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Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate deficits in social behavior which may hinder them from engaging in social interactions. Results of descriptive analyses suggest that children who engage in prosocial behaviors, such as sharing, likely receive social positive reinforcement from peers in the form of attention. However, functional relations between prosocial behaviors, such as sharing, and their maintaining consequences have yet to be identified. Thus, the purpose of this study was to extend previous research by evaluating the naturally maintaining contingencies associated with sharing in three preschool-aged children with ASD. Functional analyses have traditionally been used to identify the function of maladaptive behavior; however, we extended the same methodological approach to identify functional relations of sharing. Results suggest that sharing was maintained by attention for two participants and was multiply-maintained by both attention and access to tangibles for one participant. These findings indicate that the functional analysis methodology is appropriate to understanding prosocial behaviors. In addition, results advance our understanding of prosocial behavior and may better inform methods of how to functionally teach sharing to individuals with ASD.

The purposes of this study were to (a) test the validity of a sensory reactivity measure adapted for parents of preschool-age children, (b) examine if different modalities of sensory reactivity (i.e. smell, touch, taste, etc.) emerge together or if differing thresholds of reactivity exist between sensory modalities, (c) see how parental ratings of preschoolers' sensory reactivity are related to children's behaviors in the classroom, and (d) see if sensory reactivity bears different relationships to children's social behaviors than do other aspects of temperament. A total of 260 parents (242 mothers, 18 fathers) and 10 teachers of 260 children (131 male, 129 female; M = 63 months; SD = 8.80; range = 39-81) participated. Parents completed the newly developed Children's Sensory Reactions Questionnaire and the Colorado Child Temperament Inventory. Teachers completed the Social Skills Questionnaire. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses extracted two factors from the CSRQ measure: sensory reactivity and perceptual awareness. Examination of the associations of sensory reactivity and perceptual awareness and children's behaviors with peers resulted in several significant relationships. Specifically, sensory reactive children appear to be less sociable (i. e. prosocial, friendly), more likely to engage in immature solitary pretend play, and more prone to utilize instrumental aggression in peer interactions. Perceptually aware children, on the other hand, tend to be more sociable (i.. e., prosocial, friendly, controls impulses), better able to appropriately and punctually comply with tasks given by teacher, less likely to engage in a number of solitary play behaviors (i. e., passive withdrawal and immature play), less likely to utilize instrumental or reactive aggressive strategies, and more likely to dodge negative peer interactions by avoiding bullies. Furthermore, the associations which sensory reactivity and perceptual awareness bear to children's sociable, non-social, and anti-social behaviors contrast those of other dimensions of temperament such as child activity level and emotionality. Therefore, the constructs extracted from the newly developed Children's Sensory Reactions Questionnaire appear to contribute to our overall understanding of child temperament as well as the associations between temperament and young children's social, nonsocial, and antisocial behaviors.

