Investigates the relationship between beginning public speakers' self-reported performance anxiety and audience perception of that anxiety. Indicates that audiences perceive speaker anxiety levels to be lower during performance than the speakers themselves report. (AEW)

Expectancies, performance, perceived ability, and causal attributions of males and females who were involved in competitive motor tasks after being matched with an opponent of similiar ability were studied. Results are discussed. (Author/DF)

Hypothesized that audience pressure would prove most detrimental to the skilled performance of adolescents (due to vulnerability to self-awareness) but not of children. Performances of skilled players of video games with and without audience indicated a curvilinear relationship between age and performance change which confirmed the hypothesis.…

Discusses four case studies of regional educational service agencies in their role as disseminators of new knowledge. Three characteristic approaches to dissemination were identified, namely, laissez-faire, entrepreneurial, and authoritarian. These approaches were shaped by five factors in the agency's context: state policy initiatives; client…

This article considers a set of assumptions about the antecedents and consequences of effort expenditure when a subject is engaged in achievement-oriented behavior. It examines both static models (level of effort is constant over trials) and dynamic models (preceding task outcome may influence current level of effort). (Author/BW)

Used a thought-listing procedure to investigate the extent to which students' (N=207) thoughts differ as a function of test anxiety, past achievement, and the points at which they are assessed. Results showed that high-test-anxious students were less positive about tests and viewed tests as more active and potent. (LLL)

Investigated effects of observer presence and subject (N=96) sex on both performance quantity and quality, job satisfaction, and task perceptions. Results demonstrated significant effects on the performance measures. Results for task perceptions supported the hypothesis that the situational factors would make salient the significance of the task.…

Describes two experiments that looked at: (1) how accurately, in a multiple-trial learning situation, individuals are able to predict their own performance on a trial-by-trial basis over the entire course of acquisition; and (2) what information a person uses to predict his or her own acquisition performance. (SED)

Attempts to validate the memory portion of the Strub-Black Mental Status Exam by comparing it to the Wechsler Memory Scale. Results indicate significant differences in almost all scores between the brain-damaged and normal groups. The Mental Status Examination appears valid for the differentiation of clinical samples and for the documentation of…

Compares comprehension monitoring skills of younger (five- to six-year-old) and older (eight- to nine-year-old) children. Subjects examined ambiguous and incomplete pictorial instructions for making two models and were asked whether they needed additional information to make the models. (RH)

Analyzed the intercorrelations among the 11 subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) in the nine age groups in the normative sample. Results suggested that the factor structure underlying the WAIS-R is complex and that a large proportion of WAIS-R performance can be explained by a general intellectual factor. (LLL)

Different types of diving entries were filmed both above water and underwater to help identify factors which enable divers to enter the water without apparent splash. Anthropometric measures of subjects were taken to determine body streamlining. Results are presented. (Author/DF)

Investigated sex bias in the evaluation of performance in two experiments. College students evaluated an intellectual or artistic performance attributed to a man or woman. Results showed female judges showed antifemale bias when evaluating by ambiguous guidelines but not when guidelines were clearly specified. Male subjects showed little bias.…

Elderly adults (N=72) were presented a concept problem which varied as a function of type of solution shift and stimulus materials. Both trials to criterion and postshift error patterns were analyzed. Results indicated stimulus materials affected postshift performance and the elderly do respond in a dimensional fashion under some circumstances.…

This book explores how to forge policies that preserve the internal autonomy required for campus creativity and diversity while ensuring the external accountability demanded for campus performance and results. It attempts to separate the reality and rhetoric of performance funding. The chapters are: (1) "The New Accountability"; (2)…