Noting that beyond the individual variations among humans, there is a body of mental abilities common to every human being, this book examines the debate among researchers about the extent to which humans are "preprogrammed," and suggests a new scientific psychology of human development. By examining experimental data obtained from…

The intent of this study was to reduce the numbers of off-task behaviors of a group of 32 sixth-grade students in an economically disadvantaged, urban, junior high school. The subjects of the study were given the materials (paper, the mathematics book, and pencils) and seated before the tardy bell. Following teacher graphing of each of the…

"Second Step" for preschoolers and kindergartners is a curriculum kit designed to reduce impulsive and aggressive behavior in young children and to increase their levels of social competence by teaching skills in empathy, impulse control, and anger management. The kit, which is part of a series that includes curricula for grades 1-3,…

The effects of orienting activities and practice on performance and student behaviors in a cooperative learning environment were studied with 80 graduate education majors in an educational psychology course. A 2 x 2 factorial design was used, with orienting activity (advance organizer versus objectives) and type of practice (verbal information…

Controversial issues and their effect on students is the focus of this paper, which includes results of research on the influences of media and family. Discussions of controversial issues in an open classroom environment affects student attitudes by promoting: (1) less cynicism about government and politicians; (2) a belief that citizens have…

In 1986, the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) published a new learning style instrument, the NASSP Learning Style Profile (LSP). The LSP offers educators a well-validated and easy to use instrument for diagnosing the cognitive styles, perceptual response tendencies, and study and instructional preferences of middle level…

This report presents a national profile of black college freshmen in 1989-90 and shows how these students have changed based on the past 19 surveys (1971-1989), using data on 16,000-20,000 black freshmen from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program. The study focuses on a wide variety of characteristics of black college freshmen: family…

To increase understanding of workplace literacy, a study investigated whether data from structured interviews conducted in two previous studies of job literacy and job performance relationships support the process model of literacy proposed by Linda Flower and John Hayes, "A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing." In both studies, this…

Problem definition appears to influence problem solving outcomes with respect to their quality. In order to determine whether or not families, confronted as a group by a series of possibly problematic situations, would engage in a problem definition phase, and whether or not the phase or its absence would be related to family members' satisfaction…

Two studies investigated the effects of training on how accurately observers (college students) decoded a complex nonverbal stimulus. In the first experiment, observers viewed silent videotapes of 16 third and fourth-grade school children who were listening to an easy or a difficult lesson. Half of the children were responding spontaneously, while…

A study examined S.L. Bem's Gender Schema Theory as it relates to communicator style. It was hypothesized that (1) speakers using a "powerless" speech style would be perceived less positively than would "powerful" speakers, and (2) sex-typed subjects, that is, those who adhere to a traditional sex role schema, would perceive…

Typical characteristics of impulsive children and adolescents are reviewed and strategies for changing this behavior are considered. Self-instruction training requires the child to verbalize a given problem, alternative approaches to resolution, and attentional strategies. Language becomes a mediator for self-monitoring and regulation. Cognitive…

The factor structure of the Quay Peterson Behavior Problem Checklist was investigated with 358 children identified for or placed in special education classes for the emotionally disturbed, learning disabled, and educable mentally retarded. Ss were selected across racial backgrounds to determine the scale's efficacy in measuring personality…

Under consideration in this conference was the idea that prospective teachers should be assessed on the ability to perform teaching skills relative to each other and that overall patterns of skill performance, not separate skills, should be used as the organizing focus of teacher certification. James Raths, in "Teacher Traits Revisited:…

The relationships between schools' physical environments and the teachers who work in them were explored. Eleven middle school teachers were interviewed about their orientation toward and operation in their schools. They were asked what they thought were their schools' most important features, how they felt about the buildings, what were its good…