Examines reasons that the care of infants in day nurseries often becomes impersonal rather than intimate, and suggests ways of counteracting this. (DE)

Uses expectancy-value theory to untangle student perceptions of soap opera viewing. Indicates (1) that anticipated entertainment and social interaction are powerful expectations, whose effects are mediated by affective and cognitive factors; and (2) that self-concept also plays a major role in determining exposure levels. (SR)

Quantitative results from a study involving 78 elementary students suggest that content-related attitudes do not significantly affect subjects' reading comprehension. However, qualitative results suggest that attitudes may affect reading comprehension in qualitatively different ways. (IAH)

Describes how one school system selected an elementary school counselor to help facilitate development and initiation of classroom guidance curriculum aimed at helping students communicate about feelings. Discusses communication model on which curriculum is based, describes project's population, reviews curriculum development process, describes…

Investigated the relation between the interaction style of 44 mothers and their 3-year-olds' competence on traditional cognitive tests and during play. Maternal directiveness and affective tone related especially to children's nonverbal cognition and play. (RJC)

Forty-eight children aged four and six years listened to stories in which it would be appropriate for the protagonist to feel a negative emotion. Results indicated that six-year-olds were more accurate than four-year-olds in judging that real and apparent emotion would not coincide when the protagonist hid feelings. (RJC)

An ethological or behavioral approach views childhood emotional outbursts as conflict between avoidance and attachment behavior on the part of the child. The classification of the level of motivation may produce a more useful diagnosis than standard psychiatric categories of behavior. This approach can also be applied to children diagnosed as…

Compared children's emotional expression and self-appraisal of emotional experience in response to positive feedback. Subjects were 60 children ages 7 through 14, half with diagnosed externalizing disorders and half without. Found that, although diagnosed children typically reported a positive response to peer compliments, they displayed more…

Highlights the contributions made by the papers in this special issue, and discusses remaining research problems and future research directions in the field of children's emotions and social competence. Notes that one of the most important points raised in this series of papers is the critical role of socialization in the development of emotions.…

Advocates the use of event-based science which is dependent upon current phenomena and student interest and which brings spontaneity to the curriculum and facilitates student development in the affective as well as cognitive domain. (MKR)

Comments on the blending by Dean, in her article in this issue, of Loewald's instinctual-affective component with the developmental models of Piaget and Vygotsky, with internalization as the pivotal concept. Suggests that Dean's synthesis mirrors development itself, as it first differentiates and then integrates the work of the three theorists.…

Results of a study comparing 10-year-old girls' emotional experience (via verbal report) and emotional state (via nonverbal facial expressions) showed that there are modest associations between these factors and also between verbal and facial empathy scores. (ETB)

A theory of personality is proposed to reconcile paradoxical findings on the invariance of personality and the variability of behavior across situations. Individuals are assumed to differ in the accessibility of cognitive-affective mediating units and the organizations of the interactions of these units and situations. (SLD)

Trained 3 month olds to move a 10-object mobile. Changing the mobile to two objects resulted in crying for half the infants. A retention test was given one and seven days later. All infants exhibited retention at one day but only noncriers at seven days. Criers displayed more anger than noncriers in the one-day retention test. (BC)

Components of emotional processing (communication channel, processing mode, and emotional valence) were examined in psychiatric and neurological populations, using an experimental affect battery. The test battery exhibited good psychometric properties and discriminated among diagnostic groups. (Author/JDD)