Fifty-one preschool children were interviewed individually to assess awareness of gender constancy and choice of same-sex models. Differences emerged between high and low gender-constant children when they were given a choice between imitating a same-sex model performing a relatively unpleasant task and imitating an opposite-sex model enacting a…

Reviews and discusses Piaget's recent work on abstract reasoning. Piaget's distinction between empirical and reflective abstraction is presented; his hypotheses are considered to be metaphorical. (Author/DB)

The language impaired Ss consistently performed better than Ss matched for mean length of utterance but more poorly than MA matched peers. Only one task, haptic recognition, uncovered a significant difference between the language impaired and MA matched groups. Results suggested that language impaired Ss had deficient nonlinguistic symbolic…

Research is reviewed which challenges the contention of A. Baker (EC 113 476) that the cognitive functioning of autistic and mentally retarded children is similar. (Author/CL)

The literature on various aspects of learning and performance in autistic children is reviewed and interpreted as indicating very little that is specific to autism. The current evidence is considered to support a hypothesis concerning abnormal hemisphere functioning in this group of children. (Author)

Argues for an interactionist model of the relation between cognition and motivation in early infancy. (Author/SS)

Attempts to identify the point at which prelinguistic vocalizations are used by infants as a means of communication. A significant relationship between Piagetian causal developmental level and the occurrence of intentional vocalizations was found in a study of 46 infants with a mean age of 10.7 months. (JMB)

To benefit rather than suffer from language, we must keep it in its place, in balance with other functions of the organism. (DD)

Discusses several contradictory misconceptions exacerbating the problems of American education and discouraging original thought by students. (DD)

In this longitudinal study a close association between affective expression and cognitive development was demonstrated. (SB)

Piaget's emphasis on the invariant logic of growth and Vygotsky's emphasis on the centrality of culturally patterned dialog in enabling growth are possibly incommensurate. This incommensurability highlights two ways human beings make sense of the world, by means of logical necessity and of interpretive reconstruction of circumstances. (BC)

Three experiments studied preschoolers' understanding of false beliefs resulting from developmental misconceptions. Found that children showed some (but incomplete) mastery of Level 2 perspective taking, appearance-reality distinction, line of sight, and biological principles of growth and innate potential. Performance was comparable to that with…

Two experiments replicated Flavell et al.'s (1978) finding that 2.5-year-olds can hide an object behind a screen but cannot achieve the same result placing the screen in front. Move-screen performance related to judgment of what a person in a picture was looking at. Move-object task remained easier than the move-screen task even with an…