This review of literature on children's learning focuses on the following seven subject areas: (1) Infant learning, particularly studies of conditioning and individual differences in infants, (2) New perspectives on Piaget, reviewing studies where conservation and transitive inferences have been taught to young children, (3) Language and…

The emergence of a new theoretical framework for research in human development is discussed. The theoretical perspective is contrasted with the classical laboratory experiment, which produces ecologically invalid research because of the restrictions of the artificial laboratory environment. The emerging framework enhances ecological validity by…

Seeking to understand where students are at in reference to their preconceived attitudes and knowledge concerning environmental issues was the purpose for undertaking this research study. An analysis of environmental information sources, both the schools and the media, appeared necessary. Only in this manner can environmental education programs be…

Behavioral observations have the advantages of being direct, tangible, and informative as to the contextual determinants of behavior. Considerable evidence exists that a three-dimensional structure gives meaning to many child behaviors in a variety of life settings. Three bipolar dimensions constitute this framework: introversion vs. extroversion,…

The comparative effectiveness of an aversive stimulus, withholding of resources, withdrawal of love and reasoning, when used alone and combined with praise, was assessed in the standard laboratory punishment paradigm using 120 first and second graders as subjects. Resistance to deviation was used as the measure of punishment effectiveness. Sex of…

Four to five-year-old children were asked questions on length involving single or double comparatives in a transitive inference task. The number of comparatives varied within or across pairs. The pairs of sticks were color-coded. Initial pair-wise discrimination training on four adjacent pairs from a five stick array with only verbal feedback was…

The purpose of this study was to determine if white university students were aware of any peer group attitudes toward blacks. Student respondents to a questionnaire felt that college students do not like racists, but a similar group of college students made negative racial responses when their attitudes were measured. The findings provided some…

This study, which used systematic desensitization (SD) behavior therapy to reduce anxieties associated with giving speeches, was based on the hypothesis that subjects given SD therapy five times in 1 week (massed training) would achieve greater reduction of communication anxiety than would subjects treated once a week for 5 weeks (spaced…

External reinforcement paradigms are useful and necessary in a complete instructional system and external reinforcement is not antithetical to a belief in an intrinsic motivation hypothesis. Teacher training, parent education, and classroom management, as well as complex learning sequences, can be improved by the use of principles emerging from…

The effects of immediate and delayed feedback on perseverance and learning were investigated with a 3 x 3 factorial design. It was hypothesized that delayed feedback would reduce perseverance while immediate feedback would increase it. Subjects were 72 male college students, paid for participation. They read prose sentences and completed cloze…

This study proposes to explore characteristics not usually considered musical, and yet which might combine in persons in such a way that results may lead to a clearer understanding and more accurate measurement and prediction of musical talent. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) Musical talent can be predicted by means of a selected set of variables…

Behavioral Expectation Scales developed by Smith and Kendall were evaluated. Results indicated slight interrater reliability between Head Nurses and Supervisors, moderate dependence among five performance dimensions, and correlation between two scales and tenure. Results are discussed in terms of procedural problems, critical incident problems,…

This bibliography of research on counterattitudinal advocacy begins with a list of independent variables, cross-indexed with authors. In the research summaries, the compiler has followed a consistent pattern of organization: (1) the hypotheses are stated first, followed by the independent and dependent variables, (2) a summary of the manipulation…

This study represents an effort to develop an observational instrument to assess a correctional officer's behavior, and to evaluate officer training programs. A list of 73 inmate behaviors to which the officer might respond was assembled. The most relevant, significant, and most often occurring inmate behaviors were selected. Six judges with…

This study explored two group treatments, humanistic and social modeling, in helping teachers to be more open and helpful in the classroom. Subjects were 42 volunteers from elementary schools who indicated a desire to become more open and helpful. Each of four groups met four times over a 9 day period for 1 1/2 hours. The modeling groups viewed a…