The study of relationships between action control, motivation control, perceptions of course directions, and students' goals for 92 Australian undergraduates revealed different patterns for direction and effort and changing patterns from task on-set to off-set. Overall higher levels of effort and performance appear to require positive appraisals…

Investigated effects of age, gender, and peer social status on children's understanding of emotional regulation. Found that children would less openly express negative than positive emotions. Predictions of peer reactions to emotional expressions depended on type of emotion and expression. Girls anticipated more negative peer reactions than did…

Explored infants' responses to live and replay interactions with mothers and their own images. Found that to their mothers, infants decreased attention, length of first gazes, and smiling from initial live feedback to replay, and that responses to subsequent live feedback generally remained suppressed. Also found that infants did not show a…

The construct validity of scores on the Mathematics Assessment Questionnaire of 1,505 junior high school students was studied using 3-way multidimensional scaling analyses. Findings generally support validity and confirm that psychological constructs are differentially important to students' perceptions of instructional activity settings. (SLD)

Explores learning processes in 8th grade physics classrooms in Germany. Collects data with regard to cognitive, cognitive-emotional, and emotional variables. Shows that positive emotions are more important in acquisition than in practice, and anxieties play an ambiguous role in practice. Indicates that joy about learning is linked to successful…

Uses a discursive perspective to study the role of emotion in adults' mathematical thinking. Considers emotion to be distinct from thinking, but not separate from it. Adopts a provisional characterization of affect and emotion as "charges" on ideas. Uses the idea of positioning in social practices to analyze the context of a person's…

Observed 20-month olds' solitary play and collaborative play with their mothers. Found that child language and mothers' symbolic play influenced child collaborative play; child gender and mothers' verbal intelligence predicted child solitary play and influenced mothers' play; and mothers' physical affection influenced mothers' play. (BC)

Examines the patterns found in repair-work behavior (e.g., apologies, excuses) in Austrian German as they relate to situational variables and cultural themes, using data collected from university students during closed role-play situations. Findings reveal a complex interplay of situational variables informing the repair-work behavior. (46…

Proposes that looking at classroom experiences out of the corner of one's eye (both literally and figuratively) allows one to know some of the peripheral action, feelings, and results of "moments of passion." Notes that this perspective may be a more characteristic description of such moments than images produced by a straightforward…

Describes the development of a new sex role inventory, the Masculine-Feminine Personality Traits Scale, based on Bem's Sex Role Inventory and using Mexican sex role stereotypes. The instrument includes scales measuring assertive masculinity, affective femininity, aggressive masculinity, and submissive femininity. Results show expected response…

Analyzed longitudinal survey data for relationship between adolescent sexuality and adolescents' religious affiliation and participation among Detroit area families (N=916). Confirmed previous findings which showed strong correlation between religious involvement and adolescent sexual attitudes and behavior, i.e., religious adolescents had least…

Reviews important advances in the study of emotions in infants and the nature of emotional communication between infants and adults. Discusses the relationship of this communication system to children's development. (Author/BJV)

Interviews were conducted with 20 student-teachers and four of their supervisors to assess the subjects' perceptions of professional knowledge. Results indicate that: (1) professional knowledge covered both cognitive and affective descriptors; (2) the two groups share many common perceptions; and (3) findings agree with those in the literature.…

Discusses factors leading to mathematics anxiety, including personality factors, pressure from authority figures, time pressure, public failure, the right/wrong dichotomy, constructive criticism, and competition. Suggests a number of specific ways that parents and teachers can help reduce students' anxiety. (MKR)

Explored relationships between three dimensions of temperament (surgency, negative affectivity, and control) and several patterns of behavior for 80 children aged 6 and 7 years. Found that surgency correlated positively with aggression and negatively with guilt and shame. Negative affectivity correlated positively with aggression, guilt and shame,…