Background: Psychopaths are not only antisocial, but also have a callous and unemotional personality profile. This article selectively reviews evidence that psychopathic personality traits are an important factor in understanding and predicting the development of persistent antisocial conduct. Cognitive neuroscience research and more tentative…

Two important sources of information for social judgments are personality dispositions (traits) and social norms. Existing research suggests that young children do not find traits salient. To what extent might they rely on a different source of information? Two experiments explored how information about preferences (what someone likes) and rules…

This study examined differences between deaf/hard-of-hearing (D/HH) and hearing persons with regard to two interrelated and continuous developmental processes: attachment (Bowlby, 1969) and individuation (Mahler, 1963). The study also examined intergroup differences in two personal variables assumed to be influenced by these processes: self-esteem…

This article reports results from an early intervention program aimed at preventing the development of anxiety in preschool children. Children were selected if they exhibited a high number of withdrawn/inhibited behaviors--one of the best identified risk factors for later anxiety disorders--and were randomly allocated to either a 6-session…

Resilience is a trait that can help school leaders use their energy wisely when faced with adversity. But why do some leaders emerge from adversity with a balance in their account and others with a deficit? To explore this question, the authors conducted a case study with a single focus: "How do resilient school leaders move ahead in the face of…

Girls' bullying is more subtle and less physical than that perpetrated by boys; however, it can be just as powerful, and the emotional repercussions of bullying among girls can be more destructive and longer lasting than the effects of more obvious forms of bullying. Teachers report that quarrels between girls are far more time-consuming and…

Teachers are in uniquely powerful positions to positively impact youths who are at risk for school failure. Youths who overcame serious risk factors often report that a teacher, coach, or other adult provided a mentoring relationship that sustained them. Developing classroom management and academic instruction routines that meet the needs of all…

The development of empathy, sympathy, and consideration for others ranks as an important ingredient of social education in schools. To get across to children with deficient empathy and sympathy, knowledge about their psychological mechanisms is necessary. A project on "Psychological Mechanisms in Children with Deficient Empathy and…

Perry's theory of intellectual and ethical development of college students is briefly reviewed. This theory was based on work with Harvard University students, and addresses dualism, multiplicity, and relativism. In the first stage, a student sees the world in right-wrong, black-white terms, with no room in the thinking process for conditional or…

Analysis of responses of gifted 7- to 11-year-olds (N=83) and of their parents and teachers to measures assessing family environment, self-esteem, personality, and anxiety suggested that mutually supportive and open family relationships were more important to the child's self-esteem and overall adjustment than were specific family activities or…

Comparison of characteristics of 12 average and 12 superior small business people in three developing nations (India, Malawi, and Ecuador) found proactive qualities such as initiative and assertiveness, achievement orientation, and commitment to others characteristic of successful entrepreneurs. Other expected qualities (self-confidence,…

Cognitive style has a great potential in individualizing instruction. This approach to learning presents opportunities to academic advisers, educators, and student personnel specialists. Cognitive style, Jung's theory of types, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, and field dependency and field independency are discussed. (MLW)

Recently published results of a major personality study on probated felons furnish some directions for case-load treatment and supervision. Probation programing guidelines based on these results--the specific personality constructs of manipulation, self-control, and anxiety in probated felons--could enhance probation programing effectiveness.…

A seventh-grade teacher's get-acquainted exercise (involving desirable character traits) led to signing a class constitution that governed rules of conduct for both teachers and students. While involved in this democratic process, children gained practice in creating the kind of culture in which they wished to live. (MLH)

Applies codependency group model to families of obsessive-compulsive people based on view that these families are normal, feeling people who are trying to cope with unremitting stress. Clinical vignettes illustrate how these families are similar to families of alcoholics in their management of emotions and in their dysfunctional behaviors. (JBJ)