The manual details an observational code designed to track a child during an entire day in a preschool setting. The Eco-Behavioral System for Complex Assessments of Preschool Environments (ESCAPE) encompasses assessment of the following three major categories of variables with their respective subcategories: (1) ecological variables (designated…

Alcohol researchers have sought to characterize the relationship between cue responsivity and alcohol consumption by alcoholics. This study used the beverage tasting paradigm to test for differences in cue responsivity in adolescent sons of alcoholics. It was hypothesized that, compared to sons of nonalcoholics, sons of alcoholics would be more…

Data from observations, parent questionnaires, and child interviews were collected from 36 preschool children and their parents for this investigation of the relationships between preschool children's play patterns at home and at school, and variables from the home environment. In addition, comparisons were made between: (1) mothers' responses to…

To assess whether communication behaviors differ between high and low consensus groups, a study considered the comparative interaction of the first meetings of high and low consensus groups, the first and final meetings of high consensus groups, and the first and final meetings of low consensus groups. Subjects, 84 students in a small group…

The concept of place identity is a theoretical necessity for understanding the impact of the urban environment on the individual. Place identity refers to clusters of perceptions in the form of images, memories, facts, ideas, beliefs, values, and behavior tendencies relevant to the individual's existence in the physical world. These clusters are…

Considerable attention has been paid to the question of whether altruism increases with age through the years of childhood and early adolescence. The relationship between age and helping was examined for 128 boys and 128 girls in the first experiment. A second sample of an additional 256 participants was then studied to investigate factors which…

Forty-one college students participated in a study designed to gather validity and reliability information on a procedure used to measure communication competence, the Communication Competency Assessment Instrument (CCAI). The study, in confirming operationalization validity, found that self-report measures correlated only slightly with…

A literature review of communications, psychological, physiological and other sociobehavioral research literature reveals a number of paradoxes regarding the emphasis by information gatekeepers, media, and audiences on messages that are negative, critical, pessimistic, conflict-and-tension-producing, skeptical, punitive, threatening,…

A survey of 222 grade school children indicates that sex differences in emotional response to failure might further explain the fact that boys have learning difficulties more often than girls, and that girls' relatively more advanced cognitive development is thought to partially account for the situation. (Author/MC)

This study assumes that all suicidal and self-destructive behavior can be placed on a continuum from hopeful (H) to hopeless (S). The author attempts to show that there is an underlying continuum of hope corresponding to what we know about the statistics of suicidal behavior. He employs two operational hypotheses as tests of his ideas: (1) a group…

There are Hispanics who reject their ethnicity. This process may be obvious or it may be subtle. The rationale for this behavior is that by rejecting "Hispanidad" and adapting linguistic styles, dressing habits, and other behavior patterns they become Americans, the more acceptable mainstream group. An Hispanic person does not need to stop being…

This study is based on Locke's (1968) hypothesis that individuals will spontaneously set performance goals when feedback is related to a standard of performance. The study tests Locke's proposal in an actual work setting by comparing the performance rate of keystroke operators who received feedback and a standard with that of a control group who…

Peer modeling as a non-punitive disciplinary technique was examined in two studies assessing its effectiveness in increasing self-control of young children in the absence of an authority figure. The first study investigated the effect of observing the rule-following behavior of a peer model on the observing child's subsequent self-control.…

Both criterion-referenced testing and behavioral assessment share the basic assumption that test behavior is a sample rather than a sign. In addition, both types of assessment focus on response capabilities and performance in specified content domains. Although content validity has been traditionally recognized as essential to criterion-referenced…

This report examines the use of leisure time in North America. Some conclusions are as follows. Situational factors of association, frequency, location, and scheduling were found more highly correlated with the kinds of leisure chosen by adults than either census-data or immediate community variables. The type of activity is one significant…