Parents' beliefs about their children's cognitive abilities.

Examined mothers' judgments of their children's cognitive abilities and the relation between such judgments and the child's developmental level. 49 1st-grade children responded to tasks drawn from either the Piagetian literature or the Stanford-Binet IQ tests. Ss also completed a vocabulary test drawn from the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT). Subsequently, each S's mother was asked various questions about probable response, both for her own child and for children in general. Results reveal that mothers were more accurate in predicting their child's success or failure on the IQ items than on the Piaget items. In both conditions, overestimations of ability were more common than underestimations. Estimates of age of mastery also showed overestimation, in some cases by several years. Data collected from 12 fathers indicate that fathers' patterns of response were similar to those of their wives. The correlations between accurate predictions by the mother and correct answers by the child were .85 in the Piaget condition and .49 in the IQ condition. Findings are compatible with the match hypothesis, which posits that the mother's knowledge of her child enables her to create an optimally challenging environment. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's judgments and attributions in response to the "mentally retarded" label: A developmental approach.

140 3rd graders, 188 6th graders, and 97 9th graders viewed a videotape in which a child failed a puzzle task. All of the Ss had identical information about the child's achievement scores and puzzle ability, but half were told that the child was mentally retarded. Consistent with key person perception and social cognition findings, the traitlike retarded label had little impact on younger Ss but strong effects on older Ss. Like adults in earlier research, 6th and 9th graders saw low effort as a less important cause of failure for the retarded than for the unlabeled child, and they saw less need to urge the retarded child to persist. Correlations showed no evidence of logical linkages among attributions, expectancies, and persistence-urging among 3rd graders, but strong linkages among 6th and 9th graders. Findings suggest that label effects are mediated by cognitive processes dependent on developmental level. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sibling status effects: Adult expectations.

Investigated expectations or beliefs held by 278 adults (average age 25.3 yrs) about a child based on his or her sibling status alone. Ss were asked to describe what they would expect a child without brothers or sisters, a child who was the oldest in his or her family, and a child who was the youngest in his or her family to be like. Ss seemed to have higher expectations for and give more positive ratings to oldest children than to only or youngest children. The ordinal position and parental status of the S also had an effect on the ratings given. Ss who were youngest children and Ss who were only children tended to show some bias toward their own sibling group; Ss who were oldest children actually gave their own sibling status lower group ratings than did other Ss. Ss with children tended to give higher ratings to all 3 sibling groups than did Ss without children. Results are discussed in terms of how these expectations may develop and their effects on the child's development. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypothesis-testing processes in social interaction.

In 4 separate investigations, female undergraduates were provided with hypotheses about the personal attributes of other individuals (targets). Ss then prepared to test these hypotheses (i.e., that their targets were extraverts or that their targets were introverts) by choosing a series of questions to ask their targets in a forthcoming interview. In each investigation, Ss planned to test these hypotheses by preferentially searching for behavioral evidence that would confirm the hypotheses. Moveover, these search procedures channeled social interaction between Ss and targets in ways that caused the targets to provide actual behavioral confirmation for Ss' hypotheses. A theoretical analysis of the psychological processes believed to underlie and generate both the preferential search for hypothesis-confirming behavioral evidence and the interpersonal consequences of hypothesis-testing activities is presented. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's loneliness: A comparison of rejected and neglected peer status.

Administered sociometric and loneliness questionnaires to 200 3rd-6th grade children to assess feelings of loneliness in 2 subgroups of unpopular Ss—those who were sociometrically rejected vs those who were sociometrically neglected. Data on popular, average, and controversial Ss were also collected. One-fifth of the the Ss were from low SES families, one-third were from middle SES families, and the rest were from upper middle or upper SES families. Results indicate that rejected Ss were the most lonely group and that this group differed significantly from other status groups. Neglected Ss did not differ from their higher-status peers. Overall, findings provide evidence of the utility of the distinction between neglected vs rejected status and provide support for earlier conclusions that rejected children are more at risk than are other status groups. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An evaluation of the sex stereotyping effect as related to counselor perceptions of courses appropriate for high school students.

Compared the appropriateness of course choices made by 96 female and male high school counselees as rated by 13 female and male counselors to determine if there was a sex bias effect. The sex, grade, and the ability level of ratees were controlled for in a 4-way analysis of variance. The Ss were randomly assigned to each counselor to ensure equal numbers of males and females from each grade and each ability level. The counselors were given achievement information, ability-level data, courses previously taken, grades received, and information about future plans. Each S was rated 5 times by the counselors. No significant differences were found between the ratings of the female and male counselors. Significant findings are (a) the higher the ability level of the counselee, the more appropriate were the courses; and (b) females were rated as having more appropriate courses than were males (using post hoc procedures, the significant difference occurring at the junior year in high school). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Diagnostic and confirmation strategies in trait hypothesis testing.

