Recent research projects demonstrate that pictures in reading textbooks have a negative effect on the word-decoding ability of young readers. This particular study questioned whether the relative difficulty of the words being read determines the effect that pictures have on good, normal, and poor readers. After pretesting to determine reading…

Two factor analytic studies of anxiety and locus of control produced multiple factors in groups of normal and non-normal children. Mean scores discriminated between groups and the factors that emerged differed qualitatively across groups. The multidimensionality of the constructs and qualitative differences as these constructs operated in the…

The author stresses the need for caution in using intelligence test results to identify mildly retarded children under seven years of age. (LH)

Research supported by U.S. Office of Education Contract OEC-3-7-068694-2082

Courses using a Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) have proliferated in the past decade. Researchers have explored various factors related to PSI, but rarely, if ever, have students' study habits or preferences been considered. A questionnaire examining the study habits, exam preferences and attitudes toward various instructional formats was…

College students experiencing academic difficulties are a major concern to universities. Research has indicated that many underachievers display certain identifiable electroencephalogram (EEG) characteristics. Unlike achieving students, underachievers often exhibit little EEG arousal during normally motivating tasks. These findings suggest that…

Explanations for differences in reading proficiency should be constructed around an atlas of reading-related individual differences in cognition. Such an atlas should include well-documented "bottom-up", text-driven reading strategies and less thoroughly investigated "top-down", schema-driven reading strategies. Research…

Research has provided support for the existence of certain actor-observer and self-serving biases in individuals' retrospective analyses about the causes of behavior. A question that has been relatively unexplored deals with whether the findings on actor-observer differences and the self-serving pattern in attributions are generalizable to…

Only a longitudinal study, in which retrospective reports can be verified against data collected earlier, can determine what topics tend to be reported accurately and whether certain types of individuals are more likely to be accurate reporters. A representative group of adults who became parents 50 years ago are now part of the oldest and longest…

It is often assumed that old age is a time of numerous losses, irritants, and stress. Although researchers have examined the interrelationship of stress, health, and happiness in old age, stress is usually operationalized as a response to major life events; however, stress can also be operationalized as a response to the everyday experiences of…

Presented are examples of student differences in thought forms derived from interviews of students entering the natural science line and technology line of the integrated upper secondary schools in Sweden. Methods are outlined for the symbolic description, analysis and interpretation of "thought forms," and ways are described in which dialogue…

A model of persuasion suggests that individuals comply with a prediction of their behavior because they are persuaded by that prediction; a model of threat suggests that they defy prediction because of its threat of control. College students with either internal (N=20) or external (N=20) loci of control were informed of the accuracy of the…

The purpose of this study was to replicate, with female respondents, a 1975 survey of male preservice substance abuse and its correlates. The Navy's Drug Experiences Questionnaire was administered to 519 women in June 1976. Responses were compared to those of the 1975 male sample. Results showed that female and male preservice drug experiences…

In the social learning perspective the anticipation of rewarding consequences serves as one source of motivation. A second results from the perception of a negative discrepancy between present capabilities and desired performance. To foster motlvation it is necessary that persons accurately appraise their capabilities. Techniques for fostering…

This paper focuses on the refinement and articulation of the invitational education concept to science teaching in the classroom, an approach consistent with the underlying philosophy of SCIS. The first section of the paper outlines the nature of invitations and disinvitations and describes the ability of teachers to send formal or informal…