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To clarify the roles of IQ and mental age (MA) in hypothesis behavior, MA-matched subjects at three levels of IQ (70, 100, and 130) and three levels of MA ( 5 1 2 , 7 1 2 , and 9 1 2 years ) received blank-trial discrimination learning problems using procedures designed to discourage position-oriented responding. With position responding discouraged, earlier findings were contradicted in that no hypothesis measure showed a main effect of IQ. This suggest that previously reported IQ group differences in hypothesis behavior may not reflect cognitive deficits inherently linked to low IQ, but instead may reflect the influence of specific methodological factors. The finding and interpretation are consistent with Zigler's (American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 1969 , 73, 536–556) “developmental” theory of retardation and inconsistent with the general “difference” position. In additional findings, the predictions that subjects at all three MA levels would use hypotheses, and that retarded children from special-education classes would use hypotheses more often than retarded children “mainstreamed” in classes for the nonretarded were confirmed.

Mental-age-matched normal and retarded subjects at mental-age (MA) levels 5.5, 7.5, and 9.5 years received blank-trial discrimination problems designed to expose hypothesis behavior. There was evidence that subjects at all MA levels used hypotheses. Use of feedback indicating that a response was wrong increased significantly with MA, while use of feedback indicating that a response was right increased significantly with IQ. On simple problems involving two stimulus dimensions, retarded and normal groups used about equal numbers of hypotheses, but on four-dimensional problems the retarded used fewer hypotheses than normals. This IQ Level X Problem Complexity interaction may explain contradictions among previous findings regarding IQ effects on learning. A major issue in developmental psychology concerns the respective roles of rate of learning and level of cognitive development in determining intellectual performance. This issue has been especially central in research with familially retarded children. Views of cultural-familial retardation tend to cluster around two contrasting poles which Zigler (1969) has labeled developmental and difference theories. Difference theories ascribe specific intellectual deficiencies to the familially retarded (e.g., deficient attention and retention processes, cf. Zeaman, 1973; Zeaman & House, 1967), while Zigler's developmental view is that the cognitive competence of familially retarded persons should be essentially similar to that of mental-age-matched normals.

Perceived control of events is one motivational variable that appears to affect children’s academic achievement. In this review the conceptualization and measurement of the control dimension is discussed from three theoretical perspectives: social learning theory, attribution theory, and intrinsic motivation theories. For each of these three perspectives evidence on the relationship between achievement and perceptions of control is summarized, and possible explanations for the relationship are discussed. Throughout this review similarities and differences among these orientations are pointed out. Specific recommendations are made for research which will advance our understanding of this relationship and which will provide the most useful information to educators.

There is extensive evidence that people strongly value and are reluctant to relinquish the perception of control. Yet, both helplessness and locus of control theorists interpret various "inward" behaviors (passivity, withdrawal, and submissiveness) as signs of relinquished perceived control. As evidence, they note that inward behavior frequently is accompanied by causal attributions to limited ability, chance, and powerful others—all attributions that suggest uncontrollability. In contrast, we claim,that these attributions and the behaviors to which they relate may often reflect a type of perceived control that is generally overlooked. People attempt to gain control not only by bringing the environment into line with their wishes (primary control) but also by bringing themselves into line with environmental forces (secondary control). Four manifestations of secondary control are considered: (a) Attributions to severely, limited ability can serve to enhance predictive control and to protect against disappointment. Passive and withdrawn behaviors reflect the attempt to inhibit unfulfillable expectations, (b) Attributions to chance can reflect illusory control, since people often construe chance as a personal characteristic akin to an ability ("luck"). Individuals who make attributions to chance may exhibit passivity and withdrawal in skill situations, reserving energy and emotional investment for situations that allow them to capitalize on their perceived strength—that is, being lucky, (c) Attributions to powerful others permit vicarious control when the individual identifies with these others. Submission to a powerful leader, a group, or a deity sometimes enables the individual to join in their power, (d) All of the preceding attributions may foster interpretive control, in which the individual seeks to understand and derive meaning from otherwise uncontrollable events in order to accept them. When perceived control is recognized in both its primary and secondary forms, a broad range of inward behaviors can be seen as efforts to sustain rather than relinquish the perception of control.

