Of 219 people interviewed within a week of the broadcast of the miniseries "Roots," 104 people were reinterviewed one year later to determine the program's long-term effects, including its perceived and experienced impact on race relations in the United States and its stimulation of viewers to search for their own roots/heritage and to…

An important area for communication researchers has been the relationship between persuasive messages and their impact on attitudes, beliefs, and behavior. A model is presented to clarify the relationship between persuasive messages and attitudes. In an effort to establish the validity of the model, six hypotheses are set forth concerning the…

This paper describes and reports research on a model of the determination of behavioral intention by belief structures, derived from a theory proposed by Don Dulany in 1968. The new model construes "belief structures," and defines message variables, in ways suggestive for communication research. Findings reported support several…

Reviewed is research dealing with the attitudes of the public, peers and professionals toward the mentally retarded. The contradictory nature of many studies is cited, and the influence of such factors as misconceptions and contact with retardates on public attitudes is described. Studies of peer attitudes toward the retarded are considered in…

This paper reports the development of a measure of perceived homophily. In both an initial investigation and in a replication, four dimensions of response were observed. These dimensions were labeled attitude, value, appearance, and background. Additional results indicated that opinion leaders are perceived as more homophilous than non-opinion…

This paper reports on a combination questionnaire-attitude test designed to be used by speech instructors for the purpose of audience analysis. The test is divided into two parts and is scored by a computer. Part one requires the student to check items pertaining to class level, occupational goal, marital status, military service, high school…

To enhance knowledge of television content, a prosocial code was developed by watching a large number of potentially prosocial television programs and making notes on all the positive acts. The behaviors were classified into a workable number of categories. The prosocial code is largely verbal and contains seven categories which fall into two…

We believe that it is not enough to just take in information when we listen, read, and watch. We must also critically analyze that information. One part of this critical analysis involves looking for stereotypes, the focus of this paper. The paper has two main parts. In the first part, we briefly review some current thinking on the nature of the…

Based on the "Showcase" presentation of the Division for Physical and Health Disabilities at the 1997 Convention of the Council for Exceptional Children. Addresses the different labels of individuals with disabilities and the history and future of educating children with physical and health disabilities. (CR)

This research study was based upon a national survey in March 1992, conducted to assess the economic literacy of the U.S. public. The survey data were used to measure the economic knowledge of the public, to identify factors that affect economic knowledge, and to evaluate the influence of economic knowledge on public opinion about current economic…

Two teachers have brought gay and lesbian literature into their American literature courses at a large university near a major metropolitan area. The decision to introduce the works in traditional courses, rather than newly minted ones, was dictated by the university's fairly rigid institutional setting and the relative conservatism and timidity…

The single great value of composition theory is that it gives writing instructors ways to perceive and to talk (about)/write (about) and experience the language that they purport to teach. It is a vocabulary (or set of vocabularies) that, in its structures and definitions, (re-)structures and (re-)defines perceptions of language. If writing is a…

Many students from cultures outside the mainstream learn about mainstream cultures at home; consequently, they are often less monocultural than students whose backgrounds are within the mainstream. For this reason teachers of writing who work for the most part with students from mainstream cultures need to provide multicultural education which…

This paper discusses a theory of the formation of social stereotyping and prejudice in children. This intergroup-developmental theory of prejudice has three primary goals: to account for the development of stereotyping and prejudice across multiple domains; to provide a developmental account of social stereotyping, outlining how developmental…

This paper describes a study conducted in 22 counties in Middle Tennessee to determine the extent to which teachers have experienced sexual harassment. Of the 318 teachers responding, 172 report having been subjected to unwanted harassment. Of those responding positively, 150 are female. The forms of harassment indicated were sexual remarks,…