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Title: Converging evidence of the development of efficient inhibition.
Creator: Harnishfeger, Katherine Kipp, Florida Atlantic University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Four experiments were conducted to examine developmental differences in inhibitory processing. Experiment 1 demonstrated increasing inhibitory efficiency with age in a Stroop-type task. First graders did not show a significant inhibition effect, which was shown by all older groups. With age, greater proportional decrements in response latency were found for Stroop tasks with an inhibition component than for a standard Stroop task. Experiment 2 contrasted cued-recall performance on an...
Show moreFour experiments were conducted to examine developmental differences in inhibitory processing. Experiment 1 demonstrated increasing inhibitory efficiency with age in a Stroop-type task. First graders did not show a significant inhibition effect, which was shown by all older groups. With age, greater proportional decrements in response latency were found for Stroop tasks with an inhibition component than for a standard Stroop task. Experiment 2 contrasted cued-recall performance on an unrelated list with performance on a list of scrambled high-associate pairs. Kindergartners, second and fourth graders recalled less than adults, and more of their total output during recall was composed of inappropriate intrusions. Examination of interitem response latencies revealed that kindergartners' processing did not differentiate between inappropriate intrusions and correct responses, whereas older subjects distinguished between correct responses and all errors. In Experiment 3, subjects were read lists of words, were told to forget some of the words, and then were unexpectedly asked to recall the to-be-forgotten words. Adults and fifth graders who were told to forget were able to inhibit the pre-cue items, although the words were available in a recognition task. First graders were not able to inhibit activations of pre-cue items, and they did not show the standard directed-forgetting patterns of performance. Patterns of inhibition for third grade children fell between that of first and fifth graders. In Experiment 4, an intentional/incidental contrast was added to the directed-forgetting paradigm. This experiment replicated earlier work, finding directed-forgetting effects for both incidentally and intentionally learned words. Developmental changes in performance replicated those of Experiment 3. Latencies between consecutively recalled words were also examined. Subjects who were not told to forget words showed a processing advantage, in terms of faster latencies, for primacy items. When subjects were given the forget cue, their processing was slightly quicker for second list half items. In general, results were consistent with the inefficient inhibition hypothesis, suggesting that inhibitory processing becomes more efficient over the elementary school years. Implications for the limited mental resources model, and the inefficient inhibition hypothesis, were discussed.
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Date Issued: 1991
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12274
Subject Headings: Psychology, Developmental
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The Cinderella effect: The psychological bases and mental dynamics of step-parental ambivalence.
Creator: Miller, Mandy E., Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Cross-cultural empirical data show that stepchildren receive lower levels of parental investment than their genetic counterparts. Beyond economic deprivation, stepchildren are abused, neglected, and murdered at the hands of stepparents at significantly higher rates than their genetic counterparts (the Cinderella Effect). This study was focused on emotional capital as a resource for purposes of parental investment. Using the tools of dynamical systems, this study investigated the affective...
Show moreCross-cultural empirical data show that stepchildren receive lower levels of parental investment than their genetic counterparts. Beyond economic deprivation, stepchildren are abused, neglected, and murdered at the hands of stepparents at significantly higher rates than their genetic counterparts (the Cinderella Effect). This study was focused on emotional capital as a resource for purposes of parental investment. Using the tools of dynamical systems, this study investigated the affective components of the differential levels of parental investment in genetic and step-children in light of predictions derived from evolutionary and personality/synchronization based psychological mechanisms. This was accomplished by defining and comparing the valence and nature of step- and genetic parents' feelings toward genetic and step-children and by tracking the mental dynamics engaged in by such parents as they considered their genetic and step-children under varying commonplace circumstances. As predicted, positive affective parental investment was found to be allocated preferentially in favor of genetic children and parents were found to have consistently more positive, more parental, and less volatile feelings about their genetic children than about their stepchildren. Genetic parents were more attentive to environmental cues at an affective level and tended to resolve situational ambiguity in favor of adopting a positive affective stance, while stepparents were more prone to experience affective shifts between evaluative frames and to express negative affectivity in the face of social uncertainty. The data also revealed that both genetic and step-parents were more likely to express positive feelings for children to whom they felt similar, which similarity provided a basis for personal synchronization. Theoretically grounded in both the evolutionary perspective and personality-based theory, this study employed the methodology and tools of dynamical systems to extract structure from the dynamics inherent in parental evaluation and the expression of affect.
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Date Issued: 2004
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FADT12119
Subject Headings: Psychology, Social, Psychology, Developmental
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Children's perceptions of the consequences of aggression toward victimized peers.
