A general theory of humor elicitation is presented that specifies the conditions in which humor is experienced in both social and nonsocial situations. The theory is used to conceptualize humor elicited by jokes, witticisms, and social events that are not intended or expected to be humorous. (SLD)

The cognitive approach to stereotypes views stereotyping as a natural consequence of normal cognitive processes; therefore, information that is inconsistent with a stereotype is less likely to be remembered. To investigate this hypothesis an earlier experiment was replicated in three studies. Subjects received congruent or neutral information…

A theory of personality is proposed to reconcile paradoxical findings on the invariance of personality and the variability of behavior across situations. Individuals are assumed to differ in the accessibility of cognitive-affective mediating units and the organizations of the interactions of these units and situations. (SLD)

In a longitudinal investigation, a model was developed to assess behavioral, social, and cognitive influences on the academic self-concept of 104 adolescents (57 males, 47 females) who participated in the Fullerton Longitudinal Study between 18 months and 17 years of age. The basic model was Academic Self-Concept = Constant + Behavior + Social +…

Examined the effects of different forms of induction on children's prosocial behavior with 80 children ages 7 and 8 years. Hypotheses were evaluated regarding the cognitive component of the induction and the manipulation of choice. The findings, which were consistent with self-perception theory, help clarify when induction encourages internalized…

The effects of observational purpose are thought to impact on such diverse processes as categorization, behavior perception, trait ascription, and memory. The role of observational purpose in the categorization of behavior was explored to determine whether differences between trait and goal concepts affect certain information-processing…

Examines people's behavior in the Monty Hall Dilemma (MHD), in which a person must make two decisions to win a prize. In a series of five studies, found that people misapprehend probabilities in the MHD. Discusses the MHD's relation to illusion of control, belief perseverance, and the status quo bias. (RJM)

To examine whether a person's actions are more important in determining impressions of personality than are self-descriptions, subjects in two separate studies viewed two videotapes, one depicting a stimulus person's self-description and the other depicting that person's behavior in a conversation. Subjects rated the stimulus person on several…

This article outlines a conceptualization of personality as a cognitive-affective processing system (CAPS) and explores its implications for understanding disorders and pursuing therapeutic change. The CAPS conception of personality was proposed in 1995 in order to resolve a long-standing paradox in personality and social psychology, namely, the…

Self-schemas are knowledge-structures that organize information relevant to the "self." Research has demonstrated that persons who are schematic (versus aschematic) for a particular trait process self-relevant information on that dimension more efficiently. To determine whether individual self-schemas are organized into relatively…

Examines the implications of temporal separation for children's developmental differences in inferences drawn about an individual's characteristics after observing multiple instances of that individual's behavior. Also tests two competing hypotheses about how young children process information separated in time. (HOD)

Research on role-model identification has demonstrated the powerful effect that models have on individuals' behavior. To extend prior research on this phenomenon, the role-model identifications of first-, third-, fifth-, and ninth-grade students were outlined and examined. The results did not support the hypothesis that adolescents identify with…

Resource teachers' and regular teachers' ratings for 32 elementary-level learning-disabled (LD) students were compared to identify teachability characteristics and behaviors. Though the two groups of teachers did not note differences in problem behaviors of the same LD child in different settings, differences in cognitive/motivational and…

Estimates indicate that 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men have been sexually abused as children. These statistics may be underestimated based on anecdotal information relayed by many therapists who specialize in working with survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Effects of childhood sexual abuse have far reaching implications for the survivors' abilities…

This review covers the psychological literature of the last 30 years regarding the personality and motivational characteristics of individuals with mental retardation. The first section is a brief historical review and critical examination of the various conceptual models and theories regarding personality and motivational processes in persons…