Experiments involving "desirability for a date" ratings of black and white stimulus persons who varied in attractiveness indicated white male and female subjects gave appreciable weight to race and attractiveness, but females gave race more weight than attractiveness, while attractiveness was given more weight than race by males. (Author)

A program at Moorpark Community College, in Moorpark, California, offers a two-and-a-half-year major in Exotic Animal Training and Management. Emphasis is on the practical, everyday handling and training of wild animals. (LBH)

The hypothesis that Anglo and Mexican American children in an integrated classroom are equally effective models for both groups of children was tested. Major findings were that Anglo subjects were more likely to imitate Anglo models and that Mexican American subjects did not imitate Mexican American models accurately. (NQ)

Excessive exhibition of aggression and violence demonstrated by youth in society is discussed in light of the blaxploitation films encouraging violence and other deviant behavior. (Author)

Examined mother-child interaction predictors of initial levels and changes in child aggressive and disruptive behavior at school from kindergarten to third grade in 585 mother-child dyads. Found that for boys, high coercion and nonaffection were particularly associated with the high-increasing-aggression trajectory, but for girls, high levels of…

Focuses on whether early onset of noncoital sexual interactions (EONSI) is best understood in the same paradigm as adolescent problem behavior. A longitudinal study (N=927) revealed that EONSI was related to problem behavior; the higher ordered the noncoital sexual interaction was, the more strongly it correlated with measure of problem behavior.…

Parent and child characteristics, family context, and teacher behavior and attitudes were examined as factors influencing parent involvement in children's schooling for 209 mothers and their children (grades 3 through 5) and 28 teachers. Results and the hierarchical model posited underscore the complexity of factors associated with parental…

This investigation with 122 college students, including 45 deaf students, found that neither deaf nor hearing students demonstrated a statistically significant advantage in accuracy or recall of nonverbal information about people in photographs. Deaf subjects, however, were more than twice as likely as hearing subjects to base their judgments upon…

Examined memory functions in individuals with and without autism. Found that the group with autism performed significantly worse than the nonautistic group on temporal order memory, source memory, supraspan free recall, working memory and executive function but not on short- and long-term recognition, cued recall, or new learning ability. (MOK)

In 3 studies involving a total of 305 undergraduates, the Antisocial Practices (ASP) scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) exhibited convergent and discriminant validity with other measures of personality. The ASP and the Psychopathic Deviant scale appear to measure different facets of psychopathy. (SLD)

Assigned 1,426 university students to four intervention groups. A "norm-setting" intervention program--used to study perceptions and expectations of drinking--was of chief interest. This group was associated with the greatest reductions in the drinking norms attributed to the student body, close friends, living groups, and parents. (RJM)

Reviews laboratory research on behavioral momentum conducted with pigeons and summarizes its findings and their generality to people, including those with mental retardation. Discusses the high-probability procedure used to establish compliance in clinical settings and based in part on an extension of the momentum metaphor. (CR)

This commentary discusses John Nevin's article on establishing compliance via behavioral momentum involving high-probability procedures, and questions whether applications of behavioral momentum can be derived from the theory, whether applications could have been developed if the theory not been formulated, and whether the theory will add…

A model of parental inducement of academic self-regulation was tested with 105 elementary school students who were surveyed to assess their perceptions of parental influences on their academic self-regulation and their own self-regulatory behavior. Findings indicate the importance of parental inducement to academic self-regulation. (SLD)

Adults (n=20) who interacted with small groups of preschoolers, including a child with expressive language disorder (ELD), evaluated the ELD child differentially depending on awareness of the child's ELD label. Adults unaware of the label ranked the ELD child as less likable and less productive and predicted less academic competence. Aware adults…