Reports three studies which assess bias on the part of aggressive boys to overattribute hostile intentions to peers. After determining the condition under which aggressive attributions are made, the role of selective attention to and recall of hostile cues in biased attribution was investigated. Additionally, peer-directed aggressive behaviors…

Assessed the relation between four- and five-year-olds' prosocial behavior and empathy with a modified version of the Feshbach empathy measure. Prosocial behaviors were assessed naturalistically over 10 weeks. (Author/SS)

Naturalistic observations were made of children in grades one through six on school playgrounds. Observers coded interactive behaviors, affective valence, and play states. Aggressive children displayed more verbal and physical aggression, antisocial behaviors, and interaction than did nonaggressive children. Peers made similar initiations to the…

This article discusses the increased emphasis on providing early intervention services within natural environments and how to maximize natural learning opportunities by using everyday activities that children experience and embedding intervention in daily routines. Guidelines for deciding the frequency of services, changing services, and the level…

Reviews the research that suggests that qualitative approaches to the evaluation of library user education programs may sometimes be more appropriate than quantitative measures. The differences between quantitative and qualitative evaluation are discussed, and the instances in which one approach may be preferred to the other are identified. (17…

Definitions of and approaches to naturalistic evaluation are discussed. The qualitative aspects of the discipline are reviewed; and use of naturalistic evaluation in descriptions, illustrations, explications, hypothesis testing, and assessment of public spending are defined. A new paradigm for naturalistic evaluation is proposed. (TJH)

Describes a naturalistic paradigm and discusses the value of using a naturalistic, or qualitative, approach to study the effectiveness of computer-based instruction (CBI) and to design effective courseware. Topics discussed include data collection; data analysis; and findings of naturalistic studies of CBI effectiveness. (53 references) (LRW)

Examines the accuracy of quoted speech in newspapers, focusing on what people can remember verbatim and how that information relates to language processing, comprehension, and the mental representation of prose. Finds that memory for meaning was better than memory for verbatim prose, though memory for both was high. (MM)

Presents a nontraditional, naturalistic study of writing apprehension in the form of a dialogue between the subject of the case study and her teacher. Describes how the subject overcame a writing block (involving an undergraduate honors thesis) by writing about the block. Presents a sense of an individual writer and the social construction of her…

Described two types of naturalistic research from different theoretical traditions: new paradigm research and ecological psychology. Applications are suggested for research in college student development and for professional practice in college student affairs. Includes examples of naturalistic research and discusses criteria for scientific…

A brief ethnographic study of a metropolitan airport revealed that a relatively small number of people had taken up residence there, prizing the airport mainly for its survival utility and amenities. Policies and attitudes regarding the homeless and a critique of the pathological explanation for homelessness are explored. (CJS)

Used naturalistic observation to study 242 first- to third- graders playing two games that varied in physicality and competitiveness. As predicted, children interacted more often with same-sex peers. Findings support the necessity of investigating social context as an influence on children's own-sex favoritism. (SLD)

This study investigated whether mothers are responsive to their children's literacy level, thus employing different writing mediation styles with each twin according to the child's level, or whether they possess a consistent style employed with both twins. The sample included 28 sets of twin kindergartners (56 children, M age = 68.89 months) and…

This article describes a new construct for coding the social communicative performance of school-aged children as they interact with peers and teachers in the classroom. The Social Communication Coding System (SCCS) allows clinicians a way of describing how children actually spend their time during the school day by observing ongoing behaviors…

Three studies investigated children's belief in causal determinism. If children are determinists, they should infer unobserved causes whenever observed causes appear to act stochastically. In Experiment 1, 4-year-olds saw a stochastic generative cause and inferred the existence of an unobserved inhibitory cause. Children traded off inferences…