Social rejection is an undesirable phenomenon with serious present and future implications for children who experience it. Growing rates of social rejection and bullying in elementary-school children, especially on social networks, have been examined mostly from a pathological perspective focused on the rejected child or rejecting group. This…

To become cooperative members of their cultural groups, developing children must follow their group's social norms. But young children are not just blind norm followers, they are also active norm enforcers, for example, protesting and correcting when someone plays a conventional game the "wrong" way. In two studies, we asked whether young children…

Current scholarship on the cultural value systems of individualism and collectivism, and the associated developmental goals of autonomy and relatedness, has moved beyond grand divide theories to emphasize variation within individuals and cultures. We present a theoretical model on the dynamic coexistence of cultural value systems (at the macro…

Playing games, particularly pretense games, is one of the areas where young children first enter into collective, conventional practices. This chapter reviews recent empirical data in support of this claim and explores the idea that games present a cradle for children's growing into societal and institutional life more generally. (Contains 2…

THIS STUDY WAS AN ATTEMPT TO REMEDY IN PART THE PRESENT DEFICIENCIES IN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN WITH LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL. A SAMPLE OF 45-70 KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN WERE STUDIED IN A TWO-PHASE PROGRAM. THE FIRST 2-YEAR PHASE WAS DEVOTED TO EXPERIMENTING WITH METHODS OF ASSESSING LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOR AND WITH SPECIFIC EXPERIMENTAL…

Two experiments to study the development of the meaning of laughter in children are reported. A pilot study presented recorded audio tapes with both humorous and nonhumorous episodes, some with accompanying canned laughter, to 24 boys between the ages of 4 and 6 years. Observers recorded durations of laughter and smiling. Results showed that both…

Analyzes the composing processes of three children, aged two to four, as they composed with a responsible adult in a group setting. (HOD)

Describes the use of four-person task assessments which were designed as a means of examining children's social interaction outside the classroom setting. Provides information concerning tasks and information obtained. Concludes that these tasks can be repeated over a period of years in order to evaluate the growth and maturity of subjects. (KO)

A study was conducted to examine social behavior by one-year-old boys over the course of a three-month playgroup experience. The "clusters" chosen for examination consisted of temporary groups (often less than a minute) the toddlers formed to focus on a single activity. Socially directed behavior is defined here as vocalizing, laughing and…

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…

Concomitant with a child's acquisition of phonological, syntactic, and semantic rules of an adult language is the need to learn pragmatic and contextual abilities for proper use of the language. As early language acquisition is closely allied with play, three children aged about 22 to 40 months were observed during play activities to determine…

Children's joint production and maintenance of a peer culture in preschool settings is crucial to their development of a social identity. Theoreticians and researchers should consider what it is actually like to be a child to understand better how children's activities model and prepare them for the adult world. (Author/JL)

Observed functioning of same-sex triads of middle grade children during an intimate discussion, a cooperative puzzle task, a competitive game, and free play. Found that triads of girls were more intimate, exchanged more information, and were less aggressive than triads of boys. Girls and boys expressed similar attitudes toward triadic interaction,…

Questioned day care center children during free play about their collective activity to determine how the representation of cooperation is structured and what kind of transformation appears during development. Found a developmental trend of representation of group activity after age 2. Results highlight the importance of group and day care center…

This article examines the interactions which occur during several curricular activities to reveal the role expectations children develop. The ordinary social processes of the classroom through which the academic agenda is accomplished are examined. The meaning children and teachers ascribe to various activities is discussed. (JL)