Explores the differential impact of negatively rated and positively rated trigram paired-associate materials on underachievers and overachievers in high school. (AE)

Fifth-grade children prerated both abstract and concrete nouns for likability, and paired-associate lists were constructed by pairing nouns. High self-concept children learned liked noun pairs more efficiently than disliked pairs, while the low self-concept children learned disliked noun pairs more readily. These self-concept patterns were most…

This research contrasts the learning effects of an affective dimension of meaningfulness with the word-quality of consonant-vowel-consonant trigrams. Subject rated trigrams for both "association value"--having word-quality versus lacking word-quality--and "reinforcement value"--liking versus disliking the trigram regardless of word quality. Paired…