Multidimensional scaling analysis was used to examine a sample of adolescents' cognitive appraisals of major and daily stressful events. The desirability of events was the only major feature for the entire sample. Older adolescents also distinguished the impact of events on their lives and generality of causes of events. (Author/JAZ)

Assessed degree to which anxiety, hostility, depression, and metamemory predicted recall performance on word list and prose passage. Results from 65 older and 65 younger adults indicated different patterns of personality predictors and some consistent metamemory predictors across tasks. Different measures of anxiety related differently to…

Using a newly developed coding method, the Geriatric Interaction Analysis system, the interactions of doctors with a matched sample of older and younger patients were audiotaped and scored. Patients and doctors raised fewer psychosocial issues in interviews with older patients than with younger patients. Doctors also responded less well to these…

Points out that the "-ed" participle forms of psychological verbs such as "amuse,""offend,""disappoint," etc. are gaining increasing grammatical acceptance since the "by"-agentive phrase (passive construction) and the adverb "very" co-occur in everyday usage. Results of experiments done…

The self-report and a modified informant version of the Psychopathology Instrument for Mentally Retarded Adults (PIMRA) was used to assess 160 mentally retarded adults. Significant relationships between PIMRA scores and age, sex, and level of retardation were found. (DB)

The study examined the rate and order of conservation in 24 deaf children, ages 8.2 to 12.9 years using standard Piagetian instructions and procedures in sign language. Even the older children failed to demonstrate control over the conservation concept suggesting the presence of a cognitive difference in deaf children. (DB)

Describes an experiment that tested the effects of a vertical versus a horizontal arrangement of brief structured text entries on know-item search time. The results discussed include the effects of the searcher's age and entry arrangement on search times, and subjects' judgments on the ease of use of the entry arrangements. (Author/CLB)

Analyzes data concerning the relationships between the success of reunion with biological parents: (1) adult adoptees' age at the initiation of their search; (2) grief resolution; and (3) attribution of blame for the relinquishment to the biological mother. (BB)

Receptive and expressive humor was investigated in learning-disabled (LD), mildly retarded, and nondisabled students (N=54) from primary (ages 7-10), intermediate (ages 10-13), and middle school (ages 13-16) grades. LD students did not display increased understanding at later ages and had more difficulty with phonological than with lexical or…

Binaural masked thresholds for a speech sound (/ba/) were estimated under two interaural phase conditions in three age groups (infants, preschoolers, adults). Differences as a function of both age and condition and effects of reducing intensity for adults were significant in indicating possible developmental binaural hearing changes, especially…

The ways in which infants, toddlers, children, and adolescents learn social behaviors, through role models, social rules, and rewards and punishment, are described. A four-step social skills training program for preschoolers is discussed. A list of resource materials is provided. (JL)

The memory performance of 30 seventh and 30 eleventh graders was examined as a function of instructional conditions on two different cued recall tasks. The relationship between meta-memory and actual performance during adolescence was studied. Results concern performance based on elaborative prompting, controlled instructions, and the students'…

Results showed that infants can differentiate dynamic, multimodal expressions as early as five months of age; can distinguish dynamically distinct expressions before similarly animated expressions; and seem to rely more on the voice than the face in making these discriminations. (RH)

Analysis of 362 questionnaires administered to college students revealed the following: (1) Black victims are derogated relative to White victims; (2) White older women are derogated relative to White younger women; (3) Black younger women are derogated relative to Black older women; and (4) less distinction is made between Black women. (BJV)

Examined were message-receiving skills of schoolchildren in relation to their mother's messages. Participants were hearing children four, six, and eight years of age and deaf children six to 10 years of age. Findings revealed that mothers achieved high levels of communicative success with their six- and eight-year-old hearing children but…