Examined whether and when children use information about others' mental states to invent or select persuasive strategies in three studies. Found older children, but not preschoolers, used belief information in stories to select arguments; and kindergartners' and first-graders' reasoning on false belief tasks suggested the failure to consider…

Examined the moral and ecological reasoning of second, fifth, and eighth graders regarding the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Found that children understood negative effects of the spill, cared that harm occurred to shoreline and marine life, and thought it violated a moral obligation. Fifth and eighth graders used a greater proportion of anthropocentric…

Investigated body image across life span in cross-section of women ages 20-84 years. Found that although body dissatisfaction remained stable, self-objectification, habitual body monitoring, appearance anxiety, and disordered eating all significantly decreased with age. Self- objectification mediated the relationship between age and disordered…

Examined visual attention and implications for recognition memory in a longitudinal sample of full-term and preterm infants at 5, 7, and 12 months. Found differences between full-terms and preterms in several aspects of visual attention. Infants showed consistent attentional styles over various conditions. Shorter looks and higher shift rates…

Examined Korean first, third, and fifth graders' judgments about authority commands regarding moral events. Found that children judged that a principal, teacher, class president, and child without an authority position have legitimacy and should be obeyed when giving morally right directives. Children gave greater legitimacy to persons giving…

Explored 14- and 18-month olds' ability to identify the target of the experimenter's emotional display of happiness or disgust in response to something seen or felt inside a box. Findings suggested that, regardless of age, infants used the experimenter's attentional cues to interpret her emotional signals and behaved as if they understood that she…

HomeNetToo is a longitudinal field study designed to examine the antecedents and consequences of home Internet use in low-income families http://www.HomeNetToo.org). The study was done between December 2000 and June 2002. Among the consequences considered was children's academic performance. Participants were 140 children, mostly African…

Presentation of a "natural experiment" problem situation to fourth, sixth, and eighth graders and college students revealed that not until adolescence could subjects isolate alternative or additive causes in a multivariable situation. (JMB)

Two studies examined second- through fifth-grade children's negative-item bias with responses to the Self Description Questionnaire and how it is related to cognitive development and reading achievement. Results showed that younger children and poorer readers responded less appropriately to negative items, thus biasing the interpretations of their…

Assessed possibility that developmental difference in social values is associated with development of information processing capabilities. Three- to 10-year-old children completed an individualized regression assessment of social values, a central-incidental memory measure, and a free-recall word list task. Results indicated age, sex, and memory…

Examined development of relations between causal explanations, the anticipated emotional consequences for others if these causes were communicated, and the decision to disclose or withhold causal explanation. Within a role-playing paradigm, children aged 5-12 were given scenarios involving social rejection or broken social engagement. Data…

Through written responses to a questionnaire, adolescents' perceptions of discussions with parents and friends were examined with reference to academic/vocational, social/ethical, family, and peer domains. Findings are discussed in terms of differences in procedures of social construction between parents' and friends' socializing influences.…

In order to determine how use of responsive listener cues (e.g. head nods, yesses, smiles, etc.) changes over preschool years, children were videorecorded as they listened to an adult speaker talk about his experiences. Age and sex differences in preschoolers' responsive behaviors are discussed as well as the relationship between the development…

A longitudinal study examined (1) development of relationship between physical maturation rate and cognitive performance as children become adolescent and (2) specific components of cognitive processing linked to physical maturation-related differences in performance on cognitive ability tasks. Differences were detected on cognitive process tasks.…

Examines modification of mother-child instruction as a function of age of learner in middle childhood (six versus eight years). Instruction and learning were compared on two tasks designed to simulate school and home activities. Results show more intense instruction of all kinds for the younger children in the school task. (RH)