Examined the role of emotion in 108 elementary school students' selection of strategies for coping with daily stresses. Found that children exhibited a greater tendency to report inhibiting their actions in response to fear-arousing situations than in situations involving anger or sadness. Older children tended to report more intra-psychic…

Children's moral judgments, attributions of emotion, and their associations were examined in hypothetical, prototypical situations and situations of provocation and peer retaliation. Children judged prototypical and provoked moral transgressions (hitting and teasing). Hypothetical moral transgressions were judged to be more serious and deserving…

Two studies examined the relationship between children's perceived social control and their visual reactions to videotapes of positive, neutral, or fearful child-doctor interactions. Found that children with high levels of social control showed high visual engagement when viewing the fearful scenes, whereas low-control children showed relatively…

Maintains that individuals rely on various elements to structure activities that reflect various intersections between thinking and feeling. Intersections arise because events are social processes that require interweaving of scripts, roles, physical setting, audience characteristics, and other features derived from dramatic metaphors. (Author/BB)

Four experiments examined children's interpretations of lexical and vocal cues to speaker affect and the developmental trajectory of their interpretations of discrepancy. Findings indicate that the affective interpretations of 7- to 10-year-olds reflected a weighted- averaging strategy favoring the affect conveyed lexically. Both 4- and…

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.…

Examines the naturally occurring social interactions of five- to eight-year-old children at a summer day camp. Children were observed in their routine camp activities, which took place in a variety of settings: some highly structured and adult-centered, some less highly regulated. (Author/MP)

Reviews research that provides connections between the constructs of emotional functioning and social competence in children, focusing on such areas as children's understanding and identification of emotions, emotion regulation, emotion display rules, sympathetic responding, and children's mood states. Finds some support for the idea that high…

Seventeen processes in the development of expressive behavior are reviewed and coordinated in a framework that is shown to accommodate current perspectives on expressive behavior development. Works of Ekman, Izard, Lewis and Michalson, and Sroufe are briefly reviewed. Neglected areas of research are indicated and the course of expressive behavior…

Studied age differences in children's understanding of (1) changes in emotional reactions to situations; and (2) the possibility that emotion might be controlled by situational or cognitive strategies. Children aged 4 to 15 years were more likely to suggest situational strategies than cognitive strategies for controlling emotion. (Author/GH)

This analysis of work interactions emphasizes concepts and principles adults bring to work interactions. It also explores the processes involved in teaching and learning situations, and the questions these processes raise for certain current social accounts of children's cognitive development. (BB)

This study examined the influence of expressive strategies, emotion type, social context, and gender on 144 elementary-school-age children's expectancies regarding interpersonal responses to their emotional expression. Findings indicated that children expected others to respond more positively to verbal and facial strategies than to aggressive…

A prospective study investigated associations between preschool temperament and environmental factors and school-age personality in 93 Swedish children. Found that personality was predicted by early temperament and environmental factors such as external day care and negative life events. Extraversion was most clearly related to temperament.…