A series of studies was conducted to determine whether children's reasoning is capacity-limited and whether any such capacity, if it exists, is based on the working memory system. An N-term series (transitive inference) was used as the primary task in an interference paradigm. A concurrent short-term memory load was employed as the secondary task.…

Investigated how eight teachers untrained in holistic scoring rated elementary school students' compositions about baseball. Teachers varied in knowledge level about baseball and were classified as having either an academic or a cognitive-developmental teaching approach. Findings are discussed in terms of a classroom competence model of writing.…

Findings obtained from 90 first- through fifth-grade children indicate that children grasp the direct relationships between speed and distance and between duration and distance before they grasp the inverse relationship between speed and duration--a finding which may represent a general principle of cognitive development. (Author/RH)

First- and third-graders, shown pictures of same-sex younger, older, and same-age peers, were asked to specify that peer with whom they preferred to enter into relationships involving friendship, leadership, giving or receiving help, sympathy, and instruction. Results provide support for the hypothesized symmetric-asymmetric nature of same-age and…

To determine whether the effects of noncontingent feedback were transferable, 64 first-grade boys first were given a two-choice discrimination task and then a different contingent task. Results suggested that, even when conditions change, experience with prior noncontingent feedback disrupts the ability to use contingent information. (Author/BE)

Investigates distance distortion in children's cognitive maps by testing 129 school children (second, fourth, sixth graders). Results: (1) paths with a large number of segments are perceived as longer, (2) distances along paths with few segments are underestimated, (3) distances along paths with many segments may be overestimated, and (4) younger…

Examined the role of interpersonal expectations in rejected children's social difficulties. Results indicated that rejected children can make better impressions on peers when they expect interpersonal success. (RH)

Studied 40 first through third graders to determine whether they would donate more to a worthy cause after being exposed to a humorous situation or to a serious one. The difference in giving was not significant. (RJC)

Effects of dramatic play on children's narrative competence were investigated among 36 second-graders. Children were read a familiar folktale and then "played" the story, discussed it, or drew a picture about it. They were then asked to retell the story either to an informed or to a naive listener. It was hypothesized that (1) more…

Most sociometric research is based on same-age, mixed-gender classroom groups. By contrast, this study examined eight ad hoc play groups of mixed ages (6 and 7 years) and same gender at three levels of social organization: individual status, mutual dyads, and mutual triads. A total of 96 children in groups of 12 nominated three most- and…

Explores third and sixth grade children's acquisition and analogical transfer of the base of a relatively complex problem. One group at each grade level received two analogs of a scheduling problem; other groups received only one analog or a transfer task. After criterial performance, all children were transferred to an isomorphic analog and…

Tested the hypothesis that fourth-graders have a greater tendency than first-graders to represent transformations as ordered series of beginning, middle, and end states. Predominantly constructed states of fourth-graders were components of continuous movements or transformations, whereas those of first-graders related to the experimenters' on the…

Two studies, involving elementary school children, investigated children's representation of adults' use of the moral intentionality principle, with particular emphasis on the distinction between causal attributions of events-to-the-situation vs. events-to-the-person. (JS)

Sex biases in children's sociometric preferences were examined developmentally using rating-scale data from 195 girls and 191 boys in kindergarten through the third grade (Study 1) and from 91 girls and 88 boys in the third through sixth grades (Study 2). (Author/RWB)

A study involving 56 boys and 64 girls ranging in age from 9 to 11 years, approximately, found that defensiveness was significantly and positively correlated with impulsivity among boys, both directly and indirectly. Defensiveness did not contribute to impulsivity for girls either directly or indirectly, although test anxiety did correlate with…