What do children do when they do not want to obey but cannot afford to disobey? Might they, like adults, feign misunderstanding and seek out loopholes? Across four studies (N = 723; 44% female; USA; majority White; data collected 2020-2023), we find that loophole behavior emerges around ages 5 to 6 (Study 1, 3-18 years), that children think…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) on reducing unsafe playground behavior of young children at school and subsequently, if necessary, the additive effects of a brief time-out. The DRO procedure was effective in eliminating unsafe behavior for one of four participants. The…

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder are at high risk of being bullied, but research on teaching children with autism self-protection skills for bullying situations is scant. We taught five children self-protection skills for two types of bullying (threats and unkind remarks) and consecutive bullying occurrences. We first evaluated…

Emotional intelligence and drama-based intervention open up an innovative field in education. The current study describes the effectiveness of an innovative project based on the development of emotional intelligence through dramatization in Early Childhood Education. A total of 82 children range from 4 to 5 years old were divided into two groups:…

Purpose: Autistic children are reported to display higher levels of externalizing and internalizing behaviors than neurotypical children, and their parents report more stress than parents of neurotypical children. It is unclear whether child behavior difficulties contribute to increased parenting stress, whether parenting stress contributes to…

Pedagogy is seen as a "double-edged sword": it efficiently conveys information but may constrain the exploration of the causal structure of objects, suggesting that pedagogy and exploration are mutually exclusive learning processes. However, research on children's active involvement in concept acquisition implies that pedagogical signals…

Happiness is one of the most important parenting goals in today's modern society. To promote a happy childhood, we need to understand what happiness means to children. Contrary to the view that young children may equate happiness with satisfying material desires and experiencing simple pleasures, in this article, I review recent developmental…

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are five times more likely to have feeding difficulties than neurotypical peers, although the majority of evidence describes feeding difficulty in children age 2 years and older. The purpose of this study is to systematically review the literature on feeding characteristics of children age 0-24 months…

Chimpanzees and other great apes seem to be much less cooperative than humans overall, yet they nevertheless reliably help others in many instrumental circumstances. Although in many contexts the helping behavior of chimpanzees is quite similar to that of human children, recent studies using both behavioral and psychophysiological paradigms have…

Anti-bullying programs can create more positive classroom environments by fostering the development of positive leaders who establish constructive norms. The social identity theory of leadership addresses stability and change within different leader profiles and identifies leader group prototypicality: the extent to which leaders are perceived to…

Objectives: The habit of recycling should be acquired at an early age in order to promote the sustainable use of natural resources. The limited number of studies carried out with early-years children highlights the need for more research with members of this age group. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the 'Don't Waste! -- Recycle'…

While a wealth of research evidence has highlighted the significant impact of prosocial modeling on shaping children's sharing behavior, the mechanism underlying this effect remains less understood. Here we consider the goal contagion account whereby children recognize the prosocial "goal" of others' actions and these goals are…

Familiarity is a crucial element in narrative fiction reading for children, playing a significant role in social learning from storybooks. Nevertheless, distinct studies greatly vary in their interpretation of what renders a storybook familiar to a child, researchers' methods for measuring familiarity, and how researchers link familiarity to…

Background: The impact of having a disabled brother or sister on siblings' psychological well-being and sibling relationships has been the subject of several research studies. However, research which focuses on the relationship between siblings and their autistic brother or sister with an intellectual disability and complex care needs is rare. We…

Sibling relationships may be strained when one sibling is diagnosed with autism and the other is not. The way that siblings interact during play is one indicator of the quality of this relationship. Non-autistic siblings have been taught to encourage play in their autistic siblings, but there is limited literature examining the impact of…