Research has shown that optimistic and pessimistic outcome expectancy evaluations are associated with adaptive and maladaptive levels of psychological functioning, physical wellness, and health recovery issues. The research of M. F. Scheier, C. S. Carver, M. E. P. Seligman, and C. R. Snyder supports the hypothesis that elevated optimism or…

Community and culture significantly influence value orientation, perceived needs, and motivation as well as provide the ground for creating shared understanding. All disciplines have their own cultures, and all cultures evolve through cross-cultural exchanges. The computing community has created and documented a sound body of knowledge of…

Four experiments were conducted to determine whether staging, or the prominence given to various segments of information through manipulation of prose structure, affects recall of the content of prose passages. In all of the experiments, pairs of passages were used in which members of each pair had identical content but different staging patterns.…

In this literature review, the failure of a disease model of alcoholism based upon loss of control and craving phenomena to receive support is noted, as is the robustness of a model rooted in psychological learning theory. The viability of controlled drinking interventions based upon learning theory principles is demonstrated. Several predictor…

This study was designed to determine if a group of five- and eight-year-old students' understanding of selected geometric ideas paralleled Piaget's topological, projective, and Euclidean thesis. Additional purposes were to investigate which geometric ideas the group learned easiest, and to examine the relationships between geometric understanding…

This study was concerned with the verification of a learning hierarchy for the mathematical task of adding fractions, when group learning procedures involving teacher-student interaction were used. Through a task analysis procedure a hierarchy of 13 subordinate skills was hypothesized, behavioral objectives were specified, and a curriculum…

Hypotheses derived from Hull-Spence learning theory were tested in an investigation of the interactions of anxiety, intelligence, and classroom structure. After pretesting using the Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Test and the Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (CMAS), the 324 sixth graders and seventh graders were assigned to one of the eight…

This study was designed to provide Widener College with data to determine whether videotape instruction was more effective for learning than the traditional didactic approach. Thirty-one students, enrolled in the junior year of the baccalaureate program in nursing at Widener College, participated in the study. A criterion-referenced pre-test was…

The study was designed to determine if chronological age is the main factor in a child's ability to develop a particulate concept of matter. Four demonstrations were organized which consisted of a graded series of particle mixing, gas diffusion, dissolving and smoke investigations. The individualized interviews with children were tape recorded. On…

This study, presented in three parts, investigated the effects of a group of single-concept instructional variables on the learning at an advanced level of attainment of taxonomy of behavior management concepts. The effects of presenting advance organizers and inserting within-text questions was also examined. The influence of the single-concept…

A first grade teacher in a rural elementary school in upper East Tennessee observed that her students needed a better way to improve their computation skills than those of traditional instructional methods. The school system's new Mathematics textbook was correlated with commercial Mathematics software. The teacher wanted to find out if using this…

The purpose of this study was to gather information on the acquisition of non-Indo-European languages. The field work was conducted in the village of Faleasao on the island of Ta'u in the Manu'a group of American Samoa from June, 1968 to June, 1969. The data collected consists primarily of tape recordings of naturally occurring and elicited speech…

The purpose of this study was the development and validation of a paper-and-pencil instrument to assess the formal stage of development as defined by Piaget. Initially, a 42-item test was constructed; item content included syllogisms, verbal analogies, combinatorial and probabilistic reasoning, and questions similar to Piagetian tasks. This…

This study was designed to compare the effects of three methods of mathematics instruction on variables related to transfer of learning. The three methods compared were expository, rule-and-example, and discovery; the dependent variables involved representational, contextual, and difficulty components of the domain of transfer, Students (N = 180)…

Various methods of learning employed to solve problems in mechanical engineering are presented. Results indicate that video recording and playback to students is the most effective instruction process. A comparison of analytical thinking to rote memory was made, and variables which affect learning, such as personality, are discussed. (NTIS)