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Examined relations between social-cognitive skills, aggression, and social competence using teacher questionnaire and tabletop tasks with preschool and kindergarten children. Found that generation of forceful solutions in a traditional social-problem solving task and performance on the false belief tasks were significantly related to social competence. Findings pose implications for treatment of deficits in social skills. (Author/SD)

Examined individual differences in young children's understanding of emotion and potential correlates in the domain of family experiences. Found that individual differences in children's understanding of negative emotions were related to specific aspects of family experiences. Findings suggest complex influences of family functioning on children's understanding of the emotional aspects of social relationships. (Author/SD)

Investigated young children's ability to talk about representational aspects of pretense. Found that 5-year-olds, but very few 4-year-olds, can explain why certain actions should not be called pretending; young children discriminate between pictures of thinking and pretending based on a depiction of action; and preschoolers are less able than kindergartners to talk about the mental states of pretending. (JPB)

Two studies explored relations between young children's peer social skills and theory of mind. Study 1 found positive, but moderate, zero-order correlations between false-belief measures and social skills, and false belief accounted for a significant amount of additional variance in social skills after covarying age and language measures. Study 2 replicated findings with larger sample and standardized teacher questionnaire. (Author/KB)

Two studies explored relations between peer social skills and theory of mind in young children. In Study 1, a global teacher rating of social skills with peers, performance on a traditional false-belief task, a standardized assessment of auditory language comprehension, and a time sampling of amount of speech with peers were obtained. Positive, but moderate, zero-order correlations were observed between the false-belief measure and social skills, and false belief accounted for a significant amount of additional variance in social skills after covarying age and the 2 measures of language. Study 2 replicated the findings of Study 1 by using a larger sample and a standardized teacher questionnaire. The results are discussed with regard to the critical role of a mentalistic theory of behavior for human social interactions.

In these studies we investigated young children's ability to talk about the representational aspects of pretense. In Study 1, many 5-year-olds, but very few 4-year-olds, were able to correctly explain [...]