We report two experimental studies on the potentially detrimental effects of nonshared, external representations in an instructional setting. Domain experts viewing an external representation responded to E-mail inquiries for medical advice written by people who were unable to see this external representation. Based on research on expert-layperson…

The aim of this study was to explore the developmental links between conversational perspective-taking and false belief attribution. To examine this, 81 children aged between 3 and 4 years participated in a longitudinal study over a period of 1 year, with three measurement sessions being performed at 6-month intervals. The children were assessed…

This paper presents and discusses examples of works of art which, if included in science curricula, could prompt an understanding by students of some concepts in optics through a discussion of the context in which they were created. Such discussion would elucidate the meaning of the artworks and, at the same time, challenge students'…

The purpose of this study was to examine general empathy, general victim empathy and own victim empathy in adolescent sexual offenders. Sixteen adolescent sexual offenders completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), the Personal Reaction Inventory, a "general sexual abuse victim" form of the Victim Empathy Distortions Scale…

Theorists and researchers have developed abstract divisions in the life span to mark significant stages. To explore the conceptual labels individuals use to make divisions in their life spans, 92 adults, aged 20 to 55 years, marked significant milestones on a lifeline. Participants also completed a demographic questionnaire. Data on the labels…

The results of this study indicated that 4- and 5-year-old children are able to engage in veridical conceptual perspective taking. Furthermore, it was concluded that the ability to make a correct inference develops somewhat earlier than the ability to justify that inference. (JMB)

Children aged two and one-half to five years gave moral evaluations, attributions of parental affect, and personal liking evaluations of both standard (motive and outcome) moral episodes and simplified (motive only) episodes. (JMB)

Used a reaction time paradigm to examine the behavior of young children and adults in a picture-identification task where the pictures presented were from both the child's and the adult's point of view (e.g., the underside of a table as well as the eating surface). (JMB)

Responds critically to Beatty and Payne's data allegedly demonstrating that assessments of cognitive complexity are severely confounded by "loquacity." Argues that those researchers employed a flawed measure of loquacity and inappropriate data analytic procedures. Reports on two empirical studies in which alternative measures of…

Four experiments studied 4- to 6-year-old children's understanding of inferential reasoning as a source of knowledge. To assess understanding that knowledge of relevant premises leads to knowledge of the conclusion, children had to judge the knowledge of another person, who was presented to the child as being aware of two premises. (Author/BN)

Studies investigated the development of children's ability to differentiate what they see from what they know in the context of conceptual perspective taking. Two developmental levels accounted for children's performance when they were asked about a naive observer's knowledge of the identity of objects. Perspective awareness training improved…

Provides a theoretical framework for understanding the reality reconstructions, identity transformations, and role readjustments that must be made by involuntarily childless couples who are unable to make the transition to parenthood as they had anticipated. (Author/ABB)

Children, ages three, five, and seven, were asked to evaluate a series of children's drawings for their own likes and dislikes and for the likes and dislikes they imagined for individuals older and younger than themselves. Results suggest that children as young as three can judge drawings for others differently from the way they judge them for…