Creator: Williard, Jean Carlisle, Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: In Study 1, fourth--through seventh-grade children (mean age = 11.5 years) were asked to estimate the likelihood that various outcomes would occur following hypothetical acts of aggression by themselves toward victimized and nonvictimized peers. Subjects were also asked to indicate how much they valued the occurrence of the outcomes. When the targets of the aggression were victimized peers, children were more likely to anticipate tangible rewards, more likely to expect signs of victim...
Show moreIn Study 1, fourth--through seventh-grade children (mean age = 11.5 years) were asked to estimate the likelihood that various outcomes would occur following hypothetical acts of aggression by themselves toward victimized and nonvictimized peers. Subjects were also asked to indicate how much they valued the occurrence of the outcomes. When the targets of the aggression were victimized peers, children were more likely to anticipate tangible rewards, more likely to expect signs of victim suffering, and less likely to anticipate retaliation than when aggressing against nonvictimized peers. Also, children placed greater value on securing tangible rewards but were less concerned by the thought of hurting or by the thought of their target retaliating when attacking a victimized peer than attacking a nonvictimized peer. This pattern was stronger for boys than for girls. Study 2 was designed to see what evaluative reactions fourth--through seventh-grade children (mean age = 11.3 years) would expect from themselves, from peers, and from teachers for aggression against victimized and nonvictimized peers. When contemplating aggressing against a victimized peer, children expected less disapproval from self and peers. A second purpose of Study 2 was to determine whether children were more likely to display hostile attributional bias toward victimized peers than toward nonvictimized peers. As predicted, hostile attributional bias was greater toward victimized peers than toward nonvictimized peers. Implications for theories of aggression, future areas of research, and for intervention with victimized children are discussed.
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Date Issued: 1990
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12259
Subject Headings: Psychology, Developmental, Psychology, Personality
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The effect of prior knowledge and metamemory on the acquisition of a reading comprehension strategy.
Creator: Gaultney, Jane F., Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: This experiment examined the impact of knowledge base and declarative metamemory knowledge on the acquisition of a reading comprehension strategy. Fourth- and fifth-grade boys who were poor readers were tested for their baseball knowledge and declarative metamemory knowledge. Those boys who were designated as baseball experts were included in the experiment. The boys were pretested for strategy use and comprehension, received two days of training in the use of the strategy, and then were...
Show moreThis experiment examined the impact of knowledge base and declarative metamemory knowledge on the acquisition of a reading comprehension strategy. Fourth- and fifth-grade boys who were poor readers were tested for their baseball knowledge and declarative metamemory knowledge. Those boys who were designated as baseball experts were included in the experiment. The boys were pretested for strategy use and comprehension, received two days of training in the use of the strategy, and then were later tested twice: once within 3 days of training, then again 2-3 weeks later. The boys were divided into four groups. The T-BB (training, baseball stories) group received training in the use of the strategy using baseball stories. The T-NB (training, nonbaseball) group received equivalent training but used nonbaseball sports stories. Two control groups received equal time with the experimenter and equal reading practice with either baseball or nonbaseball stories, but were not taught the strategy. Because there were no differences in the level of strategy use or comprehension of the two control groups they were later combined into one control group. The target strategy was the asking of "why" questions in response to facts in the text. The asking of "why" questions has been hypothesized to activate relevant schema which are then used to facilitate the memorization of new material. Poor readers often do not utilize their existing knowledge to process new information. Children who received training with baseball stories (T-BB) demonstrated greater strategy acquisition than both other groups when tested both 2-3 days later (near posttest), and also when tested 2-3 weeks later (distant posttest). Group membership (T-BB, T-NB, or Control) did not impact free or cued recall. Declarative metacognitive knowledge impacted strategy acquisition and recall. Higher-metacognitive children asked more "why" questions than did lower-metacognitive children, demonstrated greater free recall, and were more likely to benefit from the strategy training in terms of cued recall. An unexpected finding was that children in the T-BB group asked more "why" questions in response to nonbaseball rather than baseball stories. This was discussed in terms of an appropriate increase of monitoring by the children who were trained within their area of expertise. Overall, children recalled more of the baseball than the nonbaseball stories. While both training groups had significant correlations between strategy use and free recall at the distant posttest, indicating a recall benefit associated with strategy use, only T-BB children had significant correlations at the near posttest.
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Date Issued: 1992
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12304
Subject Headings: Psychology, Developmental, Psychology, Experimental
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Influences of child temperament and maternal childrearing behavior on victimization in the peer group.
Creator: Malone, Maurice James, Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Possible contributions of child temperamental styles and maternal parenting behaviors to the prediction of victimization in the peer group were examined. 106 middle-class boys and girls in the 4th through 7th grades and their mothers participated in the study. Children reported on the parenting behavior of their mothers, male and female same grade classmates nominated subjects on victimization and other social behaviors, and mothers of the children reported on their child's temperament....
