Two experiments examined whether 18-month-olds learn from emotions directed to a third party. Infants watched an adult perform actions on objects, and an Emoter expressed Anger or Neutral affect toward the adult in response to her actions. The Emoter then became neutral and infants were given access to the objects. Infants' actions were influenced…

Infants who cried in response to a reward shift evidenced no retention of the contingency 1 week later but did have excellent retention at one day. Reactivation treatment alleviated forgetting at three weeks. Results indicate that crying in response to violation of a reward-expectation habit functions as an amnesic agent to produce accelerated…

Investigated children's understanding of facial expressions such as anger, sadness, and disgust. Further study explored children's capacity to associate components of emotional expressions with the emotions to which they are related. (Author/RH)

Reports an experiment with five-year-old children which tested the hypothesis that a change in affect between input and test interferes with performance in a nominally noncued free recall test but not with performance on a cued recall test. (JMB)

Autonomic responses of 5- to 10-year-old children were measured while the children watched a videotape in which a doctor and child expressed negative, neutral, or positive affect. For 5- and 6-year-old children, autonomic responses were greatest while watching, and errors in subsequent memory tasks greatest after watching, the negative affect…

Data indicate that for girls, affective dispositional factors (empathy, depressive affectivity, aggression, and self-concept) are intimately linked to cognitive development and academic achievement. (PCB)

Mothers of 48 infants approximately 12 months old displayed either positive or neutral affect while their infants responded to pleasant, ambiguous, or aversive toys. On the first trial maternal affect had no effect; on the second trial, positive maternal affect resulted in more positive infant responses, but only for the ambiguous toy. (Author/RH)

While 18 5-month-old infants viewed photographic slides of faces posed in happy, neutral, or angry expressions, a brief acoustic noise burst was presented to elicit the blink component of human startle. It was found that blink size was augmented during the viewing of angry expressions and reduced during viewing of happy expressions. (MDM)

Studied were the responses of infants to new toys presented with either positive, negative, or neutral affective displays by mothers. Responses to stimulus toys were compared with responses to free play toys. Maternal displays influenced responses only to stimulus toys. (PCB)

Results showed that short-term low-warmth inductions produced more charitability in second and fifth graders than short-term high-warmth inductions and that instructions encouraging charitability produced more generosity than selfish or permissive instructions. In addition, girls were found to be more generous overall than boys. (JMB)

A two-part study examined children's conceptions of the linkages between sociomoral events and emotional consequences for several event participants. Results of the first study indicated that children's conceptions were highly differentiated. The second study found children able to match affective information to events likely to cause emotional…

Observed 32 preschoolers' interactions with their toddler siblings. Preschoolers' references about emotions were more likely to be about the toddler than the self. Preschoolers who were skillful perspective takers talked more about internal emotional states and more frequently about the toddler and themselves than did poor perspective takers. (BC)

Investigated the child-holding patterns represented in Western art by examining the mother-and-child paintings and drawings of 34 major European artists. Works of art depicting men holding young children are examined for comparison. (Author/SDH)

Twelve child confederates (six male and six female) were trained to be responsive or unresponsive to 48 female college students. Adult women attended more to responsive children and gave more help to responsive than to unresponsive girls. The adults also rated the children as more attractive, likeable, and competent when the children behaved…

Results indicated that the more frequently the children studied expressed emotion, the older the age of language achievements; and the more time spent in neutral affect, the younger the age of language achievements. (PCB)