Critically reviews research on developmental differences in reactions to the physically disabled in order to illustrate age-related influences and to provide a clearer conceptualization of such reactions. (Author/CM)

Fourteen preoperational retarded boys and girls were interviewed for their concepts of death. Subjects did not have realistic concepts of when they would die, or of the permanence of death, but did have knowledge of how things die. Types of replies subjects made were significantly related to subjects' cognitive level. (Author/RH)

Thirty-four boys and girls between the ages of four and nine were interviewed on their conceptions of positive justice and parental authority and were then reinterviewed one and two years later. Results suggested that stagelike development in children's social reasoning proceeds gradually, with important continuities in children's social cognition…

Time-limited and time-extended groups studied appeared to be similar in stage development with abnormalities in process accounted for by the amount of time the groups have continuously met. Support was given to the concept of stages as a series of cyclical movements characterized by clusterings of related behaviors. (Author)

Explores a methodology for determining if young children's responses to a specific training procedure could be identified as "learning" or "development." Twelve nonconserving kindergartners were administered a standard conservation of substance task, and three variations of the same task. (CM)

In this review, little support is found for Piaget's claim that with increasing peer group interaction adult authority becomes less legitimate to the child. It is suggested that the adult exerts increasing influence with age on children's moral judgment and, therefore, emphasis on peer-centered moral education may be misdirected. (Author/SJL)

The Life-Skills Training (LST) model offers an approach to developmental interventions that enhances healthy functioning. The LST model is based on the assumption that systematic life-skills acquisition is necessary for healthy growth in psychosocial, physical-sexual, cognitive, vocational, moral, ego, and emotional development. (Author)

Summarizes research concerning the disengagement theory of aging and examines awareness of finitude. Interviews with residents of old-age institutions revealed awareness of finitude to be a better predictor of disengagement than chronological age. Future research should examine this predictor in noninstitutional settings. (Author)

Presented are the theoretical characteristics of social identity in early adolescence (ages 10 to 15). It is suggested that no longer is identity thought to begin with adolescence, but may have its beginnings in the preteen years. The article draws heavily on Eriksonian concepts. (Editor/KC)

The amount of anxiety suggested the need for clinical intervention to reduce procedure-related distress in children with cancer. Younger children exhibited consistently higher levels of distress than older children and displayed a greater variety of anxious responses over a longer time span. (Author/BEF)

An examination of the role of metacognitive thinking (a secondary level of understanding in which an individual shows knowledge of his/her own cognitive process and products) in the cognitive training of exceptional students is presented. (PHR)

Category theory concept of a commutative diagram was used to construct a model of the way in which symbolic processes are applied to problem solving. It was shown that several different levels of thought can be distinguished within the basic model. Two experiments testing the theory are reported. (Author/RD)

The author reviews some research, particularly that of Roger Sperry, substantiating the existence of different thinking styles in the two brain hemispheres and the development of this differentiation in infancy and childhood. She draws some implications for elementary teaching. (SJL)

Addresses whether value change over the life course is a result of period shifts or individual maturation and differences in values among age strata are a function of cohort experience or individual maturation. Shows that on only one of the four dependent measures was aging directly implicated. (Author)

Reviews major court cases and arguments for the abolishment of corporal punishment in schools. Discusses psychological arguments against it and lists disciplinary alternatives. (SK)