Social Cognition and Social Responsiveness in 10-month-old Infants

In this study, we investigated relations between infants' understanding of intentional actions and measures of social responsiveness during a transitional period, 9- to 11-months. Infants (N = 52) were tested in visual habituation paradigms tapping their understanding of the relation between a person and the object of her attention. Measures of social responsiveness included orienting to the target of another's attention, point production, and supported joint attention in parent---child play. Infants' responses to the habituation events were related to their social responsiveness. Distinct factors for understanding actions and social responsiveness as relational were revealed. Infants who produced object-directed points were more likely to understand pointing as relational, and infants who engaged in high amounts of shared attention were more likely to understand gaze. Infants' tendency to orient in response to an adult's gaze shifts and points was unrelated to their understanding of gaze and pointing. These findings elucidate the ways in which social cognition and social responsiveness, although distinct, are related in development.     

Infants generate goal-based action predictions

Predicting the actions of others is critical to smooth social interactions. Prior work suggests that both understanding and anticipation of goal-directed actions appears early in development. In this study, on-line goal prediction was tested explicitly using an adaptation of Woodward's (1998) paradigm for an eye-tracking task. Twenty 11-month-olds were familiarized to movie clips of a hand reaching to grasp one of two objects. Then object locations were swapped, and the hand made an incomplete reach between the objects. Here, infants reliably made their first look from the hand to the familiarized goal object, now in a new location. A separate control condition of 20 infants familiarized to the same movements of an unfamiliar claw revealed the opposite pattern: reliable prediction to the familiarized location, rather than the familiarized object. This study suggests that by 11 months infants actively use goal analysis to generate on-line predictions of an agent's next action.     

Age and health care beliefs: self-efficacy as a mediator of low desire for control

The relation between individuals' age, desire for control, information, and perceived self-efficacy was examined using a cross-sectional comparison of 116 noninstitutionalized adults, ages 20 to 99. We found that individuals over 60 years of age desired less health-related control than did younger adults, and preferred that health professionals make decisions for them. Differences in desire for health-related information were in the same direction but were not significant. Older adults also desired less control in general day-to-day living. Perceived self-efficacy was also lower for individuals over 60 years of age. Results suggested that perceived self-efficacy mediated the age differences in health-related desire for control. Mediation of general desire for control, however, was not strong. Cohort and developmental explanations are provided for these findings. It is suggested that those individuals most at risk for chronic illnesses and hospitalization are also those who are most likely to fail to take an active role in their health care.