The four studies in this report consider the attribution of ability in the relationship of tutor to tutee among elementary level students. In each of the studies, the tutee displayed, or was represented as displaying, one of four learning sequences: success-success, failure-failure, failure-success, or success-failure. The results of the first…

Low-achieving fifth-grade children either taught a third grader or studied alone for a series of daily sessions. At the end of the two-week period, the low-achievers' performance was significantly better in the tutoring condition than in the studying condition. This showed a reversal in the direction from the initial difference between conditions.…

Sixty-three third and sixth graders in an experimental teaching session provided either genuine or dissembled (disguised) verbal praise to a student (confederate). Trained coders and naive observers analyzed nonverbal behavior. As hypothesized, nonverbal cues such as facial expressions, body movement, and pausing indicated verbal deception.…

Two studies explored the effects of peer teaching on the attitudes and behavior of tutors and tutees. In the first study, fourth graders tutored third graders in reading once a day for two weeks. Another group befriended a third grader over the same period of time, supervising play activities. A control group participated in neither special…