Some 25-1/2 hours of Boston commercial television for children were monitored on a Saturday and Sunday in April 1975. The monitoring covered three network affiliated stations and two independent UHF stations. Monitoring, coding, and editing provided much statistical data, which was analyzed to yield findings in the areas of distribution of…

An attempt at defining and describing those factors which most often jeopardize the validity of naturalistic behavioral data is presented. A number of investigations from many laboratories which demonstrate these methodological problems are reviewed. Next, suggestions, implementations, and testing of effectiveness of various solutions to these…

Four different observational systems and two time sequences were employed to determine the extent to which they would yield different incidences of anti-social behavior. Two videotapes, randomly chosen from a pool of 30 tapes, were utilized. These illustrated the behaviors of anti-social children in a natural setting. Six observers were reliably…

Examines the capability and motivation of 18- and 24-month-old infants to share, help, comfort, and cooperate with their older siblings; the frequency of such prosocial behavior by both siblings; and the children's response to sibling distress. The relationship between prosocial and conflict behavior was also studied. (HOD)

Research supported in part by funds from the Department of Special Education, University of Minnesota, and the U.S. Office of Education. (DS)

A functional analysis of distinct topographies of aberrant behavior displayed by 4 individuals (ages 6-28) with moderate to profound mental retardation indicated that hypotheses of separate functions for distinct behaviors can be generated using both extended and brief functional analyses when results are graphed in the aggregate and separated by…

This article examines the status of behavioral research on genetic mental retardation syndromes and finds that the field continues to struggle with three methodological issues: (1) how to think about control or contrast groups, (2) the interplay of behavioral phenotypes with development and other within-group variations, and (3) the efficacy of…

This article introduces this special issue on functional assessment methods and their application to children and youth with autism. It traces the 30-year history of functional assessment and briefly summarizes each of the following articles, noting the common emphasis on social validity and using the science and technology of functional…

The study compared the level of development observed in the imaginative play of young children with the level of development revealed in conservation an classification tasks. The sample included 40 children, with one 5/6-year old group of 20 children (10 boys, 10 girls), and two six/seven-year old groups of 20 children (14 boys, 6 girls). The…

It was hypothesized that children, like adults, cognize social groups by applying social schemata. Their facility with social schemata was predicted to be a function of their level of cognitive development. When children were asked to complete partial social structures, formal and concrete operational, but not preoperational children, readily…

Until the 1960's, the prevailing view within the scientific community was that television was a relatively unimportant influence, but studies have shown that television does have an important effect on the behavior of its viewers, particularly aggressive behavior. Consequently, recent research has focused on the role of television in the…

A study analyzed the programing and advertising matter in the after-school hours on independent commercial television stations unaffiliated with the major networks. These stations, primarily UHF, relied almost entirely on syndicated programing that is often reruns of former network programs. These programs draw large after-school audiences. By…

Studies the impact of children's verbal style, age, and sex, on social perception and concludes that the speaker with a dialect most similar to the listener will be perceived as the most credible. (MH)

Assessed impact of divorced parents' participation in group counseling sessions, on their elementary school-age children's self-concept and on parents' childrearing attitudes. Experimental group parents demonstrated higher confidence and acceptance scores; their children had significantly higher self-concept scores than did controls. Suggests that…