Children's self-concept and attitude toward school in open and traditional classrooms

Children from a traditional school and two open schools were compared, using the Pictorial Self-Concept scale and the Attitude Toward School scale. To control for the self-selection of open school students, the traditional school subjects were divided into those whose parents favored and those whose parents did not favor open education. Three of the 12 analyses were significant, but not in the predicted, or in any orderly, direction. These results were attributed to chance. Attitude toward school was higher for females than males and decreased for kindergarden to grade 2. Self-concept increased form kindergarten to grade 2, with no significant sex differences.     

Helping contacts between nonprofessional child aides and young children experiencing school adjustment problems

The present studies examine several within-session measures of helping interactions involving nonprofessional child aides and young maladapting school children referred to a preventively oriented school mental health program. The studies' three main criterion measures were: (1) estimates of children's predominant mood state at the beginning, during, and end of a session; (2) judgments about a child's predominant within-session moded of expression; and (3) aides' ratings of session satisfaction. Both predominant mood and mode of expression differed for children with different initial referral problems. Both also related to differential aide judgements about session satisfaction. Aide satisfaction related to structural aspects of the session, including its length and whether it was thought to deal with significant problems.     

The effects of positive examiner verbal comments on the total WISC-R performance of institutionalized EMR students

Forty educably mentally retarded (EMR) students were randomly selected and assigned to one of two treatment groups. Students in the experimental group were verbally praised after their responses to the WISC-R questions, while the students in the control group received nonevaluative procedural comments. The scaled scores for five of eleven subtests, in addition to the Verbal, Performance and Full Scale indices, were significantly greater under the experimental procedure. The treatment's efficacy and considerations for future research were noted and discussed.     

Responses of boys and girls to a behaviorally focused school attitude questionnaire

In response to the Teacher Approval-Disapproval Scale (TADS), elementary school boys report receiving more personal disapproval and less personal approval from their teachers than do elementary school girls, but boys and girls do not differ in reporting how frequently their teachers distribute approvals and disapprovals to the whole class. Boys' attitudes toward being in the classroom are more negative than girls', but there is also a tendency for boys to perceive the whole class's attitude as being more negative than do girls. These results suggest that sex differences in school attitude are at least partially determined by differential teacher behavior toward boys and girls.     

Determinants of achievement motivation for women in developing countries

A number of studies on women compared with men in Iran (as an example of a fast developing country) relating to achievement and vocational behavior showed results quite similar to those reported on American women. Iranian women emphasized external attribution of cause of success/failure, and were less sex discriminatory than men. Femininity scores correlated with social desirability scores, and women who scored higher on masculinity also had higher risk taking scores. Socioeconomic background besides sex differences affected vocational aspiration. It is suggested that while the psychological make-up of women in developing and developed countries might be similar, the different social environment and concrete opportunities available to women in different societies more significantly affect their actual vocational behavior.     

Relationships among vocational training,income, and job complexity of high school dropouts and high school graduates

High school dropouts (N = 100) and high school graduates (N = 100), of which half of each group had received vocational training and the other half had not, were compared on data taken from the inactive employment applications of the Fort Walton Beach, Florida State Employment Office. The sample (N = 200) consisted of an equal number of males and females while 30% were minority group members. A two-way analysis of variance showed that completing vocational training was positively correlated with higher income and job complexity level. The existence or absence of vocational training was a more potent influence on income level and job complexity than was completion of high school.     

Effects of prefeeding on performance with body weight held constant

Two experiments are reported in which rats received either no prefeeding, nutritive substance prefeeding, or nonnutritive substance prefeeding prior to running in a straight alley. The running-speed data supported body weight as an overall measure of hunger drive. Performance was a function of body weight but not stomach weight or associated stomach bulk.     

Cerebral organization of oral and signed language responses: case study evidence from amytal and cortical stimulation studies

A normally hearing left-handed patient familiar with American Sign Language (ASL) was assessed under sodium amytal conditions and with left cortical stimulation in both oral speech and signed English. Lateralization was mixed but complementary in each language mode: the right hemisphere perfusion severely disrupted motoric aspects of both types of language expression, the left hemisphere perfusion specifically disrupted features of grammatical and semantic usage in each mode of expression. Both semantic and syntactic aspects of oral and signed responses were altered during left posterior temporal-parietal stimulation. Findings are discussed in terms of the neurological organization of ASL and linguistic organization in cases of early left hemisphere damage.     

A neuronal model for syllable representation

A speculative neuronal template, equivalent to canonical syllable forms and independent of segmental representations, is offered to help account for (1) the inviolate nature of phonotactic constraints in aphasic speech output, and (2) left hemisphere specialization for speech sound access and output. The model, which attempts to relate plausible neuronal systems to linguistic function, is based on cell assemblies that are thought to develop by way of genetic predisposition and ontogenetic language experience, into configurations that can represent canonical slot positions for the consonants and vowel comprising a syllable. The syllable is assumed to be the basic organizational rhythmic unit for serial concatenation of sublexical segments. A scheme for neurological differentiation of vowels and consonants is offered. Phonotactic constraints can become "hard-wired" to help create the automaticity underlying phonological sound organization. Testable predictions are offered to substantiate the claims of the model.     

Work role salience as a determinant of career maturity in high school students

It has often been contended that vocational or career maturity is largely determined by socioeconomic status and sex. But these, although surely important determinants, may function as such only because they determine commitment to working careers. This latter may itself be the immediate determinant of career maturity. In this study data were collected from some 382 students of whom about 55% were girls, using a Personal Data Blank, the Salience Inventory, and the Career Development Inventory. Measures of career and home commitment were obtained from the second, while measures of career or vocational maturity were derived from the last-named instrument. Canonical correlations and variance analyses were done to examine the roles of SES and sex when combined with career commitment. Four hypotheses received full support, three were partially supported, and one was not supported.     

