Adult Recollections of Name-calling at School

A sample of 220 adults responded to a questionnaire on their recollections of name-calling and nicknames while at school. Hurtful names were reported by 141 participants, who described coping with them primarily by means of verbal retaliation or ignoring the names. Participants rarely told teachers and most stated that their school was unhelpful. Although the experience was regarded less negatively over time, this was not the case for those who reported finding the names most hurtful. These participants reported greater effects on all areas of school life and a stronger association of name-calling with physical bullying, and they rated their current feelings about the past experience as more negative. The most common content of names referred to physical appearance, play on the individual's own name, and animals, trends also found in studies of children and in research into teasing.     

A History of Errors in the Analysis of Oral Reading Behaviour

Abstract Behavioural analyses of oral reading behaviour have ascribed different functions to errors and the correction of errors. Two positions are discussed. One is the legacy of Skinner which views errors as problematic and which advocates near error‐less learning. The other position views errors and potential errors as providing opportunities for self regulation and enhanced feedback. On the basis of recent research this paper argues that errors can have generative and inhibiting effects on oral reading, depending on the instructional context and the literacy goals of the classroom.     

A comparison of freshmen and seniors on general and specific essay tests of critical thinking

There is much interest in the impact of college on critical thinking ability. Freshmen and seniors at a mideastern university were given either a general instruction or multiple specific instructions for critically evaluating one of two articles. All critiques were in essay form. Seniors provided more appropriate criticisms to both kinds of instructions for both articles. However, the absolute level of performance of seniors reflected major deficiencies in applying critical evaluation skills. It was concluded that while college seems to be having an impact, greater emphasis is needed on more directly teaching critical thinking skills in the classroom.     

Discrimination reversal learning in newts

The results of field research suggest that, contrary to being behaviorally inflexible, some amphibians may have the ability to respond effectively to changing environments. The performance of seven newts (Triturus viridescens) was studied across 20 successive reversals of a spatial discrimination problem in a dry T-maze. Submersion in shaded water served as reinforcement for correct responses. The subjects showed a decrease in mean errors across reversals and across ordinal trials within sessions. These results are discussed in terms of the importance of using biologically relevant methodologies in the study of comparative animal learning.