Can schools encourage children to become independent moral decision-makers, maintaining controlled environments suitable to instructing large numbers of children? Two opposing responses are reviewed: one holds that the road to morality is through discipline and obedience, the other through children's experimentation and choice-making.…

The present study investigated the relationships among Israeli kindergarten children's social cognitive capacities, their popularity, and their social behavior. We found that children's understanding of others' behavioral motives was positively related to their popularity, that children's false-belief understanding was positively related to peers'…

Krebs and Denton (2005; see record 2005-08166-005) proposed that Kohlberg's cognitive developmental approach to morality be replaced by a pragmatic approach more relevant to everyday social behavior and the cooperative moral orders of society. Although the Krebs and Denton article raises some legitimate questions, their proposal is at best…

In response to Gibbs' (see record 2006-08257-011) defense of neo-Kohlbergian models of morality, the authors question whether revisions in Kohlberg's model constitute a coherent refinement of the cognitive-developmental approach. The authors argue that neo-Kohlbergian measures of moral development assess an aspect of morality (the most…

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) have a long history of supporting investigator-initiated research and research training to enhance the scientific understanding of and effective interventions for a range of problems associated with youth violence. New technologies are emerging and basic…

In a study published in 1987, Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson proposed that an abstract sociolinguistic principle guides and constrains a speaker's choice of language, and that this principle explains the politeness phenomenon in conversation. Moreover, central to this principle is the concept of "face," or personal self-image,…

This book presents the findings of a study of the moral character of the U.S. generation in the 15 to 30 age group. The research results were from a comprehensive study of ethical attitudes and behaviors in the United States. During 1991 and 1992, a survey of nearly 9,000 young people and adults was conducted. Survey topics included value…

Autistic children are often said to lack a "theory of mind" (an implicit capacity which involves the person postulating the existence of mental states and then using these to explain and predict another person's behavior). Devoid of such a metarepresentational capacity, autistic individuals cannot symbolize the world around them and…

Using a detailed classification of 25 social strategies, this study investigated the relationship between children's sociometric status and their use of social strategies. Subjects were 220 boys, 5 to 7 years of age, who were classified into sociometric status types of popular, average, or rejected. Each subject generated as many responses as…

People are generally reluctant to transmit bad news to others. To examine this reluctance, college students (N=96) were randomly assigned to two conditions (i.e., assistant or confederate subject). Assistants administered a "psychological inventory" to confederate subjects. Student assistants believed the subject had previously taken one inventory…

Investigation of the effects of a series of treatment conditions upon some social behaviors may require observation of subjects mutually paired, in round-robin fashion. Data arising from such experiments are difficult to analyze, partly because they do not fit neatly into standard designs. A model is presented. (Author/BJG)

Suggests that television's effects on children are mediated by age-related differences in comprehension and evaluation. (MH)

Suggests an alternative design for formulating research questions and stresses the need to relate actual messages to specific outcomes rather than to assumptions about possible outcomes. (MH)

Author looked at the complex questions raised by the idea of a register of incidents of child abuse. (Editor/RK)

Responses to behaviors dealing with sex, drugs, alcohol, and theft were measured in an interview, holding constant the characteristics of the actor, but varying one characteristic of the act. (Author/NQ)