This research investigates the relationship between psychological understanding and positive social behavior in preschool children. A sample of 67 children were given measures of mental state understanding and emotion understanding. Positive social behavior was measured by classroom observation, teacher report and peer ratings. Both mental state understanding and emotion understanding were positively related to teacher ratings of social skills, behavioral observers' global ratings of social skills and peer popularity. When language ability was partialled out of these relationships, many of the significant correlations disappeared; however, for variables related to peers' perceptions, psychological understanding continued to predict unique variance. The results are discussed in terms of the multiple determinacy of positive social behaviors and the potential role of language in these processes.Keywords: theory of mind; social behavior; affective perspective taking; preschoolers Psychological understanding, or theory of mind, may be thought of as comprising two different kinds of understanding-understanding of mind (cognitive states like beliefs and desires) and understanding of emotions (emotional sensitivity to others) . Understanding of mind has traditionally been assessed using standard false belief tasks where the child is asked to predict or explain the behavior of an agent based on that agent's erroneous belief. Understanding of emotion has been mainly assessed using an affective perspective-taking task where the child is asked to identify the emotion of an agent based on a series of events which the agent has experienced. Recent research has begun to focus on individual differences in children's development of psychological understanding, and which cognitive and social factors are related to these differences. The current study investigates how individual differences in children's psychological understanding are related to one important component of the child's social world-their positive social behavior with other children.Recent evidence suggests that emotion understanding and mind understanding may be differentiated in the preschool years, as they have been shown to be uncorrelated

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At some point, every college freshman asks "Am I okay?" or "Am I normal?" This question becomes more complicated when students who are lesbian or gay seek counseling. The universal issues that most college students encounter are compounded by struggles with developing a positive sexual identity while coping with prejudice. This article uses the seminal developmental theories of Chickering and Cass as the basis for exploration of and recommended interventions for some of the unique issues that lesbian and gay students face during their college experiences. The authors explore the impact of campus climate and community and provide suggestions for helping lesbian and gay students transition to and thrive in the college milieu.College life is challenging for all students. Stress, relationship difficulties, and developmental transitions can all interfere with a successful college experience and personal satisfaction. Students who are lesbian or gay experience the same stressors that affect all college students but may have the additional stress related to being a sexual minority. Awareness of these challenges and how they interact with student developmental theory can help counselors work more effectively with lesbian and gay students.Although acceptance of sexual diversity is increasing, there remains ongoing marginalization and stigma associated with sexual minorities, and a