The high-school problem is nothing new. In one of his early writings, James S. Coleman, the brilliant sociologist who later wrote the famous report on the equality of opportunity for education (the "Coleman Report") and the first study of public and private schools, identified the essential high-school problem: "our adolescents today are cut off,…

One hundred and eight kindergarten and elementary school children, 36 at each of three age levels (5, 7, and 9 years) participated in the experiment. All children were presented a three-part successive discrimination task; original learning, presentation of incidental stimuli, and a test of recongition and recall of the incidental material.…

Examined the effect of monetary incentives on word list memory. Subjects were 72 children from grades 4, 6, and 8. (BD)

Reports a series of three exploratory studies. (WY)

Indicates that approval and disapproval affect the subject's motivational level (assessed by rate of responding) rather than his learning (assessed by acquisition measures). This study is based on a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment for the Ph.D. degree at the University of Denver. (MH)

A study of children's incentive preferences revealed reliable age and sex differences, and significant discrepancies with adults' estimates of what children like. Implications for research with children are discussed. (DP)

Presents a study which investigated the sources of control over behavior: internal or environmental. Results are discussed in terms of the Theory of Propositional Control. (DP)

Reinforcement conditions of approval, disapproval, or silence were used during a discrimination task assigned to 96 boys and 96 girls. Children receiving criticism responded at slower rates and made more errors than children receiving praise or silence. Retention was measured after 8 days. Results suggest that disapproval negatively affects both…

The relative strength of mastery motivation and need for approval was tested in subjects, ages 4 and 10. Mastery motivation was of major importance to the older children, particularly the boys. Contrary to prediction, approval was not of major importance to the young children. Need for approval was important for girls, but not boys. (Author/CS)

Studied differences in achieving orientations of preschool and third grade children. Two dimensions of sociocentrism were examined: the development of social comparison and receptiveness to social approval. (MS)

Examines the effects of providing different reasons for young children inteacting with a peer during play. Shows that dispositional or situational information about an unknown peer affects children's impressions of that peer differently, depending on the age of the child. (HOD)

The effectiveness of approval and affirmation of correctness was related to grade level for accuracy of performance, but not for rate. For accuracy of performance, a decreasing linear trend was found when approval effectiveness was evaluated across grades. For correctness, an increasing linear trend was found. (Author)

This study attempted to replicate the findings of Moore, Gagne, and Hauck (1973) and to test the developmental assumption of the two-stage motivational theory proposed by Moore, Means, and Gagne (1972) concerning the effect of combination expectancy-feedback communications. Fourth and second grade subjects were administered five pairs of these…