Festinger's (1954) theory of social comparison holds that in the absence of objective standards, people use the attitudes or judgments of similar others to determine the correctness of their own positions. More recent studies have suggested, however, that people often prefer dissimilar comparison targets. A study was undertaken to examine the…

Article examined the concept, advantages and disadvantages of accountability. (RK)

Article provided brief accounts of NAIS member schools founded before 1776 - in this case, Rutgers Preparatory School, Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School, and Governor Dummer Academy. (RK)

In the 20th century, a marked tendency to relegate the moral factor to an insignificant place has developed. This article considers the chief causes of that development. (Author/RK)

This is a response to Israela Ettenberg Aron's critical review of Bhattacharya's essay "Inquiry, Values, and Growth: A Reassessment of Dewey's Theory of Valuation." (DS)

Disputes Adrianne Aron's "unlovely coupling of Maslow with Bay Area Hippies" (AA 526 463). Argues that self-actualization is a "synergistic formulation combining the satisfaction of self and others, and hence the fulfillment of self through socially significant action". (Editor/RK)

Investigated two- to four-year-old children's sensitivity to perceptual and normative standards of comparison and their responses when standards conflict. Even the youngest children were capable of using normative and perceptual standards and could apply different standards of comparison when judging size. (RJC)

Perceptual and categorical similarity were varied independently in a concept-matching task administered to young children. Perceptual similarity proved to be the primary determinant of difficulty level. Superordinate and basic matches were equally difficult. When perceptual resemblance was minimal, most children were unable to recognize matches at…

To be creative, an act must have as its outcome something new in the way it is intelligible and valuable. Computers have restricted contexts of information and have no ability to weigh bits of information. Computer optimists presuppose either determinism or indeterminism, either of which abandons creativity. (MT)

Describes conditions important to the assessment process in the development of instructional materials. Out of these conditions several questions were suggested as key check points in the assessment model. (Author/RK)

A brief discussion of the need for evaluation of educational innovations and a warning the innovations should not be rejected out of hand because of a poor showing early in their development. (Author/AK)

Explores the thinking of Gregory Bateson, with the aim of identifying his contribution to a much needed theory for humanistic psychology. (Author/RK)

Introduced the hypothesis-assessment model, claiming that the strength of inductive argument is determined by the same factors that affect hypothesis plausibility in the everyday social milieu. Describes experiments conducted to assess argument strength. Discusses strengths and limitations of the proposed hypothesis-assessment model. (MOK)

Examines research on negativity effect (the disproportionate weighing of negative information in comparison to equally valenced positive information in the formation of judgments). Investigates the informativeness explanation of the negativity effect in the context of conversational interactions. Rejects a reliance on evaluative extremity and…

Examines the relationship between autonomy and religiosity. Argues that the latter does not necessarily exclude the former. Outlines a theory regarding the development of religious judgment. Describes basic characteristics of religious education. Discusses questions concerning the universality of religion and the role of atheistic attitudes within…