ABSTRACT
The study of the child has witnessed very definite trends in the past decade. Hyphenation provides a powerful clue to our new vision. It has become increasingly fashionable to adopt a cognitive-developmental approach to whatever particular content domain we deem worthy of study. Social cognition and socioemotional development are trendy topics. The Zeitgeist is well documented in developmental analyses of moral judgment (Kohlberg, 1969), interpersonal relations (Selman, 1971, 1976), empathy (Hoffman, 1975), egocentrism (Chandler & Greenspan, 1972), perspective taking (Flavell, 1968), and role understanding (Fischer, 1980). The general conceptual strategy has involved an examination of the cognitive skills necessary for the performance of a particular type of behavior in the socioaffective realm.
