ABSTRACT
In the previous chapters in this section, tasks have been described that have very different surface features. In spite of their different surface appearance, however, it has been suggested that they all require the same underlying structure for solution. This structure is one that encodes a sequence of social events, on the one hand, and the psychological “intentions” that motivate these events, on the other (i. e., judgments, feelings, desires)—and ties them into a single coherent entity. The problem with which the present chapter is concerned is whether this “intentional” structure plays a role in the development of children’s social thought that is similar to the one played by the “dimensional” structure in the development of their quantitative thought. Recall that, in Section II, several different quantitative tasks were described that also varied widely in their surface features, yet shared a common underlying structure. As proof of this structure’s developmental significance, it was shown that—when children are trained in the structure—they spontaneously begin to function at a higher level on all the quantitative tasks for which the structure is relevant. It follows that, if the intentional structure plays a similar role in children social-cognitive development, children trained in it should show a similar pattern of spontaneous improvement on all the tasks that have been described in the present section.
