Concordance in Attachment States of Mind and Styles With Respect to Fathers and Mothers.

It is believed that by adulthood, independent attachments to the mother and the father coalesce into a single state of mind with respect to attachment. If true, states of mind with respect to mothers and fathers should be concordant. Fifty-six young adults were administered two versions of the Adult Attachment Interview, each of which asked about their relationship with one parent. State of mind with respect to the father was significantly related to state of mind with respect to the mother, as were attachment styles regarding the two parents. Perceptions of attachment styles were not very related to corresponding states of mind but were related to inferred loving from a parent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affective consequences of social reinforcement, punishment, and neutral behavior.

The social behavior of 101 4- and 5-yr-old children was observed in 2 settings and classified as reinforcing, punishing, or neutral. The positive, negative, or neutral affective reactions of the target Ss were also recorded. Conditional probability analyses revealed that positive affective reactions tended to follow reinforcing behaviors and negative reactions followed punishing ones. Neutral behaviors were frequent and were distinct from reinforcing and punishing ones. The findings held for a majority of Ss and their interactions, as well as for the group as a whole. The importance of a classification of neutral behaviors and the social antecedents of expressed affect are discussed. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of role and assignment rationale on attitudes formed during peer tutoring.

Examined the role of contextual factors, such as assignment rationale, on the attitudinal effects of peer tutoring. 112 4th graders engaged in brief tutoring experiences as either a tutor or a tutee. Ss received 4 rationales for being selected as tutor or tutee: (a) a competence rationale, (b) a physical characteristic rationale, (c) a chance rationale, or (d) no rationale. As predicted, tutors had more positive attitudes than tutees when they had been given a competence or physical characteristic rationale but not when the tutors were provided a chance rationale or no rationale. Additionally, the tutors' and tutees' attitudes were enhanced when no rationale was provided. Results are discussed in terms of a role-theory analysis of tutoring and their implications for applied programs. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Popularity, individual friendship selection, and specific peer interaction among children.

The social interaction of 94 4–5 yr old White preschoolers was observed and scored for the frequency of reinforcing, neutral, and punishing behavior. The peer target of that behavior was specified, and Ss were identified sociometrically as liked or disliked by peers. Consistent with past findings, an S's popularity in the peer group was associated with overall rates of receiving and dispensing reinforcing and neutral acts. The selection of a specific liked peer, however, was not related to that peer's overall social behavior but rather to the specific interaction between that peer and the S. In particular, the interaction between an S and a liked peer was characterized by high rates of reinforcing and neutral acts. Ss' interaction with disliked peers did not differ from that with peers who were neither liked nor disliked. The importance of distinguishing between general interaction patterns affecting sociometric status and specific interaction affecting friendship selection is discussed. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's perceptions of the personal relationships in their social networks.

Tested the hypothesis that children would report that different social-network members provide different social provisions, using 199 5th–6th grade White children. Ss completed network of relationships inventories, which assessed 10 qualities of their relationships with mothers, fathers, siblings, grandparents, friends, and teachers. Consistent with R. S. Weiss's (1974) theory (i.e., that individuals seek specific social provisions or types of social support in their relationships with others), Ss reported seeking different provisions from different individuals. Mothers and fathers were turned to most often for affection, enhancement of worth, a sense of reliable aid, and instrumental aid. Next to parents, grandparents were turned to most often for affection and enhancement of worth, and teachers were turned to most often for instrumental aid. Friends were the greatest source of companionship, and friends and mothers received the highest ratings of intimacy. Ss also reported having more power in their relationships with other children than in those with adults. Conflict was perceived as occurring most often in sibling relationships. Ss were most satisfied with their relationships with mothers, and they thought their relationships with mothers and fathers were the most important. Bases for children's differentiations of their relationships and implications for understanding social networks are discussed. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A reexamination of developmental changes in causal attributions.

