This study tests two differing hypotheses: the competing response hypothesis, which states that both reward and non-reward distractions produce decreases in interest which weaken over repeated trials, and the attribution/overjustification hypothesis, which maintains that rewards produce a decrease in interest that does not weaken over trials.…

Study results suggest that the disposition of firstborns seems to be toward intellectual activities and that of the later borns toward social activities having a high degree of social participation and concern. (WY)

Examined the effects of a high-value v low-value reward on intrinsic interest in reading a high-interest v low-interest storybook for 54 second- and third-grade children. Both reward value and storybook interest were inferred on the basis of individual choices made by each child. (JMB)

Describes research undertaken to determine third- and fifth-grade children's television viewing preferences in a choice of adult or children's television shows. Two studies were carried out: (1) distribution of a forced choice questionnaire, and (2) showing of an edited videotape introduction to shows listed in the questionnaire. (SW)

This study assessed the perceptions of high school students with learning disabilities about the suitability or preference of an academic or vocational curriculum. Students were administered the Vocational Academic Choice Survey (VACS), designed to measure students' perceptions of which curriculum is more suitable for them. Results revealed that a…

Preschool children were asked to participate in an activity of high initial interest, either for its own sake or in order to obtain an extrinsic reward. Children who participated as a means to some ulterior end showed less intrinsic interest in the activity. (SDH)

Reviews two studies which address the issue of diminishing interest in career counseling. Notes that career counseling is perceived as a secondary service within the counseling discipline and that this attitude may be having a deleterious effect on counseling services. (ABB)

Graduate students (n equals 46) who had indicated that their major interest was teaching were compared with 47 graduate students who had indicated that their major interest was counseling. The groups differed on six of the subtests, three of which were interest measures. A further comparison between the counselor candidates who had a practicum and…

New as well as landmark instruments and research are described. Among the contemporary issues dealt with is a concern for the source of and methods useful in controlling bias in the construction of interest inventories. With the assessment of interests, as with all measurement, validity is the bottom line. (Author)

This paper aims to investigate students' likes and dislikes of the teaching that they have experienced and its effects on students' perceptions of the learning environment, student learning and academic performance. The study compares a lecture-based setting to a student-activating learning/teaching environment, considering both instructional and…

Claims about the relative holding-power and play-versatility of toys either low or high in amount of realistic detail, such as miniature metal cars, were tested in a solitary play environment with and without the use of props. Subjects were 36 middle-class preschool children. Results suggest that, when structure is varied within the toy prototype,…

The persistence of interest engagement was longitudinally studied with two different interest objects and two different states of interest development. Subjects with definite interest in microcomputers (n=7), with high interest in playing guitar (n=7), and with some interest, not well-developed, in computers (n=10) were interviewed initially and…

Address Delivered to the Associated Press Managing Editors (Chicago, October 19, 1967).

THIS REPORT REVIEWED THE RESEARCH CONDUCTED, 1960-61, IN METROPOLITAN BOSTON ON THE AUDIENCE OF AN EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION STATION. THE DESIGN OF THE STUDY WAS A TWO-WAVE SURVEY--THE FIRST WAVE BY 9,140 TELEPHONE CALLS IN EARLY 1960, AND THE SECOND WAVE 1 YEAR LATER BY PERSONAL INTERVIEWS WITH SOME OF THE SAME PEOPLE. THE INTEREST IN THE PERSONAL…