This paper contributes to current debates on positionality by critically discussing and comparing three researchers' experiences doing research involving Muslims. We introduce "positionality meetings" to enhance reflexivity in qualitative research projects. Based on empirical evidence from our independent projects and the positionality…

This study investigated whether young adults with ASD (n = 29) had impairments in Cognitive Empathy (CE), Affective Empathy (AE) or Empathic Accuracy (EA; the ability to track changes in others' thoughts and feelings) compared to typically-developing individuals (n = 31) using the Empathic Accuracy Task (EAT), which involves watching narrators…

The ability to understand the mental states of other individuals is central to human social behavior, yet some theory of mind capacities are shared with other species. Comparisons of theory of mind skills across humans and other primates can provide a critical test of the cognitive prerequisites necessary for different theory of mind skills to…

Studies of children's developing social identification often focus on individual forms of identity. Yet, everyone has multiple potential identities. Here we investigated whether making children aware of their multifaceted identities--effectively seeing themselves from multiple angles--would promote their flexible thinking. In Experiment 1, 6- to…

Perspective-taking plays an important role in daily life, allowing consideration of other people's perspectives and viewpoints. This study used a large sample of 265 community-based participants (aged 20-86 years) to examine changes in perspective-taking abilities--a component of "Theory of Mind"--across adulthood, and how these changes…

The relationship between diversity and creativity can be seen as paradoxical. A diversity of perspectives should be advantageous for collaborative creativity, yet its benefits are often offset by adverse social processes. One suggestion for overcoming these negative effects is perspective taking. We compared four dyads with low scores on trait…

Character education programs in elementary schools are believed to be important for fostering moral development and preparing children to thrive in civil society. Character develops through social relationships across contexts. However, transgressions, such as school bullying, threaten the relationships that foster character development.…

Although studies examining multidimensional perfectionism among adolescents have increased over the past two decades, most continue to focus on psychological outcomes such as anxiety or depression. The purpose of this study was to examine two social outcomes that may differ among perfectionistic subtypes: "social perspective taking"…

In research on theory of mind (ToM) in individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) mainly static mind-reading tasks were used. In this study both a static (Eyes Test) and a more naturalistic (empathic accuracy task) ToM measure were used to investigate the perspective taking abilities of adolescents with ASD (n = 13), adolescents with…

Background: A deficit in empathy is discussed to underlie difficulties in social interaction of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and conduct disorder (CD). To date, no study has compared children with ASD and different subtypes of CD to describe disorder-specific empathy profiles in clinical samples. Furthermore, little is known about…

A growing interest exists in the measuring of social adaptive functioning in children with mild to borderline intellectual disabilities (MBID), but valid instruments to measure this construct are lacking. The aim of the present study was to develop such an instrument and to examine it on its discriminate validity. In 141 children aged 8-12 years a…

Mentalizing refers to making inferences about other people's mental states, whereas visuospatial perspective taking refers to inferring other people's viewpoints. Both abilities seem vital for social functioning; yet, their exact relationship is unclear. We directly compared mentalizing and visuospatial perspective taking in nineteen adults with…

As countries become increasingly interdependent, student populations in the United States are becoming more culturally diverse. These students' transnational perspectives present significant challenges to teachers, but a disconnect exists between the skills teachers need and those provided to them by colleges of education. As teacher preparation…

Universities in the United States and elsewhere offer study abroad programs to meet requirements that graduates have cross-cultural competencies and an international perspective on their discipline. Study abroad courses and field experiences for preservice teachers address two major challenges specific to the teaching profession: (1) how to…

To determine whether or not disabled persons see communication between themselves and able-bodied persons as different from communication with other disabled persons, telephone interviews were conducted with 27 orthopedically disabled persons. Aside from answering demographic questions, subjects were asked questions regarding when the subject…