This study examined the interchange of emotional cues during interactions between parents and their popular or rejected children. Participants were 28 4- and 5-year-old preschool children and their parents. Children were selected as popular or unpopular using a sociometric nomination procedure conducted in their preschool or day care classroom.…

While human emotions are often considered instinctive, this paper examines the notion that indifference to events or circumstances which might seem to have a prima facie claim to emotional significance is related to the narrative construction of those events or circumstances in the life of the observer, and is not a result of absolute stimulus…

Resilience is the capacity of a person to do well facing difficult conditions in life. This implies capacities of resistance and of positive construction. Discovering the ways to contribute to resilience in children can begin with examination of resilient children. Research has suggested five interlinking bases for resilience: (1) social support…

This study examined techniques which facilitate children's separation from their mothers and their move into a novel situation. Subjects were 32 male and 32 female 40- to 48-month-old children. Some children were visited in their homes the night before the experiment. Subjects remained with their mothers in a waiting room for 10 minutes. A…

Noting the ever-increasing need for quality day care, and the resulting necessity for child caregivers to address the complex development of social, emotional, and motivational structures within a child, this book offers a guide for understanding and fostering the emotional growth of young children. Following an introduction which defines emotion…

This study examined culture-specific attachment systems in Japan (including an Okinawan sample), Korea, China, United States, and the United Kingdom, using a questionnaire to measure the relative importance of various categories of interpersonal relations. Subjects were male and female university students and fathers and mothers of kindergarten…

This study examined whether the differential maternal treatment of twins affected the twins' on-task behaviors in a teaching interaction. A total of 175 mothers and their same-sex 14-month-old twins were videotaped in their homes in triads. This was repeated for 170 of the families when the children were 24 months, and for 146 of the families when…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of seven chemistry learning centers for use in an ongoing preschool education program. The seven centers piloted were: (1) Observing Color Changes; (2) Making Bubbles; (3) Using a Thermometer; (4) Balancing; (5) Classifying Colors; (6) Cooking; and (7) Sink or Float. All of the centers…

This study examined the developmental and gender influences on children's normative emotional expression and control. The study surveyed 307 pairs of middle-class European-American children who were 7, 11, and 15 years old, and one parent of each child. The results of the survey showed that children were closer to the norm in their expressive…

Feeling, emotion, and passion are the "stuff" of everyday experience. This guidebook helps the reader understand emotions in a two-step approach. First, common assumptions about emotion are examined in order to arrive at a deeper understanding of current approaches to emotion, especially as these exist in the fields of psychology and…

This paper reports on a study of situational influences of affect and goal value on social problem-solving in middle childhood. It was expected that the adequacy of any particular social problem-solving process would be reduced by increases in goal intensity. On the basis of prior testing, two social goals of high value and two of low value were…

This study investigated the role that emotional factors play in learning about sexual health and in adopting sexually healthy behaviors. Learning about health and adopting healthy behaviors hinges on two variables: the desire to avoid illness and a belief that one can avoid threats to health through personal action. This paper reports on…

In the United States, people have become resistant to advertising because they live surrounded by messages. However, in China, the average viewer is relatively naive about the use of commercial messages. An attempt was made to teach Chinese college students semiotic analysis of television commercials. Observations of Chinese television were made…

The aim of this presentation is to persuade early childhood educators that they can and should tell stories to children in their preschool classes, day care homes, or centers. The story of Scheherezade is retold in order to illuminate the points that: (1) traditional stories share a basic, satisfying structure which, regardless of the details of…

Proactive teachers do not simply react to student behavior but use their thorough understanding of classroom communication to shape the pattern of class interaction. Proactive teachers are characterized by their recognition of the mutual influence of teachers and students in the learning process, their participation in social perspective taking,…