Jan B. Hoeksma

COLORS AND EMOTIONS: PREFERENCES AND COMBINATIONS

Within three age groups (7-year-old children, 11-year-old children, and adults), preferences for colors and emotions were established by means of two distinct paired-comparison tasks. In a subsequent task, participants were asked to link colors to emotions by selecting an appropriate color. It was hypothesized that the number of times that each color was tied to a specific emotion would be predictable from the separate preferences for colors and emotions. Within age groups, participants had consistent preferences for colors and emotions, but preferences differed from one age group to another. Especially in the youngest group, the pattern of combinations between colors and emotions appeared to be meaningfully related to the preference order for colors and emotions.

The Contribution of Organized Youth Sport to Antisocial and Prosocial Behavior in Adolescent Athletes

In this study, we investigated the contribution of organized youth sport to antisocial and prosocial behavior in adolescent athletes. The sample consisted of N=260 male and female soccer players and competitive swimmers, 12 to 18 years of age. Multilevel regression analysis revealed that 8% of the variance in antisocial behavior and 7% of the variance in prosocial behavior could be attributed to characteristics of the sporting environment. Results suggested that coaches who maintain good relationships with their athletes reduce antisocial behavior, and that exposure to relatively high levels of sociomoral reasoning within the immediate context of sporting activities promotes prosocial behavior. These results point to specific aspects of adolescents’ participation in sport that can be used to realize the educational potential of organized youth sport.

Development of communicative behaviors in preterm infants: The effects of birthweight status and gestational age

Abstract This study concerns the development of looking, facial expressions, and nondistress vocalizations from 6 to 18 weeks of corrected age. Comparisons were made between full-term infants (n = 15) and three groups of healthy preterm infants: small-for-gestational age (n = 10), and appropriate- for-gestational age, the latter being born after a pregnancy duration of less than 32 weeks (n = 8), or between 32 to 34 weeks (n = 11). Using multilevel analyses, group comparisons involved not only the development course of each behavior separately but also the developing association between the expressive behaviors and looking at mothers face. The small-for-gestational age preterm infants were most different from the full-term group indicating an additional risk to prematurity especially for the development of smiling. Birth before 32 weeks was related to a delay in looking behaviors but seemed to accelarate the development of vocalizations as compared to the older preterm infants. Such findings suggest that the development of communicative behaviors may be differentially associated with being “born too soon” or “born too small.”

The structure of oppositionality: response dispositions and situational aspects

BACKGROUND The Amsterdam Scale of Oppositionality (ASO) is a recently developed self-report instrument to measure the full range of oppositionality. It was used to test the assumption that oppositionality can best be conceptualized as a combination of emotions and behaviors varying across contexts, i.e., with parents, peers and authority figures. METHOD The sample consisted of 560 boys and 598 girls, aged 8 to 12 years. The thirty items of the ASO, grouped in item parcels, were analyzed using confirmatory factor analyses. RESULTS Results confirmed the main hypothesis. The best fitting models contained strongly related emotional and behavioral factors and three mutually related situational factors. Oppositionality appeared to be to a large extent situation-specific. Girls are more affected by the situation than boys and show less oppositionality only outside the family context. CONCLUSIONS Results are discussed with respect to the concept of oppositionality, varying expectations for interpersonal consequences, and implications for clinical assessment and studies of inter-informant reliability.

Finding the attractor of anger: Bridging the gap between dynamic concepts and empirical data

Although it accounts for the prototypical course of emotions, the attractor concept has hardly ever been used empirically. Authors applied Empirical Differential Equations (EDE) to frequent (hourly) anger ratings to find the attractor of anger. The attractor concept, its neurological basis, and EDE are explained. The attractor of anger follows an underdamped oscillator, and is affected by the capacity to inhibit prepotent responses. Anger accelerates less fast when inhibitory control increases. Results stress the internal dynamics of emotions, and help to bridge the gap between concepts from dynamic systems theory and empirical data.

