These guidelines for writing a learning activity packet (LAP) include a rationale for self instruction; suggested format for writing a LAP; analysis of the LAP format item by item; general instructions for writing a LAP; examples of performance objectives; affective domain attitudinal objectives; and student/teacher contracts for learning;…

This study tests the hypothesis that individual differences in locus of control orientation may mediate elementary school students' responses to positive verbal feedback. A total of 30 kindergarten through fourth grade subjects were assessed for locus of control orientation using the Bialer Children's Locus of Control Questionnaire. To establish a…

In 1960, Project TALENT gathered demographic, cognitive, and socio-psychological data from a nationwide sample of high school students (N=375,000). An investigation of the antecedents and consequences of adolescent childbearing for young parents was conducted with all adolescent childbearers in the ninth and twelfth grade cohorts for whom 5-…

A study examined the relationships among communication predispositions and behaviors and learning preferences. It also assessed instrumentation adequacy for learning style preference. Subjects were 423 high school students who completed a battery of instruments, including D. A. Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI), that measured their perceptions…

This report presents two research studies. The first, an experiment using 176 fifth graders, tested three hypotheses: (1) When content is held constant across messages, different formats of a medium differentially call for mental skills. (2) Formats which call for the same skills in different ways affect learners differently. (3) The TV formats…

The primary goal of this review is to acquaint developmental psychologists who have had little experience in the study of individual differences in cognition with some of the basic rules that govern this type of research. A second goal is to stimulate researchers to consider the potential benefits of studying differences among individuals whose…

The course of psychosocial adjustment to cancer was examined in 105 adults with cancer of the lung, breast and skin. Half of the patients received a program of systematic psychosocial rehabilitation plus evaluation, and the other half received only an evaluation, consisting of a series of psychometric instruments and a problem-oriented structured…

This study examines the relationship among the variables of maternal attitudes toward child care, maternal anxiety, infant temperament, length of gestation and sex for a sample of black mothers of premature and full-term infants. Ninety percent of the mothers were unmarried and 81 percent of the pregnancies were reported to be unplanned. Contrary…

The forty minute Remote Associates Test (RAT) is designed to measure individual differences in an ability considered to be fundamental to the creative thinking process. It is based on a strictly associative interpretation of this process, an interpretation which envisions the process as one of seeing relationships between seemingly mutually remote…

The two-phase study compared two methods of adapting self-instructional materials to individual differences among learners. The methods were compared with each other and with a control condition involving only minimal adaptation. The first adaptation procedure was based on subjects' performances on a learning task in Phase I of the study; the…

This comprehensive paper proposing the use of evolutionary theory as a basis for studies in developmental psychology includes these specific sections: (1) Developmental Theories--a brief overview, (2) Individual Differences, (3) Culture and Inbreeding, (4) Sexual Dimorphism, (5) Critical Periods in the Development of Attachments, (6) Continuity…

The research described is based on videotapes of 40 toddlers interacting with peers during 10 small playgroup sessions spaced throughout the children's second year of life. The paper outlines the development of an observational system for studying the development of peer relations in toddlers, considers the behavioral forms which characterize peer…

This paper discusses discourse comprehension with respect to individual differences. First, some general principles of discourse structure and the processing of discourse are presented. These principles emphasize the role of sentence and thematic structure. Second, possible sources of individual differences in discourse processing are discussed.…

This report collects together three presentations given by the author at scientific and professional meetings during the Spring of 1977. The first discusses present views of the variety and complexity of individual differences among human beings in the context of current research on cognitive processing in learning and instruction. The second…

The use of performance objectives in vocational agriculture is put into perspective with two assumptions. First, in formulating performance objectives, the teacher must consider the program objectives, the characteristics of the students, and the teaching resources of the community. Second, the diversity of interests, abilities, and other…