There is a change in false belief task performance across the 3-5 year age range, as confirmed in a recent meta-analysis [Wellman, H. M., Cross, D., & Watson, J. (2001). Meta-analysis of theory mind development: The truth about false-belief. "Child Development," 72, 655-684]. This meta-analysis identified several performance factors influencing…

Young children reliably distinguish reality from fantasy; they know that their friends are real and that Batman is not. But it is an open question whether they appreciate, as adults do, that there are multiple fantasy worlds. We test this by asking children and adults about fictional characters' beliefs about other characters who exist either…

The relationship among substance abuse counselors' education, experience, recovery status, and cognitive development (conceptual complexity and moral reasoning levels) was examined in a simultaneous multiple regression. Significant relationships were found between counselors' level of conceptual complexity and moral reasoning and their education.…

Cognitive development is driven by experience, but is mediated by domain general processes, which include learning, induction, and analogy. The concepts children understand, and the strategies they develop based on that understanding, depend on the complexity of the representation they can construct. Conceptual complexity can be defined in terms…

Abstracts and abstractors' critiques are presented for six studies dealing with concept formation and misconceptions and for five studies dealing with cognitive development. The first six studies investigated: children's naive conceptions of the human body; students' understanding (or misunderstanding) of states of matter and density changes; the…

In this paper, Piaget's theory is analyzed using Locke's philosophy. The first part, "Mental Experiences," describes the author's view (with a tentative interpretation of Piaget's position) of reflection, abstraction, re-presentation, and the use of symbols. The second part, "Piaget's Theory of Abstraction," has four sections:…

To learn how children acquire "metalinguistic competence," the development of the concept of "the word" was experimentally studied in four- to ten-year-olds. (Author/SDH)

Subjects in grades 2, 6, and college were asked to sort 50 pictures according to several class labels, each with a functional equivalent. (ST)

This paper offers a social learning explanation for age-related changes in children's cognitive functioning. Three hypotheses have been derived from the assumption of Piaget that structures play the preeminent role in cognitive development: (1) a child can not profit from or even appreciate experiences which are meaningful at a higher stage of…

Research supported in part by OEO Headstart Subcontract No. 1410 with Michigan State University Headstart Evaluation and Research Center.

Twenty-four profoundly deaf children (7 to 13 years old) from a residential school were presented with conservation problems of liquid, matter, weight, and volume. Analyses of variance showed that age was significant beyond the .01 level and type of task (conservation) at the .25 level. No significant sex effect was found. Differences among means…

A model for learning and teaching mathematics is described which focuses on the relationships between mathematical concepts, the psychology of the learner, and instruction. The model distinguishes between figural and operational concepts and the types of abstraction (simple vs. reflective) needed to comprehend these concepts, that is, to…

The author argues that the input-output model of learning is inadequate for those who believe education is to produce persons who can solve problems in a particular area. He suggests that the act of learning be examined rather than the products of an educational experience. Piaget's mental-structures model of learning is then discussed along with…

In two experiments (N=210) conservers, transitional conservers, and nonconservers were directed to lie or pretend to other children that their judgments and explanations of a series of conservation problems were the opposite of what they really were. Nonconservers and transitional subjects in both studies made large and significant gains in…