The relationship between within-class reading grouping and self-concept was investigated in a sample of 257 third-grade children in 12 classes that employed within-class grouping. Pupils were tested at the beginning and end of the school year, using the Piers-Harris Test, a semantic differential, and an inventory containing four items about…

From a sociopsychological perspective, this paper examines two models of conformity, termed inner-directed and other-directed, in the sport subculture of the American social structure. Trends and patterns are identified with regard to the behavior of both sports participants and spectators. (DS)

Selected literature pertaining to the frequency and effects of competitive and cooperative classroom situations among different age groups is analyzed and summarized focusing on student and teacher attitudes, the influence of teacher attitudes, the need for cooperation, and teacher selection of goal structure. (JMF)

The achievement behavior of internally controlled college females was more affected by sex of partner and type of competition than that of males. Although internally controlled males achieved more than externally controlled males, internally controlled females performed better when competing against males or cooperating with females. (Author/BH)

Undergraduates discussed a moral issue with a confederate who had the same opinion (no controversy) or opposite opinion (controversy) within either a cooperative or a competitive context. Subjects in the controversy conditions indicated more conceptual conflict, engaged in more information seeking, and were more accurate in taking the cognitive…

Using the idea of play as a model of social relations, two patterns of play are described: competition between Black and White teams and play in mixed-color teams. The differences in the process of play in these two contexts are discussed and their implications for cross-color relationships considered. (Author)

Social relationships among professionals in Sierra Leone are marked by competition and tension. An examination of food symbolism, patterns of food sharing, and attitudes toward the safety of accepted proffered food and drink provides a means of looking at how the professionals structure and manage their social relations. (Author/EB)

A heterogeneous sixth grade class was divided into six competitive teams. Team members' individual grades were averaged to determine the day's winning team, which was rewarded with special privileges. Student enthusiasm and achievement improved. (SJL)

Fifth-grade students classified as high or low in self-concept were paired in an achievement-related task in which one succeeded and one failed. High self-concept children attributed success more to their high ability and engaged in more positive self-reinforcement than did low self-concept children. Results were discussed within an attribution…

In this critique of the primary school system, the author discusses such things as early identification procedures which can label a normal child "handicapped", and unnecessary competition which causes unhealthy stress--things the author feels help to generate "system-damaged" children who then require special education. (DLS)

This study was designed to investigate the effect of individual versus group rewards on task performance. Four instructional sets, in which reward contingencies were varied, were employed with triads of first- and third-grade children. (BD)

The executive director of the Colonial League, an intercollegiate athletic league adhering to more restrictive principles than those of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, talks about faculty attitudes toward the affiliation, academic and administrative standards, competition, organization, and the role of faculty in the league. (MSE)

Discussion of the online information industry emphasizes the effects of non-price competition on its structure and the firms involved. Q-analysis is applied to data on medical databases and hosts, changes over a three-year period are identified, and an optimum structure for the industry based on economic theory is considered. (Author/LRW)

Contends that Great Britain's educational backwardness is now becoming a severe handicap in a world with global economic competition. States that contemporary underinvestment in education is the primary cause of the shortage of educated citizens and concludes that current efforts characterized by government cooperation with private enterprise will…

A study of children's art as a function of gender of child, picture condition (drawings of same-sex versus mixed-sex dyads), and child-rearing setting (United States town, Israeli town, and Israeli kibbutz) confirms that boys, particularly Americans, are more aggressive, competitive, and hierarchical in their depicted relationships than are girls.…