The purpose of this essay is to propose a different explanation of collective behavior and also to hypothesize how communication functions in this process. Using the experimental finding known as the "risky shift," this essay (1) summarizes the history of the risky shift, (2) presents two different theories which have been proposed to…

This paper reports a study of selected examples of verbal behavior patterns in primary grade classrooms during science activities. The subjects were 32 elementary teachers within five mid-Michigan public school districts. A control group of 16 teachers taught science in the conventional manner. The experimental group received an in-depth study of…

This paper reports results of the first year of a 2-year comparative study of four curricula used for disadvantaged preschool children: Bereiter-Engelmann, DARCEE, Montessori, and Traditional (the official Head Start program). Details of the study design and procedures are contained in the abbreviated Annual Progress Report for 1968-1969 (PS 003…

This study attempted to identify correlates of successful teaching in the presentation behavior of pre-intern teachers. The sample was drawn from 54 Stanford students who each taught one of six preset social studies or English lessons to 25 eighth and ninth graders. Each pupil took a multiple-choice comprehension test which was used to compute a…

Designed for use in education and training and for applied research in selection and evaluation methods, the book reviews the actual behaviors of nurses caring for the institutionalized mentally retarded. Abstracts of more than 2,000 critical behaviors of nurses (incidents derived from reports of actual observations) are included. Behaviors are…

The book contains abstracts of more than 8,000 critical behaviors of attendants in caring for the mentally retarded in an institutional setting. Reports of actual observations of behaviors are the source of the descriptive abstracts. Within each of 15 categories, behaviors are divided according to those which are highly effective or highly…

Two experiments to study the development of the meaning of laughter in children are reported. A pilot study presented recorded audio tapes with both humorous and nonhumorous episodes, some with accompanying canned laughter, to 24 boys between the ages of 4 and 6 years. Observers recorded durations of laughter and smiling. Results showed that both…

This study investigates seating distance and angles of location and orientation in a conversational situation as a function of several variables: attitudinal agreement or disagreement by a stranger, agreeing or disagreeing normative information, and personality variables. Subjects were 52 randomly selected introductory psychology students from the…

This report investigates those factors, necessary for, or facilitative of, stimulus organization. Part I considers three experimentally controlled factors: (1) stimuli; (2) responses; and (3) temporal organization of stimuli. The results revealed that temporal specing accounted for different findings. When the intertrial interval (ITI) was present…

This study seeks: (1) to detect whether an increase in drug use occurred in the two years since a previous similar study; (2) to determine the kinds and levels of risk which the students associated with the nonprescription use of various drugs; and (3) to examine the extent to which the marihuana groups showed alienation. The study drew a…

The study makes use of Rotter's (1966) hypothesis that there are consistent individual differences between people who believe in the internal control of reinforcement and those who believe in the external control of reinforcement. Students who are "internals" will believe that their behavior controls academic successes and failures and may,…

This comparative study of inner city with non-inner city teacher behaviors represents an initial attempt at a comparative analysis of two teaching models, and provides a means of identifying like and different behaviors. Descriptions of teaching acts occurring in inner city schools were obtained and independent judgments were made about the…

This study examines the various sources of influences over 290 faculty members at a large public university. It was found that: (1) both the role expectations a faculty member has for himself and the role expectations of the employing organization predict positively and significantly the role behavior of the respondents; (2) the departmental…

Suggests that man cannot survive without a system of some kind for predicting the course of events. It does not matter that the system may be false on another system's terms, so long as it identifies experiences in a way which enables people to attach meaning to them and respond. (Author/AM)

This investigation looked at the relationship between questionnaire-assessed attitude toward abortion, and later behaviors when subjects were requested to make a tape-recording of an emphatically pro- or anti-abortion script. A correlational study allowed the subject to select the script. In the experimental study, a script was assigned randomly.…