Suchergebnisse

RÉSUMÉ On explore la compréhension de la cognition et du monde mental par les enfants sourds. Après un bref rappel historique, on trouvera un résumé et une interprétation des recherches récentes sur les tests de fausse croyance chez les enfants sourds. Les résultats montrent que, contrairement aux enfants sourds entraînés à l'oral et aux signeurs tardifs nés de parents entendants, les enfants signeurs natifs développent une théorie de l'esprit aussi précocement que les enfants entendants. On présente ensuite de nouvelles données concernant les performances d'enfants sourds signeurs tardifs dans les entretiens « à la Piaget » concernant la localisation et les fonctions de l'esprit et du cerveau. En conclusion, on propose une intégration et quelques hypothèses à propos de ces perspectives sur la métacognition.

AbstractPreschoolers' theory of mind (ToM) was examined in relation to emotional features of their conflicts with siblings, using mothers as privileged informants. Fifty‐four children aged 3 to 5 years and their 54 mothers took part. Children were given 10 standard false belief tasks and a standardized language test. Mothers completed questionnaires, rated vignettes, and kept a conflict diary to provide detailed data on siblings' conflicts, mothers' conflict attitudes, and mothers' use of mental state language to talk about children's disputes. Results revealed that children's ToM scores were significantly correlated with affective dimensions of their sibling disputes, including more frequent expression of positive emotion while disagreeing and less post‐conflict distress. Logistic regression showed these associations were independent of age and verbal ability. Mothers' conflict attitudes were significantly correlated with the affective outcome of their children's disputes but not with the preschooler's level of ToM understanding. Findings are discussed in relation to possible reciprocal influences between ToM development and the growth of affectively positive and constructive conflict resolution skills.

AbstractMarital satisfaction and perceptions of global marital equity were assessed in a sample of 373 Australian husbands and wives drawn from four phases of the family life cycle: preparenthood, childrearing, launching, and the empty nest. For wives only, satisfaction levels across successive phases described the U‐shaped curve predicted from previous research. Sex differences emerged in perceptions of marital equity: During childrearing and the empty nest, more wives than husbands experienced equity; and in all phases except preparenthood, inequitable marriages were more likely to produce overbenefit for husbands and underbenefit for wives. For the sample as a whole, and for the preparenthood and childrearing groups individually, marital satisfaction was predicted both by the relative level of benefit a respondent gained from marriage, and by how closely the balance of exchange in the marriage matched strict equity. During launching, however, relative benefit eclipsed strict adherence to the rule of equity as a predictor of satisfaction, whereas during the empty nest phase, strict equity eclipsed relative benefit. Possible explanations for these life‐cycle variations are discussed.

The development of positive justice reasoning in profoundly deaf, signing Australian7-to 12-year-olds and hearing children was compared. Reactions to cognitive conflict were also assessed. The performance of those deaf children whose signed English skills were adequate to give detailed justifications for reward allocation was examined separately. The deaf children were delayed relative to hearing children in number and liquid conservation, but equally mature in justice reasoning. Spontaneous conflicts with signing peers over sharing possessions conceivably could be responsible for the fluently signing deaf children's development of positive justice reasoning on pace with their normally-hearing counterparts. Experimentally-induced conflict resulted in progress for the hearing but not the deaf children. Results are discussed in relation to factors that promote deaf children's tolerance for ambiguity (Brice, 1985) and impede their resolution of cognitive conflict (Liben, 1978).

AbstractWe examined the impact of adoptive status and family experiences on adult attachment security and how attachment predicts relationship outcomes. Adults adopted as infants (N= 144) and a sample of nonadoptees (N= 131) completed measures of attachment security at recruitment and 6 months later; other measures assessed parental bonding and adoptees' reunion experiences (Time 1), and relationship variables (e.g., loneliness, relationship quality; Time 2). Insecurity was higher for adoptees and those reporting negative childhood relationships with parents. For adoptees only, recent relationship difficulties also predicted insecurity. Attachment dimensions were more important than adoptive status in predicting relationship variables and mediated the effects of adoptive status. The results support the utility of attachment theory in understanding adoptees' relationship concerns.

AbstractThe goal of this study was to explore the effects of marital conflict on conflict patterns in the family, and on family members'perceptions of one another. Sixty‐eight two‐parent families with adolescent twins participated, with parents reporting on the conflict patterns used by the marital dyad, and by themselves in interaction with each of their twins, and adolescent twins reporting on their interactions with each other. In addition, all four family members engaged in a videotaped decision‐making interaction and then made global ratings of each other on five dimensions. Links were obtained between marital conflict patterns and parent‐child conflict patterns, and between parent‐child conflict patterns and those used in sibling relationships. In contrast, marital conflict patterns were unrelated to sibling conflict patterns. Similarly, links were found between marital conflict and fathers'perceptions of their children, and between father‐child conflict and children's perceptions of each other. The results are discussed in terms of theoretical models of conflict resolution and the transmission of conflict patterns within the family.