In everyday conversation, people sometimes laugh as they speak. A study was conducted to determine whether the content of statements occurring with laughter differed systematically from that of statements occurring without laughter. Tape recordings of 20 utterances taken from a conversation among a small group of college students were categorized…

The report describes preliminary results of a study investigating the merits of teaching five severely and multiply handicapped preschoolers to take the initiative during social interaction with an adult using signals/actions already in his/her repertoire. Such initiative was theorized as fundamental to the development of communicative,…

Self-definition is a thought pattern, scored from imaginative fantasy, which is related to constructive behavioral independence of social norms. Research has shown that self-definition seems related to the opportunity for operant initiative-taking, especially when active and less sex-stereotyped activities are chosen. Senior college women (N=118)…

Reports an analyses of ratings on Bayley's Infant Behavior Record and test scores from the Bayley Mental Scale for 60 female and 50 male infants at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months of age. Results are discussed in terms of rank-order correlations, behavioral composite scores and study implications. (Author/SDH)

Children's racial attitudes are beginning to be formed long before they go to school. What can city-centre schools do to ease racial tension? (Editor)

This article reports an investigation in which the brith order, social class, and level of achievement arousal are the variables considered when fifth and sixth-grade girls make independent judgements in performing a set task. (JH)

Nine-year-old remedial summer school students were tested for conformity with a modified Asch procedure. Subjects conformed more to simulated camp peers who had made good grades than to simulated remedial summer-school peers. Implications of the results are discussed in terms of ability grouping and adjustment of remidial students. (ST)

Describes a project which serves handicapped children, from birth to age 3, and their parents. The project includes home-based as well as classroom instruction. (SET)

This experiment asked Clinical Psychology and Counseling graduate students to evaluate the mental health of strangers using attitude statements and behavior statements purported to refer to fictitious strangers. Holding behavior statements constant, strangers displaying attitudes dissimilar to the students' were rated as significantly more…

As part of a study of the cultural and societal factors influencing alcohol use and abuse and variations in drinking patterns among California's Spanish speaking population, ethnographic research was conducted in three separate communities. In this paper, the design and methodology (including participant observation), and some of the results of…

This article assesses the affects of several factors; sex, age, occupation, size of residence, anomie, marital status, class, and world view, on attitudes towards death. The author's attitudes model is based upon the four-part basic Durkheimian typology, varying in degree and nature of an individual's integration in societal groups. Included in…

An overview of major themes in altruism research during the 1969-1975 period is presented. Those problems specific to each approach, as well as problems believed to plague the bulk of current studies, are briefly described. Several areas of research (e.g., processes involved in the receiving of help) that appear particularly promising are also…

This paper describes the results of the Eagleville Reading Academy and Satellite Program, a demonstration project funded by the U.S. Office of Education. Eagleville is a private, nonprofit hospital devoted to treatment, research, education and training for alcoholism and drug addiction. The therapeutic community setting includes individual and…

In Ann Arbor, Michigan, penalties for the possession of small amounts of marijuana were changed three times in four years. This provided an opportunity to assess the relationship between changes in the legal status of marijuana and the use of marijuana and five other classes of drugs. Data were collected by anonymous self-report questionnaires…

The authoritarian-aggression attitudes of graduate education students were studied. Authoritarian-aggression is defined as the tendency to look for, condemn, reject, and punish people who violate conventional behavior. It was hypothesized that no significant differences in authoritarian-aggression attitudes exist between graduate students who…