Semi-naturalistic Setting Research Articles

The prosody of maternal speech: infant age and context related changes

ABSTRACTThe speech of 6 mothers to their healthy infants was examined longitudinally during the neonatal period and at 4, 12, and 24 months in a semi-naturalistic setting. Features of speech analysed were: contour of fundamental frequency, repetitiveness, timing (durations of vocalizations and pauses), tempo and MLU. The neonatal period was characterized by elongated pauses. During the 4-month period the extent of pitch contouring and repetitiveness was greater than at earlier or later ages. By 24 months, the duration of vocalizations and length of MLU became markedly greater. The period of intense face-to-face interaction around the fourth month proved to involve more changes in certain prosodic features. Some of the possible functions of these changes during this phase are discussed.

EMBARRASSMENT IN DYADIC INTERACTION

The effect of embarrassment upon dyadic interaction was studied in a semi-naturalistic setting. Subject pairs participated in an alternating question and answer session at one of two interactional distances (1 or 2 in), utilizing questions which increased in their intimacy content. A control group who had only non-intimate questions was also investigated. It was found that topic intimacy, but not interactional distance affected the embarrassment potential of the situation. Increases in embarrassment caused typical changes in nonverbal behavior (decreased eye contact, increased gestural activity, and increased smiling) for both pair members while speaking and listening, and also an increase in speech disturbances. Also, as embarrassment increased mutual gaze decreased, whilst mutual disregard and reciprocated body motion increased; reciprocated looking and reciprocated smiling were not affected. Increases in embarrassment did not affect the amount of self-disclosure for each individual, although verbal output was suppressed relative to the control group. Significant reciprocation of self-disclosure occurred in less than one-third of the interacting pairs. The possibility of evolving coping strategies for embarrassment are discussed in the light of the results.

Social Class Differences in Dyadic Involvement during Infancy

The social interactions of 60 mother-infant pairs were observed for 25 min in a seminaturalistic setting when the infants were 6 months old and again at 20 months. 46 of the infants were termed at high risk for later school failure due to the socioeconomic situations of their families. Half of these high-risk infants had been randomly assigned to an early intervention program. The remaining group of 14 infants was a sample drawn from the general population. Principal components analyses of the 10 behaviors scored during the session yielded a first component at both 6 and 20 months which represented "dyadic involvement." Comparing the 3 groups of dyads on the proportion within each who scored positively on the dyadic-involvement component, it was evident that the groups did not differ at 6 months but did differ at 20 months. The changes in level of interaction across time were compared with changes in scores on developmental tests. Results indicated that higher dyadic involvement at 20 months was associated with higher intellectual performance.

Peer Relations as a Function of Physical Attractiveness: The Eye of the Beholder or Behavioral Reality?

LANGLOIS, JUDITH H., and DOWNS, A. CHRIS. Peer Relations as a Function of Physical Attractiveness: The Eye of the Beholder or Behavioral Reality? CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1979, 50, 409-418. The relation between physical attractiveness and behavior was examined by assessing whether behavioral differences exist between attractive and unattractive children. 64 3and 5-year-old boys and girls were selected as subjects on the basis of physical attractiveness. Same age and sex, attractive, unattractive, and mixed-attractiveness dyads were formed and were observed in a seminaturalistic play setting. A categorical observation system was used to record affiliative, aggressive, activity-, and object-directed play behaviors. A developmental pattern was found for aggression: no differences based on attractiveness were evident in 3-year-olds, but 5-year-old unattractive children aggressed against peers more often than did attractive children. Unattractive children were generally more active than attractive children. Few differences in affiliative behaviors were found between attractive and unattractive children.

Children's Viewing of Television and Recognition Memory of Commercials

ZUCKERMAN, PAUL; ZIEGLER, MARK; and STEVENSON, HAROLD W. Children's Viewing of Television and Recognition Memory of Commercials. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1978, 49, 96-104. Children in grades 2, 3, and 4 were videotaped while watching a standard 15-min television presentation in a seminaturalistic setting. Videotapes were analyzed for attention to television, viewing patterns, and alternate activities. Recognition memory of auditory and visual content of the commercials and of the products was tested. Comparisons were made of the children's behavior during the program and during the commercials. In general, the children's behavior was marked by low levels of attention, a decline in attention during commercials, and poor recognition memory of commercial content. Attention was more strongly related to visual than to auditory recognition. Evidence for rapid habituation to the content of commercials was obtained.

The aversive control of excessive alcohol consumption by chronic alcoholics in the laboratory setting.

The efficacy of several methods of aversive control of excessive alcoholic drinking was investigated in a semi-naturalistic setting that permitted objective measurement of the drinking behavior of chronic alcoholics. Studies 1A and 1B compared an excape-conditioning precedure with a control procedure in which aversive electrical shocks were administered before drinking. Neither procedure effectively decreased subjects' pretreatment, baseline alcoholic drinking behavior. In Study 2, aversive response-contingent shocks effectively suppressed alcoholic drinking, but drinking subsequently returned to its former levels after withdrawal of punishment. Self-administered shock appeared to be as effective as experimenter-administered punishment for controlling drinking, even when the punishment contingency was faded out over time. Study 3 replicated the suppressant effect of punishment, and demonstrated that contingent shock was significantly more effective than yoked, noncontingent shock. A direct comparison of self-versus experimenter-administered punishment suggested a possible slight advantage for the latter.