Child behavior problems and corresponding clinic referral patterns may be significantly influenced by cultural factors. Prevailing values and childrearing practices within a culture may discourage development of some child problems while fostering others. We explored this possibility, focusing on clinic referral problems of two different societies: (a) Jamaica, where the Afro-British culture discourages child aggression and other Undercontrolled behavior and possibly fosters inhibition and other overcontrolled behavior, and (b) the United States, where Undercontrolled child behavior is seemingly more generally accepted. We coded clinic-referred problems listed by parents of Jamaican and American youngsters (N = 720). Cross-cultural differences were striking: Overcontrolled problems were noted more often for Jamaican than American youngsters, whereas the converse was true for Undercontrolled problems. These and other findings suggest that factors such as culture and sex may be linked to substantial differences in the problems for which youngsters of different countries are treated in clinics.

From the debate over developmental "universals" in Piagetian theory and the controversy between developmental and difference theories of mental retardation, an important hypothesis emerges—one that is testable via cognitivedevelopmental comparisons between retarded and nonretarded persons. This similar sequence hypothesis holds that retarded and nonretarded persons traverse the same stages of cognitive development in the same order, differing only in the rate at which they progress and in the ultimate developmental ceiling they attain. Current evidence relevant to this hypothesis is drawn from 3 longitudinal and 28 cross-section al studies of developmental phenomena described by Piaget. The great preponderance of this evidence supports the hypothesis with respect to every subject group, with the possible exception of individuals suffering from pronounced electroencephalogram abnormalities. The quality of current evidence is critically evaluated, and procedures by which more precise tests of the hypothesis might be fashioned are proposed. Overall, the review illustrates that developmental research with atypical populations can be a potent tool in testing general developmental theory. Conversely, it illustrates the power of general developmental theory to enrich our understanding of atypical development.

ACHENBACH, THOMAS M., and WEIsz, JoHN R. A Longitudinal Study of Developmental Synchrony between Conceptual Identity, Seriation, and Transitivity of Color, Number, and Length. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1975, 46, 840-848. Simplified tests of conceptual identity, seriation, and transitivity for the properties of color, number, and length were administered to 102 preschoolers on 2 occasions, 6 months apart. Contrary to a strict interpretation of Piaget's theory, the 3 achievements did not emerge simultaneously for any of the 3 properties. Instead, identity preceded seriation, which preceded transitivity across all 3 properties. There was a pronounced ordering among identity concepts, with color preceding number, which preceded length, but the ordering of properties was less consistent for seriation and transitivity. Relationships of Binet MA to identity, seriation, and transitivity suggested that Piaget finds synchrony among these operations because the verbal skills needed for his tasks do not emerge until all 3 operations are available.

Learned helplessness is produced by successive failures and by feedback attributing failure to uncontrollable causes. Retarded children appear to encounter both causal factors frequently and may thus be susceptible to helplessness. To test this possibility, children of low, average, and high IQ at three mental age levels were administered a response-initiation measure, a puzzle-repetition measure of perseverance after failure, and a questionnaire designed to gauge attributions for failure. Teachers also rated the children on a helplessness scale. Helplessness, as measured by the two questionnaires, declined with MA. On the three helplessness measures derived from the children themselves, there was an IQ x MA interaction: The low-IQ group showed more helplessness relative to nonretarded children at the upper MA level than to nonretarded children at the two lower levels. The results, although qualified in some respects, are consistent with the view that helplessness can be learned over time by children who repeatedly fail to effect the outcomes that they desire and who learn to attribute failure to factors beyond their control. Learned helplessness is the perception that one cannot control the outcomes that he or she experiences. This perception constitutes a general conceptual definition of learned helplessness; however, empirical research has linked helplessness to observable cognitive and behavioral effects, a number of which have come to be used by at least some investigators as operational definitions of the construct. These effects include (a) attributions of failure to stable, uncontrollable factors (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978; Diener & Dweck, 1978

In an effort to learn how perceived internal control changes with age, 33 developmental studies using 12 different locus of control (LOC) scales are surveyed. A few studies show developmental declines in perceived control, about half show consistent developmental increases, and about half show mixed results or no significant developmental differences. A critical examination of the LOC scales reveals that some developmental findings may be artifacts of scale characteristics, and that others may reflect developmental effects on constructs other than perceived control. Most importantly, the scales and the LOC literature fail to distinguish clearly betwen two dimensions of perceived control that may show quite different patterns of developmental change. These dimensions are perceived contingency of outcomes and perceived competence of self; combined, they form a simple but potentially powerful conceptual framework for theory and research on the development of perceived control. The explanatory power of this framework is briefly illustrated, relevant evidence is surveyed, and embryonic proposals are advanced for the study of perceived contingency and competence independently and in interaction.

