Older Preschoolers (older + preschooler)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Social grooming in the kindergarten: the emergence of flattery behavior

DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2007
Genyue Fu
The present study examined the emergence of flattery behavior in young children and factors that might affect whether and how it is displayed. Preschool children between the ages of 3 and 6 years were asked to rate drawings produced by either a present or absent adult stranger (Experiments 1 and 2), child stranger (Experiments 2 and 3), classmate, or the children's own teacher (Experiment 3). Young preschoolers gave consistent ratings to the same drawing by the person regardless of whether the person was absent or present. In contrast, many older preschoolers gave more flattering ratings to the drawing when the person was present than in the person's absence. Also, older preschoolers displayed flattery regardless of whether the recipient was an adult or a child. However, they displayed flattery to a greater extent towards familiar individuals than unfamiliar ones, demonstrating an emerging sensitivity to social contexts in which flattery is used. These findings suggest that preschoolers have already learned not to articulate bluntly their true feelings and thoughts about others. Rather, they are able to manipulate their communications according to social context. [source]


A visit from the Candy Witch: factors influencing young children's belief in a novel fantastical being

DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 4 2004
Jacqueline D. Woolley
Factors hypothesized to affect beliefs in fantastical beings were examined by introducing children to a novel fantastical entity, the Candy Witch. Results revealed that among older preschoolers, children who were visited by the Candy Witch exhibited stronger beliefs in the Candy Witch than did those who were not. Among children who were visited, older children had stronger beliefs than did younger children. Among children who were not visited, those with a high Fantasy Orientation believed more strongly than did those with a low Fantasy Orientation. Belief remained high one year later. At both time points, the number of other fantastical beings in which a child believed was significantly related to belief in the Candy Witch. [source]


Performance on Stroop-like assessments of inhibitory control by 4- and 5-year-old children

INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2010
Dave S. Pasalich
Abstract The rapid development of an aspect of executive functioning (EF), inhibitory control (IC), between the ages of 3- and 5-years, leads to an increase in a child's capacity to suppress inappropriate responding and therefore activate the necessary resources to carry-out goal-directed activity (Psychological Bulletin, 1997, 121, 65,94). To measure EF in children, tasks administered clinically to adults are adapted. The Day,Night Stroop (DNS) is a pictorial modification of the Stroop Test (Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1935, 18, 642,662), developed for pre-literate children. Although suitable as a measure of IC in 3- to 4-year-old children, ceiling effects have been reported on the DNS in slightly older preschoolers. The present study attempted to overcome this limitation by examining the suitability of two modified versions of the DNS in 4- to 5-year-old preschoolers. To investigate the executive demands made by both Stroop-like tasks, their associations with another measure of IC (stop-signal task) and a measure of working memory were examined. Counter to expectations, no significant association was found in performance between the two Stroop-like tasks; however, the modified DNS developed in this study showed significant relationships with the other executive tasks. The results are discussed in relation to the different methodologies used by these Stroop measures. Implications of this study suggest that researchers should consider more test-specific factors when assessing EF in young children. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]