The development of laughter is little understood even though it is an area of human behaviour that long intrigued psychologists and philosophers. A framework for understanding is required. With guidance from existing literature, observational data is used to develop such a framework. It is argued that no one single approach can, in principle, explain the phenomenon. Laughter occurs in too varied situations for it to be possible to claim that it is due to one single cause. Moreover, laboratory studies usually require subjects to laugh at 'funny' stimuli on cue. As a result, they have focussed on responsive laughter rather than on the conditions under which subjects try to make others laugh. Given this background, observational data is useful. In this study observational data from a longitudinal study of two children and from a study of children in a playgroup are used to argue that very young children not only laugh responsively but also create occasions for their own laughter. Moreover, while their ability to laugh develops in many ways linked to their cognitive and social development, they can still laugh at the kinds of situations that made them laugh when they were very young. It is concluded that observations have helpfully added to ways in which the development of laughter has been conceptualised. It is also suggested that some observations of laughter in young children have implications for research on how young children are capable of intentional behaviour.

An experiment was designed to test the effects of certain factors on the discrimination learning and shift performance of young children. Subjects were selected between the ages since it has been observed that at about that age, reversal and non-reversal shifts in discrimination are executed equally readily. Five dichotomous variables were controlled: intelligence, sex, social group, type of shift, and reward condition. Subjects were assigned on their performance of the childrens' Progressive Matrices, to high or normal IQ groups. Males and females were separately grouped. Social group was determined by school attendance: tv/o schools in middle class residential districts, and two in working class areas were visited. Children were allocated at random to shift and reward conditions. After initial training, half the children were rewarded for performing a reversal or intradimensional shift, the other half, a non-reversal or extradimentional shift. Half of the subjects received material incentives: sweets or trinkets for correct responses, and half, nonmaterial rewards: bell tinkles or light flashes. The performance of 128 children was examined by five way analyses of variance. The variables' effects were minimal during initial training, but in the discrimination3shifts, interesting effects emerged. The group as a whole performed both shifts with relative ease, but middle class children performed reversal shifts better than non-reversal ones while working class children performed non-reversal shifts best. Reward effects interacted with intelligence: high IQ subjects performed best for material incentives. Girls generally performed better than boys, although the effects of sex interacted with both IQ and social group membership. A strong relation appeared between verbal facility as measured by the WISC Vocabulary and shift performance. A covariance analysis, by equalizing the impact of fluency, reduced the variability within groups, and accentuated the previously observed effects. A reward choice technique produced evidence of a developing preference for larger, delayed over smaller, immediate rewards in middle class children. The results of this study indicate that the factors selected for study here do affect the discrimination learning of six year olds.

While there is no shortage of literature in the field of psychology of religion, much of this has been approached from a theoretical and often subjective point of view, rather than from an empirical or objective one. This is particularly true in the area of child development, where no long-term studies exist, despite the relevance of these to the religious formation of children. The present study is based on the results of a religious projective test for use with adolescent girls. Typical patterns of conflict and idealism emerge, especially within the family and social context, but the relation of religion is found to be an indirect one, in either their production or their resolution. Differences emerge according to the age and social background of the girls, most problems being found with both the older and the more intelligent younger ones, while an immature function of religion seems to be more found with the less able, pre-school-leaving group. The analysis of the results is related to the wider field of child development studies at all ages, and in particular to the aims and methodology of catechetics. It is argued that much of the failure to convey religious ideas effectively, as well as the tendency to produce religious conflict, has been due to a faulty understanding of the basic psychology of the child, of his needs and learning processes at any given stage. In the course of the study several criteria of "religious content" are explored, including some specific to the present work, but none are felt to be entirely satisfactory from either standpoint, religious or psychological. A hope is expressed that future studies will emerge that will be equally acceptable on each of these lines.

