Social cognition in the first year

Although the study of infancy has answered many important questions about the human capacity for social cognition, the relatively young field of developmental social cognition is far from reaching its adulthood. With the merging of developmental, behavioral and neurocognitive sciences, some growing pains are in store. New work demonstrates that research into early social cognitive development must integrate various research fields and methods in order to achieve a more robust understanding of the nature and parameters of human social cognition.     

Effects of classification context on categorization in natural categories

The patterns of classification of borderline instances of eight common taxonomic categories were examined under three different instructional conditions to test two predictions: first, that lack of a specified context contributes to vagueness in categorization, and second, that altering the purpose of classification can lead to greater or lesser dependence on similarity in classification. The instructional conditions contrasted purely pragmatic with more technical/quasi-legal contexts as purposes for classification, and these were compared with a no-context control. The measures of category vagueness were between-subjects disagreement and within-subjects consistency, and the measures of similarity-based categorization were category breadth and the correlation of instance categorization probability with mean rated typicality, independently measured in a neutral context. Contrary to predictions, none of the measures of vagueness, reliability, category breadth, or correlation with typicality were generally affected by the instructional setting as a function of pragmatic versus technical purposes. Only one subcondition, in which a situational context was implied in addition to a purposive context, produced a significant change in categorization. Further experiments demonstrated that the effect of context was not increased when participants talked their way through the task, and that a technical context did not elicit more all-or-none categorization than did a pragmatic context. These findings place an important boundary condition on the effects of instructional context on conceptual categorization.     

Intention or expression? Four-month-olds' reactions to a sudden still-face

We addressed whether 4-month-old infants are primarily influenced by the expression or intention underlying a sudden still-face response by an adult social partner. Sixteen dyads of 4-month-old infants interacted with an adult who posed a still-face directed at one of the two infants. Infants' gazing and smiling responses confirm that they are primarily influenced by the emotional and contingency loss rather than the intention underlying the adult's still-face.     

Predicting the relative efficacy of three presentation methods for assessing preferences of persons with developmental disabilities

Choices were presented to 9 individuals with developmental disabilities using a two-choice format. Each pair of items, selected based on prior preference assessment, was presented to each participant in three conditions (actual items, pictures of the items, and spoken-name presentation) using a reversal design. The evaluation was conducted using food items, and was then repeated using nonfood items. The participants were also given a test to measure their skills on discrimination tasks ranging in difficulty from simple to conditional discriminations. The participants' abilities to make consistent choices with food and nonfood items were predicted, with 94% accuracy, by their discrimination skills. The findings suggest that presentation methods can affect the accuracy of a choice assessment, and that the systematic assessment of basic discrimination skills can be used to predict the effectiveness of different presentation methods in this population.     

“work ethic” in pigeons: Reward value is directly related to the effort or time required to obtain the reward

Stimuli associated with less effort or with shorter delays to reinforcement are generally preferred over those associated with greater effort or longer delays to reinforcement. However, the opposite appears to be true of stimuli thatfollow greater effort or longer delays. In training, a simple simultaneous discrimination followed a single peck to an initial stimulus (S+_FR1 S−_FR1) and a different simple simultaneous discrimination followed 20 pecks to the initial stimulus (S+_FR20 S−_FR20). On test trials, pigeons preferred S+_FR20 over S+_FR1 and S−_FR20 over S−_FR1. These data support the view that the state of the animal immediately prior to presentation of the discrimination affects the value of the reinforcement that follows it. This contrast effect is analogous to effects that when they occur in humans have been attributed to more complex cognitive and social factors.     

The norm of internality in the explanation of psychological events

The norm of internality is defined as a social valorization of explanations of behaviours (attribution) and outcomes (locus of control) which emphazise the causal ro?le of the actor. It is shown in this paper: (1) that internal explanations are linked to self-presentation strategies; (2) that internal explanations are more often selected by middle-class subjects; (3) that these explanations are learned by children and by adults in psycho-socio-educational settings. Finally, the norm of internality is assumed to be linked to social practices (evaluation practices).     

Stress counselling in the Post Office

This paper highlights a unique experiment in stress counselling in industry. It will provide the background to an in-house stress counselling service for postal employees in the north-west and north-east of England. The structure of the counselling service, its location within the organization, the problems of setting it up, the terms of reference, the client base and many more issues will be discussed. In addition, systematic evaluation of the effectiveness of the service has also been independently undertaken and will be discussed. Preliminary findings on the impact of stress counselling on sickness absence and psychosocial measures of job stress are presented and discussed.     

Social dominance and play patterns among preschoolers: Gender comparisons

Gender differences in dominance and play among preschoolers were examined. Forty-eight children in girl-girl or girl-boy dyads engaged in masculine and feminine stereotyped activities. Girl-girl dyads displayed more cooperative play than girl-boy dyads. Adventure themes predominated in boys during both activities but in girls only during the masculine activity. Boys had higher functional play compared to girls while engaged in the feminine activity, and lower constructive play overall. Girls engaged in more dramatic play during the feminine activity whereas boys engaged in more dramatic play during the masculine activity. There was a trend for boys to refuse to follow the leads of girls during the masculine activity. Implications and interventions in play are discussed. The authors wish to express appreciation to the directors of the preschools that participated in this study. We would also like to thank Sheri Wilhite for her help in the coding of the data.