Show morePossible contributions of child temperamental styles and maternal parenting behaviors to the prediction of victimization in the peer group were examined. 106 middle-class boys and girls in the 4th through 7th grades and their mothers participated in the study. Children reported on the parenting behavior of their mothers, male and female same grade classmates nominated subjects on victimization and other social behaviors, and mothers of the children reported on their child's temperament. Results indicated no moderator or mediator roles, for child temperament or maternal parenting, in the prediction of victimization. However, for boys, maternal overprotective parenting was associated with peer victimization. Maternal overprotectiveness also predicted boys' internalizing problems among peers. For girls, maternal hostility was associated with peer victimization and internalizing problems. For both sexes, hostile parenting predicted externalizing problems in the peer group. An impulsive temperamental style also predicted externalizing problems for both sexes. A unifying theory explaining gender differences in the relation between maternal behaviors and peer victimization was given. Suggestions for future research were also advanced.
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Date Issued: 1996
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12484
Subject Headings: Psychology, Developmental, Psychology, Personality
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The relations of gender identity to preadolescents' adjustment and friendship patterns.
Creator: Carver, Priscilla Rouse, Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this study was twofold: first, this research was conducted in order to replicate and extend Egan and Perry's (2001) work linking four components of gender identity to adjustment; second, this research was intended to extend knowledge of the relation between gender identity and affiliational patterns in the peer group. Measures of gender identity were (a) feelings of gender typicality, (b) contentment with one's gender assignment, (c) felt pressure for gender conformity, and (d)...
Show moreThe purpose of this study was twofold: first, this research was conducted in order to replicate and extend Egan and Perry's (2001) work linking four components of gender identity to adjustment; second, this research was intended to extend knowledge of the relation between gender identity and affiliational patterns in the peer group. Measures of gender identity were (a) feelings of gender typicality, (b) contentment with one's gender assignment, (c) felt pressure for gender conformity, and (d) intergroup bias (feeling that one's own sex is superior to the other). Measures of adjustment included self-esteem, peer rejection, victimization by peers, and specific social behaviors. Participants were 206 children in Grades 3 through 8. Low gender typicality, low gender contentedness, and high felt pressure were all associated with maladjustment. Furthermore, children were especially likely to be at risk for poor adjustment when two of these factors occurred together (e.g., low gender typicality in combination with high felt pressure, low gender contentedness in combination with high felt pressure, or low gender typicality in combination with low gender contentedness). Intergroup bias was unrelated to adjustment. Analyses relating gender identity to characteristics of reciprocated friends and disliked peers indicated that children tend to choose friends with similar clusters of gender identity-linked characteristics and avoid children who do not possess those characteristics. Interpretations and directions for future research are offered.
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Date Issued: 2002
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/11978
Subject Headings: Psychology, Social, Psychology, Developmental
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: AGING VIEWED FROM A LIFE-SPAN PERSPECTIVE.
Creator: TAYLOR, REBECCA CATHERINE., Florida Atlantic University, Britt, David, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Sociology
Abstract/Description: Developmental research has typically focused on one specific and rather narrowly defined age group. It is suggested that attention to a life-span perspective is increasing and that potentially such a perspective will integrate our concept of human development, especially in regard to the study of aging. Toward this end, the paper discusses paradigm differences in the definition of development and how these definitions have affected previous developmental studies. The developmental theories of...
Show moreDevelopmental research has typically focused on one specific and rather narrowly defined age group. It is suggested that attention to a life-span perspective is increasing and that potentially such a perspective will integrate our concept of human development, especially in regard to the study of aging. Toward this end, the paper discusses paradigm differences in the definition of development and how these definitions have affected previous developmental studies. The developmental theories of Piaget, Mead, and Erikson are presented as a broad theoretical framework for life-span research. Methodological implications of a life-span perspective are considered.
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Date Issued: 1976
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13816
Subject Headings: Aging, Developmental psychology
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Developmental differences in memory, recall, and suggestibility two years later: Should young children be considered "aye" witnesses?.
Creator: Cassel, William Steven, Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Kindergartners, grade 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 children, and adult college students participated in a two-year longitudinal study of eyewitness memory, recall, and suggestibility with one- and two-year assessment periods additionally, kindergartners and adults participated in a short-term repeated trials free recall study. Delays varied from a few minutes (in the short-term repeated free recall trial) to two years in the longitudinal study. Subjects were asked free-recall (open ended), unbiased cued...
