Wielding an object makes it possible to perceive many physical properties of the object without visualizing it. The purpose of this study was to examine developmental changes of haptic exploration, which is called 'dynamic touch' and is based on Perceptual Systems Theory (Gibson, 1966). The particular focus was on variability in grip patterns and swinging patterns, because the variability associated with skill mastery within and across individuals indicated that the system was moving toward greater stability. Participants in the experiment, 21 elementary school children and 14 college students, reported their perceptions of rod length by dynamic touch. The results indicated that the children explored grip patterns, and college students explored ways to wield the rod. Implications for future research on dynamic touch were also discussed.

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This study used the "empty box task" of Harris et al. (1991) to examine influences on young children's judgments about imaginary objects. In two experiments, children were shown two empty boxes and were asked to imagine that a monster was in one of the boxes. The experimenter showed the picture of a monster to the child and asked the child to express whether the monster was real by making verbal judgments and physical actions. Next the spontaneous behavior of each child toward the boxes was observed after he/she was left alone in the room. Finally, children made judgments and reported their feelings about their imagination. In comparing the influence of situational actuality under 3 conditions: story (in which the experimenter told a monster story before presenting the boxes), costume (in which the experimenter put on a witch costume during the experiment) and a control conditions, there were three main findings. First, the effects of situational reality differed according to the condition. Second, recognition of real existence was related to credibility in making verbal judgments. Third, evocation of feeling was related to the spontaneous behavior of children when they were observed alone.

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This paper reported on the development of a new multi-dimensional empathy scale. The scale consisted of four subscales:empathic concern, personal distress, fantasy and cognitive empathy. These subscales corresponded to Davis' four dimensions of empathy and were suitable for the measurement of empathy from early adolesence through late adolescence. Each subscale had satisfactory internal consistency and was significantly related to other empathy scales and a measure of pro-social behavior. Results included the following: (1) Male scores for empathic concern and cognitive empathy were higher among college students than middle school or high school students. (2) Male scores for personal distress were higher among high school students than middle school students or college students. (3) For females, fantasy scores were higher among college students than high school students. (4) Females' scores on all subscales were higher than males' in middle school, but gender differences decreased in high school.

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This study investigated the mirror self-recognition of autistic adolescents (n=35) in comparison with that of normal preschool children (n=51). The participants took part in an initial "mark test" condition whereby a mark was put on the nose of the participant, who then had the opportunity to react to the mark by looking at a mirror, and then in 3 experimental conditions in which the experimenter invited the participant to touch the marks on his/her nose. Autistic adolescents touched the marks on their noses less spontaneously than did normally developing children; this was particularly notable for those with special developmental features. Autistic adolescents, like normal preschool children, showed confusion at the sight of the mark, but it was relatively more difficult for the autistic adolescents to communicate their confusion to the experimenter. The results were discussed in terms of self-recognition and communication among adolescents with autism.

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This study considered the relationship between prompts by mothers or fathers for their children to eat, and their children's negative and positive emotions, comparing mothers and fathers. It also analyzed the relationship between each parental behavior, the marital relationship, and other demographic factors, from a family systems perspective. Participants were 28 families with one 4- or 5- years old child and two parents. Each family was videotaped at the dinner table on two occasions with all members present, and the parents also filled out questionnaires. It was found that the stronger the mother's or father's prompt to eat, the stronger was the child's expression of negative emotion. In addition, the poorer the quality of the marital relationship, the stronger the mother's prompt to eat was. Finally, the younger the child, the stronger prompts to eat were from both mothers and fathers.

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This report concerned the development of the Scale Measuring a Sense of Generalized Self-Efficacy (SMSGSE). This instrument emphasized subjective feelings such as "I feel I am capable of doing most things." In Study 1, the SMSGSE was administered along with other measures to university students (N= 224) to assess the reliability and validity of the SMSGSE. The SMSGSE had a stable one-factor structure, which was the same for males and female participants, and was a reliable measure. The SMSGSE also had good content, construct, and criterion-based validity. Study 2 consisted of interviews with 12 participants, selected based on their SMSGSE scores in Study 1. The results showed that the SMSGSE adequately measured each participant's generalized self-efficacy, suggesting that the SMSGSE had concurrent validity. Overall, this study showed that the SMSGSE will be an effective measure.

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A longitudinal study examined personality changes in self-concept, self-esteem and potential self of 68 married couples during their transition to parenthood. After becoming parents, wives reported feeling more "irritable" than did husbands. There were no gender differences in reports of pre-/post-parenthood changes on other self-concept scales, such as "activity," "emotional instability," "immaturity," "nervousness," "nurturance." These results suggest that self-concept was comparatively stable during the transition to parenthood. Total change scores for self- concept among wives were related to confused feelings about physical and mental changes during pregnancy, and total change scores of husbands were related to negative potential self-image and educational background. Women's self-esteem decreased after becoming mothers, while males' self-esteem was stable over time. There were also changes in the proportions of three aspects of self ("social self," "husband/wife self," and "paternal/maternal self"). Specifically, there was a significant increase in the proportion of men's "social self" after becoming fathers, and a significant decrease in the proportion of women's "social self" following the child's birth. Finally, the proportion of "maternal self" aspect increased over time, while the proportion of "paternal self" aspect was unchanged.

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This study examined the influence of genetic and environmental factors on children's trust in parents, from a human behavioral genetics perspective. Pairs of 4th through 9th grade twins (N=381 pairs, including 215 monozygotic [MZ] pairs and 166 dizygotic [DZ] pairs) completed questionnaires about their trust in parents and parental behavior. Univariate genetic analysis showed that the relative effects of genetic (additive genetic) vs. environmental (common environment and non-shared environment) factors on children's trust in mothers differed from the relative effects of these three factors on trust in fathers. In addition, the ratio of these effects varied according to developmental stage (childhood vs. early adolescence). Trust in parents was also compared between MZ twins who recognized parental behavior differently from each other. Trust scores were higher among MZ twins who perceived parents as more caring. It was notable that environmental factors such as parental behavior affected children's trust in parents even among MZ twins with identical genetic structures.

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