This study examined variables related to problem-solving approaches of young children, using the theoretical framework provided by Zigler and collaborators in their work on outerdirectedness. Four aspects of outerdirectedness were examined: developmental trends, different types of reinforcement, task difficulty, and pride in accomplishment. (ST)

Suggests that the information integration processes used by adults to form judgments are also used by children. (ST)

The Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Questionnaire (IAR) was given to 183 children, ages 9 to 14, from three kibutz movements in Israel, in order to explore the meaning of locus of control among children raised within a specified framework. (ST)

A laboratory analogue of naturalistic observation was used to examine the relationship of observer drift to instructional set and experimenter status. Results indicated a highly significant decrease in observer reliability coinciding with the shift from training to data collection. (ST)

To study development of social speech, 18 dyads of children, ages 3 1/2 to 5, were videotaped in 15-minute play sessions. Results suggest that early forms of social speech entail a surprising level of interpersonal understanding, and that these speech forms are amenable to systematic study. (ST)

To demonstrate a relationship between rate of habituation and complexity levels, 11-week-old infants (N=51) were each given a rate-of-habituation and complexity-level test. Rapid habituators looked longer at complex patterns. Irregular habituators responded randomly to tests or resembled slow habituators in terms of complexity preferred. (ST)

Preschool children in a free-play situation experienced one of two training sequences: saying then doing, or doing then saying. The effect of training on the development of a correspondence between children's verbal and nonverbal behaviors was examined. The say-do sequence produced higher levels of correspondence. (ST)

A parent-report questionnaire, the Gender Behavior Inventory for Boys, containing questions about normal and abnormal gender behaviors, was constructed, factor analyzed, and administered to parents of normal boys and of boys referred to a clinic for the evaluation and treatment of gender disorders. (ST)

An extension of discrimination-learning theory based on the inhibition of stimulus intensity was proposed and supported as a mechanism of cognitive development. Among 48 normal and 37 educable mentally retarded children the predominant category of transistional children conserved at a low level of stimulus intensity but failed to conserve at a…

Degree of organization in presenting stimuli, and training through modeling versus guided practice, were studied on a dial-reading concept using 144 third or fifth graders. (ST)

Reflective and impulsive children were instructed to hasten or delay their responses on a test of hypothesis-seeking and constraint seeking conceptual strategies. Latency of response data on pretesting, training, and immediate posttests showed that the attempts to hasten or delay responses were successful in changing response latencies. (ST)