Outlines how levels of the interpretation of reality and categories of a naive theory of action that constitute these levels are differentiated and coordinated in a specific developmental sequence. Subsumed within this theoretical framework are the distinction between action on physical objects and social interaction and the distinction between…

This study documented a developmental model of children's understanding of the simultaneity of two emotions. Fourteen children at each of the nine age levels from 4 to 12 were studied. Children were questioned about (1) two emotions of same valence directed at the same target, (2) same valence/different target, (3) different valence/different…

Interpersonal conflicts of children in natural settings are the focus of this review of the empirical literature in social and cognitive development and sociolinguistics. The central role of conflict in various developmental theories is outlined. Studies indicate substantial relations between children's socio-cognitive functioning and their…

Acquisition of sentient-nonsentient distinction in 48 children between four- and seven-years-of-age occurred later than animate-inanimate distinction. The children's use of naturalistic or nonnaturalistic explanations depended on the logical nature of events in which objects were involved rather than familiarity with objects themselves. Ability to…

Focuses on the development of children's understanding of feelings. Presents a coding system which describes four levels of emotional understanding, each of which is linked to developmental differences in nonsocial, cognitive abilities. Clinical vignettes illustrate the utility of this cognitive-developmental perspective in clinical observations.…

Some feel that a persistent shortcoming of the collective views of human action is that they often advocate a view of the individual as merely a bearer or token for the group to which he or she belongs. These theories do not account for individual choice. This project attempts to arrive at a general critique of individualism, drawing on a number…

Adolescents are able to respond correctly to questions about pregnancy risk and contraceptive use, yet still engage in risk-taking behavior. One explanation for this phenomenon may be the existence of a personal fable. To explore the existence of the personal fable in inner-city female adolescents, 22 eighth grade black females in Chicago…

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.…

Vocal and object-directed behaviors of parents and infants were examined according to the social-construction view of development. Interactions of 66 infant-parent dyads were observed. Normative changes and stability of individual differences of joint-action variables and the relation of these variables to 30-month cognitive-development status…

Examines the conceptual basis of preschoolers' judgments regarding cross-gender behavior, taking into consideration the type of sex-role regularity and whether it is male or female sex-role stereotype. (HOD)

Explores children's understanding of a variety of interpersonal events, focusing mainly on the question of whether, and in what way, their conceptions of these events were heterogeneous or undifferentiated. (HOD)

Preschool, third-grade and sixth-grade children, and adults were shown vignettes depicting eight types of experiences and asked for their own (for children) or the children's (for adults) expected emotional reactions. Overall, adults showed an absence of developmental considerations in their implicit theories of children's emotional…

On the basis of two sets of videotaped observations collected on same-sex, same-age and mixed-age dyads composed of children 18 and/or 24 months old, issues concerning research on infants and toddlers are addressed. The first set of observations was a simple description of the structure and content of children's peer interaction during 15 minutes…

Conceptual analysis of two perspective-taking tasks identified a number of subtasks calling for equivalent operations of social reasoning within tasks of different content. Subtasks hypothetically formed a logical and developmental sequence of abilities required for decentering. The developmental significance of the hierarchy was tested among 121…

Examines the relation between dyadic synchrony and child compliance during the toddler period. Demonstrates that children are more likely to comply with synchronous caregiver instructions than with asynchronous instructions. Discusses results in light of both cognitive and emotional factors of toddlers. (Author/RWB)