THE INFLUENCE OF PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS VERBALLY EXPRESSED BY AN AUTHORITY FIGURE AND THE MANIFEST ANXIETY OF THE SUBJECT ON SIMPLE AND COMPLEX LEARNING TASKS WAS STUDIED IN RELATION TO MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN. THE HYPOTHESES TESTED WERE THAT THERE WILL BE NO DIFFERENCE IN PERFORMANCE ON THE EXPERIMENTAL TASKS AS A FUNCTION OF THE (1) VERBAL STATEMENTS OF PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS, (2) MANIFEST ANXIETY LEVEL OF THE SUBJECT, (3) SEX OF THE SUBJECT, (4) COMPLEXITY OF THE TASKS, AND (5) INTERACTIONS OF THE VARIABLES. SUBJECTS WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO 12 EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS WHICH WERE TESTED USING TASKS REPRESENTING DIFFERENT TYPES OF LEARNING AND DEGREES OF DIFFICULTY. THE CONCLUSIONS REACHED WERE (1) THAT EFFECTS OF THE VERBALLY EXPRESSED EXPECTATIONS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE RETARDED CHILD ON EXPERIMENTAL TASKS MAY HAVE BEEN RELATED TO THE SEX OF THE CHILD, AND (2) THAT MEAGER EVIDENCE WAS FOUND TO SUGGEST THAT ANXIETY LEVEL MAY ALSO BE A RELATED FACTOR. FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS OF THE VARIABLES EMPLOYING IMPROVED DESIGNS AND PROCEDURES WERE ENCOURAGED. (AL)