Only recently has the question of why being in a good mood facilitates prosocial behavior been pursued. Two experiments investigated the role of pleasurable mood in: (1) choice bets as a measure of riskiness, a variable possibly implicated in helping behaviors, and (2) allocation of funds among categories intended to vary along a prosocial…

Although the Type A behavior pattern has been linked to serious health disorders, recent evidence suggests that the Type A style only produces negative health consequences when its fit with the environment is poor. A study was undertaken to determine whether there was a difference between Type A and Type B persons in general lifestyle pace…

Although research suggests that highly test anxious subjects are often motivated to escape from situations in which they are being evaluated, many persons in experimental situations do not see escape as an option. To examine the behavior of test anxious persons in aversive test situations, 60 college students, who were assessed as being high or…

Based on a modification of Berglas and Jones' (1978) design, conditions of contingent and noncontingent success and failure were manipulated to determine when and why individuals choose to adopt self-handicapping strategies. Male undergraduates (N=76) were informed that they were participating in a study investigating the effects of music on…

Two enduring questions in psychology concern the effects on behavior of traits and of attitudes. One method of altering the relative influence of traits or attitudes is by manipulating the activity of those areas of the brain which attend more to the self or to the external environment. Two experiments were conducted to test whether manipulation…

Twelve reports on the spatial patterns present on the campus of Illinois State University are divided into three sections. Following an introduction, the first section focuses on behavioral patterns such as seating choices made in the university cafeteria or the classroom. Section II deals with the measures people take to save time. A microstudy…

Prompted by the lack of use and gratification studies that have concerned themselves with an examination of newspaper-related behaviors such as subscribing versus not subscribing, buying single copies versus not reading at all, and weekday versus Sunday newspaper readership, a study conducted a telephone survey of 543 persons to determine whether…

At most institutions, freshmen are assigned to one of six residence hall types: freshmen-men; freshmen-women; freshmen-coed; freshmen-upperclass-men; freshmen-upperclass-women; and freshmen-upperclass-coed. In an attempt to clarify which of these residence hall arrangements most benefits freshmen, 2,200 freshmen (40 percent) attending 12 colleges…

Despite low levels of criminal victimization, older people often express greater fear of crime than others. To examine the causes and consequences of such fear, 1,185 adults aged 60 and over, were interviewed about their personal characteristics, social resources, environment, subjective well-being, and lifestyle. Results showed that older people…

Designed to clarify the roles played by prizes as evaluative mechanisms in journalism, a study examined journalists' attitudes toward both internal (professional) and external (nonprofessional) reward systems and then examined the ability of both individual-level and organizational-level variables to predict these attitudes and prize-seeking…

Discusses many factors involved in determining the complex nature of a child's knowledge base. Includes three kinds of considerations: 1) task-oriented criteria; 2) motivational elements; and 3) the relationship between personality and performance. (Author/CS)

Symmarizes some of the most significant features of the theory of Transactional Analysis and applies the theory to drill and exercise activity in the language classroom. (PMP)

An upward trend of psychoactive drug use within the lower grade levels was observed among 616 high school students. Although different patterns of drug use exist between parochial and public high school sophomores, by their junior year the two groups were similar. (Author)

The paper describes instruments for determining preferences of consumers for selected product characteristics associated with furniture choices--specifically style, color, color scheme, texture, and materials--and the procedures for administration of those instruments. Results are based on a random sampling of public housing residents. (Author/MW)