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The main purpose of the present study was to investigate whether a shift from absolute to relative pitch perception occurs during early childhood. Other factors that can influence the development of absolute pitch, such as cognitive abilities and the child's environment were examined. Young children completed (n=88): (1) a variety of pitch tasks (absolute and relative pitch tests) prior to and after two months of focused instruction on absolute and relative pitch, (2) tests of cognitive abilities, and (3) a questionnaire gathering information about family musical environment. / The results indicate that a shift from absolute to relative perception occurs between the ages of 5 and 7. Children younger than six demonstrated limited ability to perform relational tasks such as ordering bells, identifying transposed intervals, and comparing pitches. However, they memorized target pitches better than the older children, matched target tones on the xylophone and sang newly learned songs in their original key more often than did the older children. Older children benefited to a larger extent from the training on relative pitch. Cognitive and spatial abilities were related to absolute pitch development: children who identified pitches better had a more sequential and a less simultaneous way of processing information. Family musical environment seems to have influenced the development of absolute pitch. Implications for the acquisition of absolute pitch are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of three interventions on boys' peer relationships, self-perceptions, and undesirable behavior. In addition, boys' perceptions were compared to those of parents' and teachers'. Participants included parents and teachers of 29 students who were exhibiting aggression, noncompliance, or both. Schools were randomly assigned to one of three interventions: conjoint behavioral consultation (CBC), self-administered videotape therapy (VT), or conjoint behavioral consultation plus videotape therapy (CBC+VT). The three interventions improved boys' social interactions both directly and indirectly. CBC, VT, and CBC+VT impacted boys directly by reducing their aggressive and noncompliant behaviors, allowing them to get along better with peers. The interventions affected boys' friendships in an indirect manner by (a) improving parental awareness regarding the importance of children interacting with same age, same sex peers, (b) made parents more at ease about letting their sons play at friends' houses; and (c) reduced undesirable parental behavior which in turn modified the children's conduct with peers. At postintervention, boys perceived themselves more positively and exhibited fewer behavior difficulties. Moderate correlations were found between boys' and parents' perceptions of students' peer acceptance at preintervention (r = .545) and postintervention (r = .529). Findings are discussed in terms of the implications for school psychologists who work with students with behavioral difficulties.

Researchers have found that children with behaviour disorders inflate their self-perceptions (e.g., Hughes, Cavell, & Grossman, 1997). This study investigated the self-perceptions of depressed and nondepressed children with behavioural difficulties relative to significant others' perceptions (i.e., parents, teachers, and behaviour aides) with reference to Cole's (1990; 1991a, 1991b) interpersonal feedback theory. Cole's theory argues that what children believe about themselves results from their perception and internalization of others' judgments. This study involved a quantitative phase and a qualitative phase of data collection conducted one year apart. The quantitative phase consisted of evaluating the congruence in children's (mean age = 10.9 years) and others' (parents, teachers, and behaviour aides) perceptions in depressed and nondepressed children with behavioural difficulties. Perceptions were of the children's general behavioural conduct, problem behaviour, mood, and the raters' general satisfaction with the children. The following measures were used: the Children's Depression Inventory (Kovacs, 1992), a modified Self Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985), and the Child Behaviour Interview (Grinberg, 1997). Parallel forms were used with the parents, teachers, and behaviour aides. In addition, the Direct Observation Form-Revised Edition (Achenbach, 1986) was used to assess actual behaviour. Results suggest that children with behavioural difficulties inflate their competencies. Further, the other raters' perceptions did not differ for the depressed and nondepressed groups. The depressed children rated their competence in behavioural conduct to be significantly lower than the nondepressed children with behavioural difficulties. Also, differences across raters' perceptions were found for the nondepressed group but not the depressed group. Five children from the original sample and their behaviour aides were interviewed for the qualitative study. Qu

Self-concept in social and academic domains, as well as global self-worth (GSW) were assessed among 4th, 5th, and 6 th graders, in children with learning disabilities (LD, n = 49) and a matched sample of children without LD (NLD, n = 49). Mean differences between LD and NLD groups and the relative importance of social versus academic self-concept in the prediction of GSW were examined. Children with LD evidenced significantly lower self-concept in academic and social domains; however, the two groups did not differ in terms of global self-worth. In addition, academic and social self-concepts were significant predictors of GSW in children with LD, although there was a high degree of overlap between the two variables in their predictive ability. In the NLD group, social and academic self-concept areas were significant predictors of global self-worth yet there was minimal overlap between the two self-concept areas. Implications are discussed.