The development of early attachment behaviours

The normative development of attachment behaviours and the changing relationship between the level of activation of the attachment system and the intensity of subsequent attachment behaviours were studied longitudinally from 3 to 12 months of age. The study was based on Bowlbys notion about increasing goal directedness of the attachment system. The sample consisted of two groups of children, 33 children born with cleft lip and palate and 34 children without this congenital anomaly. To circumvent the age-limited applicability of the Strange Situation procedure, a new observational instrument was developed, the so-called Induced Stress at Home procedure. It appeared that the ISH procedure is a valid alternative to induce and measure the attachment behaviours proximity seeking, contact maintenance and avoidance. Using the multilevel model for longitudinal data, it was shown that attachment behaviours are not very stable across age. An elaborated model revealed that the relationship between activation of the attachment system and subsequent contact maintenance and resistant behaviour become less strong with age. No differences between children with and without cleft lip and palate were found.

Regulation of emotional security by children after entry to special and regular kindergarten classes.

In this paper early adaptation after childrens entry to kindergarten is conceptualized as a process of achieving emotional security. It was hypothesized that children adapt to school by means of security seeking from the teacher and behavioral inhibition. 30 normal children from regular classes and 36 children with a variety of problems, e.g., behavioral, emotional, and family problems, from special classes were rated by their teachers on the Inhibition Scale and Security Seeking Scale on 5 occasions during the first 3 mo. at school. By the end of this period teachers judged the intensity of behavior problems on the Internalizing Problem Scale and the Externalizing Problem Scale. Analysis showed that initial high scores on the Security Seeking Scale and Inhibition Scale decreased sharply during the first weeks, and that children from special classes scored consistently higher on the Security Seeking Scale and more variable on the Inhibition Scale than children from regular classes. Girls had higher scores than boys on both scales. Recent stress in the family as rated by the teacher was positively related to both scores on the Inhibition and Security Seeking Scales after entry. Finally, scores on the Security Seeking and Inhibition Scales over the first three months predicted scores on the Internalizing Problem Scale by the end of this period, especially for children in special classes. We conclude that understanding adaptation after school entry as a process of obtaining emotional security is productive, providing a means to link entry behavior to precursors and consequences.

SEQUENTIAL ANALYSIS OF NOMINAL DATA IN MOTHER- INFANT COMMUNICATION: QUANTIFYING DOMINANCE AND BIDIRECTIONALITY

In recent studies on early communication a preference seems to exist for applying statistical methods to behaviours that have in some way been scaled. As an alternative, two methods for analyzing the interaction between two sequences of nominal data are discussed: an information-statistical analysis as developed by VAN DEN BERCKEN & COOLS (1980a) and log-linear modelling. Both methods make use of contingency (transition) tables, which should be constructed according to common requirements that are often ignored in practice. Firstly, the relationships between the number of behavioural categories, the length of the recording, the complexity of the model and the reliability of the statistics need to be considered. Secondly, choices have to be made regarding the use of either time or event sequences. Although these requirements are explained and illustrated using theoretical considerations and data on early mother-infant communication in humans, the application of these models may be much broader. Since informational and log-linear statistics are mathematically related, both can be used to describe the same measures of directionality in the interaction of individual pairs.

A Randomized Effectiveness Trial of a Behavioral Teacher Program Targeting ADHD Symptoms

Objective: This study investigated the effectiveness of the Positivity & Rules Program (PR program), a behavioral teacher program targeting ADHD symptoms in the classroom involving both student-focused and classroom-focused programs. Method: Primary school children with ADHD symptoms (N = 114) were randomly assigned to the PR program (n = 58) or control group (n = 56). Teacher and parent ratings were used to assess behavioral, social, and emotional functioning at baseline, during and after the intervention. Intervention effects were assessed using intention-to-treat multilevel analyses. Results: Teachers reported positive effects on ADHD symptoms and social skills (.01 < f2 > .36). Effects did not generalize to the home setting. Conclusion: The PR program holds promise for improving classroom behavior in children with ADHD symptoms and might prevent escalation of problem behavior

De Reynel taaltest en autisme

SamenvattingIn een experiment, waaraan zestien autistische kinderen deelnamen, werd onderzocht of het gebruik van kleine voorwerpen in de Reynell Taaltest een negatieve invloed heeft op het beantwoorden van de items. Zowel de grootte van de voorwerpen, als de bekendheid van de configuratie waar in de items naar wordt gevraagd, werden gemanipuleerd. Beide factoren bleken de beantwoording van de items te beïnvloeden. De geobserveerde effecten worden toegeschreven aan voor autistische kinderen kenmerkende gebreken in hogere cognitieve processen.