Reviews mainstream psychology's reductionisms and presents working concepts for a cultural-historical perspective on directivity. Discusses research on the organization of emotions for directing human behavior in Castile from an interdisciplinary approach of psychology, anthropology, and education. (MMU)

Two studies involving approximately 200 children aged 4 to 12 years show the expected increases in the level of cognitive competencies but show that these increases are not universal. Large inter- and intraindividual differences are found for various types of memory tasks as well as for different domains of scholastic achievement. (SLD)

Research on young children and their understanding and use of models indicates that they have particular difficulty understanding and using symbols that are in themselves interesting objects (have dual representation). Implications for the use of symbols for educational purposes are discussed, reviewing several commonly used symbolic objects. (SLD)

Commentary from the point of view of an applied psychologist considers the findings of five papers in this special issue on cognitive development, exploring how the contributions of each study or analysis could be used in real instruction. Some areas on which to focus applied research are discussed. (SLD)

Utilizes three broad age categories to provide a general overview of the characteristics of conceptions of violence for children. Describes general characteristics of children's thought processes and provides specific information regarding children's conceptions of violence. Argues that knowledge regarding how children at different developmental…

A case study of a 29-year-old woman with high functioning autism is presented. Examples of her use of puns, jokes, neologisms, "portmanteau" words, irreverent humor, irony, sarcasm, and word play based on her obsessional interests are provided and discussed in relation to current theories of autism and of normal humor. (Contains references.)…

Asserts that findings on whether young infants look longer at incorrect addition and subtraction have been inconsistent or negative. Hypothesizes that imprecise ordinal calculating with very small numbers of objects develops in late infancy and that precise calculating develops in early childhood. (Author/KB)

Considers reasons for infants' selective looking and information gathering. Discusses three general theoretical issues raised by studies of selective looking, related to type of information gathered, speed of processing time, and the effect of prior exposure on processing time. Considers these issues in relation to Needham's study of infant…

Claims that Matthews sees independence as moving freely and being able to function apart from the adult, leading to competence and cognitive development for life. Reiterates the importance of emotion, relationships, and the mother as the central part of the child's prepared environment. (MOK)

Dual task procedures--elaborative strategy use and finger tapping--were used to examine both recall and mental effort demands of elaboration strategy use among second and third graders. Results indicated that boys and girls did not differ in recall of arbitrarily paired items, but for feminine pairs, girls recalled more than boys; for masculine…

First- and fifth-grade only-children and children with siblings completed 11 cognitive tasks to investigate differences in cognitive abilities that may exist due to the Chinese 1-child family planning program. Superiority of grade one only-children over children with siblings appeared for memory processes, language skills, and mathematics.…

Addresses five research themes with at-risk populations that have begun to transform traditional understanding of normative human development. These themes are: protective forces inherent in developmental delay, loss involved in progressive development, symptoms as signs of developmental complexity, rediscovery of biography as an essential…

Community college students (n=159) were taught writing using one of three treatments: modeling with scaffolds, scaffolds without modeling, and control group. Test scores, observations, and instructor interviews showed that think-aloud modeling increased writing skills; implementation of scaffolding was too idiosyncratic to compare; and integration…

Examines social interaction and friendship within Piaget's theory as factors influencing cognitive development. Through social interaction, children construct knowledge about themselves and others within peer and adult cultures. Peer relationships, characterized by mutuality, help children establish a shared identity and develop friendships,…

Examined children's modification of their own retrieval processes in a cued recall task. Results suggested that monitoring and modification of retrieval processes should be distinguished and that monitoring is necessary but not sufficient for induction of an effective retrieval strategy. Results also had implications for understanding children's…