Previous research has demonstrated the protective effect of family and sibling closeness on child adjustment, but fewer studies have investigated how closeness is promoted within families. Guided by Family Communication Patterns Theory, we tested the association between family communication and sibling emotional and behavioral closeness, and…

One of the most intriguing characteristics of Williams Syndrome individuals is their hypersociability. The amygdala has been consistently implicated in the etiology of this social profile, particularly given its role in emotional and social behavior. This study examined amygdala volume and symmetry in WS individuals and in age and sex matched…

The effects of social group norms (inclusion vs. exclusion vs. exclusion-plus-relational aggression) and school norms (inclusion vs. no norm) on 7- and 10-year-old children's intergroup attitudes were examined. Children (n = 383) were randomly assigned to a group with an inclusion or exclusion norm, and to 1 of the school norm conditions. Findings…

We investigated how 3-7-year-olds weigh and coordinate information about specific mental states with social norms in the domain of contextually conventional rules. With increasing age, participants increasingly took into account an actor's mental state to predict that actor's behavior. In a criticism judgment task, 7-year-olds could assign…

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between perceived normative use of alcohol and reported consumption in an environment where relatively little alcohol use occurs. Participants: A total of 585 undergraduate students completed an online survey on alcohol use in March 2006. Methods: Participants reported…

Culturally sensitive counseling models for non-Western clients are rarely seen in the literature. Because filial piety is a prevailing cultural belief in Taiwanese/Chinese societies and influences a wide range of individual and interpersonal behaviors, counseling and psychotherapy would be most effective when this cultural norm is considered and…

Adolescents, 12 to 18 years (N = 962), were asked how often they worried about, heard about, witnessed, were victimized by, and committed aggression at or near their schools. Social, moderate physical, and violent aggression were assessed. Females heard, worried, and witnessed more social aggression than males, but both were victims and/or…

Clinical intuition and resent research (Senju et al., 2009) suggests that adults with high-functioning autism (HFA) are able to use explicit verbal information but fail to react upon subtle nonverbal cues in order to understand others and navigate social encounters. In order to investigate the relative influence of different domains of socially…

Research suggests that first- and third-person perceptions are driven by the motive to self-enhance and cognitive processes involving the perception of social norms. This article proposes and tests a dual-process model that predicts an interaction between cognition and motivation. Consistent with the model, Experiment 1 (N = 112) showed that…

With globalization, the world has become more interconnected and interdependent, with people, capital, and ideas rapidly migrating across borders. Yet, along with greater global interdependence and increased diversity within societies, economic and social inequalities have deepened, making poverty one of the leading global problems. To lessen…

This paper reports findings from a study about school staff's perceptions of the preferences for social interaction that young people have with similar and different others. This tension was explored empirically using scenarios of moral dilemmas to conduct in-depth semi-structured interviews with school staff from special and mainstream secondary…

Behavioral prescription specifies how people ought to act. Five studies investigated prescription for men of protective paternalism, a particular form of benevolent sexism, depending on contextual and individual factors. In Studies 1 and 2, female participants prescribed for men more protective paternalistic behavior toward women in a romantic…

The social landscape of the United States can be mapped by using a series of cultural fault lines. This topography portrays conditions that descriptions of the surface fail to illuminate. Many of these schisms are the by-product of ideological positions that diminish personal responsibility and thoughtful civic discourse. If left unattended, these…

The elementary music class is an ideal setting for building socioemotional skills in children. These skills can assist children in their early music learning through brain development, and they become increasingly important as students reach higher levels of musicianship. Socioemotional learning programs are currently being used to reduce at-risk…

The purpose of this study was to assess the perceptions of Thailand adolescents regarding the prevalence of smoking, the popularity of smoking among successful/elite elements of society, and disapproval of smoking by friends and parents. These perceptions were analyzed in conjunction with actual smoking and smoking susceptibility rates among the…