Show moreKindergartners, grade 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 children, and adult college students participated in a two-year longitudinal study of eyewitness memory, recall, and suggestibility with one- and two-year assessment periods additionally, kindergartners and adults participated in a short-term repeated trials free recall study. Delays varied from a few minutes (in the short-term repeated free recall trial) to two years in the longitudinal study. Subjects were asked free-recall (open ended), unbiased cued recall, and specifically suggestive (leading) questions about the event they had observed as well as their involvement in the experiment at the initial phase one or two years before. Longer delays resulted in lower levels of correct free recall which varied positively with age. Levels of incorrect free recall were at floor for all trials. With longer delays, unbiased cued-recall questions resulted in higher levels of incorrect responses. Differential levels of correct free recall were found for different categories of items, with the central (most legally important) items being recalled correctly by all age groups more often than the less central items. Kindergarten and second grade children were the most influenced by leading questions and were found to be most influenced by the type question (correctly or incorrectly suggestive) posed first. Responses by kindergartners to later questions about the same items were influenced by the leading nature of the initial question with kindergarten and second grade children responding incorrectly to the follow-up questions based upon their answers to the initial questions. The order of presentation effect was enhanced for questions suggesting incorrect responses. The longer delays diminished the age effects of leading questions between the older children and adults. Examination of short-term delay repeated recall trials disclosed that adults produced higher percentages of correct free recall with each subsequent trial, while the kindergarten children did not. Collapsed across grade, subjects who increased their levels of correct free recall following their unbiased cued-recall trial generally remained at that higher level for the remaining free-recall trials. Small hypermnesia effects were found for certain treatment groups. Results are discussed in terms of information processing and fuzzy-trace theories.
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Date Issued: 1993
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12350
Subject Headings: Law, Psychology, Developmental
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Developmental differences in the source monitoring of efficient and inefficient inhibitors.
Creator: Kennedy, Elizabeth Carol, Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Source monitoring capabilities in children four, five, and six years of age classified along high and low inhibition abilities were investigated in three different conditions of source monitoring: reality monitoring, internal source monitoring, and external source monitoring. Specifically, children's misattribution errors in internal and reality source monitoring conditions with regard to their inhibition status was investigated. During one testing session, children were randomly assigned to...
Show moreSource monitoring capabilities in children four, five, and six years of age classified along high and low inhibition abilities were investigated in three different conditions of source monitoring: reality monitoring, internal source monitoring, and external source monitoring. Specifically, children's misattribution errors in internal and reality source monitoring conditions with regard to their inhibition status was investigated. During one testing session, children were randomly assigned to the three source monitoring conditions and invited to participate in puzzle completion tasks. In the reality source monitoring condition, children and experimenters took turns placing the puzzle pieces on a puzzle board. In the internal source monitoring condition, children were requested to actually place half of the puzzle pieces of their choice and to pretend to place the other half on the board. In the external source monitoring condition, children were requested to watch two different experimenters taking turns placing puzzle pieces on the board. After a short retention interval, children were surprised with a puzzle piece recall test. Children's inhibition abilities were assessed with three different inhibition tasks during a subsequent testing session and consisted of a tapping test, Simon Says test, and response compatibility test. Median splits determined children's inhibition abilities as either high (efficient) or low (inefficient). Sets of analysis of variance tests compared participants' general recall performance abilities among the three conditions of source monitoring and evaluated participants' reality and internal performance abilities with regard to inhibition status. The first set of analyses indicated that children made the most recall errors in the external source monitoring condition and the fewest in the reality source monitoring condition. The second set of analyses revealed that 4-year-old boys, compared to 5- and 6-year-old boys, committed more errors toward the misattribution bias in the internal condition, while 4-year-old girls, compared to 5- and 6-year-old girls, committed more errors against the bias. The third set of analyses supported the hypothesis that inefficient inhibitors on the tapping task committed more errors toward the misattribution bias in the internal source monitoring condition than those in the reality condition.
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Date Issued: 1998, 1998
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12556
Subject Headings: Psychology, Developmental, Psychology, Experimental, Psychology, Cognitive
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Risk factors in peer victimization: Concurrent and longitudinal findings.
Creator: Hodges, Ernest Van Every, Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: This dissertation involved two studies The first evaluated the hypothesis that the behavior problems which place children at risk for victimization by peers are likely to lead to victimization primarily when children are also at "social risk" for victimization. Social risk was defined as lacking supportive friends or as being rejected by the peer group. Subjects were 229 boys and girls in the third through seventh grades (M age = 11.2 years). Sociometric and peer nomination instruments were...
