The label "educable mentally retarded" differentially influenced elementary teacher (N=1,114) expectations across academic ability, student behavioral potential, ability to work with the child, and general impressions of the child. Data also showed that a child's attractiveness and school-related traits significantly influenced initial…

Randomly selected full time students in a teacher training program (n=102) participated in a study to determine the influence of the label "mentally retarded" and physical attractiveness had on individual judgments of subnormality. (Author/CL)

Regular-classroom elementary school teachers (N=99) were shown a photograph of an 11-year-old Black, Mexican American, or White child and were told that the child was either educable mentally retarded or attended a fifth grade class. The child's race significantly influenced the teachers' initial expectations. (Author)

Results showed that there was significant difference in attitude depending on the label of the child--the Ss felt significantly less able to work with physically handicapped children than educable mentally handicapped or nonlabeled children. (PHR)