Determines whether early hemispheric differences exist in tactual processing by testing infants and preschoolers on six cross-modal tasks. Results are the first to demonstrate a left-hand superiority for information processing in children as young as two years. (Author/AS)

Examines kindergarten, second-, and fourth-grade children's use of the presence or absence of extrinsic rewards to make inferences about the intrinsic motivation of another person. Results are discussed in terms of parameters of the attributional effects, the possible mechanism responsible for the phenomena, and significance for other…

Examines the relationship between development of logical processes required in deductive reasoning and their use by preschoolers, also considering possible explanations for children's deductive reasoning. The relationship of problem content to real-world knowledge and the sequence of presentation of problem types were found to affect the display…

Examines reasons for sex-related differences among adults on horizontality and verticality concepts. Studies the effects on task performance of inadequate knowlege of relevant physical phenomena and pictorial examples. (Author/AS)

Investigates preschoolers' knowledge of counting principles by examining their ability to discriminate between features essential for correct counting and features typically present but unessential. Skill in executing the standard counting procedure was found to precede knowledge of the underlying principle. (Author/AS)

Partially replicates Elkind and Bowen's (1979) investigation of adolescent egocentrism. Studies the relations between imaginary audience and operational thought by testing children and adolescents on a Piagetian-based written test of operational thought and the Imaginary Audience Scale. (Author/AS)

Examines the degree to which experiencing confusion during the acquisition of new academic material differentially affects classroom performance of helpless and mastery-oriented fifth-graders. Provides an initial test of a theoretical approach to understanding differences between male and female performances in different subject areas. (AS)

Three studies explore the development of discrimination and memory for symmetry in preschoolers four to six years of age. Issues addressed include the young child's ability to discriminate and reproduce symmetry, and the effects of pattern orientation and complexity on the young child's symmetry discrimination and reproduction. Results indicate…

Investigates the effects of acoustic similarity on memory span in 112 children four to 10 years of age. Acoustic similarity had progressively more effect on recall with increasing age. Implications for current theories of short-term memory and its development and for the use of acoustic similarity as an indicator of speech coding are discussed.…

Measures children's attention to television programs varying in pace and continuity and assesses recall of the temporal sequence of program events. Attention and comprehension covaried more in animated than in live shows. Age, continuity, and pace effects on recall were not fully accounted for by their effects on attention. (Author/AS)

Examines the hypothesis that adults and children have media-specific conceptions of picturing and that the functional uses of photography and drawing differ across development. Results showed an age progression from viewing photography as only reflecting the real object to viewing it as a medium that allows for control and alteration of reality.…

A scale of gender understanding and a measure of sex-role preference were administered to three- to nine-year-old children from four traditional communities in Belize, Kenya, Nepal, and American Samoa. Overall, findings reflected the strong contribution of cognitive development to the growth of gender understanding. (Author/AS)

Analyzes the interrelationships of six basic child-rearing dimensions (nurturance, obedience, responsibility, self-reliance, achievement, and general independence) in a cross-cultural sample of 110 societies. Most generally, results reveal that societal pressures in child rearing in one dimension is likely to be related to pressure in any other…

Examines relationships among gender constancy, preferences for same- or opposite-sex playmates, and sex-typed activities in preschool children. Findings suggest that, at least for females, gender concepts may have an organizing role in sex-role development by motivating children to seek social contexts in which to acquire and practice…

Studies the gender-neutral use of "he" and "his" in first, third, and fifth graders and college students according to a modified version of a task developed by Moulton et al. (1978). Also uses a task involving a fictitious, gender-neutral occupation (a wudgemaker) to test third and fifth graders for possible effects of gender-related pronoun use…