In an investigation of social inference (the ability to decode and comprehend cues), prompt questions of decreasing cognitive complexity were employed to train 60 mildly mentally retarded adolescents to logically interpret pictorial stimuli. Cartoon line drawings were used illustrating social situations representing a variety of family and peer…

Twelve 10-month-old infants were found to smile reliably more often at novel adults than at familiarized adults. These results are consonant with the proposition that the infant's smiles at new persons represent his active exploration of them. (JMB)

The authors propose the development of a course on dating behavior at the early high school and college level, and present a framework suggesting course goals, structure, methods, and format. (Author)

An invisible disability with severe physical limitations has less deleterious effects upon social adjustment than does a visible disability without physical limitations. (Author)

The purpose of this study was to assess pediatric nurses' knowledge of children's psychosocial development as affected by the child's illness and hospitalization and as related to provision of nursing care. A 25-item questionnaire was designed to measure pediatric nurses' knowledge of child development on the conceptual dimensions of knowledge of…

The study examined social status as determined by conceptions of friendships, perceptions of social competencies, and behavior in school in 23 learning disabled (LD) Caucasian boys, 8-11 years old; 23 nonLD controls matched for age, sex, race, IQ, socioeconomic status, and homeroom; and 141 nonLD children both boys and girls, in the third grade…

To compare hearing and hearing impaired subjects on the certainty of their attributions in relation to unitization and role behavior, 48 hearing impaired and 48 non hearing impaired college students were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: unitization level (fine or gross) and role (in-role or out-of-role). All subjects were given…

Developmental changes in interpersonal perceptions in older siblings were studied in children in grades K, 2, 4, 6, 8. Older children used more abstract and more nonegocentric modes of description. (ST)

Stage resolution attitudes, derived from the first six stage crises outlined by Erikson, were explored as variables influencing problems in vocational choice and vocational maturity. Findings indicated students who made adjusted vocational choices and developed mature career attitudes had also been more successful resolving the first six…

Describes the structure of spontaneous episodes of dyadic play and suggests some of the basic abilities which underlie social play, based on observation of 36 15-20 minute videotaped play sessions involving groups of three children each, ages 3 1/2 to 5 1/2 years. (ED)

A total of 52 first graders were tested on measures of communicative egocentrism and conformity. A three stage heirarchy of decentration skills was postulated. (ED)

Study supported in part by U.S. Office of Education, OEG-2-7-070002-3005.

Two studies were conducted to examine (1) 1- to 3-day-old infants' imitation of their mothers, and (2) mothers' imitation of their newborn infants. For the infant imitation study, 30 mothers and their infants served as subjects. Two observers stood behind the mother to view the infant's face while the mother presented one of the following…