When a child has psychological problems, what determines whether adults will consider the problems serious or whether they will seek professional help? One determinant may be cultural: Prevailing social values may help set adult thresholds for concern over child problems. We explored this possibility, comparing adults in Thailand and the United States, two countries where social values and perspectives on childhood differ markedly. Thai and American parents, teachers, and clinical psychologists made judgments about two children, one with overcontrolled problems (e.g., shyness, fear) and one with undercontrolled problems (e.g., disobedience, fighting). Consistent with some of the literature on Thai Buddhist values, Thais (compared with Americans) rated problems of both types as less serious, less worrisome, less likely to reflect personality traits, and more likely to improve with time. Cross-national differences in perceived seriousness were more pronounced for parents and teachers than for psychologists, suggesting that professional culture may mitigate the effects of national culture. Evidently, adults' judgments about child clinical problems can differ markedly as a function of their cultural context. So much of our research on psychopathology is based in the West, particularly in North America, that we risk what Kennedy, Scheirer, and Rogers (1984) called a "monocultural science." This risk is significant because research on psychopathology is both the study of the actual behavior of individuals and the study of the lens through which society views that behavior. Because identical behavior is often viewed differently in different societies, judgments about whether a particular behavior pattern represents a serious problem or pathology may be shaped by the cultural context in which the behavior occurs. This phenomenon warrants special attention in research on child psychopathology. In contrast to adults, children rarely consider themselves disturbed and rarely refer themselves for treatment. Instead, parents, teachers, and mental health professionals play these roles, serving, in effect, as gatekeepers to child mental health care. Consequently, the degree of distress adults

Accurate judgments about personal control depend in part on accurate judgments about the contingency of outcomes because noncontingent outcomes are inherently uncontrollable. Yet children often fail to recognize noncontingency when they see it. In a developmental study of such failures, children's contingency judgments were assessed following their participation in chance activities at a state fair. Younger children (aged 6-10 years) regarded the outcomes of these activities as controllable—that is, most of them saw the outcomes of their own performance as caused by skill-related factors and regarded such factors (age, intelligence, effort, and practice) as significantly influencing the outcomes of other children's performance. Older children (aged 11-14 years), by contrast, generally identified the outcomes of their own performance as caused by luck, and they minimized the role of skill-related factors in the performance outcomes of others. Yet even the older children regarded such factors as somewhat relevant to outcomes they predicted for others. This was true even of children at formal operational age levels and of children who explicitly identified outcomes as caused by "luck." Moreover, children at both age levels showed evidence of self-serving bias: Those who had won prizes they wanted saw outcomes as strongly affected by effort, but those who had failed to win did not. The findings support Piaget's views on the pervasiveness of perceived contingency in young children. Consistent with adult literature, however, the findings suggest that neither the attainment of formal operations nor the recognition that luck causes outcomes ensures accurate judgments about control.

The life experience of retarded children may heighten susceptibility to learned helplessness. Earlier literature has supported this hypothesis but has failed to demonstrate a key feature of the helplessness syndrome: performance deterioration in response to failure feedback. This study was designed to fill this gap. Children who had been identified by their school systems as retarded and nonretarded but were similar in mental age were administered a series of concept formation problems designed to reveal the children's use of strategies. When feedback was veridical the groups did not differ in their use of effective strategies, but when feedback became consistently negative the groups diverged markedly. Under negative feedback, retarded children showed striking deterioration in strategy usage (p < .001), but nonretarded children showed no deterioration. Consistent with these findings, teachers rated retarded children as significantly more helpless than their nonretarded peers on a checklist of relevant school behavior. Additional findings suggested that black retarded children may be more susceptible to helplessness than are their white counterparts. Finally, group differences in children's verbalizations during problem solving bore little relation to group differences in actual performance. Overall, the findings point to helplessness deficits in retarded children that may interfere significantly with expression of their actual abilities. The learned-helplessness model (see Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978) provides an explanation of certain behavioral deficits that do not result directly from deficient ability. Deficits in perseverance and even in problem-solvi ng effectiveness, the model suggests, can result from a learned perception that one cannot control outcomes. Such a perception, known as "learned helplessness," has been shown to be caused by repeated failure to exercise control (see Seligman, 1975) and by feedback suggesting that failures result from stable, uncontrol

