Evaluates fourth-to seventh-grade children on two aspects of social cognition: interpersonal understanding and means-ends problem-solving ability. Relates the two variables to sex, age, IQ, social class, and multiple dimensions of competence. Both variables significantly correlated with I.Q. while interpersonal understanding also correlated with…

Defines and describes the concept of social cognition and its relationship to various psychological positions. Outlines Selman's stage theory of social cognition and the influence of Piaget's theory. Issues of interpersonal understanding are related to concepts of the individual, friendship, peer group and parent-child relations. (JAC)

Results indicate that socially maladjusted girls with histories of delinquency involving aggressive, disruptive, and antisocial behavior resulting in placement in institutional custody can, through training in social perspective-taking, increase their understanding of others in interpersonal situations. Subjects were 16 girls of 10-16 years of…

Discusses child peer relationships in relation to teacher's role; object-conflict, sharing, and cooperation; causal, consequential, and alternative thinking; inferring and responding to emotions; perspective taking and empathy; and initiating friendship and group entry. Claims that children's discussion documents their growing understanding of…

The Exploring Together Outdoors Program is an Australian program that integrates family therapy interventions with adventure therapy, providing an opportunity for mother/child dyads that have conflictual relationships to develop more positive connections. This paper focuses on a group of four mothers and their four daughters who participated in 2…

Intervention to enhance Interpersonal Cognitive Problem Solving (ICPS) skills has been shown to significantly reduce observable negative, impulsive and inhibited behaviors and increase positive qualities in young, low socioeconomic status (SES) children. An ICPS model for older children was implemented with 202 low SES fifth graders to test…

Social cognition of adults, unlike children's social understanding, has rarely been addressed from a developmental viewpoint. To extend the developmental perspective to the study of adults' social cognitive skills in relation to other mental and social skills, 52 college students were compared in role taking performance and nonsocial cognitive…

This paper presents a developmental study of social competence in preschool children which examines the relationship of motor competence, egocentrism and demographic characteristics to the development of social competence. Tests of motor skills and role taking ability were administered individually to 54 preschool children ranging in age from 3…

This paper proposes that the automatic use of therapeutic approaches devised for Americans and Europeans with clients belonging to different cultures may be counter-productive. Cultural differences between Caucasian-Americans and Japanese-Americans are examined and general elements to be considered in counseling Japanese-Americans are explained.…

The article describes "Teaching, Learning, and Caring" (TLC), a program designed for partially mainstreamed behavior disordered adolescents (ages 14-18). Eight TLC skill areas are the focus of interpersonal skills training: communication mode, empathy, goal identification, cue sensitivity, alternative thinking, skills implementation, consequential…

Supports the proposition that orthopedically handicapped children are deficient in communication skills development. Increased contact with peers, through integrated classrooms, overcomes this deficiency to a certain degree. None of the children--handicapped or not, in integrated or in segregated classes--seem able to adapt their communication…

Speculates on how central concepts in Basil Bernstein's work can, with some revision, yield a descriptive-analytic framework for the study of communicative competence, particularly in its developmental sense. (PD)

Investigated the relationship between psychological understanding and positive social behavior in preschool children. Found that both mental state understanding and emotion understanding were positively related to teacher ratings of social skills, behavioral observers' global ratings of social skills, and peer popularity. When language ability was…

Based upon the principles of "I Can Problem Solve" (ICPS), this books offers parents dialogues, activities, and communication techniques to teach their children how to resolve day-to-day conflicts with friends, teachers, and family members. The book provides parents with tools to teach their children how to think about everyday problems and…

Proactive teachers do not simply react to student behavior but use their thorough understanding of classroom communication to shape the pattern of class interaction. Proactive teachers are characterized by their recognition of the mutual influence of teachers and students in the learning process, their participation in social perspective taking,…