Presents research into second and fifth graders' use of social information about focal peers. Examines the impact of social information on children's evaluations at two levels: attributions focused on the cause of a social event, and more generalized dispositional inferences about the focal peer. Girls were sensitive to the stability dimension,…

The interaction effect between two process skills (application and interpretation) and two task contexts (scientific and everyday) was investigated. Korean students (n=255), ages 13 and 15, were the subjects of this study. Results reveal that there was an apparent interaction between process skills and contexts. Sex-skill interaction and…

Examined misinformation effects in kindergartners' and second graders' long-term recollection. Results of two experiments showed that (1) misinformation effects were related to rate of forgetting but not to age; (2) developmental differences in retention were controlled by forgetting; and (3) reminiscence increased the probability of correct…

Aggressive data from four experimental play groups of seven- and nine-year-old black males were coded to examine whether qualitative aspects of aggression serve to distinguish among the behavior patterns displayed by the groups. Found that age makes a great deal of difference in these behavior patterns. (Author/GLR)

Thirty-seven second, 41 fourth, and 46 sixth graders were tested on low-level subcomponents of reading efficiency and high-level text comprehension to assess the relationship between the two parameters. High-level comprehension does not depend on efficiency of lexical access processes, but verbal memory span is important in high-level…

Study examined trends in the signing skills of parents of deaf children. Of 50 deaf individuals, 73 percent of deaf children (ages 4-18) reported their parents knew some sign language, whereas older individuals (ages 41-76) reported only 22 percent of their parents knew some sign language. Younger offspring rated their parents' signing skills…

Examines the origins of small-group learning and distinguishes cooperative learning from other methods. Highlights include assessing the effects of cooperative learning, including cognitive effects; designing effective software for cooperative groups, including accountability, interdependence, interaction, ability grouping, age, collaborative…

Tested the Watson and Busch model of how children learn LOGO programing. Investigated second- and fifth-grade students' stage of cognitive development, stylistic preferences, and strategy usage. Field-independent children showed a marginal advantage over field-dependent children in learning to program in LOGO. (MM)

This paper examines general issues in the communicative skills and needs of elderly persons with mental retardation. It then compared 20 elderly and 20 young adults with mild to moderate mental retardation and found that elderly subjects were better able to respond to listener feedback and were more assertive in controlling the conversation. (JDD)

The applicability of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), developed in the United States, to another culture was assessed by investigating reliability and validity of the SWLS with 99 boys and 118 girls from Portugal. The cross-national validity of the scale and its utility with different age groups are supported. (SLD)

Examined fear of nuclear war among 3,556 secondary school students. Results suggest that such concern is expressed differently according to age and sex and that subjects who expressed concern about nuclear war and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome were more likely to show significantly higher Type A identification. (Author/NB)

A survey of tenured faculty in four Norwegian universities investigated publication and scientific productivity patterns in a three-year period. Analysis of results suggests underlying reasons for differences between individuals, age groups, and gender groups and implications for administrative policy to support productivity. (MSE)

Examined the accuracy with which parents judged their children's preferences, and the relationship between parental accuracy and children's cognitive performance. Mothers were more accurate than fathers; parents of fifth graders were more accurate than parents of second graders. The accuracy of parents' predictions was related to children's…

Children of 4 to 10 years of age were told about children whose sex was not specified and who had a masculine or feminine toy or characteristic. Results indicated that children first learn characteristics relevant to their own sex, and that older children's stereotypic judgments about gender are more extreme than those of younger children. (BC)

Maintains that staff guidance in early childhood and child care programs can be optimized when it functions within the guidelines of developmentally appropriate practices in regards to staff age, stage appropriateness, and individual appropriateness. Differences in individual staff temperament and cognitive styles are considered. (BB)