This study offers a look inside one school community. The school implemented Let Grow Play Club and a recently expanded 40-minute recess period. Data are from observations of children's play periods, child interviews, and teacher interviews. We argue that play has significant cognitive, emotional, and social benefits for elementary school…

Introduction: In recent years many schools have introduced peer mediation as a method to improve coexistence. However, little has been done in the way of empirical evaluation of school mediation services. The aim of this research, therefore, was to understand the benefits of mediation from an educational and transformational perspective, by…

A central goal of intergroup dialogue (IGD) is to strengthen individual and collective capacities to foster social justice commitments by supporting new ways of thinking about oneself, others, and the social structures in which we live. Relatedly, IGD assists individuals with building multicultural competencies and skill sets that support peoples'…

Despite the fact that hemispheric asymmetry of attention has been widely studied, a clear picture of this complex phenomenon is still lacking. The aim of the present study was to provide an efficient and reliable measurement of potential hemispheric asymmetries of three attentional networks, i.e. alerting, orienting and executive attention.…

Social interaction requires the ability to infer another person's mental state (Theory of Mind, ToM) and also executive functions. This fMRI study aimed to identify the cerebral correlates activated by ToM during a specific social interaction, the human-human competition. In this framework, we tested a conflict resolution task (Stroop) adapted to…

Preschoolers' theory of mind (ToM) was examined in relation to emotional features of their conflicts with siblings, using mothers as privileged informants. Fifty-four children aged 3 to 5 years and their 54 mothers took part. Children were given 10 standard false belief tasks and a standardized language test. Mothers completed questionnaires,…

The first part of this study examined children's concepts of "preference of racial diversities" (PRD); nonviolent conflict-resolution (NCR); and "negative peace" (NP), defined as "peace in contrast to war." The first part also assessed children's mental development. The second part examined the relation of children's…

This study examines the effectiveness exercises based on the cognitive conflict, existing within the child, between two representational systems related to temperature: the qualitative-verbal one and the quantitative-numerical one as these relate to the advancement of children's understanding of the concept of temperature. (Author/DS)

Although cognitive developmentalists explain moral stage progression in part by experiences of disequilibrium (cognitive disorganization, confusion, an anxious search for order), relevant data collected from 75 college students indicate that there is no difference in reported disequilibrium between those in moral transition and those not in moral…

Two classrooms of first graders (N=40) were administered Damon's moral judgment measure, Shure and Spivack's social problem solving measure, and the Stanford-Binet vocabulary. Concurrently, two observers in the children's school environment recorded incidences of successful resolutions of interactions, amount of derogation, and the number of times…

Focuses on the relationship between environmental opportunities for social interaction, experienced internal conflict, and upward stage change in moral reasoning. Also examines the extent to which the dilemmas which constitute Form A and Form B of Kohlberg's Moral Dilemmas produce comparable stage scores. (Author/MP)

Investigated associations among constructive and destructive sibling conflict, pretend play, internal state language, and sibling relationship quality among sibling pairs with one kindergarten-age child. Found that specific resolution strategies were associated with conflict issues, aggression and internal state language, and that conflict issues…

Presents a global overview of psychological approaches to the individual problem of self-definition. Self-reflection and the experienced presence of others discussed as two "pillars" of that problem. A developmental sketch is given, and two forms of problems (self-concept contradictions and identity problems) distinguished. Resolutions…

Using the Peaceful Solutions Peer Mediation Training Program, a study sought to understand self-efficacy as it relates to conflict resolution, and the effects of sex and socioeconomic status on training in conflict resolution. Two trained adult mediators conducted 13.5 hours of training at each of 7 elementary schools. Each training group had…

Investigates whether children's use of reasoning differs in child-child and adult-child discussions of moral dilemmas. Supports Piaget's contention that moral discussions with peers feature a more spontaneous use of reasoning than do discussions with adults. (HOD)