Problem: How can I make notes with bullet points in this paragraph? Approaching a new social situation is similar to solving a cognitive problem. Children approaching a group of peers need to understand the others' communications clearly, interpret their behavior accurately, formulate their own goals and strategies based on these interpretations, make useful decisions about how to act, communicate clearly to others, and try out and then evaluate their own social strategies. This is quite a tall order, especially for a young child, and some children are better at it than others. To examine the interplay of these skills, Kenneth Dodge devised a model of social information processing, which we presented in Chapter 1, "Theories," Figure 1.3. This model stresses the cognitive steps in evaluating social situations. As children progress through the steps in the model, they make decisions or take actions that are accurate or inaccurate, helpful or unhelpful. Here are two hypothetical examples of what might happen when a child encounters a social situation: Need Assignment Help?