As children listen to a simple action-based narrative, they construct a dynamic representation of the protagonist's movements, visual perspective, and goal-directed thoughts. We examined children's representations of more complex narratives in which the protagonist will encounter an unexpected outcome upon reaching his or her goal. Three studies…

Integrating generic information about categories with knowledge of specific individuals is a critical component of successful inductive inferences. The present study tested whether children's approach to this task systematically shifts as they develop causal understandings of the mechanisms that shape individual action. In the current study, 3-and…

This prospective longitudinal study provides evidence of preschool-age precursors of hostile attribution bias in young school-age children, a topic that has received little empirical attention. We examined multiple risk domains, including laboratory and observational assessments of children's social-cognition, general cognitive functioning,…

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that children's hostile attributions and behavioral strategies in response to peer provocation and rebuff situations will depend on the relationship with the target peer (i.e., friend, enemy, neutral). The sample consisted of 144 fourth graders (75 boys and 69 girls; mean age=10.47 years,…