Show moreThis dissertation involved two studies The first evaluated the hypothesis that the behavior problems which place children at risk for victimization by peers are likely to lead to victimization primarily when children are also at "social risk" for victimization. Social risk was defined as lacking supportive friends or as being rejected by the peer group. Subjects were 229 boys and girls in the third through seventh grades (M age = 11.2 years). Sociometric and peer nomination instruments were used to measure behavior problems, friendship variables, peer rejection, and victimization. As predicted, behavior problems (internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and physical weakness) related more strongly to victimization when children had few friends, had friends who were incapable of fulfilling a protective function (e.g., were physically weak), or were rejected by peers than when children had more friends, had friends capable of defending them, or were better liked by peers. Results support the theory that social risk conditions invite and permit abuse of vulnerable children. Study 2 was a one-year longitudinal investigation designed to evaluate whether the behavioral and social problems that characterize victimized children are antecedents of victimization, consequences of victimization, or both. To examine these issues, 173 children from Study 1 were assessed one year later on the same variables that were measured in Study 1. Results provide information about both the antecedents and the outcomes of victimization.
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Date Issued: 1996
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12469
Subject Headings: Psychology, Behavioral, Psychology, Social, Psychology, Developmental
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Structure and function in the developing brain: Effects of early frontal and cerebellar lesions on activity, learning, social and emotional behavior in the rat.
Creator: Stevenson, Bernadette Mietus, Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Autism, characterized by disrupted social interaction and communication skills, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), characterized by hyperactivity and inattention, are two neurodevelopmental disorders that have recently been linked to common dysfunctions in the frontal lobes and cerebellum. The present study was designed to evaluate the neonatal rat as an animal model for neurodevelopmental disorders. The behavior of rats with early Frontal (FR), Cerebellar (CB), or Frontal +...
Show moreAutism, characterized by disrupted social interaction and communication skills, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), characterized by hyperactivity and inattention, are two neurodevelopmental disorders that have recently been linked to common dysfunctions in the frontal lobes and cerebellum. The present study was designed to evaluate the neonatal rat as an animal model for neurodevelopmental disorders. The behavior of rats with early Frontal (FR), Cerebellar (CB), or Frontal + Cerebellar (FR + CB) lesions, performed at either Post-natal Day 2 (PD 2) or 9 (PD 9), was evaluated with regard to activity, learning, social, and emotional behavior between the age of 3--31 days. In Experiment 1, 3 and 10-day-old pups were tested on their ability to habituate to a novel odor. FR lesions increased activity in 3-days-olds while CB, and FR + CB lesions disrupted odor habituation learning in 10-day-olds. In Experiment 2, 17-day-old pups were evaluated on activity in the open-field and ability to habituate to a novel environment. FR lesions resulted in increased locomotor activity while CB lesions resulted in increased grooming, a stereotypical behavior. Pups with PD 9 CB lesions also failed to habituate to the novel environment of the open-field. In Experiment 3, 24-day-old juveniles were evaluated on social behavior in the play test, as measured by frequency of pinning behavior. FR lesions increased levels of play behavior while CB lesions decreased play. In Experiment 4, 31-day-old juveniles were evaluated on emotionality in the elevated plus maze as measured by the number of distal open arms entries. Rats with CB lesions made twice as many distal open arm entries relative to the other lesioned groups; however, this result did not reach statistical significance. In conclusion, the results of the present study suggest that the effects of early frontal and cerebellar lesions can be dissociated on several different behavioral measures in young rats. Furthermore, neonatal rats with frontal and cerebellar lesions exhibit several behaviors during ontogeny that mimic those seen in children with ADHD and autism, such as hyperactivity and disrupted social interaction. The neonatal rat may thus prove to be a useful animal model for childhood neurodevelopmental disorders.
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Date Issued: 2001
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/11956
Subject Headings: Psychology, Psychobiology, Psychology, Developmental, Psychology, Physiological
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Social context and sex-typing in young children: Friendship status and peer affect influences.
Creator: Sung, Hung-yen Angela, Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Social context effects on young children's sex-typing were examined in two studies. In Study 1 sex-typed toy choices of 139 children aged 4 to 8 were assessed first for a solitary-play context, and then for three social contexts distinguished as to friendship status of a specified play partner (represented by a photo): best friend, acquaintance, and an unfamiliar peer. For each context, children selected preferred toys from photographs of a neutral toy paired with either a same- or opposite...