I Sverige används både individuell – och familjeterapeutisk behandling för unga nyinsjuknade anorexia nervosa patienter. Familjeterapeutisk behandling rekommenderas. Det finns dock kritik mot familjeterapeutisk behandling som säger att man inte tillräckligt påverkar patienternas kognitiva/affektiva svårigheter. Å andra sidan kan familjesamspelet vara en viktig faktor för förändring av kognitiva/affektiva variabler, då våra självbilder och affekter formas i relation till andra. Negativ självbild och stark självkontroll vid anorexia kan kvarstå efter behandling och kan öka risken för återfall. Studiens syfte är dels att beskriva självbilden på gruppnivå innan och efter behandling av unga anorexia nervosa patienter som behandlats på Stockholm Centrum för Ätstörningar. Vidare är syftet att se om självbilden förändras olika mycket, efter familjebaserad respektive individual terapi. Studien är en registerstudie och använder sig av data från kvalitetssäkringsbasen Stepwise. Totalt ingår 44 patienter. I studien mäts självbild med hjälp av Structural Analys of Social Behavior som är ett självskattningsformulär där självbilden beskrivs i åtta kluster. Anorexia Nervosa patienter har en negativ självbild som kännetecknas av självkontroll, självkritik och självhat. Trots detta upplever de att de tar hand om sig själva i högre utsträckning än normalgruppen. Vid ett årsuppföljning har självbilden normaliserats oavsett individual eller familjebehandling, vilket talar för att psykoterapi är verksamt för unga anorexia nervosa patienter.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Despite more than three decades of research, and the postulation of more than 30 hypotheses of function, the adaptive significance of play remains unknown. This study quantitatively evaluated a selection of hypotheses of function, using data collected from a wild population of small, social carnivore, the meerkat, Suricata suricatta. The study found that although play in meerkats carried an energetic cost, with individuals modulating their frequency of play in response to their energy intake, none of the hypotheses evaluated by the study could identify the adaptive benefits that meerkats derived from play. Play did not increase 'social harmony' by reducing aggression between playmates, nor did it strengthen an individual's bonds to its social group, such that it remained in the group for longer, or contributed more to the group's cooperative activities. There was no evidence that meerkats used play to strengthen alliances between individuals, and young meerkats played no more frequently with their future dispersal partners than with matched controls with which they did not disperse. Play fighting experience did not improve a meerkat's subsequent fighting skills, and individuals that ultimately won the dominant breeding position within a group (through serious fighting) played no more frequently, and no more successfully, as youngsters, than the littermates that they defeated in combat. Although play was inhibited by aggression, meerkats did not use play to contest, assert or establish dominance status, and there was little evidence to suggest that the preference young meerkats showed for play partners that were well matched in age, size and ability arose from their use of play for self-assessment. This study assessed only those hypotheses of function that predicted benefits that were of importance to the inclusive fitness of the study species. For example, the enhancement of social harmony and group cohesion should be invaluable to a species whose survival is dependent upon social cooperation; and the high reproductive skew exhibited by this species places huge value upon fighting skill and the ability to win social dominance. As a consequence, this study's negative findings suggest strongly that play is not capable of providing these benefits, and that play behaviour is unlikely to be used for these purposes in any mammal species. I conclude that the most likely function of play (based on play's ubiquitous characteristics, and the findings of neurological research on rats) is the promotion of growth of the cerebral cortex. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Ten spyte van meer as drie dekades van navorsing en die voorstelling van meer as 30 hipoteses oor funksie, bly die aanpassingswaarde van spelonbekend. Hierdie studie is 'n kwantitatiewe evaluasie van verskeie hipoteses oor funksie, en gebruik data versamel vanuit 'n wilde bevolking van 'n klein sosiale karnivoor, die meerkat, Suricata suricatta. Die studie het bevind dat hoewel spel in meerkaaie 'n energetiese koste beloop, met individue wat hul spelfrekwensie aanpas by energie-inname, geen-een van die hipoteses onder beskouing die aanpassingswaarde van spel vir meerkaaie kon verduidelik nie. Spel het nie "sosiale harmonie" bevorder deur die afuame in aggressie tussen speelmaats nie, en het ook nie 'n individu se verbintenis tot sy sosiale groep versterk sodat hy langer in die groep sou bly of meer sou bydra tot samewerkingsaktiwiteite nie. Daar was geen bewyse vir die gebruik van spel in die versterking van bondgenootskappe tussen individue nie, en jong meerkaaie het nie meer gereeld met toekomstige verspreidings-venote gespeel as met gepaarde kontroles saam met wie hulle nie uiteengegaan het nie. Speelse gevegte het nie 'n meerkat se daaropvolgende gevegsvermoëns verbeter nie, en die individue wat uiteindelik die dominante voortplantingsposisie in 'n groep gewen het (deur ernstige stryd) het nie meer gereeld ofmeer suksesvol as jongelinge gespeel in vergelyking met die werpselmaats wat hulle in die stryd oorwin het nie. Hoewel spel deur aggressie onderdruk is, het meerkaaie spel nie gebruik om dominante range te beveg, bevestig of tot stand te bring nie. Daar was min bewyse ter ondersteuning van die voorstel dat jong meerkaaie se voorkeur vir speelmaats wat hul gelyke is in ouderdom, grootte en vermoë, onstaan het in die gebruik van spel vir selfondersoek. Hierdie studie het slegs die hipoteses van funksie beskou wat voorspellings gemaak het oor die voordele wat belangrik is in die inklusiewe fiksheid van die studie-species. Byvoorbeeld, die verbetering van sosiale harmonie en groepsamehang behoort van onskatbare waarde te wees vir 'n species wat afhanklik is van sosiale samewerking vir oorlewing; en die hoë graad van voorkeuraanwas duidelik in hierdie species plaas groot waarde op gevegsvaardighede en die vermoë om sosiale dominansie te wen. Gevolglik dui hierdie ondersoek se negatiewe bevindinge daarop dat spel nie hierdie voordele kan bied nie, en dat speelgedrag heel waarskynlik nie vir hierdie doeleindes in enige soogdier-species gebruik word nie. Ek kom tot die gevolgtrekking dat die heel waarskynlikste funksie van spel (gebaseer op spel se alomteenwoordige kenmerke en die bevindinge van neurologiese navorsing op rotte) die bevordering van groei in die serebrale korteks is.

