Aggressive incidents were observed for 23 children in 2 preschool playgroups. Linear dominance hierarchies were constructed for each group and rank orderings on toughness were obtained. The rankings on perceived toughness correlated better with initiation of aggression than with observed dominance position. (JMB)

Children's conflicts with one another during free play were observed to determine the relation between the child's rate of conflict participation and his or her rate of aggressive behavior during conflict episodes and between these variables and the degree to which the child was liked or disliked by peers. (Author/SO)

Investigates the developmental sequence of learning to transform objects into agents and recipients of action in early symbolic play. Each of 48 children (from 14 to 25 months old) demonstrated initiative pretending after an adult modeled agent and recipient substitutions in pretending to talk on the telephone. (Author/CB)

In a naturalistic behavioral stdy, it was found that prematures have significantly more endogenous smiling than full-term newborns. (Authors)

Investigated whether, in a sample of 30 infants, anger could reliably be observed in facial expressions as early as seven months of age. Also considered was the influence of several variables on anger responses: infants' familiarity with the frustrator, repetition of trials, and sex of the child. (Author/RH)

Results obtained from observations of the interactions of 20 mother/infant pairs supported the hypothesis that high interactional stability would be strongly linked to low levels of crying during social attention. (MP)

A stable ordered dominance hierarchy was found via observational and sociometric methods for a group of 13-year-old boys during a 5-week camp. (SB)

Five groups of children, ranging in age from 4 to 11 years, were observed for instances of immediate imitation of peers in a free-play setting. Results showed that imitation decreased with age, that more verbal than motor acts were imitated, and that dominant children were imitated more often. (Author/JMB)

This report describes a method for objectively assessing the style of mother-infant interaction without regard to the specific content of the interaction. Application of this method to systematic observations made of 45 mother-infant dyads revealed sex and parity effects. (Author/JMB)

Reviews parent-child interaction studies, the major source of information about the socialization process of the child. Deals fully with observation studies--naturalistic observation and experimentally arranged interaction in the laboratory--but also draws on interview and questionnaire methods for comparison. (WY)

Infants were observed at 10, 12, and 14 1/2 months to test whether social interaction among infant peers develops as a by-product of object-centered play. Age differences were noted. Object-centered contact did not influence early social interaction; long interactions emerged at later ages regardless of whether or not toys were present. (Author/DB)

Examined relations between quality of mothers' and fathers' friendships and that of their children's friendships. Found that children's self-reports and observational measures of friendship quality were not highly correlated for girls, but were moderately associated for boys. Quality of mothers' and fathers' friendships related to quality of…