Investigates the relationship between social interaction skills and knowledge of concepts in primary school age children as a basis for intervention in terms of concept development. Finds that 12 of the 61 children investigated had severe problems in concept development. Demonstrates the deep integration of concept and social interaction skill…

Investigation and comparison of telephone behavior, and the attitudes and values attached to telephone usage in England and Greece, from the perspective of an interaction model. Results revealed cultural differences in responses to making telephone calls, verifying numbers and speakers, and apologies for wrong numbers or disturbing calls.…

A study of the patterns of behavior disorders, hyperactivity, and emotional disturbances and classroom environments in 13 social adjustment classes, 3 day treatment programs, and a psychiatric outpatient program is reported. Results concerning occurrence of the disorders and the instruments used for characterizing these children and environments…

Assessed cognitive styles of 300 children aged 3-5 years and explored social factors in children's play based on their cognitive style. Field dependent children engaged more often in activities with others and with concrete objects, while field independent children were more involved in restructuring the environment. (RJC)

Observed 28 toddlers' reactions to an adult's programed play overtures. Coordinated responses and alternative overtures increased with age. Words were increasingly used to regulate activity between toddler and adult. (RJC)

Studied 40 parents and their children aged 18-23 months to determine whether parents encouraged involvement with sex-stereotyped toys or avoidance of cross-sex-stereotyped toys, and whether masculine and feminine toys led to different patterns of parent-child interactions. Children showed greater involvement with same-sex than with cross-sex toys.…

Classified 61 children in day care, 13 to 24 months of age, into one of four social orientation groups, based upon frequency of contact with adults and peers relative to the total sample. Groups were compared with respect to behaviors in child care, adult responses, and child care history. (NH)

A total of 20 abused and 20 nonabused pairs of children of three-seven years and their mothers participated in a facial expression posing task and a facial expression recognition task. Findings suggest that abused children may not observe as often as nonabused children do the easily interpreted voluntary displays of emotion by their mothers. (RH)

Two sample lessons are presented to help elementary-school children with behavior disorders understand friendship relationships. Hypothetical student relations are diagrammed, and class discussions deal with the reasons for students' popularity and unpopularity and the acceptability or unacceptability of the reasons. (JDD)

During the interaction prelude to role setting, claiming a coveted role through unilateral role behavior is strategically vulnerable. A distinct action ideal, called local action, is used to avoid role claims until there is evidence that a claimed role will be conferred. Local action provides an explanation for balanced reciprocity. (Author/BJV)

Forty-eight four-year-olds grouped in quartets of same-sex unfamiliar peers were observed during five play and activity tasks. Found that, although solitary-passive, solitary-active, and reticent behaviors were nonsignificantly intercorrelated, reticence was associated with demonstrations of anxiety and hovering near others; maternal ratings of…

Discusses the concept of social intelligence (SI), including its history and contexts in which it may be valid; assesses SI from the perspectives of information management, information policy, and information economics; reviews tools and techniques associated with SI, including networks, hypermedia, and connectionism; and considers education and…

Obtained peer nominations and observed peer contacts for three-, four-, and five-year-old preschoolers from fall to spring. Found that children's sociometric ratings became increasingly negative, especially for cross-sex peers; the frequency of cross-sex contacts decreased; and four-year olds spent more time in large groups than three- and…

Presents a model of cognition and emotion that suggests that feedback between cognition and emotion generates, maintains, and reconfigures interpretations of emotion-eliciting events at micro- and macrodevelopmental time scales and that personality and behavior self-organize in response to fluctuations in perception or cognition and trace…

The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between language and interactive strategies used by children with peers in a shared activity. The subjects were 20 middle-class Italian children, 10 male and 10 female, between the ages of 4 and 5, who were in their last year of preschool. (CFM)