Focuses on three major questions about children's understanding of the causes of illness: (1) developmental trends in understanding causes of illness; (2) children's use of the notion of immanent justice to explain illness and accident; and (3) the relationship between the extent of knowledge about the physical causes of illness and the use of…

Determined whether there are developmental precursors to accidents and resulting physical impairment. Data collected at ages 8 and 14 (147 males and 142 females) were related to the number of types of accidents and impairment by the age of 27. Accidents and impairment were most frequent among individuals whose behavior had been characterized by…

Examined the emotional reactions of toddlers to two mishaps. Children's reactions varied along two dimensions: tension and frustration and concerned reparation. Mishaps elicited more negative emotions than did free play, and most toddlers attempted to correct the mishap. Findings indicate that children's styles of emotional response to mishaps may…

Findings of three experiments indicated that preschool children have a more substantial knowledge of contagion and contamination than has been estimated previously. Results are discussed in terms of children's ability to understand causal relations. (RH)