An exploratory study examined the premise that pets provide developmental benefits for young children. Four hypotheses were derived from prior research: (1) children who have a bond with a dog or cat show more maturity in their cognitive, moral, and emotional development than children who do not have such pets; (2) children who have a more…

This paper analyzes the rationale for the project approach to educational programming from the cognitive-developmental perspective. It is argued that in many ways, the project approach reflects the cognitive-developmental view; that it is a convergence of Piaget's constructivism and Dewey's progressivism. Like any approach, the project approach is…

This study tested the hypothesis that social competence of mother-infant play reflects both secure mother-infant attachment and more advanced cognitive development. Subjects were 58 toddlers between 16 and 19 months of age and their mothers. Two general methods were used: observation and maternal report. Standardized developmental assessments were…

Prior to expressing language, infants have mastered many means for engaging in referential communication with others. This contention can be supported by reference to (1) developmental changes in the attentional structure of communication and (2) infants' use of affective expressions as they begin to master referential communication. In an effort…

The study of leadership has faltered partly because the wrong phenomenon has been studied. Whereas the usual definition considers leadership either as a personal property or as a property of position, this paper argues that it is a transient phenomenon residing neither in the person nor the situation and one that can be practiced equally well by…

The conceptualizations of morphogenic processes suggested by systems theorists provide a useful framework for describing growth and development in complex adaptive self-directing organisms. These processes involve changes in (1) a system's structure, state, or functioning; (2) discontinuities in development; and (3) at least two kinds of…

This paper places research findings within a social learning framework to demonstrate that television influences the development of sex typing in children. First, the presence of sex-typed content in television programming and advertising is documented. Then, the nature of children's attention to and comprehension of televised messages is…

A longitudinal study was made of women and their first-born children who have different employment and day care experiences during the child's first three years of life. Specific aims of the study were (1) to gain full account of the history and experience of women who return to full-time employment while their first child is still young and of…

Theories of socialization have developed independently of established facts against which to measure their adequacy. Studies showing low levels of skin conductance and slow latency of response among criminals have supported a bio-social theory that criminals inherit neurological systems that impede reduction of fear and interfere with learning.…

This guide was prepared to facilitate the practitioner's selection of formal tests for evaluating communicative behavior in clinical infant populations during the first year of life. Clinical instruments with particular emphasis on communication and emerging language and speech abilities were identified in terms of publishers' recommended…

While Holland's (1973) theory of personality types and vocational identity is widely used, the theory does not specify the developmental antecedents of the six personality types. To examine the relationship between membership in adolescent social cliques and vocational identity in early adulthood, four groups of college students (N=192)…

An exploratory study was conducted to determine the types of nonformal educational programs and activities for youth being offered by profit making agencies in Los Angeles, California, in 1982. From a list compiled from the yellow pages of the Los Angeles telephone directory, 76 agencies were selected for study. Telephone interviews with agency…

The report summarizes recent and ongoing research on processes involved in the development of antisocial behavior disorders in children and adolescents. Studies address both the applied problem of preventing aggressive behavior and the overall relation of cognition to social behavior. A social information processing model of social competence is…

The development of empathy, sympathy, and consideration for others ranks as an important ingredient of social education in schools. To get across to children with deficient empathy and sympathy, knowledge about their psychological mechanisms is necessary. A project on "Psychological Mechanisms in Children with Deficient Empathy and…

This document is a plan for tracking students' social growth by the college resident assistant and for evaluating the students' growth and the resident assistant's performance. The plan, based on Bloom's Taxonomy of Affective Cognitive Processes, includes a clarified purpose, objectives for implementation, shared assessment values, and continuing…