Children tell prosocial lies from the age of three years onward, but little is known about for whom they are inclined to lie. This preregistered study examined children's (N = 138, 9-12 years) prosocial lying behavior toward minimal in-group and out-group peers. Additionally, children evaluated vignettes in which an in-group peer told a prosocial…

We are expected to behave appropriately to suit social situations. One form of behavioral control is the selection of a linguistic register that is appropriate to the listener. Register selection errors can sometimes be interpreted as rude behavior and result in having a bad influence on the relationship with the listener and the evaluation by…

The authors investigated how children and adults evaluate the "niceness" of individuals who engage in resource distribution, with a focus on their sensitivity to the proportion of resources given. Across 3 experiments, subjects evaluated the niceness of a child who gave a quantity of pennies to another child. In Study 1 (N = 30), adults showed…

We apply instrumental variables (IV) techniques to a pooled data set of employment-focused experiments to examine the relation between type of preschool childcare and subsequent externalizing problem behavior for a large sample of low-income children. To assess the potential usefulness of this approach for addressing biases that can confound…

This study's primary purpose was to examine the relative contribution of social-behavioral predictors to reading and math skills. The study expands on Duncan et al.'s (2007) work by using longitudinal methodology from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Study of Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD) and the Early…

Relative preference for interacting with people versus objects was observed in 38 children during nursery school free play. Object oriented students were found to perform better on organization and classification of physical objects. Person orientation was not found to be related to performance on tests assessing social knowledge. (GO)

Observes early social interactions in free play settings of Israeli kibbutz and urban preschool children. Kibbutz preschoolers displayed some aspects of more advanced group functioning (e.g., coordinated play) but also more behaviors reflecting affective distancing (e.g., solitary play, reduced affective expression, verbal aggression). (Author/NH)

Adults and adolescents listed possible consequences of either accepting or declining opportunities to engage in various potentially risky behaviors, such as drinking and driving, and skipping school. Response patterns were similar for both groups. (MM)

A short-term longitudinal study of the peer-related social interactions of 111 developmentally delayed toddlers and preschool children was carried out. Results suggested the existence of unusually marked deficits in peer interactions. Possible contributing factors were discussed. (Author/RH)

A total of 20 abused and 20 nonabused pairs of children of three-seven years and their mothers participated in a facial expression posing task and a facial expression recognition task. Findings suggest that abused children may not observe as often as nonabused children do the easily interpreted voluntary displays of emotion by their mothers. (RH)

Social learning theory is evaluated from a historical perspective that goes up to the present. Sears and others melded psychoanalytic and stimulus-response learning theory into a comprehensive explanation of human behavior. Bandura emphasized cognitive and information-processing capacities that mediate social behavior. (LB)

Examines the social behavior of 34 preschool children, observed both at home and in preschool, to determine patterning interactions among siblings and consistency in children's interactions with siblings and peers. Concludes that children's behavior at home is most affected by relative age of their siblings. (HOD)

Reports an analyses of ratings on Bayley's Infant Behavior Record and test scores from the Bayley Mental Scale for 60 female and 50 male infants at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months of age. Results are discussed in terms of rank-order correlations, behavioral composite scores and study implications. (Author/SDH)

Findings provide tentative support for the hypothesis that strategy information derived from enactive interviews is more predictive of children's behavior in peer situations than is information derived from the verbal interview method. This suggests that preschool children automatically access cognitive scripts for behavior in social interactions.…

Measured the social and academic adaptation of 45 sibling pairs in grades 2 to 5 and compared the results with similar data obtained for randomly selected, unrelated pairs matched on sex, grade, and classroom. Significant similarities were recorded among siblings in their peer relations, academic performance, and behavioral adjustment, whereas…