This article considers the destructive effects of cynicism on creativity in gifted and talented students. It describes the use of a fictional character who responds to everything positive with an excessively cynical remark, to demonstrate to students the value of a more positive attitude. (DB)

Guided by the heuristic model proposed by Eisenberg et al. [Psychol. Inq. 9 (1998) 241], we examined the relations of mothers' reported and observed negative expressivity to children's (N = 159; 74 girls; M age = 7.67 years) experience and expression of emotion. Children's experience and/or expression of emotion in response to a distressing film…

A long-standing accountability system in Tennessee is now subject to change.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to methodological discourse about research approaches to environmental education. More specifically, the paper explores the current status of the "empirical-analytical methodology" and its "positivist" (traditional- and post-positivist) ideologies, in environmental education research through the critical…

There is a continuing disparity in educational services in Kenya for children with disabilities. Traditional African beliefs, cultural perspectives, and religious practices have resulted in negative attitudes toward individuals with disabilities. As a consequence, educational services for individuals with special needs (especially for those with…

Advocates of corporate governance reform hailed passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002 as a long-overdue raising of the accountability bar for corporate directors. Although SOX, as the law is widely known, does not legally apply to nonprofit boards, it has profoundly influenced the way many trustees, especially current and former corporate…

This chapter sets out to explore the six significant findings of this study by relating the interview content to the sociological risk literature. It examines thinking behind loss zones and gain zones and then moves on to look at individual versus collective risk and perceptions of risk. A child and youth care understanding is noted within the…

This paper is written primarily as a call to those of us in the special education field in Australia to become more actively involved in responding to the popular culture construction of disability as it takes place in the mainstream media. It is not the aim to define the form such activism should take but rather to raise awareness of the issue…

Discusses how the University of Chicago's revision of its venerable "Western Civilization" course has produced a stream of criticism--much of it "polluted" with misinformation. (EV)

Principals are well-positioned to cultivate their schools' cultures. They must remain vigilant in rooting out the beginnings of negative culture, including such teacher attitudes and behaviors as not feeling responsible for student learning, preferring to work alone, wanting to protect their territory, and focusing on activity rather than results.…

Discusses a broad spectrum of role expectations and negative assumptions thrust upon the communications consultant hired to teach business communication to adult employees of companies. Suggests useful tactics to deal with these behaviors. (SR)

Strong cultural messages are sent to women that their bodies are unacceptable as they are, thus encouraging engagement in a variety of body-altering practices. It seems that one of the obligations that women have in a culture that sexually objectifies their bodies is to conceal their bodies' more physical functions, such as menstruation. A new…

Birthday cards are a ceremonial token that may purposefully or unintentionally transmit stereotypes about the ageing process. In the current study, the authors examined 150 age-specific paper birthday cards sold in retail outlets located in a small metropolitan area. Results suggest that a greater proportion of the cards' textual messages…

The authors focus on the special issues involved in providing counseling to aging gay men regarding sex and intimacy. Although the stresses of aging experienced by gay men are similar to those of heterosexual men, older gay men face issues of a stigmatized sexual orientation, invisibility, negative stereotypes, and discrimination regarding aging.

Some research suggests reduced cooperation and collaboration among college faculty may result when annual pay increments are based on merit evaluations. Various theories and principles have been put forward to explain these effects. The overjustification theory suggests that extrinsically presented rewards become more salient than one's intrinsic…