am concerned that the use of undergraduates may eventually put graduate students and perhaps even professors out of work. I also wonder whether it is good to try to improve teaching in giant lecture courses or whether we might be better off just using our energy to fight against teaching under these conditions. But for now I have decided that the disadvantages and dangers of teaching an introductory psychology course as outlined above are outweighed by the opportunities made available for providing information about psychology, access to important ideas about the world, skills, self-understanding, training in critical thinking, and enjoyment to large numbers of students. I hope that we can increase the attention given to discussions about what constitutes good teaching and the number of attempts made to share ideas about methods that have been used to improve the teaching of psychology.This is a comprehensive report of procedures, problems and values in a broadly based program from a department with 10 years' experience.The faculty-supervised, off-campus learning experience, known by a variety oi names including internship, clinical, and practicum, is not a new teaching methodology It has been afamrliar part of Bachelor's level programs in education, engineering, and nursing for decades It is also a wellestablished component of graduate-level psychology programs But the rnclusron of practrcum as part of undergraduate coursework In psychology IS relatively recent In most institutions For example, In 1969 undergraduate practlcum was one of the least frequently offered psychology courses, but by 1975, forty-flve percent of four year colleges taught undergraduate practicum (Lux & Daniel, 1978) A more recent report (Mlnk, 1979) indicated over 70% of colleges and unrversrties surveyed provided undergraduate internshrps in psychology Tradit~onally, most undergraduate coursework has been theory-oriented rather than skrll-oriented, and has been a preparation for graduate tra~nrng or part of a general lrberal arts curriculum lather than a preparation for a post-BA job In psychology. With the increase In the use of para-professronals In agencies such as commun~ty mental health centers, there are new opportunities for the BA psychology graduate A survey of F'ryrear (1 979) of sunbelt clties showed that 38% of communrty soclal agencres employed people wlth BA degrees hhost of these agencies required experience prior to entry into the job. Psychology practica provide just that type of experience.

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A review of the literature on preparation of children for medical procedures revealed that: (1) preparation is widely recommended but there is little empirical evidence documenting its effectiveness, (2) the relative efficiency of different preparations generally has not been determined, and (3) preparation for procedures that are routine for medical personnel but painful and stressful for children (e.g., fingers sticks) has not received much attention. The present study compared the reactions of a group of children that received empathic, supportive preparation for needles (including statements such as, "It is going to hurt a little," and "I don't mind if you cry.") with a group that was told to be big, brave, and not cry. The group that was instructed not to cry actually cried more, and had more other negative reactions, than did the empathically prepared group. Thus, style of preparation even for routine medical procedures can affect children's behavior and medical personnel might benefit from instruction in effective preparation techniques.

It is widely believed that diagnostic labels have deleterious effects, but the empirical literature indicates that both negative and beneficial effects can occur with labeling. The present research was designed to untangle these mixed results and to test two hypotheses: (a) In the absence oj other information about the child, a diagnostic label will elicit relatively negative attitudes from others, (b) When the child displays behavior that is deviant, labels will have relatively positive effects. In three experiments, college students were presented with no videotapes, videotapes of deviant child behavior, or videotapes of nondeviant child behavior, and the child was either labeled or not labeled. The results provided only minimal support for the two labeling hypotheses, but it was clearly demonstrated that the child's actions on the videotape had a powerful influence on subjects' ratings. The finding that behavior is a more potent determiner of person perception than is the presence or absence of a diagnostic label has practical clinical implications as well as theoretical implications with regard to labels, stereotypes, and the self-fulfilling prophecy.

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