The role of diagnostic and confirmation strategies in trait hypothesis testing is examined. The present studies integrate theoretical and empirical work on qualitative differences among traits with the hypothesis-testing literature. Ss tested trait hypotheses from 2 hierarchically restrictive trait dimensions: introversion–extraversion and honesty–dishonesty. In Study 1, Ss generated questions to test trait hypotheses, and diagnosticity was theoretically defined (e.g., questions associated with nonrestrictive ends of trait dimensions). In Study 2, Ss selected questions from an experimenter-provided list in which diagnosticity was empirically defined. In Study 3, Ss chose between 2 equally diagnostic questions. In each of the studies, Ss showed a primary preference for diagnostic information and a secondary preference for confirmatory information. Ss' preference for diagnostic information suggests that they prefer to ask the most informative questions. The explanation for the confirmation bias is less obvious, and possible reasons for this effect are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A longitudinal study of achievement trajectories: Factors associated with change.

Using data from a longitudinal study of high-risk children (N?=?174), the authors examined deflections from predicted achievement scores on the basis of the discrepancy of observed scores from an established regression line (from first to sixth grade and first grade to age 16 years). Years in special education and socioeconomic status (SES) were related to changes in math achievement between first and sixth grade, whereas SES, child behavior problems, and quality of home environment were related to deflections in achievement from first grade to age 16 years. The environmental factors, quality of home environment, parent involvement in the child's education, and SES were related to improved achievement across time. These results suggest that early school, family, home environment, and child factors are important predictors of academic achievement deflections in late elementary and high school. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's perceptions of their own and their classmates' ability.

64 children in kindergarten through 3rd grade rated their own and their classmates' "smartness" and nominated classmates who were the best and worst at specific tasks and the best and worst thinkers in the classroom. These ratings were then compared to 12 teachers' classification of the Ss as low or high achievers. Only the 2nd and 3rd graders' ratings of their own ability reflected their teachers' ratings and were correlated to classmates' ratings of their ability. At all grade levels, Ss' ratings of their classmates reflected teachers' ratings of the academic status of the child being rated. Responses to open-ended questions concerning the criteria Ss used in evaluating their own smartness revealed that older Ss most often provided examples of their performance on specific tasks to justify their self-ratings, whereas younger Ss most frequently explained their self-ratings on the basis of their work habits (e.g., following directions). Work habits were also given as the most common explanation for peer smartness ratings. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's physical attractiveness and sex as determinants of adult punitiveness.

Investigated a child's physical attractiveness and sex as potential elicitors of differential adult punitiveness. Ss in Exps I and II were 52 white females and 44 white males, respectively. Ss in both groups viewed a videotaped interaction between the E and a child who was made to appear either physically attractive or unattractive. Subsequently, Ss monitored what was presumably the child's performance on a picture-matching task and administered penalties to the child for incorrect responses. The specific penalty involved taking 1-5 pennies away from the child for each error. Results show that women behaved more leniently towards an attractive boy than towards either an attractive girl or an unattractive boy; these results were interpreted in the context of a cross-sex leniency effect mediated by a child's physical attractiveness. Men were not influenced in administering penalties by either a child's attractiveness or sex. It is suggested that the data reflect differences in men's and women's orientations toward children's task behavior. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perception of the pleasantness and competence of a partner.

An experiment was conducted to test hypotheses derived from Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance concerning changes in the perception of a partner's pleasantness and competence following the discovery of unpleasant characteristics of the partner. College women who received information indicating their partner for a problem-solving task was very unpleasant rated her as less unpleasant than women who received identical information about someone who was not their partner. Those who received information indicating their partner was very unpleasant rated her as more competent than women who received information indicating their partner had fewer unpleasant characteristics. Whether they had chosen to work with the partner or were assigned had no significant effects on their ratings of her pleasantness or competence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preschoolers' knowledge about attention.

Examined whether 48 3- and 4-yr-olds would understand attention and distraction and whether attention would be affected by a child's interest in the task and the situation's noise level. Miniature toy people, household objects, and rooms depicted 2 episodes about a child in a learning situation. Over several trials, the situations varied in the interest level of the child and/or the surrounding noise level. On some trials, Ss were asked to choose which objects (noisy or quiet) should be removed to increase attention. On other trials, Ss chose which of 2 arrays was more conducive to attending. Most Ss understood that noise and lack of interest hinder attention; they considered interest more important than noise. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's judgments of their own and their peers' academic competence.

A standardized open-ended interview was used to study how 96 4–8 yr old children judged their own and their classmates' abilities. Ss were asked to explain how they knew who in their class was best and who was worst at various tasks and who was the best and who was the worst thinker. Ss also rated themselves and their classmates on how smart each was and explained their ratings. Content analyses of responses revealed that younger Ss, particularly males, were more likely than older Ss to refer to sociability in their ability judgments; they were less likely to base their judgments on social comparisons or on the difficulty level of the task. Ss at all age levels frequently explained ability judgments in terms of effort or work habits, although work habits tended to be referred to less by preschool-age Ss than by older Ss. Ss' ratings of their own ability declined with grade; ratings for peers were lower than self-ratings and did not change as a function of grade level. Self-ability ratings of Ss in kindergarten through the 3rd grade and their ratings of classmates were significantly correlated to teacher ratings of relative academic standing. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Punitiveness, authoritarianism, and parental discipline of grade school children.