How effective is psychotherapy with children and adolescents? The question was addressed by metaanalysis of 108 well-designed outcome studies with 4-18-year-old participants. Across various outcome measures, the average treated youngster was better adjusted after treatment than 79% of those not treated. Therapy proved rnore effective for children than for adolescents, particularly when the therapists were paraprofessionals (e.g., parents, teachers) or graduate students. Professionals (with doctor's or master's degrees) were especially effective in treating overcontrolled problems (e.g., phobias, shyness) but were not more effective than other therapists in treating undercontrolled problems (e.g., aggression, impulsivity). Behavioral treatments proved more effective than nonbehavioral treatments regardless of client age, therapist experience, or treated problem. Overall, the findings revealed significant, durable effects of treatment that differed somewhat with client age and treatment method but were reliably greater than zero for most groups, most problems, and most methods.

The study was designed to determine whether outer-directedness, measured by glances at E during object assembly tasks administered according to the Turnure and Zigler (1964) procedure, predicts changes in preschoolers' Binet IQs over 6 months. With MA as a covariate to control for the small but significant relationship betweeen glances and developmental level, an ANOCOVA showed a significant interaction resulting from increases in the IQs of non-outer-directed Ss and declines in the IQs of outer-directed Ss. Glances at E's puzzle while S assembled his own were unrelated to glances at E or to IQ changes, but, unlike glances at E, were significantly related to improvements in performance from puzzle 1 to puzzle 2.

As a sequel to comparisons between reports by parents, we compared behavioral/emotional problems of 6–11-yr-old That and American children reported by teachers. These revealed higher ratings for Thai than for American children on nearly all problems showing significant cross-national differences. That children were rated higher on both overcontrolled and undercontrolled behavior and had more overcontrolled than undercontrolled problems (p

An overview of traditional views and practices is taken primarily from studies of fifteen tribal societies. An emphasis on supernatural causes of disease, a dependence upon witchdoctors who utilize herbal and ritual remedies, and the use of surgical techniques were features common to most groups. Numerous health problems are shown to result from traditional beliefs. Among them are dietary deficiencies, high infant mortality, and poor mental health. Proposals to incorporate the witchdoctor into modern practice are discussed, but considered unwise, although an analysis of herbal remedies is recommended, as is an emulation of the traditional emphasis upon social and emotional factors in illness. The need for wide-spread, innovative health education and for scientific measurement of its progress is stressed.

We agree with Garfield that there is value in keeping criteria for dropout groups consistent across studies. Because our methods served this goal, we are puzzled at this part of his critique. The term dropout, as used in our study, might reasonably be replaced with Garfield's term refuser; however, the procedural realities of our child clinics make both terms appropriate. At Garfield's suggestion, we present new data on those youngsters he considers true dropouts; analyses reveal that the results we previously reported would have been the same had we used this group.