Show moreSocial context effects on young children's sex-typing were examined in two studies. In Study 1 sex-typed toy choices of 139 children aged 4 to 8 were assessed first for a solitary-play context, and then for three social contexts distinguished as to friendship status of a specified play partner (represented by a photo): best friend, acquaintance, and an unfamiliar peer. For each context, children selected preferred toys from photographs of a neutral toy paired with either a same- or opposite-sex toy. Results indicated social context effects for girls but not boys, in that girls tended to display more sex-typed toy choices in the solitary and best-friend than in the acquaintance or unfamiliar peer contexts. In general, however, girls approached same-sex toys less than boys, while both sexes avoided opposite-sex toys to a similar extent. In Study 2 subjects were 68 children aged 4 to 7. They were asked to imitate videotaped masculine, feminine, and neutral actions of a hand puppet. For different children, the puppet was designated (by name and photo display) as either a best friend or acquaintance, and it engaged in the sex-typed activities with either gender-congruent or incongruent affect (happy for same-sex actions and sad for opposite-sex actions, or the reverse). Friendship status and gender-affect congruency effects which varied with age level were evident for several memory measures. Incongruency promoted accurate imitative matching for the acquaintance context in younger children, and for the best-friend context in older children. In addition, best-friends' feminine actions were imitated more accurately than their masculine or neutral actions. Subject age and sex also interacted with activity gender type and gender-affect congruency to influence peer affect recall, with poorer recall of feminine-activity affect by boys in the incongruent condition. While social context had little impact upon boys' reported affect, girls' enjoyment was lower for masculine activity imitation in the best-friend congruent-affect condition. Overall, the two studies demonstrate that young children's gendered behaviors show considerable sensitivity to social context factors, and indicate the important influence of affective factors in early sex-typing.
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Date Issued: 1996
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12473
Subject Headings: Psychology, Social, Psychology, Developmental, Psychology, Experimental
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: An evolutionary psychological approach to the study of sibling influences.
Creator: Michalski, Richard L., Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Research in the psychological sciences has long focused on the impact families have on later development. One feature of families is the birth order in which children from one family develop. Birth order serves as a proxy for developmentally relevant criteria including differences in age, size, and status between siblings. Following from theories derived from evolutionary psychology, differences in perceived favoritism, personality dimensions, and sexual strategy are examined. As an initial...
Show moreResearch in the psychological sciences has long focused on the impact families have on later development. One feature of families is the birth order in which children from one family develop. Birth order serves as a proxy for developmentally relevant criteria including differences in age, size, and status between siblings. Following from theories derived from evolutionary psychology, differences in perceived favoritism, personality dimensions, and sexual strategy are examined. As an initial examination of the influences siblings can have beyond childhood, responses to the upset over the infidelities of in-laws are examined. Results from this series of studies suggests (1) birth order does not covary with personality but that distinctions among the relatedness between siblings can provide fruitful avenues of future research, (2) features of sexual strategy do covary with birth order, particularly variables related to projected sexual strategy, (3) perceptions of parental favoritism covary with the birth order of the participant, and (4) men and women do not differ in their upset over the infidelities of brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law but that the mechanisms generating upset over a sibling-in-law's infidelity may be sensitive to the age of the sibling and thus, the birth orders of the participant and sibling.
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Date Issued: 2005
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12159
Subject Headings: Social Work, Psychology, Developmental, Psychology, Personality
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Exposure to reading and motivation to read as mediators of the relationship between socioeconomic status and reading comprehension skills in adolescents: A multi-national investigation.
Creator: Vagi, Kevin J., Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: This study examined the hypothesis that both exposure to reading materials in the home and intrinsic motivation to read mediate the relationship between socioeconomic status and reading comprehension skills in adolescents. Data were derived from the Program for International Student Assessment 2000 dataset (PISA 2000). Six countries out of forty-three were chosen on the basis of country-level SES: two from the bottom 25th percentile (Thailand, Mexico), two at the 50th percentile (Austria,...
Show moreThis study examined the hypothesis that both exposure to reading materials in the home and intrinsic motivation to read mediate the relationship between socioeconomic status and reading comprehension skills in adolescents. Data were derived from the Program for International Student Assessment 2000 dataset (PISA 2000). Six countries out of forty-three were chosen on the basis of country-level SES: two from the bottom 25th percentile (Thailand, Mexico), two at the 50th percentile (Austria, France), and two at the 75th percentile (Norway, United States). Data analysis was conducted on a total of 27,351 participants and 823 schools. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analyses were conducted to examine predictors of reading comprehension skills. Follow-up analyses using logistic regression were conducted to predict group membership (i.e., poor vs. normal readers). Results support the idea that exposure to reading materials in the home mediates the relationship between SES and reading comprehension skills at the child level, regardless of the overall economic state of the country. This relationship did not hold when predicting at the school level. Intrinsic motivation to read was consistently a poor predictor.
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Date Issued: 2006
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12236
Subject Headings: Education, Reading, Psychology, Developmental, Psychology, Experimental
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Effects of giftedness and achievement on the training and transfer of a strategy for solving analogies.
Creator: Muir-Broaddus, Jacqueline E., Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: This research explored group differences according to giftedness and achievement in the acquisition and generalization of a strategy for solving analogies. A distinction was made between proximal and distal transfer, with the latter expected to differentiate between gifted and nongifted cognition. Underachievement in gifted children was expected to reflect either strategy deficits, or the absence of performance differences in a theoretically important cognitive skill (generalization) between...
