Empathy and executive functions (EFs) are multimodal constructs that enable individuals to cope with their environment. Both abilities develop throughout childhood and are known to contribute to social behavior and academic performance in young adolescents. Notably, mentalizing and EF activate shared frontotemporal brain areas, which in previous…

Study of Israeli adolescents participating in summer camps revealed that active exposure to and assumption of variegated roles in different settings on volunteer basis, while performing meaningful and quasi-responsible actions by means of trial-and-error behavior, enhanced role and interpersonal differentiation, and hence personal differentiation,…

Eighty-five adolescent boys studying at an Israeli school for the academically talented and 27 adolescent boys studying at a regular school filled out ego identity questionnaires and cognitive complexity questionnaires. Talented boys scored higher on cognitive complexity and on two dimensions of ego identity: (1) meaningfulness versus alienation…