In an attempt to validate the findings of other researchers regarding the development of conceptual perspective taking, this study used Taylor's (1988) 2-tiered model to examine development of perspective taking among 40 3- to 5-year-olds. Participating were 22 males and 18 females from English-speaking backgrounds attending a preschool in…

Legal and political theorists strive at expanding the scope of children's rights to cover further areas of their lives and choices. This paper suggests that this effort is misguided, and that the protection of children requires instituting adults' obligations, rather than broadening children's rights. Contrary to the common theoretical and…

Currently, there is a controversy in Japan about textbook treatments of Japanese military actions during World War II. This digest examines: (1) the importance of history textbooks in schools in Japan and the United States; (2) the context of history textbook controversies in Japan; (3) the current issues and contending positions in the Japanese…

Evaluates the growth of social-cognitive knowledge in deaf and hearing children during the early- and middle-school years and assesses the relative importance of language in two domains of social cognition. In addition, separately examines the child's ability to evaluate the concepts of good and bad and to take another person's perspective. (RH)

This article describes how a global perspective can be added to a course on U.S. history, which is not traditionally thought of as having a world orientation. Several activities are described, and a resource list is appended. (BW)

Examines the social, cognitive, and social-cognitive correlates of nonsocial play in 122 four-year-olds observed for 20 minutes during free play. Subjects were given a role-taking test and tests of social and impersonal problem-solving skills. Sociometric popularity and social competence, as rated by teachers, were also assessed. (Author/RH)

An interview/observation schedule (Home Environmental Process Inventory), which assesses dimensions of maternal behavior, was administered in the homes of 15 learning disabled children. Children's role taking and interpersonal problem solving skills were assessed. Some maternal behaviors were highly correlated with children's social cognitive…

Presents guidelines for teachers to help students understand a government based on religious tenets, such as the Islamic republic in Iran. Suggests four avenues of study: Islam and government, comparison of Islamic and western legal systems, problems and conflicts in an Islamic republic, and an enlarged perspective of the Islamic republic. (LC)

Examined judgments of intolerance given by children, adolescents, and adults toward disagreeing others. The evidence suggested that intolerance may be a lower level of reasoning in a social cognitive developmental progression. (Author/DB)

This study investigated the relative effectiveness of principle testing discussion (PTD) and its possible interaction with moral development levels in students' demonstrations of positive attitudes toward women, the physically handicapped, and East Indians. Analysis of attitude scale responses provided equivocal support for the use of PTD.…

This study examined the effects of parameter controls (highly structured v unstructured play) and student ability and sex on the extent to which junior high students engaged themselves in four social studies simulation games. Internally parametered (unstructured) games produced greater role acceptance. Sex and ability variables were not…

Results suggested that when role taking is viewed as requiring a shift to less subjective views, different types of role-taking skills (communicative, spatial, relational, and cognitive) are moderately related. Results also indicated intellectual ability underlies these role-taking skills. (Author/DB)

Examines the development of social relations in kindergarten, first-, second-, and third-grade children through an assessment of the children's role-taking skills and classification abilities. (CM)

Sophomores were assigned to a no-training control group or to one of three empathy training methods: the double method, involving role taking; reflection, where the trainee is asked to mirror back another's feelings; or lecture. All three methods proved effective, but the double method provided the best results. (SJL)