About fifteen years ago, the unreflecting acceptance of such concepts as right and left as simple polarities, virtually prevented most serious researchers from investigating closely how a child comes to differentiate and name both sides of his body and succeeds in doing so on other persons as well as on himself. Work done by Spionek and Benton in particular has highlighted the various stages through which the development of the right-left concept progresses. Initially it is identified on oneself then 011 other people and on objects. The problem now is to isolate the variables which have a determining influence; this involves an evaluation of the extent of their influence and their interaction. A sample of eighty boys and girls, four to twelve years old was selected and seven tests covering the variables thought to be relevant were administered to them, namely: body schema, vocabulary, abstract reasoning, space relations, handedness, and motor coordination; a measure of knowledge of right and left was also employed. The data obtained on those tests together with the age element were submitted to Principal Component Analysis. This statistical analysis shows that maturation is the most Important of all components extracted. A second component was one of directional orientation and a third, of gross visuo-motor coordination. A fourth factor also emerged involving handedness and right-left discrimination on others. This investigation ofhandedness gave rather puzzling results; further examination suggested that the concept was oversimplified, it is an intricate multidimensional characteristic, rather than a unitary one. It is concluded that verbal ability plays a part throughout the whole evolution of the right-left concept while age and body image are relevant only when the child is applying the concept to himself; space orientation is correlated with this application on other persons.

When infants were allowed to fixate their own mother's face under various degrees of completeness, all showed differential fixation. A face without both eyes was fixated significantly less frequently than were the eyes only with or without other facial features and was also associated with a negative reaction of actively refusing to look. A full or complete face, however, was not fixated any more frequently than an incomplete which contained eyes. In another study, infants were allowed to fixate two television monitors on which were simultaneously presented filmed versions of a strange female face under various degrees of completeness. In spite of decided positional preferences, the results of the two studies correlated significantly, which indicates that infants responded to a filmed version of a face as face-like. It was therefore suggested that the human face as a visual stimulus can be conceived to be built up in the manner of a heterogeneous summation effect organized around a privileged feature, namely, one eye. The literature on imprinting was reviewed and the distinction between the minimally sufficient and the optimal conditions was drawn. Moreover, different types of imprinting were argued for. Then the development of attachment in the human infant, with particular reference to perception of the human face, was compared with imprinted recognition of and response to visual stimuli in birds, and it was pointed out that by 4 to 6 months, most infants evidence behaviour which indicates an internalized face schema.

<p> Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), once thought to be rare, is now considered prevalent, with 1 of every 68 children diagnosed nationwide (Salley, 2016). There is no treatment for ASD, but early therapeutic interventions can help children with ASD live a higher quality of life and achieve major developmental milestones such as language development (Dreyer, 2016). Because ASD can challenge all members of a family, early identification and intervention is vital. This process improvement project was created to enable higher rates of detection for ASD and other developmental delays. The major process improvement intervention was implementing universal screening for ASD during all well-child exams between 18 and 24 months. A guideline was created to help providers know when to screen, what screening tool to use, and how to respond if the screening is abnormal. An educational seminar for all staff involved in the care of pediatric patients also occurred. A chart audit of the guideline and algorithm&rsquo;s clinical use was done to evaluate the successes of the project. To further evaluate outcomes, a staff and provider basic ASD knowledge survey was conducted before and after the education was provided. Finally, steps were taken to work with IT from the electronic health record (EHR) to integrate documentation prompts for providers to ease the use of ASD screening and appropriate billing. With the conclusion of this project, all data acquired indicated the clinical guideline, algorithm, and educational platform were a success. Screening for ASD increased after the implementation. Furthermore, provider and staff knowledge regarding ASD and ASD screening was enhanced. Further work with this type of process improvement project should be conducted, as indicated with the findings of this study. </p><p>

<p> The development of episodic autobiographical memory (EAM) has been well documented in those with typical development (TD), yet many questions remain about the development of EAM and its operations in those with high functioning autism (HFA). In this study, youths (9 to 18 years old) with and without HFA (<i>N</i> = 48) participated in a semi-distressing event and then 3 weeks later were interviewed using one of two forensic interview protocols (10 Step or Cognitive Interview [CI]). Accuracy was assessed via cued recall narratives and responses to direct questions. Individual differences in working memory, cognitive flexibility, and pragmatic language were assessed. Results indicated that, although HFA youths&rsquo; cued recall memory for event details was diminished, memory accuracy for people, actions, and objects depended upon interview protocol and youth age. Younger HFA youths performed comparably to younger TD youths when receiving the 10 Step protocol. Yet, older HFA benefitted more from the Cognitive Interview&rsquo;s methods. Deficits in working memory, cognitive flexibility, and pragmatic language were more readily associated with performance in the CI condition and for youths with HFA. Indirect effects of age on memory performance via individual differences were observed mainly for the HFA group; maturational changes in these abilities may be occurring during adolescence, a period when youths with HFA begin to use compensatory mechanisms to perform EAM tasks. Direct question performance did not vary diagnostically, expanding the application of the task support hypothesis to a younger age. Implications for existing theories and forensic interview methods are discussed.</p><p>

