Normand Rondeau

Effects of Friends’ Characteristics on Children’s Social Cognitions

Based on the notion that friends play a fundamental role in children’s social cognitive development, the study investigates the relation between friends’ characteristics (i.e., aggressiveness and prosociality) and children’s interpretation of social cues and generation of responses in hypothetical provocation situations. The study was conducted with a sample of 322 children (155 boys, 167 girls) from first through sixth grade. The results showed that, for older children only, friends’ aggressiveness predicted an increase of the frequency of aggressive solutions, whereas friends’ prosociality predicted an increase of the frequency of pacifistic/prosocial solutions. The latter effect was only true for non-aggressive children, though. The results are discussed in terms of the possible mechanisms underlying the differential effects of friends’ characteristics on children’s social cognition.

Immunological identification and sequence characterization of a peptide derived from the processing of neuroendocrine protein 7B2

A newly raised antiserum against the C‐terminal region of neuroendocrine protein 7B2 was used to purify a novel peptide from the culture media of the mouse corticotroph cell line AtT‐20. Based on partial sequencing, this peptide, which we call Cter‐7B2, begins at Ser156 and appears to result from the cleavage of pro7B2 after a five‐basic‐residue sequence. Thus, 7B2 processing may contribute to the diversity of peptides found in neuronal and endocrine cells.