Owing to the timeliness of the problem of integrating mentally retarded children into society, the authors studied the attitudes of different groups of the population toward the mentally retarded child: college students majoring in special education, students in the faculties of the primary grades, and parents. The free association method was used. In all of the groups that were surveyed, negative characterizations predominated in the description of the mentally retarded child. Approaches are presented here that can help to change attitudes toward the mentally retarded child on the part of these groups of the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]