Pairs of friends were identified in a sample of 147 seventh and 161 tenth graders. A problem-solving task completed by friends was used to identify friendship types, and individual students were interviewed about their views concerning friendship and their reaction to a friendship dilemma. Found age-related differences in types of friendship and…

Uses results of laboratory and natural language analyses of 2- to 4-year olds' explanations of human behavior to argue for a theory-type view of biological, psychological, and physical domains of thought. Concludes that children as young as 2 years show three different reasoning systems in their explanations of everyday phenomena, especially human…

Psychological and biological reasoning are intertwined yet differentiated in preschoolers' understandings of bodily processes and events. Three studies suggest that preschoolers distinguish biological phenomena from psychological ones in their causal reasoning, although their reasoning about biological phenomena is sometimes influenced by…

Examined developmental changes and individual variations in the ways children use expressive information from others. Concluded that processing deficits are more probable for younger children or for children with low perceived control than for other children. (BB)

Delineates a series of nine questions concerning the study of adolescent friendships that must be addressed by theorists and empirical investigators. The questions concern comparisons between different types of relationships; peer relationships; individual differences; developmental differences; changes in friendship over time; friendship…

Infants' orienting of attention undergoes marked development in the first six months of life. Changes in attentional control appear to be related to infants' susceptibility to distress. (Author)

A study found that differences in children's ability to regulate their emotional responses, and in their social and cognitive development, are implicated in developmental differences in children's strategies for influencing others' mood states. (BB)

The development of understanding of Biblical parables on the part of 28 Swiss subjects of 7 to 50 years of age was studied. It was found that Biblical parables were interpreted through the lens of one's stage of religious judgment in the manner described by Oser's and Gmunder's (1988) model. (BB)

Presents results of an analysis of a collection of statements about God written by German students between 16 and 22 years of age. Examines results from a psychoanalytic and cognitive-developmental perspective. Also considers the ways in which adolescents talk about the relationship between God and the church. (BB)

A model of the development of prayer is offered. The development of prayer on the part of 89 middle-class adolescents and young adults from Catholic schools was studied. Results supported the model. (Author/BB)