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 possibility that judges' expectancy effects may adversely affect the results of jury trials is a problem that needs careful theoretical analysis and innovative methods of resolution. Traditional efforts by the legal community to counteract the threat of verbal/nonverbal bias by judges include the "Code of Judicial Conduct," curative…

Differences in sex role expectations between parents of female college freshmen and male college freshmen were investigated. It was hypothesized that parents of entering college freshman women would be less likely than parents of entering freshman men to agree on expectations for their child and on sex role expectations in general, and that young…

Interpretation of experimental tasks is influenced by knowledge of the language used, by assessment of what the experimenter intends, and by how subjects themselves would normally represent the physical situation. Whether these processes in which children engage in cognitive studies differ from those employed by adults in similar tasks was…

Most social interactions involve spontaneous or unintentional behavior. Deliberate behavior, however, represents intentional action. An individual may display a particular emotion or behave in a systematic fashion to convey or conceal a specific type of affect. Often, an observer will question the authenticity of a behavior sequence, deciding…

Traditional efforts to assess behavioral health needs in communities have relied on objective population characteristics to define need. Newer conceptual models must be developed that incorporate survey data into definitions of need. One preliminary model includes resident subjective perceptions of life changes in their personal and social…

This experiment assesses the effects on initial expectancies of time-limited (12 sessions) counseling, of the interaction of time limits with the chronicity of the client's problem, and of the rationale given for time limits (time limits effective/appropriate vs. a long waiting list). Eighty female college students were asked to place themselves…

All available research in which a therapeutic expectancy was directly assessed and than related to a measure of outcome was reviewed. The review revealed that across all studies both client and therapist expectancies appear related to improvement; however, in the better-designed research a differential pattern emerges in which client expectancy no…

Sensitivity to story information that conflicted with expectations was examined in kindergarten, second, fourth, and sixth grade children. The children either read or listened to stories about familiar events. One story was consistent with children's "scripts" for these events, while the other story contained script-inconsistent information. All…

The nature of the relationship between the handicapped child's stimulus characteristics and the expectation held for that child by child care professionals provided the focus of this study. One hundred and twenty subjects viewed photographic slides of 30 children with differing facial characteristics and estimated the capabilities of the…

The variables selected to explore some of the determinants of students' decisions to take or not to take mathematics include measures of one's expectancy for success in mathematics, measures of the incentive value of taking the courses, and measures of selected mediating variables. Seventh and ninth graders of both sexes were tested. Two…

This is an in-depth analysis of eight elementary schools, six of which were characterized by improving student achievement and two of which were declining in student achievement. Data were collected through questionnaires and personal interviews. Ten major findings and 10 recommendations for improvement of student achievement are discussed, along…

In a study of masters program course work, questionnaires were sent to masters degree candidates in history at the University of New South Wales and at Macquaire University. Responses from 45 students were analyzed to determine who was attracted to the program and why, the expectations of the students, the organization of the program, and the…

The years after children demonstrate comprehension of particular syntactic structures have received little attention. What happens in language development after mastery is achieved? Are children then like adult speakers in judging the acceptability of grammatical structures? Questions addressed in this research were: Will older children and young…

Children's expectations regarding the roles played in society by different groups of people have been shown to significantly affect their comprehension of sentences. This paper reports on a study designed to examine the way children's expectations affect the strategies they employ in two tasks tapping the organization of the semantic system. Sixty…