Assessed direct relations between three aspects of self-reported anger regulation and peer-rated social preference and aggression as well as indirect relations between these constructs as mediated by observed anger expression. Interviewed 274 second-graders following anger-arousing games. Found that anger regulation was only indirectly related to…

This study examines the incidence of, and relationship between egocentric affect-matching and social comprehension in very young children. (Author/SB)

A total of 60 adults and 60 first graders were presented with brief stories and asked to supply the verbal statement (or directive) that would be used by the story character. Results confirmed expectations regarding situational use of directives for neutral-affect story characters. (Author/KS)

Analyzed preference for same-sex peers in 326 second through ninth graders. Found that same-sex preference occurred at all ages, decreased with age, was due more to a positive bias toward same-sex peers rather than negative bias against other-sex peers, and changed primarily as a function of liking for same-sex peers. Suggests that two processes…

Reflects on G. Zivin's framework on the development of expressive behavior. Stresses the need to include noncognitive, as well as cognitive, affective activation in the framework, and the necessity for the adoption of an inclusive, synthesizing strategy at this stage of knowledge. (HOD)

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…

Investigated relationships between language acquisition and temperamental attentional control and positive affectivity in toddlers. Found that language development was associated positively with adaptability and soothability, mood and smiling/laughter, and persistence and duration of orientation. Findings suggest that temperament may influence…

Families in a Mexican village were interviewed using the California Psychological Inventory and the TAT. Users and nonusers of contraceptives were found to differ on several psychological variables. (ST)

Details some problematic features of G. Zivin's framework on the development of expressive behavior. (HOD)

Two studies concerned with agreement in ratings of temperament are reported. Ratings of the mothers of toddlers versus daycare workers were compared on the Toddler Temperament Scale (Study 1), and on ratings of a videotape of a 2-year-old child for responses relevant to six dimensions of temperament (Study 2). (Author/BN)

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)

Two studies investigated two and four to five year olds' conversations to determine whether discussions about preferences differ from discussions about emotions and whether developmental differences exist in descriptions of affect. Found that children were more likely to discuss causes and consequences for emotions than for preferences. (MM)

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…