Younger children, ages 3 to 8, were seen in a playroom where they were f ree to choose a play activity.
Play groups were supervised by a teacher and graduate assistant in a specially designed laboratory playroom.
The second session took place in a university playroom.
Following the picture book task, dyads participated in a 30-min semistructured play session in the same laboratory playroom.
Parents and infants were first brought into a brightly decorated, toy-filled playroom.
During the first 3 min, there were no toys in the playroom.
For the remaining 7 min, toys were available in the playroom.
The entry situation began when the participant was escorted into the playroom, where the two confederates were already playing with a toy robot.