For some instructors, the use of students' own experiences has proven to be an extremely useful starting point in the college composition classroom. In a first semester freshman composition course, students wrote autobiographies in which they examined different perspectives of the many communities in which they lived. Students then used the…

The organization of behavioral episodes can be described at two levels: the physical level of movement and sound and the phenomenal level of action. Social perception theory and research generally operates at a phenomenal level of behavioral description. Movement and sound traditionally have been considered inadequately structured to provide much…

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of reader perspective on encoding, storage, and retrieval processes and how this effect differs as a function of cognitive style. In both experiments, subjects read a passage from one of two assigned perspectives (a burglar or a prospective home buyer) or from no assigned perspective. In the…

In socio-cultural field studies the professional investigator encounters problems which raise questions about the researcher's role and influence in the field. A study investigating how a lower and lower-middle class suburban socio-cultural society and an art teacher influence high school students' assumptions about art, also examines the…

Results of two experiments support the finding of developmental change in the role of representation in perspective-taking tasks. Experiment 1, which involved 80 first-grade students with a mean age of 6.5 years, crossed task characteristics and response modes. Subjects either imagined an observer's movement around a fixed array or imagined an…

This paper describes the philosophical perspectives that individuals bring to their study of the communication process. These perspectives, called presuppositions, include conceptions of reality (existential, essential, contextual), ways of understanding knowledge (objective, subjective, intersubjective), and types of value systems (well-defined…

It was hypothesized that both parental affection and the emphasizing of the feelings, thoughts, and intentions of others in discipline techniques are related to young children's cooperativeness. The cooperative behavior of 31 children was measured by both naturalistic observation and behavior ratings. Parents were interviewed and responded to five…

Empathic distress refers to the empathic response to another's pain, anxiety, or sadness. Empathic distress must be viewed as only one component of a person's response when observing someone in distress. Studies of empathy should be designed to rule out or control the non-empathic components insofar as possible. The importance of perception and…

A study was conducted to develop and test the empirical validity of a middle-range theory designed to explain and predict the relationship between speech communication egocentrism and reading achievement. The theory predicts an inverse relationship between elementary school children's levels of speech communication egocentrism and reading…

In this study of perspective taking and moral judgment 20 children (10 boys and 10 girls) at each age level between 4 and 10 years were given Feffer's Social Role-Taking Task, a spatial perspective-taking task and Damon's Test of Positive Justice. Investigated were: (1) the specific developmental sequences for role taking, spatial…

As expectations rise for students to perform at higher levels, the question of how best to support student performance through resources becomes paramount. In determining new ways to better allocate resources, administrators must consider teacher input on what has/has not been effective in supporting increased student performance. Teachers…

In an attempt to validate the findings of other researchers regarding the development of conceptual perspective taking, this study used Taylor's (1988) 2-tiered model to examine development of perspective taking among 40 3- to 5-year-olds. Participating were 22 males and 18 females from English-speaking backgrounds attending a preschool in…

Legal and political theorists strive at expanding the scope of children's rights to cover further areas of their lives and choices. This paper suggests that this effort is misguided, and that the protection of children requires instituting adults' obligations, rather than broadening children's rights. Contrary to the common theoretical and…

This paper comments on issues of quality in early child care and education from an international perspective, asserting that questions about how to determine quality are as complex for early childhood programs as for all other professional services. The paper's introduction discusses the world wide trend of expansion in the amount of out-of-home…

This National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) board of directors substantive issue session initiated the process of developing a position statement for the educational observance of the Quincentenary of Columbus' landing in the Americas. The meeting consisted of proposal statements by panelists and advocated the development of a united…