This monograph reviews studies which have measured and compared classroom and other human behaviors occurring in different cultures and nations, points out problems related to the comparisons made, and describes procedures which can be used to help standardize measurements of behavior made using systematic observation instruments. Standardization…

This study performs a canonical correlation analysis of demographic information and the Behavior Problem Checklist (BPCL) in order (a) to employ the demographic information in a manner that had not been possible using other methods, and (b) to examine the four factors on the BPCL as a general measure of mental health and mental illness. (Author)

Male undergraduate volunteers (N=27) were interviewed by nine male counseling students using an intake interview. Each student counselor saw three subjects, one in each of three counselor-client distance conditions: 18 inches, 30 inches, and 48 inches. Subjects' degree of comfort scores ranged from highest for 30 inches to lowest for 18 inches…

An observational instrument was developed to measure social competence in kindergarten classrooms. Social competence was specified in terms of four broad behavioral categories: obedience, cooperation, interaction, and autonomy. Each category was further particularized in terms of observable behaviors. Initial 5-minute observations using the…

Since observers' memory-based ratings of organizational phenomena provide data in research and decision-making contexts, bias in observers' judgments must be examined. A study was conducted to explore the extent to which leader behavior ratings are more generally biased by the availability heuristic. The availability heuristic is operative when a…

The Leisure and Recreation Behavior Evaluation (LRBE) measure is intended for use by direct care staff of mentally handicapped adults. The LRBE evaluates an individual's level of independence for a leisure or recreation behavior on a 4-point rating scale for 30 aspects divided into six major categories: (1) the activity, (2) preparation and…

The study evaluated the effectiveness of an adaptation of the Behavior Rating Scale (BRS), a child observation form, as a screening device for identifying learning disabled children in the primary schools of Botswana. Children (N=620) in two different primary school grades (standards 5 and 7) and two different types of schools (Setswana Medium and…

This study assessed the interchangeability of the Matthews Youth Test for Health (MYTH) and Hunter-Wolf A-B Rating Scale. Data from 25 elementary teachers and 300 of their students showed these scales to be weakly correlated, and the concordance of their A-B classifications to be only slightly above that expected by chance. Weak agreement was…

A questionnaire on student adjustment was completed by 54 secondary level regular classroom teachers with educable mentally retarded (EMR) students in their classrooms. Results revealed that the teachers did not rate EMR Ss very well in social, emotional-psychological, or academic performance. Academic performance was rated much more negatively…

Reviewed are observational techniques for rating the communication of deaf-blind multihandicapped children, and reported is an initial study of the diagnostic observational competency of 75 speech pathologists at 5 levels of training and experience. (LC)

In this study, visual representations and childhood egocentricity were explored to see how young children found their simple representations adequate and sufficient at one time and then progressively increased their own demands for comprehensibility, accommodating to the perspective of the viewer. (Author)

Factor-analytic methods were used toassess contruct validity of the Classroom Behavior Inventory, a scale for rating behaviors associated with hyperactivity. The Classroom Behavior Inventory measures three dimensions of behavior: Hyperactivity, Hostility, and Sociability. Significant concurrent validity was obtained for only one Classroom Behavior…

This study compared three ways of analyzing individual mother-infant attachment behaviors in order to test the hypothesis that success in the search for stable individual differences in attachment behavior is in part a function of the level at which behavior individuality is assessed. Fifty infants were videotaped in the Ainsworth and Wittig…

Eight disruptive children attended an after school reading tutorial program one hour a day for 72 days. After baseline, the children evaluated their academic and social behavior. A token program was instituted in which points and backup reinforcers were made contingent upon accurate self-ratings. This program was then gradually modified. (Author)