Behavioral inhibition (BI) is an early-appearing temperamental trait characterized by intense negative affect and withdrawal behaviors to novel and challenging situations. Inhibited children are more likely to display social withdrawal and experience an increased risk for internalizing problems. Trait inference, the way children interpret…

Our social world is rich with information about other people's choices, which subsequently inform our inferences about their future behavior. For individuals socialized within the American cultural context, which places a high value on autonomy and independence, outcomes that are the result of an agent's own choices may hold more predictive value…

Several multivariate models are motivated to answer similar developmental questions regarding within-person (intraindividual) effects between 2 or more constructs over time, yet the within-person effects tested by each model are distinct. In this article, the authors clarify the types of within-person inferences that can be made from each model.…

Children in kindergarten, first, second, and third grades heard scenarios in which a child experienced an emotionally equivocal or unequivocal event. Subjects were asked questions which assessed their ability to discriminate between equivocal and unequivocal situations. Two follow-up studies were conducted. Implications for children's social…

Examined performance of first through sixth graders on conditional-inference task, using causal conditionals and a generation of alternatives task. Found a steady age-related increase in uncertainty responses to two uncertain logical forms and an increase in production of disabling conditions for "modus ponens." Individual differences in inference…