The field study reported examined the attitudes and behavior of working mothers and their neighborhood caregivers (nonrelatives). Data were obtained from interviews with 104 mother-sitter pairs, 39 of whom were friends when the arrangement began, and 65 of whom were strangers. The dynamics of mother-sitter relations prove to be dramatically…

Environmental factors which influence reading performance of disabled readers are explored. The author first surveyed related literature and selected the following significant environmental factors: self-esteem, parental attitudes and behavior, and overt classroom behavior of children, ages 7 to 12. The Parent Attitude Research Instrument, Parent…

The basic purpose of this study was to measure cognitive similarity, and to test the hypothesis that the cognitive organization of a child (normal or schizophrenic) is more like that of his own parents than it is like that of randomly chosen, unrelated adults. Thirty-six matched family triads, half with sons hospitalized for a schizophrenic…

A measurement of behavioral effectiveness in a longitudinal study of children in urban classrooms is presented. The specific nature of behavioral difficulties from kindergarten to third-grade, the stability of behavior patterns over this four year period, the relation between behavioral effectiveness and traditional measures of achievement…

There is a growing need for instrumentation which can enable us to observe and compute phenomena that take place in time. Although problems of observation, computation, interpretation and categorization vary from field to field and from problem to problem, it is possible to design an instrument for use in any situation where time-variables have to…

Objective scores and judges' ratings, both based on a complex personal assessment battery, were correlated with a pupil-gain criterion of teaching effectiveness and with a number of observationally derived measures of classroom teaching behavior. Twenty-seven primary teachers were studied who had demonstrated consistent patterns of pupil gain over…

In summarizing the results of naturalistic observations of children, it is often useful to have a reading of the child's overall deviance and the responses of social agents to these deviant behaviors. Traditionally, investigators have categorized a series of child behaviors as deviant based solely on their own assumptions with no empirical basis…

A brief introduction to various aspects of operant conditioning is presented, followed by a discussion of ethical concerns. Also discussed in this paper are topics such as (1) what is it? (2) motivation, (3) students need motivating, and (4) a new method. The latter part of the paper is concerned with a year long behavior project in an elementary…

The author uses a developmental model (1) to describe the developmental reinforcement process as it occurs in a child's life, using a hierarchical concept, and (2) to discuss some educational consequences of a reinforcement deficit. The developmental reinforcement process is composed of a hierarchy of four levels. Development takes place in…

Four studies report on the performance of fifth-grade child dyads and adult dyads on three problem-solving tasks, extending previous research on the structural properties of the communications and on factors influencing the accuracy of the communications. Aspects of performance investigated are: (1) relative participation of dyad members in the…

A PRESENTATION WAS MADE OF THE ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOR THAT IS REQUIRED AS A FIRST STEP IN THE PROCESS OF DEVELOPING PROCEDURES AND MATERIALS FOR "DISCOVERY LEARNING." TEACHING BY THE DISCOVERY METHOD IS DESCRIBED AS REQUIRING THAT A MINIMUM OF STRUCTURED INSTRUCTIONAL SEQUENCE BE IMPOSED TO ALLOW THE CHILD TO (1) LEARN BY DISCOVERY AND (2)…

A review of the literature on cooperative, competitive, and independent reward structures and performance is presented, and conclusions are drawn which reformulate current beliefs about the interaction between reward structure and task structure. A brief theory of reward structure and performance is described, and conditions under which…

This paper, presented at the April 1976 meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, reports part of an ongoing study of psychiatric interviews at Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital in Philadelphia. Faculty from the Department of Mental Health Sciences are videotaped in initial evaluative interviews with clients who volunteer from the…

Previous research (Bem, 1976) has shown that sex-typed and androgynous persons differ in their behavior in a variety of situations. The present paper describes four studies of the relationship of sex-typing to sexual socialization and to heterosexual attitudes and behavior. This program of research indicates that persons do differ in their sexual…

Selected data from a junior high school science assessment study are presented to demonstrate the potential of pattern analysis for teacher evaluation, and to illustrate its superiority over other classroom observation techniques. (CP)