This report provides a composite look at public schools in the first 111 communities that conducted the 152-item survey titled "Search Institute Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors" through the RespecTeen program. Chapter 1 presents a vision of what is wanted for children, then attempts to evaluate how well this vision is being met.…

A reward system was implemented for 1 month in a second grade classroom in an attempt to increase prosocial interactions among students. Participants were 37 children approximately 7.5 years of age who attended two classes at a rural elementary school. Children in treatment and control classrooms were given a brief lecture on good citizenship;…

To understand the origins of demonstrated tracking deficits possessed by parents of problem children, a study examined in detail possible differences between a sample of parents with behavior-problem children and a sample of parents with "normal" children. Subjects were 48 mothers who had children between the ages of 4 and 10. While…

In a study designed to determine whether experience in day care or preschool affects children's knowledge and enactment of prosocial behaviors, 59 children in day care, preschool, and home care were pre- and post-tested concerning: (1) their understanding of helping, sharing, comforting, honesty, and civic awareness; (2) their definitions of…

While research examining altruism has relied on subject responses to written vignettes rather than actual altruism-eliciting situations, the relationship between written responses and actual behavior has not been established. To assess the degree to which some classic social/psychological behavior results could be replicated using short, written…

Findings of an evaluation of the first 5 years of a longitudinal program designed to enhance children's prosocial development are reported. The program was offered for children in three elmentary schools in a suburban, middle-class district near San Francisco. Three schools in the same district served as a comparison group. Enrollment ranged from…

A study was designed to identify and clarify relationships between naturally observed, task-measured, and elicited instances of kindergarten children's role-taking, prosocial behavior and sharing behavior. An additional goal of the study was to illuminate possible relationships between prosocial behavior and children's temperamental…

Past research indicates that people employ different strategies to manage others' impressions; however, conditions which make these strategies effective remain unclear. Using a sample of college students (N=345), the effectiveness of self-presentational strategies on influencing others' attributions of causes for expected and unexpected helping…

The reward-cost model of helping behavior in emergency situations suggests that the probability that an observer will help a victim depends, in part, on the relative strength of the rewards and costs of providing help. Factors that influence willingness to help in non-emergency situations were examined using descriptions of situations in which a…

This article offers an overview of the life and work of Eileen Egan, a contemporary and passionate Christian leader whose values can inform religious education today. It argues that her critical questioning of the traditions, assumptions, and premises of Catholic teaching on war and peace is a sign of the emancipatory, transformative learning that…

A theory of altruism is presented which can be used to assess the effects of monetary reward incentives upon degree of altruistic giving. In this paper, the motive for altruism is hypothesized to be desire for self-esteem and the esteem of other people. However, one receives esteem only if the intent of the act is to help another person and not to…

It is generally believed that the audience influences one's self-presentation. Research has described the person sensitive to the public aspects of behavior to be in a state of public self-awareness. This construct of public self-consciousness was examined in relation to the individual's self-presentations to several different audiences. A median…

A self-presentational framework for understanding how people define a just exchange and why behaving justly is important to them is proposed. A case is posited for two self-presentational principles of justice -- that one is responsive to the perceived beliefs of significant others in determining what is just; and that one usually comes to believe…

This paper reports upon the evaluation and implementation of a 30-item Likert-type rating scale for teachers to use in assessing children's behaviors within preschool classrooms. The Preschool Observation Scale (POS) was developed to evaluate programs of the Mt. Druitt Early Childhood Project, North Ryde, Australia. Items were constructed on the…

Several related studies of empathy and altruism in children were conducted to answer such questions as: (1) What are the very early signs of empathy and altruism in children? (2) What kinds of transformations in these behaviors take place during development? and (3) How do rearing experiences influence these behaviors? Data related to these…