Development of complex patterns of behavioral orientation to social and physical stimuli in kindergarten children

The effects of school attendance on the behavior orientation patterns exhibited by children at kindergarten entrance were examined by contingency analysis of videotaped behaviors observed during the first and the seventh month of school attendance. Results indicated that the dependency relations between motor areas do not change from the first to the seventh month, and that behaviors oriented to physical stimuli are organized in two broad patterns which remain unchanged. Teacher-oriented behaviors form a pattern of inactive attention which becomes more pronounced during the seventh month, and seem to be negatively related with work behaviors. Behaviors directed to peers are the most subject to changes during the school year, and tend to overlap with work behaviors in mixed patterns. The patterns which emerge in the second observation period indicate more active social contacts with peers in the seventh school month. They suggest also a progressive differentiation between patterns of social interaction and attention patterns.