We conducted three studies which examined the performance vs. skill acquisition model of social skills deficits. In Study 1, baseline social behaviors for a random sample of 12 boys with comorbid emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), learning disabilities (LD), language delays, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) revealed that…

This study proposed and tested a developmental model of impression formation based on observed behavior, prior expectancies, and additional incongruent information. Participants were 51 kindergartners, 53 second graders, and 104 college students who provided trait and liking judgments after watching a child actor engage in behaviors from three…

Background: The quality of the family relationships plays an important role in the development of children's psychopathology and in their socio-emotional development. This longitudinal study aims to investigate whether family relationships are related to children's symptoms/strengths at kindergarten, and whether family relationships are predictors…

This paper suggests how peace stamps can be used to further understanding of the movement for world peace. In this effort the Nobel Peace Prize, the most prestigious award in the world for peacemaking, is used as a focus. In the prizes from 1901 to the present, the Norwegian Nobel committees have recognized the major paths to peace. This variety…

This study examined the theoretically related constructs of children's empathy, affective responsiveness, and altruistic helping. Subjects were 80 nine-year-olds. Empathy was assessed using interviews with children regarding their understanding of the emotion portrayed in, and their own emotional-cognitive responses to, a set of seven videotaped…

This study examined the relationship between children's environmental attitudes and their perceived competence and locus of control. The study sample consisted of 171 children in grades 3, 4, and 5. Children completed the Children's Attitudes Toward the Environment Scale (CATES) and the Janus Environmental Attitudes Scale (JEAS), which assessed…

This unit of materials focuses on understanding conflict, individually and in the social extreme of war. The unit's purpose is to examine the underlying primary factors that create conflict in relationships and explore alternatives for resolution. The 20 lessons include: (1) "The Beginner's Eye"; (2) "Discovering the Wise…

This study explored preschoolers' social cognition about their affect and behavior in difficult peer situations. Children completed the Challenging Situations Task (CST), a pictorial forced-choice measure developed to examine preschoolers' affective and behavioral responses to three problematic peer situations. Children also completed a task…

Although many people have studied social intelligence and theorized about it over the past 60 years, no one has been able to provide a clear picture of its nature. Traditional methods have overemphasized the social-cognitive outcomes of human functioning instead of social-behavioral outcomes. Two approaches used to study social intelligence can be…

A behavior management specialist implemented a practicum intervention designed to increase prosocial behavior and positive peer interaction among kindergartners and first graders by means of student participation in a self-motivating play group. Five students attended a daily play session in block and housekeeping play settings that had been…

An ongoing project has been established to (1) summarize and disseminate results of research on children and television to the creative community responsible for commercial and educational children's television, and (2) defuse the issues that have created a rift between this community and the academic community. The research efforts discussed in…

This review of the literature on prosocial behavior in the elderly provides empirical data on the prevalence of helping behaviors among the elderly and the range of motives underlying their helping. Implications of these data for theories of social behavior in later life are considered, and questions are raised about the validity of the models…

The development of linguistic politeness in 7- and 9-year-old Italian children was examined. A total of 80 subjects, 40 males and 40 females, produced requests according to different contexts which were graphically presented. Factors considered for such contexts were: sex of the speaker; sex of the addressee; status of the addressee, either peer…

In contrast to the view of the elderly as helpless and handicapped, some older adults may engage in helping activities and place considerable importance on this involvement. This study examined the characteristics which may distinguish those elderly persons engaged in the highest amounts of altruistic activity from those reporting lesser degrees…

Discipline means teaching children socialization rules, so that they eventually learn self-control. Discipline must be used in the context of a warm, caring relationship, with the realization that it takes time for young children to absorb and understand what is being taught. In addition, appropriate discipline depends on an understanding of…