The psychological mechanisms that subserve inductions about novel social categories in childhood are hotly debated. While research demonstrated that language, and in particular generic statements, plays a major role in how children learn to attribute properties to social categories, developmental theories propose other mechanisms. One theoretical…

Children's socioeconomic status (SES) is linked to disparate access to resources and affects social behaviors such as inclusion and resource allocations. Yet it is unclear whether children's essentialized view of SES (i.e., believing SES is immutable) or subjective social status (SSS) influences behavioral biases toward high- versus low-SES peers.…

Within a language, there is considerable variation in the pronunciations of words owing to social factors like age, gender, nationality, and race. In the present study, we investigate whether toddlers link social and linguistic variation during word learning. In Experiment 1, 24- to 26-month-old toddlers were exposed to two talkers whose front…

This study examined how Argentine adolescents' judgments about the fairness of their society are related to their perceptions of actual and ideal societal wealth distribution, just world beliefs, and trust in political institutions. Six hundred ninety-nine Argentine adolescents from three age groups (12-14 years, 15-16 years, and 17-18 years) in…

A sample of 70 mother-infant dyads were used to cross-validate and test the concurrent validity of the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment Inventory (HOME). (Author/SS)

This study compared the smiling behavior of 76 infants during a regular day to their smiling during a brief elicitation by the mother and investigated the extent to which a mother is able to intentionally elicit smiling or vocalization. (Author/JMB)

The fact that the suggestion to cluster was capable of offsetting social class differences in recall is discussed in terms of Jensen's recommendations for differential education of middle- and lower-class children. (Authors)

A theoretical framework stemming from the evolutionary psychology of Herbert Spencer, along with two experiments with young children as subjects, are presented. (Authors)

Examined whether African American first- through sixth-graders' perceptions of occupational status and their own vocational interests were affected by racial segregation of the workforce. Found that for familiar jobs, children's judgments related to their knowledge of racial segregation in these jobs. Novel occupations depicted with African…