A study was conducted to examine how the motion picture Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rating system (G-PG-R-X) affects movie attendance. The study also tested the validity of two behavioral theories: (1) reactance theory, which predicts that when a behavioral freedom is restricted or eliminated an individual is motivated to restore…

A 48-item questionnaire was administered to all entering freshmen at two midwestern colleges (N=2,180). On the basis of a factor analysis, a six-term factor of premarital sexual experience and a four-item factor of attitude toward premarital sexual intercourse were isolated. Scores on one or both of these scales were found to be related to…

This study investigated sex role behaviors, perceptions, and aspiration levels in 3- 4-, and 5-year-old children. Focus was on social interaction in situations free of adult attention. Six parties were conducted and videotaped in the familiar setting of the preschool classroom. Seventy-seven preschoolers attended these parties which were composed…

Two experiments were designed to test Kukla's cognitive theory of task performance, based on intended effort. Experiment I was designed to determine if success feedback leads to an overall increase in performance level and differential asymptotic performance for those high and low in achievement motivation. Experiment 2 was aimed at determining if…

The use of self-monitoring and self-reported variability in cross-situational behavior to identify persons most likely to manifest covariation between their attitudes and behaviors was investigated. In the first session, subjects (N=102) completed Snyder's Self-Monitoring Scale, assessed their religious attitudes and indicated the extent to which…

Self-efficacy theory maintains that self-efficacy expectancy, a belief about one's ability to perform a behavior successfully, is independent of outcome expectancy, a belief about the likelihood of the behavior leading to a specific outcome. To examine this hypothesis, subjects (N=95) read communications that differed in descriptions of the…

Instead of looking at the impact of specific third party actions or behaviors on negotiation outcomes, the authors studied the effects of anticipated intervention on the negotiation process. Third party power (ability to force an agreement on deadlocked negotiations or merely recommend one) and generalized reputation (favorable or unfavorable)…

A study replicated Robert Sommer's classic work of library table seat choices, showing that people given defensive instructions chose end seats while people given offensive instructions chose middle seats. In a followup study, defensiveness was measured in college students who were asked where they typically sat at library tables. This study found…

Since statistics on television viewing and television ownership suggest that this medium is a pervasive and powerful influence on most people's lives, it is potentially informative to identify and study that relative handful of people who are not regularly exposed to television, identifying their defining characteristics. In contrast to previous…

This paper investigated whether children can learn to cooperate under minimal social conditions. The research also compares the effectiveness of verbal instructions and a training task for teaching subjects the "win-stay/lose-change" rule. This rule has been used to explain the development of cooperation in the minimal social situation. Subjects…

In its original formulation, dissonance reduction was postulated as a mode for resolving behavior-attitude discrepancies. One mode of resolution has been demonstrated in the forced compliance paradigm, whereby a subject rectifies a counterattitudinal behavior with an actual belief, resulting in moderating beliefs. A forced compliance situation was…

This study was designed to evaluate the effects of both sex of subject and sex of partner with respect to a wide variety of nonverbal behaviors. The subjects were 44 men and 44 women graduate professional students at the University of Chicago. The behaviors were coded from videotapes of 88 dyadic conversations where each subject participated in…

The hypothesis that individual differences in psychological differentiation are related to the perceptions of the independence of leadership behaviors was tested. After viewing a supervisor-subordinate interaction sequence on closed circuit television tape, subjects responded to questionnaires measuring their perception/judgments of the…

Two cartoon strips were the vehicle for surveying perceptions of power use in everyday situations. A stratified cross-sectional sample of 430 adults in Los Angeles were interviewed. Their task was to choose a behavior, illustrated by a cartoon panel, most likely to be employed by a policeman in one instance and a nurse in another to secure…

Discusses new research directions in the study of emotions, including postulations that emotion is relational rather than intrapsychic; emotion and an individual's goals are closely related; emotion "expressions" are social signals, not merely outward signs of internal states; and the physiology of emotion can regulate and be regulated.…