Attribution theory suggests that attributional styles may contribute to the motivational and performance deficits frequently observed in depressed and lonely populations. An Attributional Style Assessment Test (ASAT) was created and administered to college students, along with the Beck Depression Inventory and the UCLA Loneliness Scale.…

Information about the neuropsychological consequences of alcoholism has been mostly limited to the cognitive functioning of recently detoxified alcoholic men. To expand this research, the long-term recovery of cognitive abilities in alcoholic women was examined in two studies. In the first study, neuropsychological performances were compared for…

The study organized a large data archive gathered on 718 children with severe language disorders over 8 years. Descriptive data were categorized as demographic/background, physical/developmental, social/personality, and language/academic characteristics; and then analyzed for the total group, by sex, and by three age cohorts, allowing a broad…

Three passages of fifth-grade readability were read and recalled by 24 high- and low-ability fifth graders and college students. These passages were characterized as either narrative (high degree of temporal linkage), expository (logical linkage and abstract content), or mixed (logical linkage but with content suggestive of a narrative). The…

An investigation was conducted to ascertain the effects of the structured overview on both the short-term and long-term comprehension of average and below average readers. The subjects were 143 college students classified as average or below average readers and randomly assigned to either a structured overview (65) or a control group (78). Both…

One-hundred-seventy-six male and 116 female college freshmen took part in a questionnaire study of sex differences in attribution of achievemnt. Achievement was operationalized as grade point index, a performance measure of significance to the subjects, where success-failure feedback is contingent on one's own performance. The best predictor of…

The question examined by this study was: Are the traditional reinforcers common to many planned programs of reinforcement in the classroom relevant and meaningful to the pupils themselves? Data is reported from a questionnaire administered to seven-year-old pupils, ten-year-old pupils, and their teachers. A discrepancy was found between reward…

Using Seligman's "learned helplessness" paradigm, androgynous and feminine women (as defined by the Bem Sex Role Inventory) either succeeded (contingent feedback) or failed (non-contingent feedback) at a concept formation task and were provided with internal (ability, effort), external (task difficulty, luck), or no causal attributions for their…

Five different program evaluations were described to indicate those qualities which make an evaluation effective or not effective. Evaluation effectiveness was defined as impact on decision making or long-term policy formation, and influence upon a variety of audiences. Robert D. Matz described the First Chance Project, and concluded that the…

The effects of reinforcement conditions on the test scores of 15 middle income and 15 low income children labeled learning disabled and behaviorally disordered were assessed. A repeated measures design was used, with each subject tested under conditions of no reinforcement, immediate tangible reinforcement, and immediate social reinforcement.…

Motivational techniques and strategies that may be used by teachers to strengthen student performance and reinforce positive attitudes toward learning are discussed and analyzed. The topic is divided into eight major factors for consideration: (1) why human behavior occurs, what is motivation, the mythology of motivation and learning, and the time…

This study examined the effect(s) of rhyme on the recognition and recall of story events by 32 nursery school children at the University of Maine Child Study Center. Although subjects reported liking stories better when they were presented as nursery rhymes rather than prose passages, recognition of story events was significantly higher for prose…

This study investigated the effects of an 18/1 versus a 30/1 student-instructor (S-I) ratio on instructor behavior and student achievement in a computer-managed Navy technical school. Students were randomly assigned to two learning centers in which in 18/1 S-I ratio was maintained, while a 30/1 S-I ratio was maintained in two other learning…

Performance differences and differences in expectancies of success between men and women were examined relative to the replication of preselected and constrained movements. No performance differences were found between the sexes, but preselected movements were reproduced more accurately than constrained movements. Persons who made preselected…

Two experiments used two 2 x 3 x 2 (instructors x test forms x class times) designs to compare three aspects of student performance (mean final examination scores, homogeneity of variance, and retake frequencies) on three test forms. The test items on the three forms were arranged in three ways: (1) forward--items paralleled the presentation of…