Randomly assigned children between ages of three and eight years to sex, age, and race homogeneous three-person groups and asked them to engage in complex, gender-neutral task. On 13 task performance dimensions, found only one significant difference. Remaining 12 dimensions showed mixed but insignificant differences. Concluded that both genders…

Explains Gilbert's Behavior Engineering Model that can enable the success of novice performance engineers by prompting appropriate front-end analysis and describes a performance improvement project conducted in the customer service department at an insurance agency. Discusses task clarification, employee self-monitoring, and public posting of…

Graduate studies and particularly doctoral work are often described as extremely challenging and demanding. Graduate students experience lofty academic demands, high levels of stress and anxiety and conflicts between various responsibilities. Through the self-examination of the experience of four doctoral students and a professor, this paper…

This article discusses the authors' experience in working with young offenders who are leaving care in Ireland. It first presents a brief discussion around one agency called St. Xavier's which the authors have had connections with over the past decade. The main aim of St. Xavier's is to deliver individualized programs of care, education, and…

Kirsten Fink-Jensen offers music educators new insights on lesson planning and engagement with students through careful observation and reflective interpretation of active student involvement in music. She suggests that the phenomenon of musical attunement, including facial expressions, gestures, language, and movements that are articulated…

There is this little secret college-bound and first-year college students outwardly deny: They are scared sick about going off to college. In the authors' interviews with 175 college students throughout the United States for "Survival Secrets of College Students" (Barron's, 2007) students talked--sometimes painfully--about what they wished they…

A weekend encounter experience was arranged for five groups using varying techniques from highly structured to non-structured basic discussion. The subjects were 55 adult volunteers. Results showed that while participants in weekend encounter groups showed positive changes on personality tests, no other group differences appeared. (Author/EK)

Examined relationship between divorce and group commitment. The findings indicate that Jews who have a greater group commitment on a variety of variables are consistently less likely ever to have been divorced. Although the religious basis for group commitment has the largest impact, the ethnic component is also influential, even among those low…

Proposes a five-stage processing model, the Contextual Organization Model for Processing and Evaluation (COMPE), based on an analysis of stage theories in group development. The five potentially universal stages have been shown to have an analogous relationship to the stages of theories in many fields of psychology. (JAC)

Students (N=40) with different sources and experiences of test anxiety were helped in a common group desensitization program. (Author)

This article describes an occupational therapy project using poetry as a task groupd activity in a psychiatric setting. (Author/UA)

Essay probes the transformations of aggression into leadership. (Author)

The present study examined the effects of a weekend marathon group experience on values of self-actualization and on the interpersonal dimnension of personality. Both experimental and control subjects showed significanly positive changes on posttest and follow-up scores. It was premature to believe that the positive effects of a marathon group…

Children come to terms with real life through acting out contrasting reactions to situations. One must be careful, however, to chose plays appropriate to the age of the actor. (AF)

Creative dramatics helps increase and release children's creative potential. This article stresses selection of qualitative materials. (WY)