The research literature documents the different approaches to learning that students in Higher Education (HE) can adopt, e.g. deep, surface and strategic. Stage 1 of a longitudinal study aimed to determine the students' approach to learning, and to assess whether this was related to previous learning experiences, initial expectations of HE and…

The present research examined alternative accounts of prior violation-of-expectation (VOE) reports that young infants can represent and reason about hidden objects. According to these accounts, young infants' apparent success in these VOE tasks reflects only novelty and familiarity preferences induced by the habituation or familiarization trials…

Research with anxious and depressed adults has suggested that anxiety is related to an increased anticipation of both negative memories and negative expectancies whereas depression is related to a reduction in positive memories and expectancies. The present study examined whether anxiety and depression in 123 school-aged adolescents would show the…

In 2000, the New South Wales Board of Studies introduced new syllabi for Junior Science (years 7-10) and Senior Science subjects (years 11 and 12), i.e. Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Earth and Environmental Science (Geology). The structure of these courses is similar: it is based on a contextual perspective and is underpinned by a number of…

Previous research suggests that an eventual information technology (IT) success depend on both its initial adoption (acceptance) and subsequent continued usage (continuance). Expectancy disconfirmation theory (EDT) has been successfully used to predict users' intention to continue using information technologies. This study proposed a decomposed…

Critique of the current order of things is a necessary starting point for any project for radical change. Without an analysis of what is wrong, it is hard to convince anyone that change is necessary. And yet critique alone rarely inspires people to act. We need something to fight for as well as against. The article looks at the centrality of hope…

Perfectionism, which the author defines as beliefs and behaviors associated with high expectations for one's performance, is not necessarily detrimental. Many successful people demonstrate perfectionism that the author labels "functional." They set goals that are attainable, based on realistic self-knowledge. When planning a new venture they focus…

Current literature focuses on traditional student attrition and on transfer transition, but little information is available on the non-traditional transfer student experience. The following study explores the process of non-traditional transfer student attrition through an investigation that illustrates the importance of past student experiences,…

The aim of this study is to explore three different developmental dimensions in an aging population. Based on sentence completion responses, the investigation examines personal anticipations of possible gains, maintenance, and losses. Additionally, the effects of age and other personal and situational factors are examined. The study sample…

Teenage mothers are acutely aware of the conventional wisdom on early childbearing: namely, that teen mothers' futures are bleak and that their children's development is compromised. This view, while supported by early research, has been tempered by more recent studies. After briefly reviewing trends in teen birthrates, this article highlights the…

We examined the mental constructs that guide students' expectations for advisor behavior. Through exploratory factor analysis, we identified four factors that underlie students' expectations. Interpretive analysis revealed underlying dimensions reflected by the factors of advisor role and enactment level. Specifically, the first dimension…

This study focused on identifying intercultural attitudes associated with favorable expectations about participation in study abroad programs. A total of 282 U.S. 1st-year college students completed a questionnaire that included measures of ethnocentrism, intercultural communication apprehension, language interest and competence, prejudice,…

The major goal of this article is to provide teachers with a set of clear and concise recommendations as well as a model for developing effective instruments that will promote powerful learning opportunities for their students, and at the same time, improve their own teaching skills. Based on the author's experience, some of the most problematic…

According to the domain-specific, multilevel homework model proposed in the present study, students' homework effort is influenced by expectancy and value beliefs, homework characteristics, parental homework behavior, and conscientiousness. The authors used structural equation modeling and hierarchical linear modeling analyses to test the model in…

This paper reports three experiments that test the Presupposition-Denial account of complement set reference. According to the theory, complement set focus arises when focus is on the difference between the amount conveyed by a natural language quantifier and a large presupposed amount. We call this difference the shortfall. In this paper, what is…