In 2 studies, age differences in children's self-evaluative responses as a function of success/failure outcome and task ease information were explored. (SB)

Two studies used a modification of the weakly interpretive scoring method of Langford and D'Cruz to examine judicial and legislative reasoning. Findings were in accord with modified versions of Piaget's and Kohlberg's views and contradicted Gibbs' theory. There were three stages of legislative reasoning between 7 and 21 years: heteronomy or…

Two experiments examined 4- to 5-year-olds' acquisition of family-resemblance categories for fictitious animals. Results showed that children who performed theory-guided learning were more successful at making feature/category associations than children who performed similarity-guided learning and categorized attributes significantly better than…

Examined processes involved in the relationship of early adolescents' appraisals of interparental conflict with adjustment problems in two samples. Found that perceived threat mediated association between interparental conflict and internalizing problems in both samples; self-blame mediated this association for boys in both samples and girls in…

Play has been difficult to define because it is an aspect of many activities rather than of just a specific kind of activity. Classic theorists such as Piaget and Vygotsky emphasized representational play as play in its purist form, but both immediate and ultimate functions of play can be discerned in simple physical activity play. (Author)

Offers suggestions for future investigations of theory-of-mind development. Maintains that there needs to be: (1) greater focus on the development of understanding of desire and intention; (2) research on the role of language in theory-of-mind development integrating representational-development and social-interaction views; and (3) investigation…

Maintains that the results of Wellman, Cross, and Watson's meta-analysis on the false belief task are perfectly compatible with "early competence" accounts that posit a specific, innate, and possibly modular basis for theory of mind. Asserts that Wellman and colleagues' arguments against such views stem from mistaken assumptions…

Three experiments examined 3- to 11-year-olds' understanding of entropy, asking whether undifferentiated forces, such as the wind or objects being thrown into the air, could create order or disorder in a set of objects. Found that even 4-year-olds were sensitive to asymmetrical effects of such events. Older children applied this principle more…

Drawing on cultural-ecological and person-environment fit perspectives, this study examined links among Mexican-American adolescents' time with peers and parents, parents' cultural orientations, and adolescents' psychosocial adjustment and cultural orientations. Participants were 492 Mexican-American adolescents (Ms=15.7 and 12.8 years for older…

An examination of the extent to which adults and children (7 and 11 years old) were able to make discriminations between fixations directed at their eyes and at different positions on their faces. (SDH)

Children aged 5, 9, and 13 years did work superior to, equal to, or inferior to another child and allocated reward between them. The three age groups showed qualitatively different allocations consistent with hypothesized age-related stages: (1) no relation of allocation to relative work, (2) preservation of rank from work to reward, and (3)…

Discusses principles of human development which are durable across changes in time, culture, and cohort. Analyzes the form these principles are likely to take, the limitations and strengths they are likely to display, and the process by which they are likely to be discovered. (Author/JMB)

Kindergarten children and adults were shown slides with an accompanying taped soundtrack which portrayed reciprocal and nonreciprocal aggressive and prosocial interactions. Following each episode, subjects' evaluations of the actor and their attributions concerning the cause of his behavior were obtained. (Author/JMB)

Examines the relation of preschoolers' self-attributions about their prosocial behaviors to frequency of prosocial responding. Attempts to determine if different types of prosocial behaviors are associated with different configurations of moral judgment, self-attributions, and social behaviors. Classroom observations of 44 preschoolers were made…