"The purpose of this study was to investigate the interrelationships among ethnocentrism-authoritarianism in children, the child's willingness to be punitive, and the punitiveness of the parent as the child sees it. Three hypotheses postulating positive correlations among the three variables were set up… . It is concluded that the three hypotheses of the study are supported by the data, and that this evidence is in accord with, and reflects favorably upon, the theory of the origin of ethnocentrism-authoritarianism proposed by Frenkel-Brunswik and her associates." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental distress and children's problems among single-parent families in China

The coercion model explains reciprocal relationships between parents' and children's adjustment problems, with the mediation of parenting behavior and social relationships. A survey of 301 single parents in Guangzhou, China, was performed to test such a model with reference to parental distress, perceived behavioral problems and anxiety of the eldest child, acceptance of the child, and experienced social pressure and social support. Structural equation modeling demonstrated a good fit of the coercion model as a theoretically based and simplified representation of the relationships, supporting the hypotheses that (a) the parent's acceptance helps prevent the child's behavioral problems, (b) the child's behavioral problems and anxiety contribute to the parent's distress, (c) the child's behavioral problems and anxiety invite social pressure on the parent, (d) social pressure on the parent aggravates and social support for the parent attenuates the parent's distress, (e) social pressure on and social support for the parent facilitate the parent's acceptance of his or her child. However, the effect of parental distress on acceptance of the child was not significant.     

Adolescent mothers' cognitions and behaviors as at-risk indicators.

Examined how qualities of adolescent mothers (AMs) are related to their child's socioemotional development and the relationship between maternal characteristics and the AM's ratings of her child's behavior. Ss included 39 AMs (mean age 17.9 yrs) and their children (aged 4–22 mo). Multiple measures of parental characteristics were used, including self-report measures of parenting expectations and mood orientation, and a qualitative behavioral measure of involvement. Analyses compared these measures with ratings of the child's coping behavior by trained observers and mothers' ratings of their child using the Parenting Stress Index (PSI). Findings indicate that parenting expectations had a unique and differential power in explaining both objective child observation ratings and the mothers' PSI ratings of their children. Interactions involving maternal positive behavior were related significantly to mothers' PSI ratings of the child's acceptability or reinforcement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of age, sex, and physical attractiveness on child-peer relations, academic performance, and elementary school adjustment.

Assessed the effects of age, sex, and physical attractiveness for 56 4th- and 48 6th-grade male children's actual and perceived social, personal, and academic development. Ss' physical attractiveness was rated by 97 adults who viewed standardly posed photographs of them. Teachers rated Ss for academic ability and adjustment. Actual academic performance was indexed by GPAs. Actual adjustment was measured through subsections of the California Test of Personality. Positive and negative peer relations scores were derived from peer nominations. Physical attractiveness was positively related to positive peer relations and teachers' appraisals of academic ability and adjustment, and was negatively related to negative peer relations. Evidence was found for relations among physical attractiveness, GPA, and actual adjustment. No sex or grade effects were found. Organismic developmental notions, specifying how a child's physical attributes provide a basis of his own development, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The fate of old-country values in a new land: A cross-national study of child rearing.

Compared the values of young parents from 4 groups of recent immigrants to North America (Italian-Canadians, Greek-Canadians, Japanese-Canadians, and Portuguese-Americans) with the values of comparable social-class groups of parents residing in each of the old countries and with comparable groups of established Canadian or American parents. For each group, 40 pairs of parents were interviewed, 20 from middle-class and 20 from working class backgrounds. The value domain was child rearing; all Ss in the study were parents of a 6-yr-old child. Results show that socioeconomic status (SES) had a much more powerful effect on parental values than ethnicity or cultural background. Findings also elucidate the process of value adjustment for a variety of immigrant groups, how each group accommodates its pattern of values to North American norms, and how each group also maintains particular old-country values. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An empirical test of Myklebust's cognitive structure hypotheses for 70 reading-disabled children.

A Wherry-Wherry hierarchical factor solution was obtained on WISC subtest intercorrelations for normal and reading-disabled Ss to test 3 cognitive structure hypotheses derived from the formulations of H. Myklebust, M. Bannochie, and J. Killen. Comparison of the ability structure for these groups provided strong support for 2 of the 3 hypotheses. First, the ability structure of reading-disabled Ss was distinguishable from that of normals by less effective ability integration. Second, the ability structure of reading-disabled Ss was distinguishable from that of normals by a different overall ability arrangement. For normals the factor structure consisted of a strong general factor and 2 subgeneral factors corresponding to the verbal-educational ability and spacial-perceptual ability of P. Vernon's (see PA, Vol 49:879) hierarchical paradigm. For reading-disabled Ss the factor structure consisted of a weak general factor, 2 subgeneral factors, and 4 primary factors. However, communality estimates for reading-disabled and normal Ss were comparable, thus failing to support the ability organization hypothesis. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)