Existing literature has mostly explained the occurrence of bullying victimization by individual socioemotional maladjustment. Instead, this study tested the person-group dissimilarity model (Wright et al., "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology," 50: 523-536, 1986) by examining whether individuals' deviation from developmentally…

Children's ability to recognize object shape is foundational for successful early word learning. However, the prototypical shape of objects may not be easily accessible--take margarita glasses, for instance. The current study examined 304 U.S. children 17- to 42-month-old (152 females) from 2017 to 2020, asking how shape, age, and vocabulary…

This study tests the firm distinction children are said to make between living and nonliving kinds. Three, 4-, and 5-year-old children and adults reasoned about whether items that varied on 3 dimensions (alive, face, behavior) had a range of properties (biological, psychological, perceptual, artifact, novel, proper names). Findings demonstrate…

Newborn infants showing anthropometric signs of atypical patterns of fetal growth were compared with infants of appropriate growth on the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale and on recently developed supplementary items. The sample consisted of lower-socioeconomic-status families in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and included teenage and older mothers.…

Two independent and geographically disparate samples showed that physically abused three- to six-year-old children have cranial facial proportions that are atypically older than their nonabused agemates. Two independent photographic samples corroborated this finding: one involved photos of two- to seven-year-olds and the other investigated 12- to…

Children were asked whether each of two animals shared a biological property with a target animal. When kinship relations were specified for the animals, children judged that dissimilar-looking kin shared more biological properties than similar-looking but unrelated members of the same species. (BC)

Examined the relationship of newborns' 1-minute Apgar scores to their 8-month Bayley mental and motor scores and to 8-month classifications of their development as normal, suspect, or abnormal. Also investigated relationships between Apgar scores and race, longevity, and birth weight. (JMB)

The ethological hypothesis that "parental" caregiving can be elicited by certain physical characteristics of infants was investigated in three experiments. Results demonstrated that age-related changes in physical appearance can alter the verbally reported tendency to protect or cuddle others. (Author/RH)

Examined the relationship between temperament and craniofacial variation in 372 infants observed at ages 4, 14, and 21 months. Found that high-reactive 4-month olds, who are predisposed to becoming timid, inhibited toddlers, had smaller bizygomatic ratios (narrower faces) at both 14 and 21 months compared to their low-reactive peers. (MDM)

Reveals that during the elementary school years, children acquire a firm understanding of the brain as the primary locus of psychological attributes and identity. The early school years, when children are five to seven years old, appear to be a transitional phase, when performance is variable and subject to task conditions. (RH)

The apprehension spans of learning-disabled and normal boys were compared by means of a forced-choice letter-recognition task involving tachistoscopic exposures of letter displays. Results of three experiments indicated that the decreased spans of apprehension observed in the first experiment for learning-disabled boys resulted either from greater…

Investigated the relationship between anthropometric indices and behavioral development during the first two years of life in rural Guatemala. Body length and weight most strongly correlated with behavioral development. When length and weight were controlled statistically, variance in behavioral development was accounted for. (Author/DB)

To determine whether behavioral differences exist between attractive and unattractive children, 64 boys and girls aged three and five years were selected on the basis of physical attractiveness and were paired in same age, same sex, and attractive and unattractive dyads. These dyads were then observed in a seminaturalistic play setting. (JMB)

Four experiments tested three to six year olds' and adults' understanding of animals' growth changes. All subjects understood that animals get larger with age. Older children and adults, but not younger children, allowed for dramatic changes in the size and shape of animals over the animals' lifespans. (BC)

Attractive and unattractive preschool children were judged on appearance by age-mates who were either acquainted or unacquainted with the children being judged. (SB)