Show moreThis research explored group differences according to giftedness and achievement in the acquisition and generalization of a strategy for solving analogies. A distinction was made between proximal and distal transfer, with the latter expected to differentiate between gifted and nongifted cognition. Underachievement in gifted children was expected to reflect either strategy deficits, or the absence of performance differences in a theoretically important cognitive skill (generalization) between the so-called "underachieving" gifted and other bright but nongifted children. 162 seventh and eighth graders were selected according to intelligence and achievement scores, academic program, and teacher opinion, and assigned to one of four groups: high achieving gifted, underachieving gifted, high achieving nongifted, and average achieving nongifted. Each child was seen individually for two sessions, and solved a total of five sets of ten multiple-choice analogies. The first session included two baseline trials (one verbal and one figural set), followed by training in the use of a strategy. The second session included a proximal transfer trial (same analogy type as used at training), and a distal transfer trial (analogies from the never-trained domain). All analogies were solved orally, and strategy use was determined from audio-recordings. The results showed that the high achieving gifted children were more spontaneously, frequently, and successfully strategic than the other three groups, as well as most accurate following the decision not to use a strategy. They were also the only group to show performance increases at distal transfer. In terms of gifted underachievement, there was evidence to support both hypotheses. The underachieving gifted children showed qualitative deficits in strategic functioning as compared to their high achieving gifted counterparts, and also tended to "look" like the high achieving nongifted group in their patterns of performance. These results were discussed in terms of the likelihood of subgroups of underachieving gifted children, and their implications for education and the identification of giftedness.
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Date Issued: 1990
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12258
Subject Headings: Education, Educational Psychology, Education, Special, Psychology, Developmental, Psychology, Experimental
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: CHILDREN’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSIVENESS AND THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF PARENTS’ EXPRESSIVE TENDENCIES DURING EMOTIONALLY POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE INTERACTIONS.
Creator: Smatrakaleva, Kristina G., Jones, Nancy Aaron, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Psychology, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Abstract/Description: This study examines how children learn emotional information and management from their primary caretakers during interactions with positive and negative narratives. Fifty-six preschoolers and their parents participated in a storytelling and discussion task, where each parent presented a happy and a sad story. Preschoolers were coded for their involvement, emotional comprehension, and concern, while parents were rated on their support, scaffolding, and expressiveness. Findings reveal that warm...
Show moreThis study examines how children learn emotional information and management from their primary caretakers during interactions with positive and negative narratives. Fifty-six preschoolers and their parents participated in a storytelling and discussion task, where each parent presented a happy and a sad story. Preschoolers were coded for their involvement, emotional comprehension, and concern, while parents were rated on their support, scaffolding, and expressiveness. Findings reveal that warm responsive and expressive parental behaviors contribute significantly to children’s cognitive and emotional skills during both positive and negative narrative interactions. Parents high in support and expressiveness (both during the task and within the home) had children who showed higher total expression, in addition to being more positively expressive, more involved, and more understanding of emotional concepts. These results reinforce previously established beliefs on the importance of emotionally open, positively expressive, and cognitively stimulating parent-child interactions on emotional, social, and regulatory competence.
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Date Issued: 2022
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014011
Subject Headings: Parent and child, Emotion, Developmental psychology
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: DEVELOPMENT OF INFANT AGENCY.
Creator: Sloan, Aliza T., Jones, Nancy Aaron, Kelso, J. A. Scott, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Psychology, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Abstract/Description: The mobile conjugate reinforcement (MCR) paradigm, made famous by Carolyn Rovee-Collier and her colleagues (Rovee & Rovee, 1969), has long been used to study infant learning and memory. In MCR studies, the infant's foot is tethered to a mobile hanging overhead, and the mobile responds directly to the infant's kicking. Infant kicking rate triples within a few minutes of interacting with the mobile. This result was classically interpreted as evidence of reinforcement learning. Kelso and Fuchs ...
