Hypothesizes that pharmacological and expectancy effects may be two principles that govern caffeine consumption in the same way they affect other drug use. Tests this theory through a balanced placebo design on 100 male undergraduate students. Expectancy set and caffeine content appeared equally powerful, and worked additionally, to affect…

Four experiments examined 8-month-olds' ability to reason about collections of objects. Findings suggested that infants' expectations about object behavior do not automatically apply to any and all portions of matter within the visual field. The behavior of an entity and infants' prior experience played roles in determining whether infants will…

This plan helps make it easier for all students to do what is expected of them while providing additional support for students with special needs. It includes: telling students what is expected of them; modeling the procedure; watching students in action; coaching students who are unsure or noncompliant; encouraging students at every stage;…

Examines universal-diverse orientation, general counseling expectations, and multicultural counseling expectations in a sample of 186 culturally diverse college students. Findings reveal that college students' universal-diverse orientation and general counseling expectations were positively related to their multicultural counseling expectations.…

Asks whether different scoring systems can explain why many studies have found female failures in performing tasks that were designed to assess concepts of horizontality and verticality. Presents new findings involving 86 men and boys and 84 women and girls through which no significant sex differences were found. Discusses suggestions and…

A study used attribution theory to explain the self-efficacy of 70 prison inmates (35 were gang members) participating in correctional education. Many gang members had low efficacy and expectations for educational attainment. (SK)

Provides and illustrates a method to compute the expected number of misclassifications of examinees using three-parameter item response theory and two state classifications (mastery or nonmastery). The method uses the standard error and the expected examinee ability distribution. (SLD)

Interviews with six mentors, six mentees (beginning trade and industrial teachers), and six supervisors identified characteristics of effective mentors and expectations of the relationship. Appropriate matching, establishment of objectives, and mentor accessibility were important factors. Mentees were sometimes too concerned about imposing on…

A survey of 265 U.S. and 247 Taiwanese college students' expectations of teachers and students showed significant differences related to cultural values such as collectivism/individualism, power distance, and egalitarianism. Ways to improve learning in multicultural classrooms were suggested by the findings. (Contains 18 references.) (SK)

Interviews with 68 Chinese-American undergraduates show that immigrant parents have high expectations for children, but middle- and working-class parents have different resources and pursue different strategies in investing in children's education. Both immigrant optimism and pessimism were apparent. (Contains 70 references.) (SK)

Analysis of 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data for school-to-work participation found that it does not appear to influence behavior associated with college attendance. It does appear to increase subjective probabilities of obtaining a high school diploma and perceived likelihood of future labor market activity. (Contains 15…

Contemporary educational goals place increasing emphasis on conferring recognition and building self-esteem for people deemed to be marginalised and vulnerable. Such goals coalesce with the language, symbols and practices of therapy inscribed within a broader therapeutic ethos. The paper relates these trends to broader cultural demoralisation…

Identification of objects in a scene may be influenced by functional relations among those objects. In this study, observers indicated whether a target object matched a label. Each target was presented with a distractor object, and these were sometimes arranged to interact (as if being used together) and sometimes not to interact. When the…

In studies of probability discounting, the reduction in the value of an outcome as a result of its degree of uncertainty is calculated. Decision making studies suggest two issues with probability that may play a role in data obtained in probability discounting studies. The first issue involves the reduction of risk aversion via subdivision of…

Social cognitive career theory (SCCT) is a complex and extensively researched theory of career choice and performance. Relationships among several key variables of SCCT, including self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and perceived barriers, and their relationships to career choice were investigated. Contrary to prediction, outcome expectations for…