Examined young children's use of the presence or absence of extrinsic reward to make inferences about the intrinsic motivation of another person. Previous research indicates that most kindergartners do not use a discounting heuristic, but it was hypothesized that these children may have misinterpreted the questions asked. 19 boys and 19 girls from kindergarten, 2nd and 4th grade were presented stories about children who were rewarded or not rewarded for performing various activities. Two forms of questioning about motivation were compared. When a traditional form was used, kindergartners did not show evidence of a discounting heuristic. When the questions were adjusted to ask more specifically about intrinsic motivation, Ss at all grade levels appeared to use a discounting heuristic. Results are discussed in terms of the parameters of the attributional effects, the possible mechanisms responsible for the phenomena, and the significance of the findings for other developmental research using self-report techniques. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Problems associated with the typological measurement of sex roles and androgyny.

Four new measures of sex role style—the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI), the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ), the Personality Research Form (PRF) ANDRO scale, and the Masculinity and Femininity scales of the Adjective Check List (ACL)—each define sex role style and androgyny in similar conceptual and psychometric terms. Although these scales have often been used interchangeably, the current study examined interscale comparability among these inventories. Although correlations among the respective masculinity and femininity row (continuous) scale scores on the BSRI, PAQ, PRF ANDRO scale, and the ACL were moderately high, a large proportion of the 130 undergraduates were classified into different sex role categories (masculine typed, feminine typed, androgynous, or undifferentiated), with the category depending on the inventory used. In fact, when corrected for chance agreements, the majority of Ss (61%) were actually categorized discrepantly by any pair of inventories. This suggests limited comparability of sex role research findings based on different inventories, and when sex role styles are dichotomized into broad typological quadrants, as is the current practice in sex role research, substantial predictive utility is lost. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of affective states on noncontingent outcome expectancies and beliefs in internal or external control.

Tested the hypothesis that spontaneous correlations between outcomes in the natural environment and simultaneously occurring affective states may incline individuals to associate and thus expect certain classes of outcomes during affective states. Positive, neutral, or negative affect was induced by having 24 preschool children think happy, neutral, or sad thoughts for 30 sec. Ss were shown a sample problem that they did not work, following which they were asked to predict how well they would do. The appropriate affect was then reinduced, and the Minnesota Expectancy for Serendipity Scale was administered. Results indicate that the induction of positive affect produced significantly higher serendipitous expectancies than did either neutral or negative affect induction procedures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer interactions, sociometric status, and resistance to deviation in young children.

74 4- and 5-yr-olds, whose peer interactions (receipt of reinforcing, punishing, or neutral interactions) had been extensively recorded and whose sociometric status was known, were placed in a resistance to deviation situation in which a prohibition to play with a valued toy was purportedly endorsed by a peer or an adult. As predicted, the peer interaction variables were not related to deviation under adult endorsement. The more an S was generally punished by her or his peers or engaged in neutral interaction, the greater her or his deviation under a peer-endorsed prohibition. General levels of peer reinforcement were not related to deviation under any condition. In general, more unpopular (disliked) Ss deviated more. In contrast to the general peer interaction results, the specific interaction history between an S and the peer named as endorsing the deviation had no effect on deviation. Results are discussed in terms of the differential roles of group reference processes and specific social learning experiences that govern peer influences on self-regulation and other classes of moral behavior in young children. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sibling relationships in early adulthood.

The purposes of this study were to describe the nature of sibling relationships in young adulthood and to examine correlates of individual differences in adults' sibling relationships. A new measure, the Adult Sibling Relationship Questionnaire (ASRQ; R. P. Lanthier & C. Stocker, 1992), was developed with 2 samples (N?=?383). The factor structure of the ASRQ indicated that sibling relationships in early adulthood were characterized by 3 independent dimensions: warmth, conflict, and rivalry. Individual differences in adults' warmth, conflict, and rivalry with siblings were somewhat associated with family structure variables and were linked to the amount of contact between siblings and to siblings' mental health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)