To The Extent That Children With Similar

People's Conceptions About Themselves And The Nature Of Things Are Developed And Verified Through Four Different Processes: Direct Experience Of The Effects Produced By Their Actions, Vicarious Experience Of The Effects Produced By Somebody Else's Actions, Judgments Voiced By Others, And Derivation Of Further Knowledge From What They Already Know By Using Rules Of Inference

Agemates Provide The Most Informative Points Of Reference For Comparative Efficacy Appraisal And Verification. Children Are, Therefore, Especially Sensitive To Their Relative Standing Among The Peers With Whom They Affiliate In Activities That Determine Prestige And Popularity

When Actions Are Followed By Events That Are Not Causally Related To The Prior Acts, People Often Erroneously Perceive Contingencies That Do Not, In Fact, Exist

Forceful Actions Arising From Erroneous Beliefs Often Create Social Effects That Confirm The Misbeliefs

In The Self-appraisal Of Efficacy, There Are Many Sources Of Information That Must Be Processed And Weighed Through Self-referent Thought