<p> All children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) present with some form of impairment in social communication. Social cognitive learning theory suggests children&rsquo;s early joint attention skills provide a foundation for future language development. Preliminary research suggests social cognitive behaviors such as joint attention in the context of parent scaffolding may serve as a mechanism for language development in children with ASD. The current study utilized a parent-child free play task to explore the relations among parent and child attention and responsivity and child pragmatic language in 26 children ages 3:1 to 6:11 and their parents. Parent supported joint attention was assessed during a parent child free-play task. Pragmatic language ability was assessed by the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language (CASL; Carrow-Woolfolk, 1999). Developmental status significantly predicted child&rsquo;s pragmatic language score while controlling for overall verbal ability, <i>F</i>(2, 23) = 6.37, <i>p</i> = 0.01, &Delta;R₂ = .15. Developmental status was not a significant predictor of parent supported joint attention, <i> F</i>(1, 24) = 1.09, <i>p</i> = 0.31, indicating that regardless of developmental status there was no significant difference in the percentage of time parents and children spent in parent supported joint attention. Children with autism spectrum disorders initiated joint attention with their parents (<i>M</i> = 0.28) about half as much as their typically developing peers (<i>M</i> = 0.55). Post hoc analyses indicated for children with ASD in this current study, initiation of joint attention was significantly correlated to child RJA, <i>r</i> = 0.60, <i>p</i> = 0.04, suggesting that child with ASD who initiate joint attention with their parents also spend a larger amount of time responding to their parent&rsquo;s bids for joint attention. The interaction between developmental status and child RJA was also significant, <i>F</i> = 6.16, <i>p</i> =.02, &Delta;R₂ = .13, indicating that for children with ASD, responsiveness to their parent&rsquo;s bids for joint attention of their parents plays a significant role for their pragmatic language ability in comparison to children with typically development. Collectively, the nature of these findings provides evidence for supporting social cognition in children with autism.</p><p>

<p> The goal of the present study was to examine the development of semantic and episodic memory in middle childhood. Specifically, we sought to understand the relation between episodic and semantic memory by examining how an aspect of semantic memory&mdash;spatial semantic knowledge&mdash;may influence children&rsquo;s episodic memory for events and their spatial locations. Children ages 5, 6, and 7 participated in events in 6 exhibits representing locations in a model town in a local children&rsquo;s museum. Events were manipulated by the extent to which the event and the spatial location match. Event conditions included spatially congruent, incongruent, and independent. After a short delay, children were tested for their recognition of the events and the location in which the event occurred. In addition, a novel semantic interview task directly assessed knowledge of the locations represented in the museum exhibits. Most notably, we found older children to exhibit greater semantic knowledge of locations (as measured through the semantic interview task) and, in the experimental manipulation, we found children&rsquo;s semantic memory to influence their memory for the locations of events. Results implicate the nature of the relations of children&rsquo;s semantic and episodic memory as well as the utility of research conducted in naturalistic settings.</p><p>

<p> Through a mixed methodology of hermeneutic and heuristic inquiry, this thesis examines the influence of early childhood numinous, or profound spiritual, experience on the developing psyche and its relationship to repetitive compulsion over the lifespan. A dual lens of depth psychology and neuroscience is employed to explore the interstitial spaces between theories on the numen, early psychological development, and the repetition compulsion, comparing the literature with personal and clinical examples. Findings illustrated that numinous experiences are intimately connected with repetitive symptomology and that certain individuals are genetically predisposed to numinous experience. The hypothesis was proposed that repetition compulsion engendered by early numinous experiences, and perhaps all repetition phenomena, might reflect an unconscious <i> telos</i>, or the aim of an integral part of one&rsquo;s psyche seeking expression, integration, and relationship in the world.</p><p>