Assessing the vocational maturity of students in the East Central State of Nigeria

This study surveyed the vocational developmental pattern of Nigerian students using the Career Maturity Inventory (Crites). The results and their applicability to the Nigerian situation were discussed.     

The effect of television-mediated aggression and real-life aggression on the behavior of Lebanese children

This study investigated the effect of television-mediated aggression and real-life aggression on the behavior of Lebanese children. The sample consisted of 48 boys and 48 girls of Lebanese origin who were students in an elementary school in Beirut, Lebanon. After controlling for pre-experimental aggression, the subjects were randomly assigned to one of the following treatment conditions: human-film aggression, cartoon-film aggression, neutral film, or real-life (act of war) aggression. The results indicated that boys as a group were more aggressive than girls and exhibited more imitative aggression after viewing both violent film and real-life violence. Girls were not more violent after viewing filmed aggression but were affected by the real-life violence. Comparisons of Bandura's work within the Lebanese culture are made.     

There's method in our madness: Interpersonal attraction as a multidimensional construct

The convergent validity and number of dimensions common to six measures of interpersonal attraction (three verbal and three nonverbal) were explored in this investigation. Convergent validity was found within verbal and nonverbal modes of measurement, but not between modes. No general factor was found to be common to the six measures of attraction. It was, therefore, concluded that method bias influences experimental results, threatening the comparability of results from research programs using different modes of measuring attraction. The results also question the assumption that social attitudes, such as attraction, are closely related to behavior, and imply that predictions derived from theories based on different modes of measuring attraction will have unequal utility.     

Cardiac orienting responses of 6- and 16-week-old infants

Since previous data suggested that the magnitude of orienting evidenced by cardiac deceleration increased over the first 16 weeks of life, 6- and 16-week-old infants were compared on various characteristics of orienting: habituation, dishabituation, and magnitude of deceleration to stimulus offset as well as to stimulus onset. Neither the change in stimulus following habituation trials nor the stimulus offset produced a large enough response to confidently evaluate age differences suggested by the data. Stimulus onset elicited a pronounced deceleration which for the two age groups was of equivalent magnitude on initial trials and declined similarly with stimulus repetition. It was suggested that similarity of the two age groups on these parameters was due to control of state within a narrow alert range, and that, in general, younger infants are less likely than older infants to show orienting when conditions for orienting are marginal.     

Interest differentiation in high school and vocational indecision in college

Vocational indecision was defined as being both a college upperclassman and having no major. In a sample of 1622 students in college for three years, 24% indecisive students were found and compared with vocationally decisive students (having majors) using precollege measures of achievement, aptitude, and interest. Measures of interest differentiation were of particular concern. Indecisiveness was best predicted from present and past achievement measures, e.g., cumulative college GPA or high school mathematics GPA. Interest predictors slightly augmented the multiple correlation including Outdoor interest, Business Contact interest, and interest differentiation. Most important to vocational indecision in these juniors and seniors, however, was lower academic achievement.     

Moral judgment and attitudes toward authority of political resisters

In an exploration of the personal basis of resistance to authority, moral judgment and attitudes toward authority were examined in 183 men and women political resisters, including antinuclear, draft registration, and tax resisters, and anarchists, and compared to 34 liberal and 29 conservative activists. The measures used were the Defining Issues Test and a specially designed attitude survey. As predicted, the differences between resisters and nonresisters were in the realm of cognitive beliefs and values. Strong rejection of political and social authority, a belief that individual conscience is a better guide to conduct than the law, a professed unwillingness to be in positions of authority over others, and a lack of conventional religious affiliation significantly differentiated the resisters from the nonresisters. The resisters also measured high in level of moral judgment but were significantly different only from the conservatives.     

Causal patterns related to post high school employment satisfaction

A linear recursive path model was developed and evaluated using a combined male and female sample, and separate male and female samples in an attempt to identify causal relationships of in-school student characteristics to satisfaction in post high school employment. The statistical methodology used was Path Analysis. A total of ten student characteristic variables were used in the model. The findings indicate that overall job satisfaction is related to variables which are associated with the affective domain. These variables are: Occupational Values-Interest and Satisfaction and Salary, and Vocational Maturity. Overall, employment satisfaction was twice as predictable for the female sample as it was for the combined sample and it was not at all predictable for the male sample.     

Secondary school curriculum and career behavior in young adults

As part of a larger longitudinal study of the effects of secondary school characteristics on career behavior in young adulthood, this paper presents findings obtained from 1007 males and females who graduated from high school in academic or vocational curricula 6 or 8 years ago. Criterion behavior included the completion of career development tasks in the exploration and establishment life stages as measured by the Adult Form of the Career Development Inventory, certainty about immediate occupational plans, and satisfaction with occupational goals and progress toward meeting them. Significant differences were found in the pattern of career development by curriculum but not by sex, in certainty by curriculum and sex, and in satisfaction by neither curriculum nor sex. The implications for a stage theory of career development are discussed.     

Reinforcement and punishment in a closed system

Children chose between toys freely and with various restrictive contingencies. Sometimes play with a preferred toy was contingent on play with a nonpreferred toy. Sometimes play with a nonpreferred toy was contingent on play with a preferred toy. Another toy (free toy) was always available during contingency sessions. Because toy playing occupied the entire session the response system was closed. When one response increased in duration others had to decrease. An analysis of closed-system responding revealed that the restrictions of the closed system together with the restrictions imposed by the contingencies forced subjects to alter the proportion of time devoted to the three responses. A geometrical model representing the closed system and an analytical method based on distance are presented to describe the data.