This issue of a research journal on gifted education explores various aspects of the new talent-oriented approach to intellectual functioning and development. It examines the role of the family in talent development, career development of talented individuals, and the characteristics of ideal teachers for the gifted. Specific articles include: (1)…

Much informal evidence argues that the arts can contribute significantly to social well-being, enhance community and individual development, and in so doing help reduce crime and violence. The broad goal of this study was to provide evidence to corroborate the informal findings. The paper reports the results of Phase 1 of the project which…

Interpersonal communication skills training groups led by undergraduate paraprofessional leaders using an interpersonal process-recall videotape-feedback training model were compared with groups using a limited-structure encounter-group model and with no-treatment control groups. Participants in the interpersonal-process-recall videotape-feedback…

The relationship between self ratings and teacher ratings of 100 children, 9 to 15 years of age, in classes for the educable mentally retarded was examined. (Author/MC)

After describing performance contracting as exemplified of the system in operation at a Gary, Indiana elementary school, the authors give the implications of such systems for counselors. To them, this approach seems to neglect the psycho-social aspects of students' education. They therefore recommend that counselors conduct research to evaluate…

This discussion of the historically dependent dispositions influencing prosocial behavior includes both a brief summary of the present state of knowledge regarding individual orientations to prosocial behavior, and a critical examination of the form that research has taken to date. (JM)

Study suggests that an important social stimulus is the sex of the child's peers. Peer sex and changes in the sex composition of dyads affect the frequency of occurrence in several categories of social behavior. (Authors/CB)

Results show that the retarded group was significantly more cooperative than the nonretarded group, and the 6-7 year retarded group was more cooperative than the 11-12-year retarded group. (Authors/CB)

Discusses the West German free school movement and the influence it has for stimulating reassessment in our own educational practices. (Author/RK)

Presented, in part, at the Kennedy Foundation Scientific Symposium on Mental Retardation (Chicago, April 29, 1968). (RJ)

Role-taking, a prototypical social-cognitive skill, is the ability to view the world (including the self) from another's perspective. (Author/MB)

Accumulating evidence suggested that during the first 3 years a child needs a certain amount and quality of experience for an optimal rate of intellectual development. (Author)

Scientists and technologists must be educationally prepared to represent their countries at the international level in order to make decisions on questions relating to science policy and the transfer of technology to other countries. (CK)