Constructing a New Theory From Old Ideas and New Evidence

A central tenet of constructivist models of conceptual development is that children's initial conceptual level constrains how they make sense of new evidence and thus whether exposure to evidence will prompt conceptual change. Yet little experimental evidence directly examines this claim for the case of sustained, fundamental conceptual achievements. The present study combined scaling and experimental microgenetic methods to examine the processes underlying conceptual change in the context of an important conceptual achievement of early childhood—the development of a representational theory of mind. Results from 47 children (M age = 3.7 years) indicate that only children who were conceptually close to understanding false belief at the beginning of the study, and who were experimentally exposed to evidence of people acting on false beliefs, reliably developed representational theories of minds. Combined scaling and microgenetic data revealed how prior conceptual level interacts with experience, thereby providing critical experimental evidence for how conceptual change results from the interplay between conceptions and evidence.     

Socioeconomic variation in attitudes to eating and weight in female adolescents.

This study was stimulated by J. Sobal and A. J. Stunkard's (1989) theory that differences in deliberate weight control could underlie the socioeconomic gradient in adult weight. Female adolescents (N=1,248) completed measures of socioeconomic status, social norms for weight, weight ideals, attitudes to weight, and weight control behaviors. Higher socioeconomic status adolescents had greater awareness of the social ideals of slimness and had more family and friends who were trying to lose weight. They also defined a lower body mass index as "fat" and were more likely to have used healthy weight control methods. The results support the idea that socioeconomic differences in weight-related attitudes and behaviors may mediate the development of a gradient in weight.     

Postural muscle responses following changing balance threats in young, stable older, and unstable older adults

The authors determined the postural muscle response to support surface perturbations, in relation to aging and level of stability of 16 young adults and 32 older adults who were classified into stable (SOA) and unstable (UOA) groups on the basis of their functional balance abilities. Forward and backward support surface translations of various amplitudes and velocities were used so that postural responses of the standing adults could be elicited. The thigh and leg postural muscle responses were recorded with surface electromyography (EMG). The older groups had significantly longer onset latency in the anterior postural muscles, smaller integrated EMG in the posterior muscles, and greater extent of integrated EMG attenuation over time. The UOA showed longer onset latency in the gastrocnemius following slow backward perturbation and used a greater percentage of the functional capacity of the gastrocnemius muscle than the SOA did. Those findings indicate that the SOA and UOA had limited ability to adapt to changing balance threats; the UOA were more limited than the SOA. When designing balance training programs, therefore, therapists should consider the adult's level of functional stability.     

Making human research safe: Why we cannot afford to fail

This paper was given as a keynote address at the international conference on Ethics of Intellectual Property Rights and Patents held in Warsaw, Poland on April 23–24, 2004. The address was the introductory presentation to the important topic of protecting individuals who participate in research as research subjects.     

Factors mediating the relationships between preschool children's play patterns and peer ratings: Verbal communication styles

The effects of verbal communication styles on relationships between play patterns and peer ratings were investigated with a sample of 30 4-year-olds. Play patterns were determined in 22 spot checks made of each child during freeplay. Styles of verbal communication-including verbosity, affect tone, person/play focus, and responsivity-were ascertained from written accounts of each child's verbalizations gathered during three 5-min periods of freeplay. Peer ratings were gathered sociometrically. Multiple regression procedures were used in analyzing the data. In general, relationships between play and peer ratings reported in earlier work are supported, but in some cases differing patterns emerged when verbal communication styles were taken into account statistically. R² change scores indicate that when verbal communication styles are taken into account: Solitary play is not associated with low ratings from peers: solitary play is associated with the desire to play with opposite-sex peers; associative play is related to higher ratings from same-sex peers; and associative play is related to lower ratings given to opposite-sex peers. Part correlations indicate that when other independent variables in the equation are taken into account. A person-focused (as opposed to play-focused) verbal communication style is associated with higher ratings from peers; and affect tone is positively but not significantly associated with ratings received from same-sex peers.     

TRAINING PARENTS TO USE THE NATURAL LANGUAGE PARADIGM TO INCREASE THEIR AUTISTIC CHILDREN'S SPEECH

Parents of four nonverbal and four echolalic autistic children were trained to increase their children's speech by using the Natural Language Paradigm (NLP), a loosely structured procedure conducted in a play environment with a variety of toys. Parents were initially trained to use the NLP in a clinic setting, with subsequent parent-child speech sessions occurring at home. The results indicated that following training, parents increased the frequency with which they required their children to speak (i.e., modeled words and phrases, prompted answers to questions). Correspondingly, all children increased the frequency of their verbalizations in three nontraining settings. Thus, the NLP appears to be an efficacious program for parents to learn and use in the home to increase their children's speech.     

STIMULUS VARIATION AS A MEANS OF ENHANCING PUNISHMENT EFFECTS

We compared the effects of varied punishers (presentation of one of three available punishers) with the single presentation of one of the punishers on the occurrence of inappropriate behaviors with three developmentally delayed children. Two children were presented with varied-punisher conditions in which either overcorrection, time-out, or a verbal “no” was presented contingent upon inappropiate behavior. A loud noise was substituted for overcorrection for a third child. Results of the multielement with reversal design indicated that both punishment formats produced a decrease in the target behaviors with the varied-punisher format slightly more effective than the single presentations of the punishers. The results suggest the use of varied punishers as a means of enhancing the effects of less intrusive procedures to effectively reduce inappropriate behaviors.     

7—11岁汉族、傣族、景颇族儿童概念形成的比较研究

本实验是对7—11岁昆明汉族、瑞丽汉族、傣族和景颇族共190名儿童所作的概念形成的比较研究。实验结果指出:1.儿童概念形成随年龄增长而不断提高。表现在两个方面:(一)所形成的概念水平提高;(二)概念形成中被试所采取的假设—检验策略水平的提高。2.文化环境对儿童概念形成的影响是明显的。在不同性质的五个项目实验中,所有年龄阶段,昆明儿童成绩均高于瑞丽三种民族儿童,差异在某些项目的某些年龄阶段是显著或者非常显著,在瑞丽地区由于三种民族环境条件也有差异,在五个实验项目中,数列和词义关系两项实验出现了显著性的差异。文章分析了产生差异的原因:(一)学校教育;(二)家庭教育;(三)社会意识等方面。