimuli by depressing a second or observing key. The retarded children were different from the normal children in that they produced more of the positive discriminative stimulus (S+) than the negative discriminative stimulus (S?). In the case of the retarded children, S+ observing started high and remained high. In the case of the normal children, S+ observing was initially substantial and then rapidly diminished.     

Anorexic eating attitudes and behaviors of male and female college students

This study examined gender differences in eating attitudes and behaviors in a sample of 471 undergraduate college students. The prevalence of symptomatology indicative of anorexia was determined using the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26). In addition, the family climate, parent-child dynamics, and self-concept of students with and without maladaptive eating attitudes and behaviors were compared, and the relationship between eating attitudes/behaviors and current psychological distress was examined. Anorexic symptomatology was found for 20% of the females and 10% of the males. In general, students without symptomatic attitudes and behaviors had a more positive self-concept and reported less psychological distress than did those with eating disturbances. The findings suggest that eating problems may be more prevalent among males than previously estimated.     

Stress as a predictor of the quality of parent-infant interactions.

Three predictor variables--vulnerability to stress, expectations for parenting stress, and low power attributions--were assessed for 21 couples during pregnancy. In-home observations of parent-infant interactions occurred 4 months postnatally. Stepwise multiple regression analyses, calculated separately for mothers and fathers, revealed that prenatal stress factors were more successful in predicting father-infant interactions. On the interaction variable basic care, 67% of the variance was explained by fathers' parenting stress expectations, stress vulnerability, and attributions for low power, whereas only 2% of the variance on basic care was explained by maternal scores on the same variables. Results of this study indicated that parent-infant interactions are affected by parental attitudes and personality characteristics. The present research also underscored the continued need to study the differential effects of gender on parent-infant interactions.