Three studies examined three-, five-, and seven-year-old children's understandng of verbal terms ("easy" and "hard") concerning personal competence. Studies focused on developmental change in understanding the terms and were designed to provide information about the order in which understanding of the terms was acquired. (HOD)

Discusses five ways to make goal setting effective: set difficult and specific goals, monitor results, reward performance, participate in goal setting, and challenge individual self-confidence and goal dissatisfaction. A model showing internal and environmental factors related to performance and a list of management strategies for enhancing…

Takes the position that despite changes in society and in the ways that researchers conceptualize gender schemata, stereotypes about occupations persist. Questions to what extent experimental interventions have been successful, and considers how intervention and intervention goals should be reformulated for the future. (Author/RWB)

Examines professional education and current research trends in developmental psychology in Italy. Current trends have been investigated by a multi-dimensional content analysis of the studies published or accepted for publication in qualified journals between 1978-May 1983. (Author/AS)

Found that teachers perceive that their students (1) have developed many behavioral conversational skills prior to contact with school and (2) reveal very little development in their emotional expression abilities. (PD)

Research in educational administration needs a coherent empirical base for a comprehensive, ecologically valid theory of administration. This paper describes Roger Barker's Behavior Setting Theory and promotes it as a broad-based conceptual framework for research on educational administration. (Author/TE)

Examines secular trends in research on Afro-American children appearing in CHILD DEVELOPMENT between 1936 and 1980. A statistical analysis revealed dramatic changes in the frequency and type of research on this population, and identified some of the changing social issues and perspectives that are reflected in the research. (Author/BB)

Raymond Cattell's efforts to sort out the relationships of genetic or environmental patterns to personality factors have contributed to behavior genetics. Early writings on the projected decline of intelligence in Britain, studies using Multivariate Abstract Variance Analysis, and other miscellaneous studies on personality factors and mental…

Self-injurious behavior is a serious concern for individuals who must provide educational services to developmentally disabled children. This article discusses research related to the motivation of self-injury; provides guidelines for designing treatment programs for self-injurious behavior; and introduces a new nonaversive treatment, differential…

Presents a sampling of the contributions of primate research to human health and welfare through discussions of: atherosclerosis; aging; endocrine and seasonality influences on reproductive behavior; emotional expression; communication; infectious diseases (viruses, polio, acquired immune deficiency syndrome-AIDS; and others); cancer; the brain;…

A behavioral intervention program for conduct problem children with both behavioral and academic difficulties in elementary school was evaluated. A standard 20-hour treatment program was provided. Significantly greater behavioral improvement occured for treated than for control children. However, at follow-up, these differences were no longer…

Discusses how human differences alter results of intelligence tests from industrialized nations to nonindustrialized nations. Intelligence testing research in Africa is reviewed. (Author/DB)

The reaching behavior of 12 infants in the presence of solid objects and pictures of objects placed within and beyond possible contact distance was videotaped in three sessions at 15, 19, and 24 weeks of age. (Author/MS)

The growing concern for the development of teenagers has brought up issues regarding the role of the family system in shaping the personality traits of children. Alfred Adler (1870-1937), an Austrian psychiatrist who introduced the psychological/therapeutic model, "Individual Psychology," highlighted the importance of birth order…