| Abstract: | Describes the research context in which the question of the relationship between cognition and behavior has arisen within the field of social-cognitive development. A selective review of some of the studies emanating from this author's research program concerning the specific issue of the relations between the level of social cognition in the child and the adequacy of the child's social interactions in a naturalistic setting are presented. Studies included (1) the identification of the influence of children's level of social cognitive skills on the frequency and adequacy of their dyadic verbal communications during free play, (2) the examination of the relationships between preschooler's performance on laboratory measures of role playing and communication skills, and (3) measures of their request performance incorporating criteria similar to those in social-cognitive tasks. The potential flaws and limits of the original ways of measuring and conceptualizing these relations are examined. Finally, a sketch of the conditions that need to be considered for specific types of social behavior to be regulated by particular aspects of cognition is presented. (French abstract) (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
