Learning the value of environmental signals and using that information to guide behavior is critical for survival. Stress in childhood may influence these processes, but how it does so is still unclear. This study examined how stressful event exposures and perceived social isolation affect the ability to learn value signals and use that…

Why is instructional gesture ineffective in some contexts? And what is it about learners that predicts whether they will learn from gestures? This between-subjects linear measurement training study compares gesture instruction to two controls--operant action and transient action--in a diverse sample of first-grade students (N = 174, M[subscript…

Optimal integration of positive and negative outcomes during learning varies depending on an environment's reward statistics. The present study investigated the extent to which children, adolescents, and adults (N = 142 8-25 year-olds, 55% female, 42% White, 31% Asian, 17% mixed race, and 8% Black; data collected in 2021) adapt their weighting of…

Children are both shrewd about whom to copy--they selectively learn from certain adults--and overimitators--they copy adults' obviously superfluous actions. Is overimitation also selective? Does selectivity change with age? In two experiments, 161 two- to seven-year-old children saw videos of one adult receiving better payoffs or more bystander…

This study examined the effect of a "ghost" demonstration on toddlers' imitation. In the "ghost" condition, virtual pieces moved to make a fish or boat puzzle. Fifty-two 2.5- and 3-year-olds were tested on a touchscreen (no transfer) or with 3D pieces (transfer); children tested with 3D pieces scored above a no demonstration…

This study explored how overimitation and collaboration interact in 3- to 6-year-old children in Westernized (N = 48 in Experiment 1; N = 26 in Experiment 2) and Indigenous Australian communities (N = 26 in Experiment 2). Whether working in pairs or on their own rates of overimitation did not differ. However, when the causal functions of modeled…

Longitudinal patterns in parents' reports of youth decision-making autonomy from ages 9 to 20 were examined in a study of 201 European American families with 2 offspring. Multilevel modeling analyses revealed that decision-making autonomy increased gradually across middle childhood and adolescence before rising sharply in late adolescence. Social…

A conceptual framework based on social ecology, social learning, and social control theories guided identification of social contexts, contextual attributes, and joint effects that contribute to development of adolescent alcohol misuse. Modeling of alcohol use, suggested by social learning theory, and indicators of the social bond, suggested by…

Infants between 4 and 21 weeks of age participated in two experiments involving the modeling of from 3 to 5 gestures. Frequencies of infants' reproduction of a modeled act were compared against baseline frequencies and against average frequencies of the act during periods when other actions were modeled. Suggest that imitation of gestures was…

Argues that in research on the effects of modeling, models must be analyzed as a random factor in order to avoid a positive bias in the results. The concept of a random factor is discussed, worked examples are provided, and a practical solution to the problem is proposed. (JMB)

Results of two experiments indicate that dimensions of the social situation in which social behaviors are modeled influence eight-month-old children's tendency to imitate and their choice of recipients for their imitation. (Author/RH)

Examines extent to which knowing that certain things go together and knowing how they do are independent aspects of developing cognitive systems. Indicates that children use temporal order as organizing principle by three years of age. Suggests an earlier developmental horizon as the origin of ordering abilities. (Author/BE)

The influence of ability differences on fifth and sixth graders' imitations of modeled standards of self-reward was examined. (MP)

Investigates the manner in which preschool children use two sources of sex-appropriateness information (labeling and modeling) to direct their subsequent behavior and preferences for associated items. It is suggested that young children give lesser weights to the sex of a single model than to labels that may summarize general rules of conduct.…

Children's sharing and helping behaviors were observed after they had seen an adult who modeled donation behavior and/or who preached either about the importance of sharing or about the importance of helping others. (Author/JMB)