Staff development activities that affect professional ability must be coupled with efforts toward organizational development if two additional determinants of performance, employee motivation and organizational climate, are to be significantly improved. Indeed, emphasis on staff development alone may have negative effects in that such an approach…

A sample of 188 freshman students was tested for ability in seven areas of reading, prior to the beginning of the academic year; their scores were later related to the cumulative grade point average (CGPA) for their freshman year. Significant correlations were found between CGPA and vocabulary, reflective comprehension, total comprehension, and…

In this study, Hull's Drive Theory was applied to a test of the effects of general anxiety and situational stress upon speakers' lexical diversity, speaking rate, speaking time, and evaluations made of the speakers' ability. Recordings of speeches made by 122 individuals were rated by three judges on scales measuring central idea and analysis,…

Employing a cognitive/motivational analysis, a study was undertaken to determine some specific self-perceptions that might contribute to motivational and performance deficits observed in children with reading difficulties. A total of 72 children of relatively good, average, and poor reading ability were assessed on tasks in which success and…

Reactions of men and women to failure in sex-appropriate and sex-inappropriate tasks were examined through performance records, self-ratings of learning progress, and attributions of performance to effort and ability. Fear of success studies show that individuals may avoid success where success is sex-inappropriate. It was thought that failure…

Four treatment procedures were evaluated for effectiveness in reducing self injurious behavior (SIB) of 22 severely handicapped students. Treatment procedures included contingent restraint, reinforcement withdrawal, differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior, and ommission training (rewarding the S for not emitting the SIB response).…

A methodology to describe current-value human resources accounting (HRA) was developed to aid management in decision making and provide information about the effects of organizational policies and practices on the value of the organizations' human resources. A two-phase activity was designed to investigate the nature of the relationship between…

Relationships between change agent performance and outcome success within the context of group behavioral programs are identified. The evaluation of either the ultimate effectiveness, or the specific change processes in a group program often requires assessing the behavior of the change agents, as well as that of the target population. Five design…

Four variables--teacher personality, knowledge of reading, years of experience, and number of years since last reading course--and their relationships with pupil achievement in reading were examined in a study involving 23 fourth grade teachers. The teachers were evaluated on several instruments and their pupils were pretested and posttested with…

This study analyzed variance in county extension chairmen's (CEC) conformity to an administrative performance leadership (APL) concept of their role. Relationships between APL and agent morale and performance, CEC attributes, and CEC relationships with agents, were assessed. Results were reexamined after adjusting for effects of sex, level of…

The document presents the findings of a multiple regression analysis and a factor analysis of variables used in the prediction of student performance after two years of participation in Project APEX. This project seeks to demonstrate that 24 disadvantaged students with college potential can succeed in a special university program. Subjects were…

The purpose of this study was to determine if the sex of class members would influence the results of a course in basic oral communication. Subjects were 64 students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In an all-female class, an all-male class, and two coeducational classes, the following variables were investigated: self-concept…

In this paper differing theories on behavioral psychology are examined as they relate to individual reactions to anxiety producing situations. The focus is on athletes and how personality traits and stress situations influence their behavior and performance. The basic question asked is "How do persons and situations interact in promoting or…

In order to examine the effectiveness of a token economy program, sheltered workshop attendance of chronic schizophrenics was investigated under the following conditions: response cost versus no response cost consequences for nonattendance; response cost and noncontingent token payment; and restricted versus unrestricted mobility during the no…

An experiment was performed to assess if, and how, attention to a problem solving task varies with anxiety level. It was hypothesized that high anxious children would glance away from a task more often than less anxious children, in light of research literature which suggests that high anxious children are inattentive to tasks in order to avoid…