Three obstacles appear to frustrate the potential contribution of empirical research and social science to policy formulation. First there is the inherent conflict in the political decision making process; second, reality is so complex it defeats our ability to locate the sphere of understanding which we should apply; third, knowledge presupposes…

Some of the major changes that have influenced the field of child development since the last edition (1964) are presented in this edition. The book is divided into six parts, each with an introduction that summarizes what is important in the various domains of child development. Part One, The Grand Systems, is intended to give the reader a solid…

The purposes of this paper are: (1) to identify uses of the term social competence for preschool and early school children, with origins directly in research, and (2) to formulate a definition of social competence reflecting consensus across three different research perspectives. From an ethnological perspective, social competence consists of…

The purpose of this study was to obtain quantitative nonevaluative data about verbal behavior used by instructor and students in the foreign language classroom. Two beginner and two intermediate German classes were tape-recorded for two weeks, then coded according to patterns. Frequencies of various verbal behavior patterns were analyzed. A…

An effort was made to assess the relative effectiveness of different reinforcement systems versus traditional teaching with maladjusted boys. The subjects were 60 boys in grades 6 and 7 who participated during language arts classes, but total data were gathered on 26 boys. The boys had histories of aggressive behavior and language problems.…

This collection of papers represents the developmental research as well as the thrust of the Regional Laboratory's (UMREL) program. UMREL has been developing behaviorally engineered educational environments through a cross-disciplinary effort in education and the behavioral sciences. The program began with the establishment of demonstration…

This report outlines three aspects of research and innovation in higher education. First, the relevance of social science research methods to educational policy is discussed in relation to the bureaucratic and democratic distribution of power in higher education. Second, research and innovation are discussed and applied toward determining the…

It has been the experience of most adult basic education teachers that their students are apprehensive about taking tests. The study evaluates the effects of training adult basic education teachers in behavioral attending skills. Two basic questions were investigated: (1) Would the training of instructors in the use of behavior attending skills…

This paper presents two studies which explored the manner in which the father interacts with his newborn infant and compared paternal and maternal interaction patterns. In contrast to earlier studies, a direct observational approach was employed that permitted a detailed specification of father behaviors in the presence of the newborn. In the…

Reports are presented on three phase four projects being carried out by the Experimental Manpower Laboratory for Corrections (EMLC) using a behavioral approach to the problems of the offender. The Mount Meigs Project is concerned with a behavioral management program, using a token economy, in the academic education division of the Alabama…

Five educational experts in educational change and diffusion research presented papers at the annual summer Research Conference in Instructional Systems Technology. The papers included a review of the general status of the field, a discussion of the need for further developing applied behavioral science and applying it to the problems of education…

This document is the fourth and final part of a comprehensive study designed to review child development data and program evaluation data so that proposals for Federal program planning can be made. This section (Volume 4) provides a summary of the topics, findings, and recommendations of the other three parts of the study. (DP)

The recent resurgence of judging teacher effectiveness is part of a revival of behavioristic attempts to find universal criteria empirically as the identification of the "good teacher" or "good teaching." Defenders of behaviorist psychology argue that any "educational objectives" which cannot be quantified are not "real educational objectives."…

One hundred and fifty papers deal with the current range of concerns in the emergent field of environmental design research and emphasize the relating of research to practice. The papers focus on (1) original research in the social and behavioral sciences with direct relevance to environmental design, planning, and management; and (2) new methods…

This report summarizes the projects, recent studies, and studies in the planning stages for 1967-69 at the Henrietta Szold Institute. The Institute has been involved in coordinating research in the field of human behavior with special emphasis on children, advising the Israeli government, and stimulating activities in community development.…