In this study we examined the role of anxiety on novices' performance on the psychomotor task of rifle marksmanship. The stages-of-skill-development model suggests that aptitude influences performance while learning a skill; however, the model does not address the role of affect. Assessments for state anxiety and state worry were administered to…

The goal was to study the impact of a teacher-directed and a child-directed pretend play on cognitive performance in a mixed-age environment. Twenty-six observations were performed on fifty-one kindergarten children with a mean age of 4.6 years (age span from three to six years) in two mixed-aged classrooms. Data were collected regarding…

This article reports two studies on teacher confirmation. The first examined (1) students' feelings of confirmation or disconfirmation as a function of perceived teacher behaviors, and (2) whether teacher confirmation behaviors occur in hierarchically arranged clusters. Sixty-one percent of the variance in students' feelings of confirmation was…

It has been argued that critical functions of the human amygdala are to modulate the moment-to-moment vigilance level and to enhance the processing and the consolidation of memories of emotionally arousing material. In this functional magnetic resonance study, pictures of human faces bearing fearful, angry, and happy expressions were presented to…

Two-step (if -then) behavioral contingencies in the naturally occurring conflicts of 2- and 4-year-old siblings were identified and described. Children's crying, compliance, ignoring, opposition, power, and reasoning strategies were examined to determine how they were used immediately following opposition, power, and reasoning from siblings and…

The purpose of this paper is two-fold: (a) to deepen environmental educators' understanding of the possibility and process of developing a sense of place in a transient culture, and (b) to encourage all environmental educators to explore their sense of place transformations. A personal anecdote of a rooted New England surfer and educator who…

This conceptual essay employs psychoanalytic theory in exploring the difficulties the author's son experienced in learning to read. Emphasizing the profoundly affective and subjective dimensions of one child's movement toward and against literacy, the author considers the potential of psychoanalytic perspectives in helping teachers and researchers…

A meta-analysis (N=17,620; k=26) of factor analyses of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) was conducted. Analysis of the 12 items from Overall et al.'s (J. E. Overall, L. E. Hollister, & P. Pichot, 1974) 4 subscales found support for his 4 subscales. Analysis of all 18 BPRS items found 4 components similar to those of Overall et al. In a…

In schools throughout the country, education personnel express concern over the aggressive and antisocial behavior of children and youth. The frequency and severity of these acts compel us to find more effective strategies for decreasing and eliminating these behaviors. In this article, we argue for a broader explanation of the nature and…

Seven-year-olds completed a Posner cued attention task, under both neutral and affectively charged conditions. Compared to the traditional (affect-neutral) Posner task, performance in the affective Posner task was marked by dramatic decreases in reaction times (RTs), an increase in errors, an increased validity effect (difference in RTs to the…

Short stories can be an effective group-level intervention for addressing disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. This technique may be used in eating-disorder themed groups or in any group in which members present with eating problems. The authors provide specific guidelines for the use of short stories in group work. An example is provided to…

The success of policies to attract adults back to the learning of mathematics, at various levels, is often linked to questions of motivation. However, motivations depend on relevant beliefs, attitudes and emotions about mathematics--which themselves reflect, together with experiences with maths in school and in the home, wider cultural discourses…

In the current research, the authors examined children's observed compliance in a family clean-up paradigm and parents' reports of coparenting to predict young children's conscience (e.g., affective discomfort and moral regulation) in a sample of 58 families with two parents and at least two children. The authors found relations between parents'…

This article examines cognitive models of peer learning in school and the implications that these models have for the teaching of science in primary schools. The article is a product of the European Commission, Socrates Comenius 2.1 funded project "The Implementation of Scientific Thinking in (Pre) Primary Schools Settings (STIPPS)" project…

Children (n = 88) aged 8 and 10 years participated in a minimal group study in which their rejection versus acceptance, by one other person versus a group of three people, was experimentally manipulated. Analysis of their self-reported negative affect, self-esteem, and maladaptive social behavior, revealed that, regardless of the source of the…