The comments by Azuma and Kojima are both encouraging and thought provoking. We thoroughly agree that there may be multiple recipes for both primary and secondary control and that a focus on those used in Japan can fill out the picture nicely. We emphasize, in addition, the essential overdetermination of human behavior, and the fact that elements of both primary and secondary control may sometimes underlie the same overt act. Overall, the comments of our Japanese colleagues provide rich food for thought, the proper nutrient for our embryonic model of control. While working on our cross-cultural analysis of control concepts (Weisz, Rothbaum, & Blackburn, 1984), we occasionally wondered if we Americans were engaged in yet another act of primary control. We had a fleeting vision of an American ordering fishsticks in a sushi bar, imposing Western habits and concepts where they do not fit. Had we, like the proverbial Mrs. Paul, modified entities delectable in their natural state by pulverizing, molding, and frying so that they fit our own tastes? The encour- aging and very thoughtful comments by Azuma (1984) and Kojima (1984) suggest that we have not completely "deep-fried" the Japanese concepts and that the model of primary and secondary control may provide one useful conceptual medium for cross-cultural comparison. Their comments also raise some important issues with respect to the primary- secondary model and cross-cultural psychology gen- erally. Recipes for Secondary Control An important notion suggested by Azuma is that in cultures where secondary control is valued and often pursued, a multiplicity of specific forms may have evolved. Following our piscatory analogy, an Amer- ican first visiting a sushi bar may see raw fish on rice, whereas a Japanese may see a rich array of delicacies, each differing from the others in subtle but very meaningful ways. Similarly, Azuma distin- guishes between subtly different forms of yielding, one reflecting secondary control via an enhanced sense of "maturity and self-control"; another, sec- ondary control via "resigned akirame"; and yet another, secondary control linked to feelings of "love and empathy" (p. 970). In his delightful analysis, Azuma demonstrates that each form of yielding carries with it a prototypical aphorism that can be used to reorganize the psychological perceptions of the individual who yields. We agree with Azuma's point, in general. Our first impression was that the three forms of yielding that he describes closely parallel our notions of interpretive secondary control (controlling one's as- sertive drives and thus enhancing one's feelings of maturity and self-control), predictive secondary con- trol (resigned akirame), and vicarious secondary control (yielding related to love and empathy with respect to a significant other). On further reflection, though, it occurs to us that our perception may be a good example of Azuma's point, that is, subtle differences between various forms of secondary con- trol may be more meaningful to the Japanese than to Americans.

WEISZ, JOHN R. Autonomy, Control, and Other Reasons Why "Mom Is the Greatest": A Content Analysis of Children's Mother's Day Letters. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1980, 51, 801-807. For Mother's Day, a community newspaper published letters from children on "Why my Mom is the greatest." Letters from the 249 children, aged 7-17, were analyzed for age and sex differences in the matemal behaviors selected for positive evaluation. References to being granted autonomy and control declined with age; this was interpreted as evidence for developmental gains in identiflcation of the intent underlying parental behavior. References to physical nurturance decreased with age, while references to psychological nurturance and just "being there" increased—findings consistent with person-perception literature on age increases in the use of abstract, covert, and psychological categories. Sex difl erences were harder to interpret, but appeared consistent with the literature on sex-role identiflcation in children. In addition to its substantive flndings, the study illustrates the use of a multivariate procedure that is particularly well suited to naturalistic data in nonorthogonal designs.

MCGUIRE, KATHY D., and WEiSZ, JOHN R. Social Cognition and Behavior Correlates of Preadolescent Chumship. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1982, 53, 1478-1484. Previous research on children's friendship has often involved measures that actually gauge their popularity. The present study was an attempt to distinguish behavioral correlates of friendship from correlates of popularity. Friendship and popularity were construed as orthogonal factors. Friendship was defined in terms consistent with Sullivan's theory of preadolescent chumship. Popularity was operationally defined in terms of a traditional peer nomination measure. As predicted by Sullivan, children with friends were more likely than those without friends to display high levels of altruism and affective perspective-taking skill. By contrast, no measures showed significant effects of popularity. Overall, the findings suggest that operational definitions growing out of Sullivan's theory may enrich our understanding of friendship in childhood.

WEISZ, JOHN R. Transcontextual Validity in Developmental Research. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1978, 49, 1-12. Recent critiques of the generalizability of developmental principles raise an important question: Can we expect the psychological study of human development to yield durable principles, valid across changes in time, culture, and cohort? While the answer is probably yes, this answer must be qualified by an analysis of the form which enduring principles are likely to take, the limitations and strengths they are likely to display, and the process by which they are likely to be discovered. In unearthing and validating durable developmental principles, the complementarity of diverse methodologies (including "lab" and "ecological" approaches and designs of varying complexity) is a major asset. In addition, social relevance and scientific advance are potentially complementary objectives. Our discipline, it is argued, is at its best in a state of creative tension-between the pursuit of answers to contemporary social questions and the quest for firm scientific principles.