Welcome back to Trivia Tuesday!

This week’s question is… True or false: “When people feel coerced into a certain behavior, they will react against the coercion, often by demonstrating an increased preference for the behavior that is restrained, and may perform the behavior opposite to that desired.” (American Psychological Association, 2018) This experience is called Reactance Theory.

A. True
B. False 

Last week’s question was “True or false: Cognitive Dissonance is defined by the American Psychological Association (2018) as ‘an unpleasant psychological state resulting from inconsistency between two or more elements in a cognitive system.’” The answer was true!

Tune in next week to find out the answer to this week’s question!

 

What is known about socio-emotional learning (SEL) is early childhood SEL skills are strongly associated with social, academic, and cognitive outcomes later in life. However, there is not much known about how a large scale SEL program would impact children. The research on SEL interventions in school suggested short term benefits, but there needs to be more longitudinal research for the long-term benefits. 

The current framework for SEL was organized by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL); this includes five core areas of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. 

This article reviewed a few intervention methods. A highlight of this article is based on past evidence that having a sensitive and responsive caregiver is associated with healthy development. It was found that programs with high-quality teacher- child relationships (ex. Smaller class sizes) and safe learning environments are more likely to have positive impacts on children’s SEL. 

This paper concluded that investments should be made to support a child’s SEL at many levels. One way this can be done is to add SEL skills into the curriculum, along with the literacy and numeracy skills. 

All in all, the benefits of SEL on childrens’ well being is well known but there is much to be studied on the possible benefits of a large skill SEL intervention.

If you want to read more, click here!

Kaitlyn Vitucci
UConn KIDS, Research Assistant

Welcome back to Trivia Tuesday!

True or false: Cognitive Dissonance is defined by the American Psychological Association (2018) as “an unpleasant psychological state resulting from inconsistency between two or more elements in a cognitive system.” 

A. True
B. False

Last week’s question was “‘during various phases of brain development through the onset of puberty, the process in which excess or redundant neurons and synaptic connections are eliminated to enable more efficient neural processing’ (American Psychological Association, 2018) is the process of:” The answer was pruning!

Tune in next week to find out the answer to this week’s question!

Art therapy is defined by the American Psychological Association as “therapeutic interventions that use artistic endeavors or mediums, such as music, poetry, dance, and drama, to facilitate communication and emotional expression, enhance self-awareness, and foster health and change.” The aim of art therapy is to facilitate children’s personal growth through the use of different medias; such as drawing, painting, digital art, etc. 

A major challenge when it comes to mental health is a person’s limited understanding and ability to safely express their feelings, and this can be enhanced in children due to their limited vocabulary and knowledge. When children are not able to express their negative feelings, not only emotional, but behavioral issues arise. A potential solution is art therapy!

This article referred to multiple studies. One included focused on the realization of one’s self concept and transformation. This included mask making to express feelings, transform clay volcanoes into mountains to relieve anger, and coloring. The results suggested improvements from the parent’s and child’s perspective. 

Overall, there are still a lot of unknowns of the benefits and factors affecting art therapy. This leaves a lot of room for future studies on the effectiveness of art therapy for children! 

If you want to read more about other studies of art therapy, click here!

Kaitlyn Vitucci
UConn KIDS, Research Assistant 

Welcome back to Trivia Tuesday!

This weeks question is… “during various phases of brain development through the onset of puberty, the process in which excess or redundant neurons and synaptic connections are eliminated to enable more efficient neural processing” (American Psychological Association, 2018) is the process of:

A. Pruning
B. Maturation
C. Habituation
D. Object permanence 

Last week’s question was… “True or False: As defined by the American Psychological Association (2018), those with an external locus of control ‘tend to behave in response to internal states and intentions and to perceive their life outcomes as arising from the exercise of their own agency and abilities.’” The answer was false, that is an internal locus of control. An external locus of control is defined as those who “tend to behave in response to external

Tune in next week to find out the answer to this weeks’ question!

Majority of the children in the US spend most of their time in child-care, where physical activity is an important aspect of their day and development. As this study mentions, the levels of physical activity vary and the aim of the study was to figure out why. 

The overall conclusion was that physical activity may vary due to the clothing worn by children. The two noted major themes were: children’s clothing was a barrier to children’s physical activity in child-care and clothing choices were a significant source of conflict between parents and child-care providers. 

Inappropriate clothing, such as lack of a winter coat or inappropriate foot-wear, could prevent the entire class from being able to go outside. Conversely, this issue of clothing can lead to conflict between parents and teachers, an example given was a child lost a piece of jewelry and the parent was upset with the teacher because of it.

The implications of this study were that schools should make a clear policy about appropriate clothing for the children, as well as educating parents on the importance of play.

If you want to read more, click here!

Kaitlyn Vitucci
UConn KIDS, Research Assistant 

 

Welcome back to Trivia Tuesday!

This weeks question is…True or False: As defined by the American Psychological Association (2018), those with an external locus of control “tend to behave in response to internal states and intentions and to perceive their life outcomes as arising from the exercise of their own agency and abilities.” 

A. True
B. False

Last weeks question was “A mesosystem is defined as ‘the groups and institutions outside the home (ex. day care, school, a child’s peer group) that influence the child’s development and interact with aspects of the microsystem (ex. relations in the home)'” The answer was true!

Tune in next week to find out the answer to this weeks question!

Welcome back to Trivia Tuesday!

This weeks question is…True or false: A mesosystem, according to the American Psychological Association (2018), is defined as “the groups and institutions outside the home (ex. day care, school, a child’s peer group) that influence the child’s development and interact with aspects of the microsystem (ex. relations in the home)”

A. True
B. False 

Last weeks question was “What is an example of multifinality: ‘any one component may function differently depending on the organization of the system in which it operates.'” The answer was A, “the same childhood experience can lead to different outcomes in adulthood”!

Tune in next week to find out the answer to this weeks question!

Most young children want a pet at some point in time, however what are the effects of taking on a new member of the family? 

Children learn through experiences, and having a pet at home can help increase responsibility and empathetic skills. 

A study was conducted to find the connection between empathetic tendencies and having a pet at home. A Personal Information Form was filled out to find out information about the children and their families and an Empathetic Tendency Scale was used to determine the empathetic tendencies within the children. The overall results found that having a pet at home was associated with a significant difference in the mean scores of empathetic tendencies. The results were interpreted as children are given responsibilities when having a pet, which is important factor contributing to empathy. 

If you have a child at home, it might be a good idea to consider taking on a furry friend as another member of your family!

If you want to read more, click here!

Kaitlyn Vitucci
UConn KIDS, Research Assistant

Welcome back to Trivia Tuesday!

This weeks question is…What is an example of multifinality: “any one component may function differently depending on the organization of the system in which it operates.”

A. The same childhood experience can lead to different outcomes in adulthood
B. People with different experiences in childhood can develop the same mental health disorder

Last weeks question was “True or false: a “rooting reflex” is defined as “an automatic, unlearned response in newborns to a gentle stimulus on the cheek or corner of the mouth.” A newborn will turn their heads and make a sucking motion.” The answer was true!

Tune in next week to find out the answer to this weeks question!