Personality Trait Development and Social Investment in Work

A longitudinal study of employed individuals was used to test the relationship between social investment at work—the act of cognitively and emotionally committing to one’s job—and longitudinal and cross-sectional personality trait development. Participants provided ratings of personality traits and social investment at work at two time-points, separated by approximately 3 years. Data were analyzed using latent change models. Cross-sectional results showed that extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability were related to social investment at work. Additionally, a positive association was found between longitudinal change in social investment in work and change in personality traits—especially conscientiousness. Finally, the correlated changes in social investment and personality traits were invariant across age groups, suggesting that personality traits remain malleable across the lifespan.     

The role of language in mathematical development: evidence from children with specific language impairments

A sample (n=48) of eight-year-olds with specific language impairments is compared with age-matched (n=55) and language matched controls (n=55) on a range of tasks designed to test the interdependence of language and mathematical development. Performance across tasks varies substantially in the SLI group, showing profound deficits in production of the count word sequence and basic calculation and significant deficits in understanding of the place-value principle in Hindu-Arabic notation. Only in understanding of arithmetic principles does SLI performance approximate that of age-matched-controls, indicating that principled understanding can develop even where number sequence production and other aspects of number processing are severely compromised.     

特需医疗服务发展意向研究概述

我国特需医疗服务发展已近20年,尽管其在满足较高层次的医疗保健需求方面确实起到了积极的作用,但同时在特需医疗服务的内涵、服务内容和承担主体等问题上却始终存在着较大争议。本研究从剖析各位学者对上述问题的不同观点入手,对特需医疗服务的供需双方进行意向调查,在此基础上探讨我国特需医疗服务发展的基本思路,为促进我国特需医疗服务的良性发展提供决策的参考依据。     

The Role of Basic, Self-Conscious and Self-Conscious Evaluative Emotions in Children’s Memory and Understanding of Emotion

In past research, emotion has been classified as basic, self-conscious or self-conscious evaluative, with each type of emotion being progressively more difficult for children to understand (Lewis, M. (2000a). In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (2nd ed., pp. 265–280), New York, NY: The Guilford Press). Although researchers have examined children’s understanding of individual emotions (e.g., guilt), researchers have not assessed children’s understanding and memory for emotions based on this classification. In the present research, 6-, 8- and 10-year-old children’s memory and understanding of basic, self-conscious and self-conscious evaluative emotions were examined. Although a memory advantage was found for emotions, this effect was less so for the younger children and less so for non-basic emotions. In fact, 6-year-old children and, to a lesser extent 8-year-old children, were more likely than older children to recall self-conscious and self-conscious evaluative emotions with basic emotion labels, and were more likely to explain them using basic emotion labels. Overall, negative emotions (e.g., mad, guilt) were better recalled than positive emotions (e.g., happy, pride), regardless of type of emotion. Gender differences were found as girls were more likely to remember emotion than boys, especially when the emotion action was specifically labeled and a female character experienced it. Proportions of this research were presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (2005), Atlanta, Georgia and the meeting of the Cognitive Development Society (2005), San Diego, CA.     

Children as Mystics, Activists, Sages, and Holy Fools: Understanding the Spirituality of Children and Its Significance for Clinical Work

This article explores children's spirituality and its significance for health care providers seeking to provide “spiritually competent care” of children amidst religious and spiritual diversity. Four metaphors of different spiritualities evidenced among children are explored: mystics, activists, sages, and holy fools. The article addresses issues clinicians face such as the problem of defining spirituality in relation to religion, and countertransference around religious and spiritual matters. Current research shows that spiritual and religious involvements constitute positive factors promoting resiliency and health in children. James W. Fowler's theory of faith development facilitates an exploration of questions concerning how children develop a belief system, leading to a view of children's spirituality as multidimensional. This article preserves the less formal conversational style of an earlier version's presentation in Grand Rounds at the UCLA Medical Center's Neuropsychiatric Hospital on December 10, 2003.     

Sex Differences in Mothers' Speech and Play Behavior with 6-, 9-, and 14-Month-Old Infants

In this study, we analyzed mothers' speech and play behavior with their 6-, 9-, and 14-month-old sons and daughters. Thirty-six infant–mother dyads participated in a 10-min free-play session with gender-neutral toys. No sex differences were found in the infants' behavior, but sex differences were found in mothers' verbal behavior and level of engagement. Mothers of daughters made more interpretations and engaged in more conversation with their daughters, whereas mothers of sons made more comments and attentionals, which were typified by instructions rather than conversation. Furthermore, mothers interacted more with their daughters than with their sons across all ages. Overall, these results demonstrate that mothers transmit different messages to their male and female infants, both through language and interaction, which may contribute to infants' gender role development.     

论儿童心理发展的模块性问题

模块理论是当代认知心理学中影响很大的一种关于人类认知结构性质及其组成的观点,它对儿童心理发展特别是认知发展领域的研究产生了重要影响。本文从儿童心理发展的视角,探讨了模块理论对于我们理解人类心理发展的意义。     

Assessing the Child's Cognitive Home Environment Through Parental Report; Reliability and Validity

In a series of investigations with poor minority families, we examined the reliability and validity of the StimQ, an office-based interview of children's cognitive home environment. Researchers and practitioners alike recognize the importance of assessing meaningful dimensions of children's early experiences, particularly in families where children may be at risk for later cognitive delay. To date, methodological approaches to the study of parenting have most often relied on home visits and/or labour-intensive observations and coding. Our findings suggest that valid and reliable data about the cognitive environments of poor children can be obtained through maternal report, thereby offering applied scientists a useful alternative to assessing children's early experiences. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

儿童合作策略水平发展的实验研究

本实验将合作策略分为四个水平,随机选取幼儿园中班、大班及小学一、二、三年级的被试300名,在鼓励合作的条件下,通过游戏的方式,研究儿童合作行为发展的趋势.实验结果表明随着儿童年龄的增长,合作行为越来越多,且合作水平越来越高,而竞争行为逐渐减少;性别因素对合作行为影响不大,但对竞争行为却有显著的影响.这可能与我国的家庭教育、学校教育有一定的关系.