Children's early social experiences shape their developing neurological and biological systems for good or for ill, writes Ross Thompson, and the kinds of stressful experiences that are endemic to families living in poverty can alter children's neurobiology in ways that undermine their health, their social competence, and their ability…

Empathy is the ability to understand and feel for the situation of another human being and is shaped by seeing others react when distressed; by imitating what they see, children develop a repertoire of empathic responses. When children see other people in pain, their brains become active in the same regions that process the experience of pain…

This article maintains that effective communications strategy derives from a complex understanding of frame coherence. In particular, this understanding calls for a closer examination of the ways in which the "pictures in people's heads" are activated by exposure to a key arena of frame contestation: the issue domain. Drawing from FrameWorks'…

Early child development sequences were studied in the beginning of the 20th century and in the process uncovered some relevant conclusions about early post-natal life. This might have been the very beginning of some principles of what has become known as Developmental Psychology or how humans grow. The writer has tried to codify the essentials of…

By bringing together neurologists, developmental psychologists, pediatricians, and economists, the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child offers a unique knowledge base from which early childhood policy and practice can be informed. By communicating how and why early experiences have a lasting impact on brain architecture--and what…

Childhood marks the dawn of human development. To organize, integrate, and advance knowledge about vocational development during this age period from a life-span perspective, we conducted a comprehensive review of the empirical vocational development literature that addresses early-to-late childhood. The review considers career exploration, career…

The developmental stages of writing can be related to Jean Piaget's final three stages of development (preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational) and to the narrative, descriptive, explanative, analytical, and artistic rhetorical modes. As the child enters kindergarten or the first grade, narrative blooms. By this age most young…

Argues that the effect of media violence on individual differences in aggression is primarily the result of a cumulative learning process during childhood. Presents a developmental theory holding that a child's repeated viewing of media violence, in combination with other factors, can culminate in aggressive behavior patterns (including…

Recent advances in developmental science can teach us a great deal about the value of specific kinds of human interactions in the earliest years of life for the developing brain architecture. Animal experiments indicate that enriched environments with opportunity for frequent interaction and new experiences can help the animals' brains develop…

Reviews experimental studies and field investigations of the influence of violence in the mass media on aggressive behavior. Relates this research to recent developments in cognitive psychology. Suggests that the cognitive-neoassociationist hypothesis provides the best explanation for the overall findings and may subsume other hypotheses…

This brief focuses on the potential role that strategic communications can play in helping state (Maternal Child Health) MCH programs and their collaborating partners frame their message to enhance the public's understanding of the importance of early child development and the need for a comprehensive and integrated early childhood system. The…

Asserts the function of narrative as a method of thinking is important in the lives of children as well as adults. Maintains that, by examining a story or narrative in children's art, it is possible to account for its importance in their lives. Describes three aspects of narrative: (1) invention; (2) description; and (3) negotiation. (CFR)