Examined relation between early fantasy/pretense and knowledge about mental life in 3- and 4-year olds. Found that performance on theory of mind tasks was significantly intercorrelated when effects of verbal intelligence and age were statistically controlled. Individual differences in fantasy/pretense were related to theory of mind performance in…

The development of perspective taking was explored in kindergarten and second grade children using a referential communication task. (BRT)

A total of 180 6-, 8-, and 10-year-old children participated in tasks employing an object array in which the views from the experimental positions were objectively of equal difficulty. (SB)

Discusses difficulties in measuring interpersonal understanding, ego development and moral development. Compares Loevinger's and Selman's theories, showing how cognitive and sociocognitive structures may be used to reconstruct many ego development test items. (NH)

Five experiments were run to assess imagery performance and perspective-taking in children ages 6 to 11. In Experiments 1-3, children anticipated results of rotating an object. Experiment 4 assessed the same children on a version of the traditional perspective-taking task. Experiment 5 studied children who took extreme approaches. (SB)

Development of gender understanding in preschool age children was studied over eight months. Understanding appeared to follow an orderly sequence according to the person referred to: first, when the self was the referent; second, when a same-sex other; third, when an opposite-sex other. (Author/DB)

Results support the hypothesis that certain classification skills underlie two types of role-taking ability: (1) in which children were asked how another child would think a cartoon ended if shown only the beginning; and (2) in which children were asked how another child would think a cartoon began if shown only the end. (Author/DB)

Investigates two levels of the spontaneous inference of thinking in others (nonrecursive and recursive) in children of ages 10, 12, 14 and 16 using a person description task. (Author/SS)

Examines the ability to differentiate appearance-reality and Level Two perspective-taking in tactile modality among a total of 92 children aged two-four years in three studies. The results indicate that three-year-olds find tactile appearance-reality and Level Two perspective-taking tasks easier than visual ones. (RJC)

Suggests that the central focus of the article by Raver and Leadbeter (PS 521 712) in this issue is the ways individuals know. Examines two ways of knowing, verbal responses to questions and action without verbal response; and outlines a four-level developmental sequence of knowing that develops from one's own knowing to having a perspective on…

Recent research data contest Piaget's conclusion that preschool children are totally egocentric, incapable of taking different perspectives, and prevented from acting altruistically. Children are able to decenter when experiments enable children to use their knowledge of very basic human purposes, intentions, and interactions. (Author/DB)

This study examined how 21 blind children (ages 3-8) performed perspective-taking tasks compared to 60 sighted children with and without blindfolds, under different conditions of distance and barriers. Results showed that, with increasing age, young blind children did not exhibit a significant increase in accurate perspective taking. (JDD)

Examines processes of moral change in light of emerging concepts from narrative psychology. Argues that role taking can be better understood when narrative concepts are employed. Concludes that, where cognitive developmental and narrative approaches to psychological development differ, the narrative account can illumine and challenge categories…