Lying is an interpersonal exercise that requires the intentional creation of a false belief in another's mind. As such, children's development of lie-telling is related to their increasing understanding of others and may reflect the acquisition of basic social skills. Although certain types of lies may support social relationships, other types of…

The present study examined Japanese children's and adults' awareness of the effects of psychological taste experiences on biological processes such as growth and illness. Studies 1 and 2 showed the following: (1) preschoolers tended to assume that good-tasting experiences would make one grow taller and gain more weight, while adults seldom…

Two main theoretical constructs seek to describe the elaborated sense of time that may be a uniquely human attribute: diachronic thinking (the ability to think about the past and use that information to predict future events) and event ordering (the ability to sequence events in temporal order). Researchers utilize various tasks to measure the…

The relationship between trait anxiety and memory functioning in young children was investigated. Two studies were conducted, using tasks tapping verbal and visual-spatial short-term memory (Study 1) and working memory (Study 2) in preschoolers. On the verbal storage tasks, there was a detrimental effect of anxiety on processing efficiency…

This study explores reciprocal relations between children's attachment representations and their cognitive ability. Previous literature has mainly focused on the prediction of cognitive abilities from attachment, rarely on the reverse prediction. This was explored in the current research. Attachment representations were assessed with the…

Infants' responses to typical and scrambled human body shapes were assessed in relation to the realism of the human body stimuli presented. In four separate experiments, infants were familiarized to typical human bodies and then shown a series of scrambled human bodies on the test. Looking behaviour was assessed in response to a range of different…

Pregnancy and early motherhood involve uncertainty and change, which can evoke mental health problems. We identified maternal mental health trajectories in pre- and postnatal period, and examined their association with later child mental health and development. Finnish mothers reported psychological distress (General Health Questionnaire [GHQ-36])…

The article presents 30-year bibliometrical results on trends in the scope, internationality, and impact of the "International Journal of Behavioral Development" ("IJBD") from its inception in 1978 to 2007. Bibliometric data were collected using the databases PsycINFO and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), and the "IJBD" itself. In comparison…

Two experiments examined pictorial humor as an unusual but legitimate way to approach the study of children's representational activity and the transition from implicit to explicit knowledge. In both experiments, the participants were 3- and 4-year-old children. Experiment 1 studied the understanding of two pictorial jokes using two conditions,…

This study examined links between paternal and maternal parenting factors and preschool hyperactivity in a community sample. Forty-one hyperactive and 38 comparison boys (aged 47-62 months) and their fathers and mothers were assessed on a range of interview, parent questionnaire, and observational measures of parenting and child behavior. Results…

The aim of this study was to examine whether there was variation in levels of psychological adjustment among children conceived through Assisted Reproductive Technologies using the parents' gametes (homologous), sperm donation, egg donation, embryo donation and surrogacy. Information was provided by parents about the psychological functioning of…

Pre, post, and follow-up assessments showed that two tutoring programs (fantasy play tutoring and skill tutoring) had equal impact on the development of nursery school children's cognitive and linguistic development abilities. However, fantasy play tutoring showed a greater potential for maintaining or increasing social participation. (Author/MP)

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…

Research on French and European American mothers' childrearing practices, and potential effects of these differences on children's behavioral development, is scarce. This study compared 33 French and 39 European American 20-month-old children and their mothers on exploratory, symbolic, and social play and interaction. French children engaged in…

Professional review teams in nine Third World countries assessed a sample of children referred as probable cases (or as controls) from a door to door household survey of 1000+ children aged 3 to 9 years. Examines the criteria used by the teams in determining whether or not the children should be classified as severely mentally handicapped. (RWB)