A projective role taking task (RTT) was revised with respect to procedure and scoring categories for use with the mentally retarded. The revised RTT was administered to 123 educables. Results indicated significant associations between mental age and various indices of the retardates' role taking behavior. These associations remained significant…

This text is a series of readings designed to introduce the student to scientific research on children. Choice of material for inclusion was based on: (1) the provision of a wide selection of the developmental literature, its origins and growth; (2) the presentation of examples of empirical research, and (3) the selection of articles representing…

Analyzes and compares the exploration, play, and problem-solving activities of typically developing (average) and at-risk infants when they manipulate novel objects. (BB)

Suggests that variations in the quality and type of infant care, in institutional and other settings in different cultures and social classes, can have influences on the long-term development of the child's rate, level, and type of cognitive development. (HOD)

Presents an integrated clinical approach, based on a developmental, structuralist framework, to classify adaptive and pathological personality organizations and behaviors in infants and preschool children. (Author/DB)

Reviews research on the early development of symbolic play. Suggests that symbolic play begins to emerge near the beginning of the child's second year and continues to play an important role in his or her development throughout the preschool years. Proposes basic techniques caregivers can use to facilitate and promote the development of symbolic…

Attempts to integrate recent models of social systems based on age and cognitive personality research with research on adolescence. Presents a conceptual model of how adolescents set personal goals, construct cognitive strategies, and evaluate their success in an age-graded sociocultural context. Discusses future directions for research based on…

The current investigation was designed to examine the provision of cognitive stimulation to preschool-aged children from high-risk families. Participants were drawn from the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project, a prospective, longitudinal investigation of individuals recruited in 1976-77 from lower SES neighbourhoods who were rated by childhood…

The Mental Development Scales: Birth to Three Years are instruments designed to assess developmental levels of young children within a setting familiar to the child. They (1) provide a greater understanding of child behavior and development, (2) serve as a basis for planning an individualized curriculum for each child, and (3) furnish the means…

This paper offers some ideas on the types of behavior that can be considered precursors to language and that also lay the foundations for logic, mathematics, physics, etc. The paper posits the problem of whether a theory of language must be formulated before one can formulate a theory of language acquisition, or whether the reverse is true. The…

Five aspects of the psychological assessment of children are considered. First, the hypotheses of assessment are examined, with attention to the role of the scientist-clinician, the nature and the social and personal determinants of development, and the ego as the object assessment. Second, methods of data collection are surveyed, including…

This volume is intended for use in college courses that combine educational psychology with child and adolescent psychology or human development. Section I, an introductory chapter presents selective groups of readings in the field of child developmental theory. Sections II through X each deal with one of the explanations of behavior that have…

Compared family characteristics and developmental outcomes of African-American children from three rural contexts in South Africa: the homeland, the resettlement, and white-owned farms. Child outcomes were highly intercorrelated in all three contexts, but correlations among family variables, and between family and child variables, showed different…

Research programs of the human learning and behavior branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHHD) are described in five sections of this document. The specific programs conducted in the areas of learning and cognitive development, development of communicative abilities, biological bases of behavioral development,…

Human development from about ages 2 to 5 is presented in terms of the history of a child conceptualized in terms of stimulus and response functions and his interactions in current situations which consist of organismic, physical, and social conditions. The concepts describing the changes that occur during this developmental period, such as…