The study is concerned with the psychology of citizenship in Great Britain, France, and the United States. Part I of the booklet discusses the use of semiprojective procedures to elicit surface psychocultural dispositions (cognitive and value assumptions, assumptions about behavioral norms, etc.). The procedure involves asking late preadolescent…

Examines the relationship between writing and learning in a college-level writing-across-the-curriculum class in philosophy. Results provide a basis for speculation about the conception of the writing/learning relationship and about the viability of further hermeneutical study of student writing. (SRT)

Examines telephone discourse of twenty children between two and five years of age for answerer rules, turn-taking, constructional units, conversational acts, closing sequence, and ability to take messages. Shows developmental differences, although mastery of discourse skills appeared only in response categories, and primarily at four and five…

Argues that the cultivation of the imagination in schools and colleges is largely ignored because of utilitarian biases in the education system, where achievement is determined by quantitative measures of cognitive skills. Discusses Williams' view that acts of the imagination transform reality and applies view to English education. (JG)

Used newly developed codes for parenting behavior during the Great Depression reported in the Oakland Growth Study. Results indicated that economic hardship adversely influenced the psychosocial well-being of adolescent girls, but not boys, by increasing the rejecting behavior of fathers. This effect was particularly strong for unattractive girls.…

Projects that soon a complete mechanistic understanding of simple forms of learning will be available. Describes some of the recent advances in neuroscience and psychology in understanding the changes in neural circuits that occur during certain behavioral situations. Suggests that learning involves the activation of second messenger systems. (TW)

Discusses pedagogical implications of recent theory and research on response to literature. Contends that now teachers must be aware of readers, the text, and the context in which a text is read and discussed. (MS)

Discussion implications of new information technologies for elementary school children highlights compatibility of formats and content; children's capacities; how technology shapes responses; the use of technology to equalize educational opportunities; and the integration of technology into elementary school curricula. (16 references) (LRW)

The Trust-Conflict Cycle conceptually organizes the tools and skills available to foster positive relationships between teachers and emotionally disturbed students. A menu of intervention tools to help teachers stay within the Trust Cycle and out of the Conflict Cycle includes appropriate responses, stress reduction, self-esteem/worldview,…

Considers four questions related to humorous activity: What events evoke laughtor and smiling in classrooms and do these events change as children grow older? Are there differences in frequency and type of events produced and appreciated? How do teachers and peers react to humorous events? and What are the other behavior patterns of children who…

A visual analogue mood scale was developed that included an option indicating subjects didn't understand the meaning of an adjective in an item. The item content significantly affected responses, raising questions about the adequacy of recently proposed affective taxonomies that were based on restricted samples of emotion-descriptive adjectives.…

There is no a priori basis for assuming that theories of social psychology are universal. For theories to be universal, the meaning of the stimulus would have to be consistent across cultures, but this cannot be taken for granted. Cross-cultural variations in social behavior may be "surface" expressions of deep structure norms that are universal.…

Reports results of the impact of various language structures, such as transactive and nontransactive clauses, on readers' understanding of events depicted in newspapers. (PD)

A study examined the reading apprehension, writing performance, and perceived job reading requirements of 91 students enrolled in an upper-division business writing course. Results indicated that students with higher course grades showed lower levels of reading apprehension and anticipated higher reading requirements in future jobs. (SRT)

Reports on a study intended to discover the criteria for selecting children's literature and textbooks. Concludes that the teachers' choices were sexist because selected stories were resolved through male agency. (SRT)