Previous research indicates that children hold negative beliefs about peers with foreign accents, physical disabilities, and people who are obese. The current study examined skills associated with individual differences in children's social judgements about these typically stereotyped groups. Theory of mind, memory, and cognitive inhibition were…

We conducted 3 studies to explore cultural differences in global versus local processing and their developmental trajectories. In Study 1 ("N" = 363), we found that Japanese college students were less globally oriented in their processing than American or Argentine participants. We replicated this effect in Study 2 ("N" =…

In one of the first open diffusion experiments with young children, a tool-use task that afforded multiple methods to extract an enclosed reward and a child model habitually using one of these methods were introduced into different playgroups. Eighty-eight children, ranging in age from 2 years 8 months to 4 years 5 months, participated. Measures…

The purpose of this study was to test a process model of youths' information management. Using three waves of longitudinal data collected from 982 youths, we modeled parents' positive and negative reactions to disclosure predicting youths' feelings about their parents, in turn predicting youths' disclosure and secrecy about their daily activities.…

An important issue in the field of clinical and developmental psychopathology is whether cognitive control processes, such as response inhibition, can be specifically enhanced by motivation. To determine whether non-social (i.e. monetary) and social (i.e. positive facial expressions) rewards are able to differentially improve response inhibition…

The text focuses on the structure of moral motivation, i.e. the way different types of concerns motivating norm conformity are anchored in the personality. It claims a socio-historic change: Older generations tend to submit to the dictates of a super-ego or follow a deeply ingrained need disposition for conformity. In contrast, the moral…

Testing procedures developed on younger groups are often inadequate when testing the elderly. Special tests and administration techniques that increase the likelihood that elderly examinees will do their best are described. Psychological examiners must receive special training in testing to do a credible job with the elderly. (Author/BEF)

Highlighting pertinent research in the area of young children's development of humor, this paper reviews four areas from a cognitive-developmental perspective: (1) humor as a cognitive process, (2) humor and the developmental process, (3) research on young children's humor, and (4) humor and early childhood education. First, the structural…

Professional men and women (N=20) half above and below the age of 30, were signaled at random by an electronic paging device. Analyzed self-reports on seven cognitive and affective measures. Environment demonstrated a highly significant impact on respondents' reports and significant contrasts in cognitive and affective states appeared. (Author/RC)

In the present study, the authors investigated age differences in children's understanding (a) that a person's behavior may contribute to the formation of a shared opinion within the peer group and (b) that origins of a reputation can be direct or indirect. The authors read stories in which a target character engaged in either prosocial or…

Only a longitudinal study, in which retrospective reports can be verified against data collected earlier, can determine what topics tend to be reported accurately and whether certain types of individuals are more likely to be accurate reporters. A representative group of adults who became parents 50 years ago are now part of the oldest and longest…

Only a longitudinal study, in which retrospective reports can be verified against data collected earlier, can determine what topics tend to be reported accurately and whether certain types of individuals are more likely to be accurate reporters. A representative sample of women who became mothers 50 years ago are now part of the oldest and longest…

Cognitive styles are broad, systematic characteristics that influence people's responses in different situations. Field dependence independence (FDI) is the cognitive style construct that has generated the most research. Describes the FDI characteristics in young children's social behaviors, including their social orientation, people-versus-object…

The developmental model of self-concept proposed by M. Lynch and M. Levy (1982) is extended through the entire adult life cycle. Self-concept is seen as a set of cognitive rules that have affective or cognitive consequences and that operate like the ego functions proposed by Freud. (SLD)

Fifty-six children (ages 43 to 83 months) participated in an event conducted by two undergraduates dressed as clowns. Ten days later, interviews found metamemory ability, intellectual functioning, and temperament were helpful in determining a child's capacity to accurately recall information, although for the most part age was the best predictor.…