Maintains that there are core-specific and non-core-specific domains of knowledge, but that only the core-specific domains benefit from innate skeletal structures. Asserts that core skeletal domains are universally shared, even though their particular foci may vary. Emphasizes that individuals vary in terms of the noncore domains they acquire.…

This study examines frequency, overlap, and genetic and environmental influences on sleep difficulties, which are understudied in school-aged children. The Sleep Self Report and the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire were completed by 300 twin pairs (aged 8 years) and their parents. Child report suggested more frequent sleep problems than…

Euro-American 2nd- and 4th-grade children (Ms=7.67 and 9.82 years) heard stories about Black and White characters who produced artwork yielding a windfall reward. Children allocated rewards to characters, justified their allocations, and judged the fairness of patterns representing different justice principles. Older children allocated more money…

Conducted a meta-analytic review of 41 studies to explore the relation between children's aggressive behavior and hostile attribution of intent to peers. Found a significant association between hostile attribution of intent and aggressive behavior, with larger effects associated with more severe aggressive behavior, rejection by peers as a…

Proposes that conceptual change is constrained by the child's conceptual structures and the structures inherent in problem-solving tasks. Uses a microgenetic case study and group data to examine how interaction between strategies children bring to a task and the detailed task structure redirect children's attention and create the possibility of…

This study examined the development of implicit race attitudes in American and Japanese children and adults. Implicit ingroup bias was present early in both populations, and remained stable at each age tested (age 6, 10, and adult). Similarity in magnitude and developmental course across these 2 populations suggests that implicit intergroup bias…

Examined the development of teaching skills in older siblings responsible for teaching their younger siblings to become competent members of their culture among children from a Zinacantec Maya village in Chiapas, Mexico. Found that by age 4, children took responsibility for initiating teaching situations with their younger siblings, and by 8,…

Two experiments compared 10-year-olds' and adults' ability to choose positive and negative diagnostic tests over positive and negative nondiagnostic tests. Findings indicated that both age groups were more likely to prefer positive diagnostic tests over positive nondiagnostic tests, although only adults showed a significant preference for negative…

Investigated development of reasoning about the teaching of values in school and family contexts among 8-, 10-, and 13-year olds and college students. Found that children and young adults' reasoning is multifaceted and distinguishes between moral values that reflect justice, rights, and moral character traits and other forms of desirable…

Examined the nature of perceptual classification in children and young adults. Found that most children attend selectively to one stimulus dimension when making perceptual classification judgments. Suggests that this developmental trend does not appear to be a holistic-to-analytic shift but rather a trend toward greater consistency in following a…

Two experiments investigated perceptual primacy of dimensional and similarity relations in stimulus classification of mentally retarded children. Results support a distinction between separable and integral stimulus structures, but do not support an integral-to-separable shift in perceptual development. Results suggest implications for…

Children's analogical reasoning has traditionally been measured by classical four-term analogy tasks or problem-solving tasks. Current theories of analogical development and the evidence on which they are based are reviewed. It is concluded that structural views of analogical development are wrong, and knowledge-based accounts of what develops are…

Examined 8- and 10-year olds' understanding of the unique features of and potential relations among mental activities. Found a developing tendency to organize mental activities on the degree to which memory was a component of the activity. Results suggest that a constructivist theory of mind develops in later childhood. (AA)