Assessed the causes ascribed by 60 Israeli 4th- and 9th-graders for the Arab-Israeli conflict and the relationship of these attributions to their expectations and emotions. Found that adolescents tended to view causes as more constant or less fluctuating over time than did younger children. Results support an attributional model for understanding…

Examined age and gender differences regarding the nature, meaning, and function of cherished possessions. Among the significant differences found were that younger children were egocentric in meanings assigned to cherished possessions, whereas older children held social relationships meaningful; females favored items to be contemplated, while…

Used a longitudinal sample to examine the relation of 8- to 10-year olds' teacher-reported dispositional sympathy to regulation and emotionality. Found that sympathy correlated with adults' reports of regulation and low negative emotionality contemporaneously and, to some degree, two and four years prior. The pattern of correlations changed little…

Examined the predictive value of infant attachment security at 1 year for career development attitudes and educational aspirations at 18 years. Analyses of archived longitudinal study assessments and interviews at adolescence showed that secure orientations related to better career development outcomes. (JPB)

Discusses the links between emotional development and pretend play in young children using basic foundations of psychoanalytic and learning theories. Explains emotional development and pretend play through interactive levels of expression, control and modeling of emotion, and emotional intelligence. (JPB)

Argues that planners should design play areas based on children's physical, emotional, social, and intellectual needs. Specific playground planning goals are examined that address childrens' physical abilities, emotional development, and social and intellectual performance as well as help satisfy the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities…

Explores the attachment relationship of fathers to their infant children. Highlights the ways fathers parent differently from mothers, and the positive effects on child outcomes of fathers' participation in caregiving. (HTH)

Explains why early interactions are so vital in teaching young children about themselves, their world, and success. Explores the function of internal and external motivation to development, and the importance of positive feedback to development of children's trust and self-confidence. (HTH)

Study examined relation of children's negative emotionality and regulation to current and subsequent sociometric status throughout the year. Measures of emotional intensity, regulation and aggression completed by teachers for 74 four- to six-year olds at two points during the year, indicated individual differences in regulation, and emotionality…

Describes the richness of Hollich et al.'s model of language acquisition. Presents concerns about focus on object words in word learning research, the phantom child in the model, and the missing affect in theories and research on word learning. Suggests that experimental work inspired by principles and constraints theory and observational work…

Compared emotion socialization in 26 children with anxiety disorders ages 8-12 years and their mothers to 26 nonclinical counterparts without psychopathology. Children and their mothers participated in an emotion interaction task in which they discussed occasions when the child felt worry, sadness, and anger. Responses were coded for length of…

Relations among effortful control/low negative emotionality, immediate reactions in a situation that usually calls for the masking of disappointment (i.e., the use of display rules), and social competence/adjustment were investigated for 78 preschool children (mean age=4.87 years). Parents, teachers, and peers rated children on negative…

We present the purpose of study of the origins and development of affect-relevant and religion-relevant hypotheses, and conjectured prediction of proto-religious sequences in pre-human anthropoids and primitive human cultures. We anticipate more comprehensive study of modern cultural outcomes of these origins and developments.

The neuropsychological bases of cognitive, social, and moral development are minimally understood, with a seemingly wide chasm between developmental theories and brain maturation models. As one approach to bridging ideas in these areas, we review 10 cases of early prefrontal cortex damage from the clinical literature, highlighting overall clinical…

Families can help prevent violence through nurturing empathy in their children. This article provides the framework for supporting families in becoming active in their children's development of empathy. Strategies are provided that help parents and family implement empathy development.