A sociological theory of authority was used to investigate some nonintellective, perhaps unintended, consequences of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) upon student's attitudes and orientations toward the organization of the school. An attitudinal questionnaire was used to survey attitudes toward the teacher and the computer in a junior high school which serves predominantly Mexican-American families of low socioeconomic status. The questionnaire was administered before and after the experimental period. Results of regression analyses indicated that if CAI gets normative support from school officials who authorize its exercise of power as a monitor of students' task-specific behavior, and if teachers do not have control over that technological resource, students are likely to form authority relationships for goal attainment with the computer that are comparable to those usually formed with their teachers. This reduction in the students' dependence on the teacher's task-specific resources undermines the students' relationship with the teacher, especially with first-year CAI students. The longer range (second and third year) effects of the CAI program more favorably reflect some of the program's anticipated functions. (Author/JY)