Developmental and Proximate Causes of Young Children's Peer Collaboration

 描述（由申请人提供）：大量的研究表明，儿童的社会游戏有助于社会，认知和运动技能的发展。然而，是什么原因导致儿童相互合作还没有得到很好的理解。本研究旨在确定导致幼儿合作的发展和近因因素。在这样做的过程中，该提案采用了符合发展心理学和生物学领域跨学科趋势的生物生态方法。具体来说，先前的研究表明，早期的家庭环境和经历（例如父母的照顾，压力和/或混乱的经验）影响儿童的发展唤醒系统（例如HPA轴活动）。重要的是，儿童的唤醒系统支持他们处理学习和社会互动信息的能力。大量的研究表明，对认知和社会挑战的适度唤醒反应可以唤起应对挑战所需的生理资源。然而，低唤醒（即迟钝，无动力）和高唤醒（即分心，过敏）状态与较差的认知和社会结果相关。目前的项目应用这个强大的研究机构来评估儿童合作的预测因素。具体而言，它调查了儿童的早期环境和经验是否塑造了他们的唤醒和社会认知，以支持，或不，儿童的合作能力与同龄人在面对挑战。在这样做的过程中，该提案衡量了环境，生理和社会认知因素，这些因素以前已被证明对儿童的发展具有重要意义。为了获得环境变量的变化，并寻求更好地反映整个人口的样本，一半的儿童将从低收入背景中招募。所采用的实验范例是由申请人开发和试验的玩具构建活动。孩子们用彩色的盒子一步一步地建造玩具，类似于一个大型的乐高玩具。这些步骤的难度差别很大，使我们能够观察和分析儿童如何应对挑战。重要的是，这种实验范式允许儿童选择何时以及在多大程度上与他们的同伴合作，从而提供了一个分级的措施，何时以及有多少每个二分体合作。分析将评估a）哪些认知、生理和社会认知因素与儿童何时合作以及合作的程度有关，以及B）环境因素是否与预测儿童合作的因素有关。如此则 该建议将进一步我们的理解a）什么因素有助于儿童的合作和B）如何儿童的早期环境可能与他们的社会和认知发展。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A wealth of research indicates that children's social play contributes to the development of social, cognitive, and motoric skills. However, what causes children to collaborate with one another is not well understood. This research seeks to identify developmental and proximate factors that cause young children to collaborate. In doing so, the proposal applies a bio- ecological approach in line with an interdisciplinary trend in the fields of developmental psychology and biology. Specifically, prior research indicates that the early home environment and experiences (e.g. parental care, stressful and/or chaotic experiences) impact children's developing arousal systems (e.g. HPA axis activity). Importantly, children's arousal systems support their ability to process information for learning and social interactions. A large body of research indicates that a moderate arousal response to cognitive and social challenges summons the physiological resources needed to address challenges. However, hypo-arousal (i.e. sluggish, unmotivated) and hyper-arousal (i.e. distractible, hypersensitive) states are associated with poorer cognitive and social outcomes. The current project applies this robust body of research to evaluating predictors of children's collaboration. Specifically, it investigates whether children's early environment and experiences shape their arousal and social cognition to support, or not, children's ability to collaborate with a peer in te face of challenge. In doing so, the proposal measures environmental, physiological, and social-cognitive factors that have previously proven significant for children's development. In order to obtain variation in the environmental variables and seek a sample that better reflects the population at large, half of the dyads of children will be recruited from low income backgrounds. The experimental paradigm employed is a toy construction activity developed and piloted by the applicant. Children build toys step-by-step with colorful boxes, similar to a large Lego set. The steps vary widely in difficulty, enabling us to observe and analyze how children respond to challenges. Importantly, this experimental paradigm permits children to choose when and how much to coordinate with their peer partner, thereby providing a graded measure of when and how much each dyad collaborates. The analyses will assess a) which cognitive, physiological, and social-cognitive factors relate to when and how much children collaborate and b) whether environmental factors relate to the factors that predict children's collaboration. In this way, the proposal will further our understanding of a) what factors contribute to children's collaboration and b) how children's early environment may relate to their social and cognitive development.