What mentally retarded and nonretarded children expect of one another.

Twenty mentally retarded students and nonretarded students matched for chronological age (n = 20) or mental age (n = 16) made judgments about children described as having or not having learning problems. Results showed that students had both positive and negative stereotyped expectations about these children and that there were few differences between the expectations of retarded and nonretarded students. Students' responses to stereotype questions 11 to 18 months later revealed few changes in their stereotypes and no significant differences between stability of retarded and nonretarded students' stereotypes. Results suggest that understanding social relations between retarded and nonretarded children requires consideration of the expectations of both groups.