A portfolio submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) on the basis of published works.

Captive animals are frequently subject to imposed, uncontrollable stressors to which they respond through behavioural flexibility, or, failing which, exhibit pathology. Chimpanzees provide an intriguing model to examine how captive environments influence the responses of animals to stress. My study investigates the responses of a group of chimpanzees to imposed stressors of captivity at the Johannesburg Zoo, South Africa. My study comprised four components. Firstly, I examined the effects of spatial restriction on chimpanzee behaviour with regard to an enclosure enlargement, testing several existing models of coping with spatial crowding and another model, based on the coping hypothesis of abnormal behaviour. Behavioural observations of the chimpanzees in their indoor and outdoor exhibits before, during, immediately after and 10 weeks after the enclosure reconstruction revealed that the chimpanzees used tension-reduction and conflict-avoidance tactics as a means to cope with spatial crowding. Moreover, abnormal behaviour appears to provide an outlet for stress under crowding. Secondly, I assessed the long-term effects of past spatial environments on the space use and group spacing of the chimpanzees, five years after the enclosure change. Through behavioural observations and mapping the locations of individuals, I found that the chimpanzees exhibit space-use bias and limited group spacing, contingent on the dimensions of the old enclosure that were not explained by factors such as social or thermal conditions and zoo visitor effects. I propose that the spacing patterns may be due to spatial learned helplessness. Thirdly, I examined the effect of two social manipulations, mandated by zoo management, on the behaviour and socio-dynamics of the chimpanzees. The chimpanzees responded to social change through selective social interactions and non-social behavioural responses suggest that removing an individual was less stressful than the merging of two groups. Finally, I investigated the role of shade as a thermoregulatory resource for captive chimpanzees. Individuals used shade frequently despite observations taking place during the austral winter period, suggesting that shade is a valuable thermal resource for chimpanzees. In conclusion, the chimpanzees responded to most imposed stressors (spatial crowding, social change and thermal stress) through behavioural flexibility, implying successful coping, but failed to cope with previous spatial restrictions, resulting in limited space-use behaviour.

Thesis advisor: Alexa H. Veemena / Across species, the juvenile period is characterized by increased social interaction with peers and heightened novelty-seeking behavior, as compared to any other life stage. These behaviors are likely to be highly adaptive during this developmental phase. Still, an excessive novelty-seeking phenotype may predispose individuals to risk-taking and substance abuse, while too little social engagement and low novelty-seeking are characteristics of neuropsychiatry disorders such as autism. The over-arching aim of this dissertation research has been to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying juvenile social novelty-seeking behavior. Central activation of oxytocin, vasopressin V1a, and µ-opioid receptors (OTR, V1aR, and MOR, respectively) have been implicated in the regulation of adult social behavior, but our understanding of the expression and function of OTR, V1aR, and MORs in the juvenile brain is incomplete. Therefore, in Studies 1 and 2, age differences in binding density of OTR, V1aR, and MOR throughout the rat brain were identified using receptor autoradiography. Next, in Study 3, I established the social novelty preference test, a new paradigm designed to assess the preference of juvenile rats to interact with either a novel or a familiar (cage mate) conspecific. Using this social novelty preference test, in Studies 3, 4, and 5, the functional involvement of OTR, V1aR, and MOR in the regulation of juvenile social novelty preference was characterized using both intracerebroventricular and local in-vivo pharmacological manipulations. The results of these experiments demonstrate that both OTR and MOR activation in the brain are involved in the regulation of juvenile social novelty preference, particularly acting within the nucleus accumbens. Finally, in Study 5, I investigated the impact of social isolation on juvenile social novelty preference. My findings show that social isolation potently reduces social novelty preference, which, in turn, can be restored by MOR activation in the nucleus accumbens. Taken together, this body of work significantly advances our understanding of the neural systems underlying juvenile social novelty preference, and suggests that both oxytocin and opioid systems in the brain may be potential clinical targets for restoring social novelty-seeking behavior in neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism.