Defines the field of developmental psychopathology, and briefly describes the articles contained in this volume. (PCB)

Finds that maternal responsiveness in infancy consistently predicts intellectual performance in early childhood. (PCB)

Briefly reviews research concerned with symbolic development in children born prematurely. Focus is on the complex process of sorting out the effects of biological maturation and environmental experience in the study of the emergent processes, and examining the effects of biological risk and environmental opportunity in determining developmental…

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.…

A social development theory of self is introduced as a framework for developmental psychopathology. Built on some of Piaget's principles, the theory is taken into the social domain and used to define the movements of self and important others throughout life. (PCB)

Discusses creativity, play, and nonconformity in children, including the illusion of thought disorder or abnormality, and aspects of everyday creativity, health, and survival. Describes creative divergence, chaotic amplification, the evolution of information, and primitive cognitive processes. Concludes with a discussion of cognitive styles,…

Reviews research on quantitative and qualitative indexes of play, and relationships between play and language. Finds consistent relationships between duration and level of play throughout early development, and parallel developments in play and language. Indicates that measures of spontaneous activity and habituation in infancy predict…

Discusses whether the cognitive development of developmentally delayed autistic children is the same as that of younger, normal children or whether it differs in significant ways that have implications for clinical assessment and treatment. (PCB)

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…

Examined reasoning in normal, autistic, and deaf individuals. Found that deaf individuals who grow up in hearing homes without fluent signers show selective impairments in theory of mind similar to those of autistic individuals. Results suggest that conversational differences in the language children hear accounts for distinctive patterns of…

Argues that psychological constructs prevalent during the 1950s and early 1960s encountered serious challenges when they were applied to African-American children. Specifies the way in which these challenges influenced the direction of developmental theory and research. (RJC)

Presents a three-component model of arithmetical development in young children. Applies this model as a basis for analysis of developmental processes in early mathematics learning that may be universal. (RJC)

Examines influences of peer relations on the development of social and cognitive competence. Discusses implications of differences in boys' and girls' play styles for cognitive skills and the development of intimacy. Notes that gender segregation is initiated and maintained within the peer group. (BAC)

Discusses social and didactic dimensions of caregiver behaviors during children's play and changes in caregivers' behaviors as children develop. Compares children's solitary play to play with a caregiver. Addresses the relationship of individual differences in caregiver behaviors to child play, and the effects of parental behavior on children's…

Two approaches that apply Piaget's theory of cognitive development to the study of child psychopathology are presented. (PCB)