Undergraduates rated their affective reactions to hypothetical test performances under four success conditions. Then, in the role of teachers, they administered rewards to hypothetical students under identical conditions. Both positive self-evaluation and teacher praise were greatest when success followed effort. Perceptions of ability also…

In conjunction with oral instruction in social studies, students were assigned to one of five organizer treatment conditions. Treatment conditions consisted of an advance or a post organizer presented visually or orally. Results indicated that nonwritten cognitive organizers facilitated both the learning and the retention of oral instruction.…

The self-esteem and ethnocentric attitudes and behavior of Black, White, and Mexican-American elementary school children were investigated. Results indicated that Blacks are not lower in self-esteem than Whites or Mexican Americans, and that all three groups are ethnocentric in attitudes and behavior. (Author/RD)

Productivity, novelty, figures of speech, flexibility, and elaboration were hypothesized to represent teachers' judgments of creativity of essay compositions. Essays were scored on the five dimensions and teachers judged essay creativity independently. Teachers' judgments were reliable, and four of the five dimensions correlated with rated…

College seniors graded lecturers on teaching and course effectiveness. After the students had graduated and been working for a year, they rated teaching effectiveness for former lecturers and nominated the best and worst teachers. Increasing maturity and job experience did not significantly alter student evaluations of relative teaching…

The effect of anxiety on learning in a variety of educational contexts is examined, and two areas of anxiety research that are especially relevant to educational psychology are discussed in detail: the interaction between anxiety and instructional methods, and test anxiety reduction programs and their outcomes. (Author/RD)

Six investigations of the keyword method of foreign language vocabulary learning were conducted to evaluate differences found in highly structured laboratory-like settings. Two experiments produced keyword effects when the method was administered to small or classroom-sized groups of elementary school children. (Author/RD)

College students studied text about an imaginary solar system. Two cuing systems were manipulated to induce a single or double set of cues consistent with one or two sets of text propositions, or no target propositions were specified. Cuing systems guided construction and implementation of prose-processing decision criteria. (Author/RD)

Black first graders varying in internal-external control completed digit substitution problems during which performance was praised by a Black boy and girl or a Black man and woman. Boys were most responsive to peer feedback and girls to adult feedback. Predictions involving locus of control were modestly supported. (Author/RD)

Sixth-grade children classified as high or low in self-concept were given an achievement task on which they succeeded or failed. High, more than low, self-concept children attributed their success to the skill cue. High self-concept children also engaged in more self-reward for success. (Author/RD)

Directions for future research on goal theory are suggested. The need for greater specificity in construct definition and the possible contributions of constructivist perspectives on learning and instruction are considered. An investigation is proposed of the way social goals interact with mastery and performance goals. (Author/SLD)

The relative effectiveness of practice and motivation was studied with 18 sixth grade classes learning English usage. Results suggest that the most effective device for learning is to increase the amount of practice, while the prime function of motivation is to make the practice more palatable. (SLD)

Beliefs about causes of success in school and sports were related in a logical fashion to personal goals for 207 high school students. Satisfaction and boredom in the classroom were primarily predicted by personal goal orientations. In sports, satisfaction and boredom were more intimately linked to perceptions of ability. (SLD)

Seventy-four retained students in grades 3 through 6 were compared with 60 randomly selected students, 69 matched-ability students, and 35 students who were socially promoted. Early academic difficulties tend to persist. Although retention does not eliminate academic problems, social promotion may exacerbate them. (SLD)

A study conducted with 105 university students investigated the effectiveness of using previous research findings as a means of teaching students how to interpret verbal and nonverbal behavior (decoding). Practice may be the critical feature for training in decoding. Research findings were successfully converted into educational techniques. (SLD)