Studies on the effects of marital conflict and child adjustment have documented a consistent relationship between higher amounts of marital conflict and increased child adjustment problems. Recently, researchers have focused on viewing children's perceptions of marital conflict as an important variable that may influence the strength of the association between marital conflict and child adjustment. Recent research has indicated that children's perceptions of interparental conflict may influence overall child adjustment. The present study examined the relationship between marital conflict and child adjustment and the role of children's perceptions of marital conflict in a clinical sample.Forty-four 8- to 12-year-old children and one of their parents participated in this study. Adult participants completed four questionnaires: (1) The O'Leary- Porter Scale; (2) The Conflict Tactics Scale; (3) The Child Behavior Checklist; and (4) a demographic questionnaire. The child participants completed one scale, The Children's Perception of Interparental Conflict Scale. The following research questions were investigated: (1) Is parental assessment of marital conflict related to child adjustment in a clinical sample? (2) Are children's appraisals of marital conflict related to child adjustment in a clinical sample? (3) Are boys' appraisals of interparental conflict related to the parents' appraisals of interparental conflict in a clinical sample? (4) Are girls' appraisals of interparental conflict related to the parents' appraisals of interparental conflict in a clinical sample? And (5) Are children's perceptions of marital conflict better predictors of child adjustment than parents' perceptions of marital conflict in a clinical sample?A significant relationship was found between parents' perceptions of marital conflict and child adjustment. However, children's perceptions of marital conflict did not significantly predict their overall adjustment. In accordance with these findings, it was also found that parents' perceptions of marital conflict were better predictors of child adjustment than children's perceptions of marital conflict in a clinical sample. It was also found that boys' appraisals of marital conflict were significantly related to parents' appraisals of marital conflict. Whereas, girls' perceptions of marital conflict were not significantly related to parents' perceptions of marital conflict. Implications and limitations of these findings and recommendations for future research were discussed. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between locus of control and achievement, and between self-concept and achievement in achieving and underachieving gifted students. The subjects were fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students in the Anderson Community Schools who were currently participating in the gifted program, or who had been screened for the program, but were not currently participating. The schools that participated in the study represented a cross section of the socio-economic, cultural, and racial composition of the city. The participating subjects had received a score of 120 or above on the Slosson Test of Intelligence. The 60 subjects were divided into two groups based on grades for 5 consecutive six-week grading periods. Students who had received only A and B grades were placed in the achievers group, while students who had received one or more C grades (or below) during the same time period were placed in the underachievers group.Subjects were removed from their classrooms and administered the Nowicki- Strickland Locus of Control for Children and the Piers-Harris SelfConcept Scale in small groups.Multivariate analyses of variance were used to determine if significant differences existed between gifted achievers and underachievers on each of the two instruments. No significant differences were found between the achievers and underachievers on either self-concept or locus of control at the .05 level. Several researchers, including Shavelson and Bolus, (1982) have indicated academic self-concept is more highly correlated with academic achievement than are other dimensions of self-concept. Therefore, subsequent univariate analysis on the Piers-Harris subtests showed that achievers and underachievers were significantly different on the intellectual and school status subscale (F = 9.0, p <.01).As a result of the analysis of the data collected in this study, the findings indicated that, subject to the limitations of this investigation, gifted achievers and underachievers do not differ significantly on measures of locus of control or global self-concept. However, the results of subsequent univariate analyses indicated that, in fact, some differences between the groups may exist. / Department of Educational Leadership

Recent research has shown that children under two years demonstrate some early social understanding. Previous research has also demonstrated that mother talk about mental states is a factor in older preschoolers� later theory of mind understanding. In order to learn more about the predictive nature of mother mental state talk to very young children, this study examined the relation between mother talk about mental states at 15 and 24 months and their later mental state language and emotion understanding at 24 and 33 months. At all three time points, 71 mothers and 3 fathers (N=74) described pictures to their infants and mother talk was coded for mental and non-mental state language at 15, 24 and 33 months. In addition, at all three time points, children�s mental and non-mental state vocabulary levels were obtained via parental report. At the second and third time points the children were administered an emotion situation and a body emotion task. The mothers� ability to interpret emotion faces was also assessed. The results showed that mother use of desire language was more prevalent at 15 months, with references to thinking and knowledge increasing at 24 months. Partial correlations demonstrated that mother use of desire language with 15-month old children uniquely predicted a child�s mental state language and emotion situation task performance at 24 months, even after accounting for earlier child language, mother socioeconomic status, mothers� own emotion understanding, and other types of mother non-mental state language. Similarly, at 24 months of age, after accounting for potentially confounding variables, such as child language, mother use of think/know language as well as desire language were both predictors of children�s mental state language and emotion task performance at 33 months. The results further demonstrated that mothers� tendency to refer to the child�s (versus others�) desires at 15 months was the more consistent correlate of children�s mental state language and emotion understanding at 24 months. At 24 months a different pattern emerged with both references to the child�s and others� thoughts and knowledge correlating with child mental state language and emotion task performance at 33 months. It is proposed that Vygotsky�s zone of proximal development provides a framework within which maternal talk about specific mental states scaffolds the development of children�s later social understanding. I also suggest that such scaffolding motivates mothers to talk more about the child�s mental states when they are younger, before introducing talk that focuses on others� mental states.

