"How Would You Feel? What Would You Do?" Development and Underpinnings of Preschoolers' Social Information Processing.

Young children's social information processing (SIP) encompasses a series of steps by which they make sense of encounters with other persons; both cognitive and emotional aspects of SIP often predict adjustment in school settings. More attention is needed, however, to the development of preschoolers' SIP and its potential foundations. To this end, a new preschool SIP measure, the Challenging Situations Task (CST), was utilized; preschoolers' ( = 316) self-reported emotional and behavioral responses to hypothetical peer provocation situations on the CST were assessed longitudinally, along with aspects of their self-regulation and emotion knowledge.

Social and emotional information processing in preschoolers: Indicator of early school success?

To better connect emotional development and social cognition literatures, the intersection of preschoolers' emotion and behaviour response choices to hypothetical peer conflicts was examined among 305 4 ½-year-olds in private childcare and Head Start. Latent class analyses identified five subgroups of children with connections between their emotion and behaviour response choices (). Subgroup membership differed across gender and economic risk status, and was also a predictor of early school success (i.

Preschoolers' social information processing and early school success: the challenging situations task.

As part of a larger longitudinal project on the assessment of preschoolers' social-emotional development, children's social information processing (SIP) responses to unambiguous hypothetical situations of peer provocation were assessed for 298 four-year-olds from Head Start and private childcare settings. Measurement focused on emotions children would feel during these situations, and their behaviour response decisions. Participants most often chose sad and angry emotions, and socially competent and passive behaviours.

Social-Emotional Learning Profiles of Preschoolers' Early School Success: A Person-Centered Approach.

Examined how aspects of social-emotional learning (SEL)-specifically, emotion knowledge, emotional and social behaviors, social problem-solving, and self-regulation-clustered to typify groups of children who differ in terms of their motivation to learn, participation in the classroom, and other indices of early school adjustment and academic success. 275 four-year-old children from private day schools and Head Start were directly assessed and observed in these areas, and preschool and kindergarten teachers provided information on social and academic aspects of their school success. Three groups of children were identified: SEL Risk, SEL Competent-Social/Expressive, and SEL Competent-Restrained.