This study is necessarily exploratory with regard to action-oriented dimensions in educational contexts. Author hypothesizes that those subjects rated most highly functioning on selected dimensions will be rated as making the most significant contribution to learning of other group members. Those rated least effective will be least helpful in…

Constructs a tentative stage model of the development of the understanding of suicide motives, based on interview data from 14- to 22-year-old male and female subjects of different SES backgrounds. Development is characterized by these trends: extension of time perspective; differentiation and individualization of actor schemata and motive…

The results showed that LD children were much less able to adopt an alternative viewpoint than their normal counterparts. Moreover, within the group of LD children, females were substantially more egocentric than males. (Author/SBH)

The sociometric testing indicated that the LD children were less popular than their normal peers, but no less insightful about how others regarded them. No relationship between decentering ability and popularity was found. (Author)

Interrelationship of different categories of prosocial behavior different assessment procedures, and role of empathy and perspective taking were examined. Prosocial behavior in preschool children was assessed using three different approaches: naturalistic observation, structured measures, and teacher ratings. Results indicated preschool children…

Describes an attempt to use a commercial social skills training kit to teach role taking to a mixed group of 58 children in grade 1 and a combined class of grades 3 and 4. (CM)

Examines social fantasy play in relation to several indices of social competence in a sample of 91 preschoolers (ages 35 to 69 months). Results indicate the amount and complexity of fantasy play significantly predicted four competency measures: teacher ratings of peer social skill, popularity, affective role taking, and a behavioral summary score…

This study examined the presuppositional skills of 5 verbal autistic children (ages 7-12). Results revealed that subjects demonstrated some social-cognitive knowledge of others as reflected in quantitative and qualitative modifications in language relative to naive and knowledgeable listener contexts. (Author/JDD)

The effect of interpersonal problem-solving skills training on the verbal and behavioral competence in the social problem-solving of preschoolers was assessed. An intervention was designed to help preschoolers set goals, generate alternatives, and evaluate outcomes in problematic social situations. For the verbal component of social…

A study involving 39 retarded (24 to 92 months old) and 61 nonretarded (18 to 54 months old) children was designed to determine what fundamental social cognitive skills young retarded children possess, to describe the characteristics and developmental factors of such skills, and to determine whether previous findings on the development of these…

Using the example of a Navajo student teacher late for the first day of mentoring, steps are presented that enable parties with divergent perspectives to prevent or resolve conflicts by gaining second-person perspective, establishing a calm reflective ambiance, and seeking points of convergence. Presents 10 elements for reaching higher ground in…

Thirty children (ages 8-12) with language impairment (LI) and 30 children with normal language development (NL) were presented with role-playing situations that required the construction of tactful messages, and their responses were coded to reflect tactfulness. The LI children gave significantly less tactful messages than the NL children.…

This study assessed social perspective taking in 57 children classified as educable mentally retarded divided into 3 age groups from 8-16 years. Significant differences in social perspective taking were obtained between the three groups in understanding individuals and between the older and two younger groups in understanding friendship.…

A study examined whether three children with autism could be trained in conversational skills and whether this would lead to changes in standard tests of theory of mind. The amount of shared interest exhibited by the children during conversations increased during training sessions and children made more responses that were appropriate. (Contains…