The effect of audience and task difficulty on the learning and performance of forty, high-anxious, sixth-grade students was examined, with data favoring the hypothesis that a spectator reduces drive and reassures the learner. (MJB)

Implication of findings for classical maturation theories of the development of reaction speed are discussed. (Author/MB)

The study investigates the relative efficacy of self-monitored and externally imposed reinforcement in intrinsically motivated and extrinsically motivated children, grades two through five. Results show the importance of individual differences in children's dispositions to respond to incentive conditions. (JH)

The possible advantages and disadvantages of using local or national educational achievement norms as standards for classroom performance are weighed against the more common situation wherein students are involved in face-to-face competition with their classroom peers. This introductory discussion concludes that the motivational value of "average…

Males and females in kindergarten and third grade predicted whether a boy or a girl would succeed on a masculine or a feminine task. Findings support attribution theory and indicate that differential perceptions of male and female performance exist in young children. (Author)

This study was designed (1) to investigate the relationship between physical exertion and mental performance in elementary school children and (2) to determine if male or female mental performances are more affected by physical exertion. A total of 95 second graders participated in six treatments of induced physical exertion during their regularly…

Two studies are presented in which three fourth- or fifth-graders, assigned to five experimentally-created conditions which differed systematically in presence or absence of task-roles and group roles, were asked to cooperate in making a block-pattern on a round board. Behavior was pre-coded in various group-oriented and individual-oriented…

This investigation used social psychological concepts in analysis of social processes among pupils engaged in a cooperative task. It explored several ways of increasing interdependence among participants and determined the effects of such conditions on pupil performance. The subjects were 228 randomly selected fourth and fifth grade students. The…

Results indicate that the auditory stimulation in no way affected task performance. Author argues that great amounts of money should not be spent by either schools or parents in order to eliminate moderate amounts of noise from a child's academic environment. (Author/CB)

To determine whether gifted children are faster than average students on all behaviors sampled or only on academic subjects, 46 gifted and 30 average children were tested. The time rates for tapping, walking, reading, answering, and calculating were determined. All children were from grades 4 through 6; median IQ of the gifted was 138, and for the…

This study investigated decision behavior exhibited by elementary school aged children in a laboratory decision task. An effort was made to separate 247 children into "auditory" and "visual" subjects on the basis of their performance on two immediate memory sub-tests from the revised (1968) ITPA. Since the correlation for the Visual test did not…

Verbal and pictorial class-inclusion questions were presented to children in kindergarten through grade 6. The data indicates that the purely verbal form of the question was less difficult for the children to answer than the pictorial form. (Author/CS)