This paper was written for parents, especially for single parents, of adolescents. It begins with a very brief parental projection task in which the parents can identify likes and dislikes about themselves and their teenage children. Parents are then led through a tour of a teenager's brain, examining in lay terms the areas of adolescent…

This summary of the written responses of participants in the Plenary Session of the 1985 World Conference of the International Council for Distance Education begins with a review of the session's specific goals: (1) to present selected ideas and arguments from two perspectives--a traditional pedagogical one and an open, andragogical one; allow…

Ways in which behavioral scientists can use both vertical (logical) and lateral (creative-intuitive) thinking to improve their research are discussed. Creativity in the selection of research questions would require that behavioral scientists ask questions whose answers could make a difference to societal and world well-being. Behavioral scientists…

Efforts to enhance the effectiveness of cross-cultural interventions have emphasized the need for counselors to assess their own as well as their client's cultural value systems. To assess cultural world views, the Cultural Attitudes Repertory Technique (CART), which examines the content and structure of an individual's personal system of cultural…

Sixty-six Nigerian and 120 U.S. rural children and adolescents (ages 6-18) from three social classes were interviewed about their conceptions of economic inequality. The rich and poor were described referring to central (traits, thoughts) and sociocentric (class consciousness, life chances) characteristics. Age was a factor in change of type of…

This study compares the effectiveness of four experimental training programs designed to foster altruism in kindergarten children. Subjects were 97 children 4-5 years of age in six preschool classes. The children were assigned as a class to one of the six training and control conditions. The four training conditions were: (1) role playing; (2)…

Perspective transformation is a consciously achieved state in which the individual's perspective on life is transformed. The new perspective serves as a vantage point for life's actions and interactions, affecting the way life is lived. Three conditions are basic to achieving perspective transformation: (1) "feeling" experience, i.e.,…

This training manual explains the process of rating client openness from a short sample of dyadic help-intended interactions. The overview of client openness includes a discussion of the 10-week undergraduate program which teaches students to assess client openness based on behavioral ratings from the Group Assessment of Interpersonal Traits…

The leading frame-of-reference theories make opposing predictions about the effects of message discrepancy on attitude change. Assimilation-contrast theory predicts that messages that are highly discrepant with initial attitudes are likely to produce less attitude change than messages that are mildly discrepant. In contrast, perspective theory…

To address the issue of a teacher's self image, a holistic teaching model was used at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Teachers, student teachers, and preservice students enrolled in a course featuring the Symmetrical Model. The model presents a framework for perceiving self in completeness or symmetry for consideration in an educational…

The role of verbalization in children's mental operations was studied by comparing the mental operations children used in spatial perspective tasks (indicating another's view) and rotation tasks (imagining an object's rotation and one's own subsequent view). Each of 96 children (equal numbers of boys and girls, kindergarten and second grade…

This paper traces the evolving relationship of a teacher and a researcher who shared life in a kindergarten/first-grade classroom for an academic year. Their relationship became the basis for new ways of thinking about the social and academic competencies of children in the classroom, and for new ways of thinking about the aims and conduct of…

This book deals with cognitive development from the perspective of the author's theory of conceptual learning and development (CLD) and from a Piagetian perspective. Chapter I provides an overview of CLD theory and also identifies and discusses the Piagetian constructs of stage, groupement structures, and equilibration. Chapter II focuses on the…

This paper describes three interrelated studies which investigated the cognitions, feelings, and motives involved in the emergence and progression of prosocial behaviors. The first study examined the child's emerging sensitivities to the affective events in his environment through data collected over a 9-month period from groups of 10-, 15-, and…

This paper reviews nine studies which report conflicting results in assessing the relationship between children's role-taking ability and communication skills. The studies included satisfy three criteria: (1) role-taking and communication efficiency are measured independently; (2) tasks used to measure the two skills are significantly different in…