Show moreThe mobile conjugate reinforcement (MCR) paradigm, made famous by Carolyn Rovee-Collier and her colleagues (Rovee & Rovee, 1969), has long been used to study infant learning and memory. In MCR studies, the infant's foot is tethered to a mobile hanging overhead, and the mobile responds directly to the infant's kicking. Infant kicking rate triples within a few minutes of interacting with the mobile. This result was classically interpreted as evidence of reinforcement learning. Kelso and Fuchs (2016) reinterpreted it as evidence that a coordinative structure, or functional synergy, forms between infant and mobile, triggering a positive feedback loop between the two. Positive feedback is proposed to give rise to an `Aha!' moment as the (prelinguistic) infant suddenly realizes it is an agent in control of the mobile's motion. While some have theorized the realization of self as causal agent emerges from organism-environment interactions, Kelso and Fuchs (2016) developed a mathematical model of the coordination dynamics between the infant and mobile, providing mechanistic explanations for the formation of agency. The current study was the first to measure movement of the mobile and analyze how dynamics of coordination between infant and mobile relate to possible transitions from spontaneous to intentional action. Novel measures of infant and mobile dynamics were used to test model predictions. Infant activity dropped drastically in response to non-contingent mobile movement and remained suppressed at the start of infant~mobile contingency, suggesting that mobile movement triggers a qualitatively different context for infants. This finding challenges the widely held assumption that mobile movement rewards and stimulates infant movement and calls into question the sufficiency of standard contingency detection cut-offs and explanations of conjugate reinforcement learning. Assessing coordination dynamics on a fine time scale using new analytical techniques made it possible to identify moments of agentive realization. Approaching agency as a relational phenomenon allowed for detailed characterization of the infant~mobile relationship and its role in the emergence of causal agency. In addition, the results revealed a number of surprising insights into agency formation such as the critical role of inactivity for agentive discovery and the possibility of intermediary stages or quasi-agentive states.
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Date Issued: 2022
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013967
Subject Headings: Infants, Infants--Development, Developmental psychology
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The relationship between well-being and social interaction with friends, family, and spouses in older adults.
Creator: Green, Laura Rae, Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: The purpose of the present study was to explore several questions about the relationship between well-being and social interaction in a sample of older adults. The primary question involved the relationship between three components of well-being--life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect--and quality and quantity of social interaction. It was found that social interaction variables correlated differently with affective and cognitive components of well-being, with quality of...
Show moreThe purpose of the present study was to explore several questions about the relationship between well-being and social interaction in a sample of older adults. The primary question involved the relationship between three components of well-being--life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect--and quality and quantity of social interaction. It was found that social interaction variables correlated differently with affective and cognitive components of well-being, with quality of social interaction being associated with higher life satisfaction, and social quantity of interaction being associated with higher positive affect. These relationships were stronger for interactions with friends than for interactions with family members. Quality of social interaction with spouse was also related to well-being.
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Date Issued: 1997
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12545
Subject Headings: Gerontology, Psychology, Social, Psychology, Developmental, Sociology, Individual and Family Studies
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Longitudinal stability of jealousy in infancy.
Creator: Pineda, Melannie, Jones, Nancy Aaron, Mize, Krystal D.
Abstract/Description: Jealousy
Date Issued: 2012-04-06
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3349041
Subject Headings: Developmental psychology, Child development, Parent-Infant relations
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Muddling through: how young caregivers manage changing complexities.
Creator: Kain, Carole A., Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing
Abstract/Description: In the United States, an estimated 1.4 million children and adolescents, age 18 and under, provide daily unpaid physical, emotional and supportive care to a chronically ill or disabled family member (NAC & UHF). While the phenomenon of caregiving performed by adult children and spouses has been extensively explored by nursing, little is known about how Young Adolescent Caregivers manage being a caregiver while they attend school and mature socially as an adolescent. The purpose of this...
Show moreIn the United States, an estimated 1.4 million children and adolescents, age 18 and under, provide daily unpaid physical, emotional and supportive care to a chronically ill or disabled family member (NAC & UHF). While the phenomenon of caregiving performed by adult children and spouses has been extensively explored by nursing, little is known about how Young Adolescent Caregivers manage being a caregiver while they attend school and mature socially as an adolescent. The purpose of this Grounded Theory study was to identify and describe the basic social psychological problem shared by young adolescent caregivers girls, (N=9), aged 11-14, and the basic social processes used to manage the shared problem. Using the constant comparative method of data analysis, from audio taped and transcribed, semi-structured interviews were reviewed. The Basic Social Psychological Process (BSPP) identified was Managing Complexities. Muddling Through (BSP) was the process identified through constant comparison of the data to create categories. The phases of Muddling Through are: Becoming a Caregiver, Choosing Family, Creating Structure and Maintaining Balance. Young adolescents experienced becoming a caregiver through three paths: Embracing the Challenge, Sharing the Load and Being Assigned. Awareness of the consequences of being a Young Adolescent Caregiver and strategies used by Young Adolescent Caregivers to manage their changing complexities has implications for nursing interventions. Nurses in a variety of settings that treat persons with chronic illnesses can modify their practice to make significant supportive interventions with these largely invisible caregivers. Implications for policy change, nursing education and practice and future research are explored.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/227982
Subject Headings: Developmental psychology, Child caregivers, Children of parents with disabilities
Format: Document (PDF)

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