Discusses constructivist uses of production rule expert systems that may be used to support learning for secondary and higher education. Highlights include locus of control; and objectivist and constructivist applications of expert systems as intelligent tutoring systems, as feedback systems, as personal knowledge representation tools, and for…

Examined relationship between academic comfort and occupational orientation, and between academic comfort and persistence for 68 ethnically diverse students. Results from 41 African-American, 12 Hispanic, and 12 white students showed significant relationships between comfort and occupational orientation and introversion-extroversion. Three-year…

Examined Israeli adolescents' responses to impending unconventional warfare by administering Nuclear Threat Index to 269 junior high school students 2 months prior to Persian Gulf War. Younger adolescents and females reported more activity, pessimistic thoughts, and concerns than older adolescents and males, respectively; and "internal"…

Describes a competence/risk theory that hypothesizes that people can use personal competence to influence the probabilities of success or failure in an adventure, providing their perceptions are correct. In a series of linked pathways and feedback loops, a model illustrates the impact of a risk-taking activity on the participant's emotional and…

Study examined causes of and differences in stress and burnout among British teachers. Surveys indicated that teachers had low anxiety, stress, and burnout levels, though individual, environmental, and psychological factors correlated with stress and burnout. Although individual stress and burnout management is important, there must be action to…

Examined knowledge about medicines and perceived benefit among 101 children, ages 7 and 10. Found that medicine knowledge was explained using age, educational environment, and degree of internal locus of control as significant predictors. The negative effect of internal locus of control predicted perceived benefit. Retention of drug advertising…

Examined predictors and sequelae of homesickness in 293 boys, ages 8 to 16 years, who spent two weeks at an overnight camp. Found that the "homesick disposition" and little prior separation together accounted for 69% of the variance in self-reported homesickness. Interpersonal attitudes and perceived control predicted 70% of the variance…

Data from 77 ninth-grade Spanish students who took an objective test, a performance assessment, and a measure of perceptions of control indicate that control perceptions predict scores on performance assessments, not objective tests. Performance assessments thus reflect motivational variables beyond the constructs being tested. (SK)

Examines abuse-related attributions and perceptions, general attributions, and locus of control and their psychological impact on sexually abused girls. Seventy-seven subjects and 88 controls were administered the Children's Attributional Style Questionnaire and the Locus of Control Scale for Children. Discusses clinical and research implications…

A study examined emotional resiliency, stress level, locus of control, and achievement need in 17 college students with learning disabilities (LD) and 17 controls. Students with LD had higher resiliency scores and achievement need scores and reported fewer college stressors. No differences were found on the locus of control measure. (Contains…

Reviews major measures that have been used to capture the construct of teacher efficacy, noting problems that have arisen with each. The paper proposes a new measure of teacher efficacy, the Ohio State Teacher Efficacy Scale, offering validity and reliability data from three separate studies. New directions for research made possible by this…

This paper explores the process of developing principles that fall into three main categories: Classroom management, maintaining a positive attitude in the classroom, and developing the big picture. The author explores the development of principles which emerge from the exploration of emotional reactions to interpersonal interactions with…

Among the most overlooked aspects in the development of elite young soccer players is that of specific psychological traits. Of those traits, motivation has important implications for programs whose objectives are identification and cultivation of young, skilled performers. The growth in popularity of soccer by youth and the successes experienced…

The major purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of locus of control on African American high school seniors' educational aspirations. Controlling for family, student, and school characteristics, the results of the study suggest that African American high school seniors who reported higher levels of locus of control were more likely…

"Background": Clinical trials have shown that behavioural treatments based on variants of prolonged-speech (PS) are best practice for reducing the stuttering rate in adults. However, while stuttering is significantly reduced or eliminated for most adults in the short-term with such treatment, relapse in the longer-term is common. Consequently,…