Children Observe a Film in Which Billy Acts Mean to Three

Multiple Choice

Children observe a film in which Billy acts mean to three peers. They rate how "bad" Billy's behavior is, indicate the extent to which Billy is "mean", and then make predictions about how Billy is likely to behave toward peers next week. If their behavioral predictions reflect true trait-like inferences, then the best predictor of their inferences about Billy's future behavior will be _____, a type of reasoning they begin to display by _____.

A) ratings of the badness of Billy's original behavior; age 5 to 6
B) ratings of how mean they perceived Billy to be; age 5 to 6
C) ratings of the badness of Billy's original behavior; age 9 to 10
D) ratings of how mean they perceived Billy to be; age 9 to 10