The author argues that despite the conventional wisdom that schools cannot overcome the effects of socioeconomic status and race on academic achievement, there is a growing body of literature indicating that school climate and students' sense of control of their environment are strongly correlated with achievement. Five school-specific strategies…

Using college freshmen enrolled in a learning analysis course, the relationship between five tests of cognitive style was investigated: (1) Group Embedded Figures Test; (2) Grasha-Riechmann Student Learning Style Questionnaire; (3) Adult Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale; (4) Mehrabian Stimulus Screening Test; and (5) Kolb Learning Style…

The inferior performance of external locus of control (LOC) subjects (Ss) on achievement tests has been attributed by many researchers to cognitive and perceptual deficiencies. Several studies have shown that advance organizers (AO) which provide optimal anchorage and mobilize existing relevant concepts, facilitate learning of verbal material.…

This study predicts that race is not related to global measures of self-esteem but that in the context of specific evaluative feedback, racial differences in self-evaluation will be observed. Forty black and 40 white college students were administered the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale and a series of memory tasks about which contrived feedback was…

Much early research regarded television as a static medium, and it ignored the process of the information delivery and its match with the cognitive style of the viewer. Information processing should be looked at from the dual perspective of eye movement research and the degree of locus control. To uncover the interrelationships of efficient eye…

The relation between field independence-dependence and creativity was investigated in 40 fourth graders equally divided by sex. The measures used were the Children's Embedded Figures Test, several verbal and figural subtests from the Torrance Tests of Creativity, and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. No significant Pearson correlations were…

This study examined an application of a human machine interface which relies on the use of optical bar codes incorporated in a computer-based module to teach radio production. The sequencing procedure used establishes the user rather than the computer as the locus of control for the mediated instruction. (Author/MBR)

This study evaluated the degree to which college major (education or business) and student individual differences (sex, age, mathematics ability, and locus of control) are related to attitudes about computers. Results indicate education majors have less favorable attitudes about computers than business majors even with individual differences taken…

Describes a new 48-item self-report instrument, the Multidimensional Measure of Children's Perceptions of Control, which defines children's perceptions of control as understanding the locus of sufficient cause for success and failure. Three dimensions of third- through ninth-grade children's perceptions of control are assessed within three…

A study used the standardized Group Embedded Figures Test to assess field dependence-field independence among groups of vocational education teachers of varied ages and teaching backgrounds. The sample consisted of 170 volunteers who were vocational education teachers and trainers in the process of completing the requirements for either a diploma…

In adventure education, risk is important to achieving program objectives. An increased concern with legal liability and the concentration of media attention on negative outcomes have contributed to an increased social aversion to risk. Adventure education must establish that risk leads to personal growth and can be managed constructively in the…

Describes study that investigated achievement and motivation effects related to locus of control and learner control on seventh and eighth grade Hispanic students completing a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) science lesson. Use of the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility scale is discussed, and a questionnaire that assessed student…

Reports a national study of variables influencing the retention, restriction, or removal of challenged library materials in secondary schools. Results show that retention is positively associated with the presence of school board policy and support of librarians, whereas removal is associated with administrative challenges and librarians willing…

A shortened version of the Parental Bonding Instrument, used in a sample of Norwegian adolescents, aged 15-19, indicated that adolescents' perceptions of mothers' and fathers' care and control/overprotection were related to measures of both depression/anxiety and delinquency. Scores may indicate risks in a broad range of psychosocial problems.…

Research suggests that primary control increases as humans develop from infancy through middle age and then decreases in old age. To minimize losses, individuals rely on cognitively based secondary control processes in middle and old age. Literature on adult control processes is reviewed. (SLD)