This research compared Brown and Levinson’s “face saving” account of linguistic politeness with the everyday or social normative account in the context of children’s requesting skills. The research also explored the relationship between children’s politeness skills and their behavioural adjustment. The subjects comprised four groups of ten-and-a-half year old children: a comparison group without behaviour problems, a hostile-aggressive group; an anxious-fearful group; and a comorbid group. All the children were selected from the Australian Temperament Project subject population based on parents’ ratings of the children on the hostile-aggressive and anxious-fearful subscales of the Rutter Child Behaviour Questionnaire. Study 1 found that all the groups of children discriminated between others on the power and distance dimensions in ways consistent with social norms, e.g. adults are judged as more powerful than children. Study 1 also showed that the hostile-aggressive and comorbid groups were significantly less likely to discriminate between others on these dimensions compared to the comparison group. Study 2 showed that for all the children studied politeness as a normative way of speaking was marked by use of please whereas face saving politeness was marked by the use of question directives and hints compared to other request forms. Further, Study 2 showed that there were no differences between children with and without behaviour problems in their use of please to mark different ways of asking.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed January 14, 2008). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Faces are central stimuli in our everyday life, hence, face processing is a sophisticated and highly specialized cognitive ability, at which adults are experts and children are proficient. Unlike other visuospatial abilities, face perception develops very slowly, becoming adult-like only well into adolescence. Some performance disparities between children and adults may reflect differences in general cognitive abilities, such as attention and memory. Alternatively, performance differences can be attributed to specific cognitive strategies implemented during face processing by different age groups; or to the interaction between the improvement of general abilities throughout development and the refinement of face specific cognitive strategies. The intent of the current studies was to further assess the development of and relationship between cognitive strategies in face processing. Specifically, we investigated the behavior and neurocorrelates associated with holistic face processing in children (8- to 11-year-olds), adolescents, and adults, utilizing the composite face effect. The task requires participants to engage in both holistic and featural processing, but certain trials (aligned-same) elicit a visual illusion called the composite face effect (CFE, calculated as difference between misaligned-same and aligned-same trials), which is considered an index of holistic processing. All age groups (adults, adolescents, 8- to 9-year-olds, 10- to 11-year-olds) showed a CFE, suggesting reliance on holistic processing. Notably, about half of the 8- to 11-year-old children displayed adult-like behavior and adult-like CFE, suggesting their reliance on holistic processing. However, the other half of the children performed below-chance on aligned-same trials, displayed an extremely large CFE, and a significant difference between different trials, suggesting reliance on a featural strategy. Thus child age groups were regrouped according to their accuracy performance on the hardest condition (aligned-same trials) into high performing and low performing children. We hypothesize that the aligned-same trials were too taxing for low-performing children, thus they fell back into relying on simpler strategies such as a difference-detection featural strategy. In order to further investigate the CFE behavioral differences between age and performance groups, we completed an imaging study. For the fMRI study children were grouped by performance rather than age following the results of our behavioral study. Overall, our imaging results for the CFE, thus for holistic processing, resembled behavioral results in that adult and high performing child groups revealed a similar (but not identical) whole-brain pattern of activation, whereas the low performing child group showed a distinctive pattern of activation for the composite face effect. Adults and high performing children showed a pattern of activation spanning frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes. In contrast, low performing children revealed a pattern of activation that spanned frontal, temporal, cingulate, and cerebellar regions. Brain areas typically associated with face processing, such as the right fusiform gyrus and right inferior temporal gyrus did not reach significance for the low performing child group. These differences may be attributable to the use of different cognitive strategies. However, the extent of frontal and cingulate cortex activation in low performing children may also suggest that because the task was especially difficult for them, working memory resources were particularly taxed, thus affecting the neural network engaged. Importantly, not only were performance differences associated with distinct neurocorrelates (i.e., differing profiles for low performing children vs. high performing children and adults), but age differences also had an appreciable effect. In fact, high performing children did not significantly differ from adults in the behavioral CFE, but did show differences in the neural CFE.