Examines to what extent peer relations, self-confidence, and school performance correlate with self-rated happiness and loneliness in adolescents. Personality traits, self-confidence, friendship, and school grades were all significantly oppositely correlated with happiness and loneliness. Regressional analysis revealed that extraversion and…

Discusses the higher educational background of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas from his acceptance at Holy Cross College through affirmative action through Yale University. The authors provide a description of Justice Thomas as a person who constantly felt he was being looked down upon and describe his bitterness and frustration following…

Investigates the ability of personality characteristics (achievement, conscientiousness, and resiliency), high school GPA, and Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) score to predict cumulative college GPA and retention (N=844). In predicting college GPA, conscientiousness added significant incremental variance to high school GPA and SAT.…

The purpose of this article is to assess six habits of academic achievement by African American male students from households of poverty whom been successful in completing a 5-A high school program of study. Despite the wealth of research that indicates a great disparity among racial and gender groups with regard to standardized assessment,…

The Other 3Rs Project began with an investigation into the most important psychological components of academic success. The research pointed to reasoning, resilience, and responsibility. The objective of the project was to integrate these components into a useful problem solving model that could, with practice and guidance, be applied both inside…

Although optimism is generally regarded as a positive dispositional characteristic, unmitigated optimism can be problematic. The adaptiveness of overly optimistic expectations in novel or unfamiliar settings is questionable because individuals have little relevant experience on which to base such expectations. In this four-phase longitudinal…

A controversy currently exists in the literature regarding the stability of self-esteem across childhood. This ongoing study, initiated in 1987, was designed to respond to the limitations in the existing body of knowledge. It examines the influence of a variety of environmental variables, specifically home and school experiences, as well as…

Measures humor appreciation (including mirth, subjective ratings, and response sets), comprehension, and production in children between the ages of 10 and 14. Relates humor to several areas of competence manifested at school. (HOD)

Research examined the impact that personality type may have on student and teacher differences and the effect on student grades. The following questions were addressed: Do agriculture college faculty personality types differ from agriculture college student personality types? and Does personality type affect agriculture college student grade point…

Based on Myers-Briggs Type Indicator profiles 182 students were assigned residence hall suites. Results supported the proposition that perceived social climate of a set of residence halls could be influenced in theoretically predictable and developmentally helpful ways. (Author/RC)

Examined the relationships among academic, sociometric, and personality variables of 242 children who were selected by their teachers as having behavior problems, learning problems, learning and behavior problems, or no problems. Results were generally supportive of teachers' ability to distinguish between children with problems and children…

Course evaluations analyzed to discover factors affecting learning indicate that expectations, learning style, and personality are major factors. It is suggested that learning is strongly influenced by these student characteristics and parallel factors in courses and teachers. (MSE)

This study compared college students at various levels of academic persistence and achievement. Previous high school achievement and preference for complex explanations of behavior are the best correlates with persistence and achievement. Other correlates include effective time management and recognition of the influence of social contexts on…

Clinical psychologist Taibi Kahler's Process Communication Model is based on six personality types (dreamers, persisters, promoters, reactors, rebels, and workaholics). By satisfying people's individual communication needs, the model helps improve student motivation and achievement, enhances staff morale, and reduces the need for discipline. (MLH)

Two competing learning theories, 1 based on learning strategies and 1 on learning styles, were assessed in a study with 336 college students, mostly first-year students. Results suggest both innate predisposition and acquired skills affect learning, and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator should be…