Designed to explore (1) developmental changes in exact and partial imitation of manual and facial movements, (2) model differences, and (3) gesture differences, this study observed infants at 2, 12, and 24 weeks of age. A hypothesis is proposed that links early nonselective behaviors and attributed imitation to emergence of imitative behavior…

Kindergarten and fourth-grade children participated in a study designed to assess the effects of number of models and type of behavior modeled on developmental differences of children's subsequent generosity. As predicted, generosity of younger children was affected by behavior of model(s) to a greater extent than was that of older children.…

Explored self-serving biases in use of statistical "law of large numbers" (LLN) principle. Found that, on goal-enhancing and goal-neutral problems, adolescents were more prone to schema-based memory intrusions and adults were more prone to exemplar-based intrusions. Both age groups used LLN more frequently on goal-threatening than on…

In four tasks, 42 children between three and five years of age were asked to identify materials and familiar objects, and to predict which items would adhere to a magnet. No age differences were found in the ability to identify objects, but significant differences occurred in identification of materials and prediction of magnetic attraction. (RH)

Four experiments compared 4-year-olds' understanding of pretense to that of 3-year-olds or adults. When shown pictured items, 4-year-olds understood that only animates pretend, but 3-year-olds sometimes claimed that inanimates pretend. When shown actual items, even 4-year-olds sometimes claimed that inanimates pretend, especially when adults…

Three studies examined the emergence of attention to gender categories in toddlers. Results suggested that 18-month-olds showed little attention to gender on a sequential touching task. The possibility that they could not discriminate the dolls used in the task by gender was ruled out. There was a sharp increase in attention to gender between 18…

The relationship between the manner in which environments are encountered and the nature of environmental features in the construction of spatial representations was examined. It was found that performance of a thematic activity facilitated construction of a spatial representation of a large-scale environment. (PCB)

Describes two studies of five- to nine-year-old children. Study 1 illustrated a low incidence of animistic thought and indicated the salience of movement in a group of northern, Unitarian children. Children demonstrated a variety of criteria for aliveness. Study 2 replicated findings in a group of southern, Baptist children. (Author/KS)

Aims to develop new procedures to collect and analyze data pertaining to spatial development, to explicate a neo-Piagetian model within which these data can be examined, and to assess the validity of this model in tasks requiring perceptual skills and/or rotation (perspective) skills. (RH)

The central idea behind this study is that at about seven years of age the concept of normative difficulty emerges, resulting in changes in interpretation of terms such as "hard" and "easy," as well as of normative cues. (Author/DB)

Examined white-lie-telling behavior in 3- to 7-year-olds using task whereby the experimenter asked "Do I look OK for the photo?" with or without a visible mark on his nose. Found that most children in the experimental condition told white lies. Undergraduates viewing children's videotaped responses could not discriminate white-lie…

Children of 15-33 months of age were presented with tasks measuring 2 facets of self: as the object of knowledge and as the subject of experience. Relations between tasks are discussed in terms of changes from the processing of immediate and visible features to the processing of more enduring and nonvisible features of the self during the toddler…

Examined the responses of 24 children (7- to 9-year olds) and 24 adolescents (13- to 15-year olds) to analogs of marital conflict scenarios varying in initial conflict themes and the emotionality of endings. Found that explicit verbal resolution of conflict issues was not necessary for reducing children's emotional insecurity; changes in the…

The developmental course of 9 temperament dimensions were documented in 104 children from ages 2 through 12. Overall, with the advancement of age, children's temperament showed less developmental change as indexed by mean ratings on the temperament dimensions and greater cross-time stability as assessed by the rank ordering of children across…

Two studies investigated two and four to five year olds' conversations to determine whether discussions about preferences differ from discussions about emotions and whether developmental differences exist in descriptions of affect. Found that children were more likely to discuss causes and consequences for emotions than for preferences. (MM)