The focus of this paper is not on the events that occur in the classroom but rather on the meaning of those events. An overview is presented of how affective assessment may be conducted in the elementary school physical education class so that teachers may more effectively observe responses of the pupils to their actions and interpret the meaning…

Examined the value of assessing affect and attitudes in addition to daily behavior in the prediction of marital satisfaction. Multiple regression analyses and semipartial correlations indicated that the affective and attitudinal variables accounted for more unique variance in marital satisfaction than did the behavioral variables. (Author/ABB)

Examined self-reports of affect in 30 married couples who engaged in dyadic interactions and then viewed their interactions on videotape. Self-reports of affect discriminated high- from low-conflict situations, correlated significantly with marital satisfaction, were coherent between spouses, and were significantly related to observers' coding of…

Emotion concepts might be represented as distributed around a circumplex defined on bipolar dimensions of pleasure and arousal. Using an analog of categorical perception methodology, this study demonstrated a number of category boundaries that mark out discrete segments of the circumplex. Discriminability of emotion concepts was relatively weak…

Burleson and Goldsmith's (1998) comforting model suggests an appraisal-based mechanism through which comforting messages can bring about a positive change in emotional states. This study is a first empirical test of three causal linkages implied by the appraisal-based comforting model. Participants (N=258) talked about an upsetting event with a…

Middle and working class sixth grade children were compared on various aspects of emotional development. A relation between social class and knowledge of affect terms previously found in 4-6 year olds did not continue into later childhood, contrary to expectations. Methodological and educational implications are discussed. (Author/EH)

Thirty-two mentally retarded and 23 nonretarded adults viewed slides of four retarded and four nonretarded preschoolers. They were asked to label facial expressions depicting four emotional states: happiness, anger, sadness, neutrality. Among results were that retarded adults used the label "happy" most often, while nonretarded adults used the…

Examined participants' tendency to use affective constructs to influence nonaffective constructs (behavioral and valuative), and their ability to generate affective constructs. Using a modified repertory grid procedure, 131 participants compared each combination of affective, valuative, and behavioral constructs so as to make decisions about the…

Discusses four studies investigating how affective orientation (AO) relates to other communication constructs and behavior: (1) the development of the AO measure; (2) assessment of construct validity; (3) association with communication production; and (4) ways high versus low affectively oriented communicators differ in their recall and…

Reports on two studies that explicate the process and structure of affective orientation (AO). Provides strong evidence that AO is not redundant with existing measures of self-awareness and emotional responding, and that the pattern of processing emotional information remains stable across time. (SR)

A study explored the affective impact of interpersonal influence messages. Thirty-nine students enrolled in an undergraduate communication course listened to a tape-recording of 15 directives and rated each directive on explicitness or dominance. Results indicated that the set of stimuli tapped nearly the full range of both continua, and that the…

The Affective Involvement Instrument (AII) describes and classifies affective involvement in the process of decision-making as it occurs during classroom activities such as role-playing or group discussions. The thirty-celled instrument behaviorizes the six processes involved in decision-making and combines them with the taxonomic levels of the…

Four assessment instruments are presented for use by physical education instructors in improving students' self-awareness. (MJB)

This issue of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence is devoted to techniques for measuring adolescents' self-reported feelings and behaviors. The methods presented are paper-and pencil self-reports of the standard questionnaire type; and involve mental health, self concept or self image, affective feelings, and typical daily behavior. (Author/GDC)

The relationships between cognitive and affective attitudes toward the body, body experiences, and suicidal tendencies were examined as a derivative of the hypothesis that bodily attitudes and experiences may facilitate suicidal acting out. Results show that the suicidal group differed from the two nonsuicidal groups in feelings toward the body,…