Empathy is an important affective attribute for graduates entering future practice with diverse populations. Self- and bodily awareness and the ability to take others' perspectives are essential for developing, maintaining and encouraging the cognitive, affective and motivational elements of empathy. This paper presents a thematic analysis of…

Theories of social-cognitive development have attributed a foundational role to declarative joint attention. The present longitudinal study of 83 children, who were assessed on a battery of social-cognitive tasks at multiple measurement points from the age of 12 to 50 months, tested a predictive model of theory of mind (false-belief…

A central goal of intergroup dialogue (IGD) is to strengthen individual and collective capacities to foster social justice commitments by supporting new ways of thinking about oneself, others, and the social structures in which we live. Relatedly, IGD assists individuals with building multicultural competencies and skill sets that support peoples'…

The authors hypothesized that a social and emotional learning (SEL) program involving mindfulness and caring for others, designed for elementary school students, would enhance cognitive control, reduce stress, promote well-being and prosociality, and produce positive school outcomes. To test this hypothesis, 4 classes of combined 4th and 5th…

Classic theories of self-development suggest people define themselves in part through internalized perceptions of other people's beliefs about them, known as reflected self-appraisals. This study uses functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare the neural correlates of direct and reflected self-appraisals in adolescence (N = 12, ages 11-14…

Retarded (N=24) and nonretarded (N=46) individuals matched on MA and CA were tested on role-taking, self-image, and imitation. The findings supported the view that role-taking ability is a function of cognitive level and that self-image and imitation are determined by both cognitive and experiential factors. (Author)

Discusses difficulties in measuring interpersonal understanding, ego development and moral development. Compares Loevinger's and Selman's theories, showing how cognitive and sociocognitive structures may be used to reconstruct many ego development test items. (NH)

Development of gender understanding in preschool age children was studied over eight months. Understanding appeared to follow an orderly sequence according to the person referred to: first, when the self was the referent; second, when a same-sex other; third, when an opposite-sex other. (Author/DB)

Partially replicates Elkind and Bowen's (1979) investigation of adolescent egocentrism. Studies the relations between imaginary audience and operational thought by testing children and adolescents on a Piagetian-based written test of operational thought and the Imaginary Audience Scale. (Author/AS)

The study compared the cognitive, affective, and perceptual role taking skills of 38 learning disabled (LD) children (ages 5 to 8) with those of a control group of normal children. Ss were administered three role taking tasks which measured their skills in each of the domains. The results demonstrated a role taking deficit in the LD children.…

Discusses the cognitive developmental understanding of empathy as role-taking, focusing on four different perspectives. Considers a theory of cognitive role-taking and issues about transformation. Addresses empathy in relation to identity formation and its contribution to self-understanding. Offers implications for educating adults for empathy and…

Emphasizes necessity of reconsideration of adolescent development, for these reasons: the view of childhood has changed; females have not been systematically studied; theories of cognitive development favor mathematical and scientific thinking over the humanities; and because the psychology of adolescence is anchored in separation and independence…

This paper presents the theory that altruistic motives develop out of the synthesis of empathic distress and the child's increasingly sophisticated cognitive development, especially his level of self-other differentiation. An examination of empathy and the sense of other is included, followed by a discussion of empathic distress, various forms of…

Using a cross-sectional sample of 60 Caucasian adolescents, a study was designed to test the hypothesis that the observed changes in adolescent future-time perspective are due to the emergence of formal-operations reasoning. Data obtained through individual interviews provide only limited support for a cognitive hypothesis. (Author/LMO)

Kindergartners who had been taught to classify serials and conserve numbers through learning set procedures were retested one year later and compared with control children. Significant cognitive gains initially resulting from special intervention increased. (Author/BB)