This study aims to examine the developmental changes in young children's perception. A matching completion task consisting of three geometric figures and one bird-like figure were completed by children 3-5 years of age ("N" = 99). The rotation effect, in which the correct response decreased with orientation (45°, 90° 135°, and 180°), was…

This study examined whether children understand that people selectively conceal or express emotion depending upon the context. We prepared two contexts for a verbal display task for 70 first-graders, 80 third-graders, 64 fifth-graders, and 71 adults. In both contexts, protagonists had negative feelings because of the behavior of the other…

In Experiment 1, Japanese children (4-, 5-, 7-, and 10-year-olds (n = 78)) and adults (n = 36), answered questions about the possibility of psychogenic bodily reactions, i.e., bodily outcomes with origins in the mind. The 4- and 5-year-old preschoolers typically denied that bodily conditions could originate in mental states. Developmentally,…

This study examined the ways in which Japanese adolescents handle disagreements with parents, and the extent to which the cultural values of emotional bonds within the family predict adolescents' reported handling of disagreements. Adolescents (N = 1029), aged 12 to 25 years, reported their projected actions in response to six hypothetical…

Investigated Japanese children's understanding of the difference between real and apparent emotion. Children aged four to six years listened to and answered questions about stories in which the protagonist masked strong emotions. Results showed six-year-olds understood real versus apparent emotion more systematically than did four-year-olds. (SKC)

Describes growth in the number of studies of behavior development conducted in Japan during the last 20 years and identifies areas of development receiving attention by Japanese researchers. (RH)

A total of 467 mothers of firstborn 20-month-old children from 7 countries (103 Argentine, 61 Belgian, 39 Israeli, 78 Italian, 57 Japanese, 69 Korean, and 60 US American) completed the "Jackson Personality Inventory" (JPI), measures of parenting cognitions (self-perceptions and knowledge), and a social desirability scale. Our first…

Immigrant (Japanese and South Americans in the United States) families' play was compared to play in families in their countries of origin (Japan and Argentina, respectively) and in a common country of destination (European Americans in the United States). Two hundred and forty 20-month-old children and their mothers participated. Generally, the…

Data from the Japanese standardization of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale for Intelligence were used to analyze the structure of abilities of Japanese children in terms of the Burt-Vernon hierarchical model of intelligence. It was suggested that the pattern of cognitive strengths and weaknesses that emerged would help clarify a number of…

Summarizes beliefs and values about child rearing from documents written by experts on the mid-17th to mid-19th centuries. The experts argued that children are innately good rather than evil; environmental factors accounted for differences among children rather than innate factors; and children were autonomous rather than passive learners. (HOD)

Despite much research on Chinese children's learning achievement, little research exists on their early development of beliefs about learning. This study examined the perceptions of purposes for and affective and value expression toward learning among 129 Chinese preschoolers aged 3-6 years. To tap culturally valid perspectives, free narratives…