Claire B. Kopp

The emergence and consolidation of self-control from eighteen to thirty months of age: normative trends and individual differences.

This study is a descriptive report of the capability to exercise self-control in very young children. 2 aspects of self-control were assessed (delay/response inhibition in the presence of an attractive stimulus and compliance with maternal directives in a cleanup task) for 72 children between the ages of 18 and 30 months. The results indicated that both aspects of self-control show age-related increases. However, a factor analysis of the behaviors observed in the cleanup task suggested that compliance could not be adequately described with a unitary, bipolar dimension (noncompliance vs. compliance). 2 patterns of non-compliance were observed, and 1 of these also increased with age. Cross-task consistency for the delay measures) and coherence across the 2 aspects of self-control showed a positive relationship with increasing age. Finally, correlational analyses of the self-control measures and developmental test data showed that individual differences in self-control were associated with differences in cognitive-developmental status (DA). The results are interpreted as evidence that the achievement of self-control can be considered as a major developmental accomplishment and as evidence that individual differences in self-control emerge and are consolidated during the second and third years of life.

Everyday Rules for Behavior: Mothers' Requests to Young Children.

This study examined how mothers socialize young children toward behavioral self-regulation. In a longitudinal paradigm focused on developmental issues, mothers of toddlers and preschoolers reported rules for everyday behaviors and noted the childs level of compliance. Results showed (a) commonalities among mothers in the network of rules being socialized, (b) age-related increases in numbers and kinds of rules, (c) a shift in the structure of rule networks from an early emphasis on safety toward encouraging autonomy and integrating children into the family, and (d) an inherent developmental organization within rule networks. For children, findings revealed (a) compliance was highest in situations that involved rules for safety and others possessions, and (b) gradual age-related movement from external control to internally mediated compliance

Self-Concept Development in the Toddler Years.

This study was designed to determine groupings of behaviors asociated with self-concept development in toddlers and the sequence in which groups of behaviors appear. Mothers of 123 toddlers of ages 14 to 40 months reported on the presence of 25 behaviors associated with the self.

Sustained attention during exploratory manipulation as a predictor of cognitive competence in preterm infants.

Recent reviews of research on individual differences in cognitive status during infancy have led to the conclusion that early test performances do not predict later IQ in any clinically useful way. These conclusions seem to be true for both normal children and for children born at developmental risk. In order to test an alternative strategy in prediction of later cognitive status from infant behavioral performance, 76 preterm infants were assessed with respect to differences in sustained attention when they were 8 months old. Scores on this measure were entered into a performance on 4 test scores at 2 years of age. The measure of sustained attention proved to contribute significantly to the prediction of later status on the Bayley Mental Scale and on the Gesell schedules. These sustained-attention scores were not significantly predictive of the scores on a Piagetian-based cognitive test, or on a assessment of receptive language. Subsequent analyses of these data for each gender separately revealed that increments in prediction were found for males only. The results are discussed in terms of current information-processing approaches to the study of stability of individual differences in cognitive functioning.

Sustained attention in young Down syndrome children

Claire B. Kopp, PhD Codirector, Project REACH Associate Professor in Residence Graduate School of Education University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, California MANY OF THE Project REACH (Research on the Early Abilities of Children with Handicaps) infancy and toddler studies have centered on describing cognitive and social characteristics of normally developing and handicapped children during the second and third years of life. This emphasis was dictated by the fact that this age period is a time of major intellectual and social growth, yet one that is vastly underresearched. As a result, major challenges confront those attempting to understand and interpret the functioning of handicapped and at-risk children or to address issues related to the origins of problematic performance.

Fine Motor Abilities of Infants

Thirty‐six infants (26 full‐term and 10 pre‐term) were classified at eight months of age on the basis of their demonstrating co‐ordinated fine motor ability or clumsiness. Comparisons were made of the duration and frequency of commonly observed behaviors (e.g. reaching for objects) exhibited by the infants in each group. The results indicated that the co‐ordinated group did significantly more object‐exploring, both manipulative and oral, than the clumsy group. Multivariate analyses of commonly observed behaviors showed a significant over‐all group difference for frequency of behaviors and a trend towards duration of behaviors. The results are discussed in terms of each groups style of object interaction.

Common threads, diverse solutions: Concluding commentary

Abstract In this concluding article, we summarize some of the major themes and highlight several unresolved issues. We focus first on the structure or representation of self. The major issues that emerged here were: (1) the existence and representation of a primitive, presymbolic self; (2) the existence, origins, and developmental course of multiple selves; (3) the role and representation of affect in early self. Several unifying propositions are offered both to integrate across commonalities and to demarcate theoretical differences. Next we consider functions of self, including both what self uniquely contributes to the organism and how its functions might change developmentally. We propose that the core function of self remains invariant; to define, locate, demarcate the world from a consistent perspective by organizing, integrating, and representing experiences from that vantage point. Inherent in this process, however, is the establishment of boundaries that define self with respect to the world and others. These boundaries may change with age as a function of the changing structure of self. The earliest boundaries may define for the infant the physical boundaries between self and world, followed by social and causal boundaries, then personal and psychological boundaries. In the final two sections we address issues of enactment of self in observable behavior: how do we know that the infant or young child has a self, and that the self looks like X? And we address the question of mechanisms of early self-development. Here we also suggest that insights gleaned from the study of nonnormative influences, whether biological or environmental, may shed light on our descriptions and explanations of the early self.

Task Characteristics and a Stage 6 Sensorimotor Problem.

A previously demonstrated high rate of failure on a Stage 6 sensorimotor means-end problem, of children otherwise inferred to be in Stage 6 development, prompted a study of task characteristics of the problem. A component part of the task was modified by introducing an additional visual cue; the purpose of the problem was unchanged. Results indicated that problem solving was facilitated in the transformed condition, with older subjects performing somewhat better than younger subjects. The authors suggest that cognitive requirements of the problem, as representative of Stage 6 sensorimotor development, remained the same in the original or transformed condition. The modification appeared to permit children to focus their attention on the requirements of the problem, so that a greater number of children demonstrated mental representation. Task characteristics of sensorimotor problems need to be investigated further.

A Comparison of Sensorimotor Development among Infants in India and the United States

To investigate the influence of differential experiences on sensorimotor development, 154 full-term infants reared in urban settings (83 Indian, 71 United States) between 7 and 12 months of age were administered portions of the Casati-Lezine sensorimotor series. Results indicated small but significant group differences at 9 to 10 and 11 to 12 months of age on hidden object and intermediaries tasks. Differences noted on the hidden object task were attributed more to care-giver behavior in the test situation than to infant capability. The intermediaries task, object and support, was the major group differentiator according to discriminant analyses. These differences were attributed to a subtle task demand which may be more difficult for infants whose gross motor explorations are temporarily limited by care-giving practices.