TO DETERMINE THE INFLUENCE OF MOTHER, FATHER, AND FORMER TEACHERS ON TEACHERS' SELF-CONCEPTION, 40 ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS DESCRIBED THEMSELVES ON A SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIAL SCALE CONSISTING OF SETS OF SIMPLE ADJECTIVE PAIRS, SUCH AS WARM-COOL, STRONG-WEAK, AND RESPONSIVE-RESERVED. THESE WERE THEN COMPARED WITH THE TEACHERS' DESCRIPTIONS OF MOTHER, FATHER, AND FORMER TEACHER IMAGES ON THE SAME ADJECTIVES. IT WAS FOUND THAT (1) MORAL STRENGTH AND VIRTUE WERE ASSOCIATED WITH THE MOTHER, (2) INTELLECTUAL STRENGTH WAS ASSOCIATED WITH THE FATHER, (3) THE DEGREE TO WHICH A TEACHER SAW HIMSELF AS LOVING AND SYMPATHETIC WAS RELATED PRIMARILY TO HER IMAGE OF A BEST-LIKED TEACHER, (4) TEACHERS IDENTIFIED WITH THREE DISTINCT MOTHER IMAGES--LOVING, SUPPORTIVE MOTHER, DEMANDING, PROHIBITIVE MOTHER, AND OUTGOING, INDEPENDENT MOTHER--WHICH COLLATED WITH RYANS' TEACHER TYPES--WARM, FRIENDLY, UNDERSTANDING TEACHER, RESPONSIBLE, BUSINESSLIKE, SYSTEMATIC TEACHER, AND STIMULATING, IMAGINATIVE, CREATIVE TEACHER. IT IS HYPOTHESIZED THAT THESE MOTHER IMAGES EMERGE IN DEVELOPMENTAL SEQUENCE DURING THE YEARS BETWEEN BIRTH AND SCHOOL. THIS DOCUMENT APPEARED IN "THEORY INTO PRACTICE," APR. 1963, 2, NO. 2, 67-72. (AW)