A sociological perspective on childhood socialization.

Review of Childhood socialization by N. Denzi

Children\u27s verbal and nonverbal communication in a conflict situation

Same-sexed pairs of children (N = 144) were videotaped during brief play sessions involving a limited but desirable resource. Pairs varied in sex, age (preschool, kindergarten, second grade), friendship (friends vs nonfriends), and perceived dominance (dominant vs. subordinate status within the pair). Videotape coding focused on verbal and nonverbal communication during negotiations for access to the resource. Results showed that dominant children played longer with the desirable object. Negotiation strategies varied with interactional role (e.g., attempting to gain vs. retain access to object) as well as age, sex, and social relationship. The politeness of children\u27s language varied with their affective state as indexed by use of facial expressions

Expressive Development and Basic Emotions

One important emotion theory currently postulates an innate tie between specific infant facial expressions and a set of discrete basic emotions. The arguments and evidence relevant to this assertion are reviewed. New data are presented from a naturalistic study of one infant\u27s early expressive development and a judgement study of infant facial, vocal, and body activity. These data challenge the innate tie hypothesis. Based on dynamical systems systems theory, an alternate conceptual framework is presented that may allow us to usefully retain the concept of basic emotions while accommodating the data on infant expressive development