Following a brief review of the terminology, important research, and distinguishing characteristics of game theory, four potential benefits of a game theoretic approach to communication research are proposed; game simulations facilitate communication process research; a game matrix enables the researcher to simulate situations in which…

This paper contains a discussion of the limitations of research on group processes in complex organizations and the manner in which a procedure for network analysis in on-going systems can reduce problems. The research literature on group uniformity processes and on theoretical models of these processes from an information processing perspective…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency and type of nonverbal behaviors which occur in the speech pathology clinical practicum situation. It was hypothesized that undergraduate and graduate student clinicians ranked highest by clinical supervisors would differ in the use of nonverbal behaviors during the therapy session from…

Developed at Brigham Young University, Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) is a technique for enhancing the probability of success in any system by analyzing the most likely modes of failure that could occur. It provides a logical, step-by-step description of possible failure events within a system and their interaction--the combinations of potential…

Through a review of the literature, this paper centers on the temporal analysis of communication behaviors in the study of social interaction. It argues that the choice of one or another temporal model of analysis and its underlying assumptions is highly related to the conclusions about social interaction that are found by the researcher. Although…

This paper tries to demonstrate the existence of social norms against self-evaluations that are more favorable than people deserve (over-evaluation of self) and evaluations of others that are less favorable than others deserve (under-evaluation of others). The norms are derived from a resource theory in which these norms are needed to protect…

A primary purpose of the present study was to further investigate the effects of children upon parents in order to gain a better understanding of the interactional relationship between parents and children. Subjects were 42 middle and upper-middle class parents and their daughters. Mothers and fathers were first observed separately with their…

It was hypothesized that source esteem would be effective in mediating target compliance when the source uses threats as an influence tactic, particularly if esteemed individuals maintain a facade of truthfulness, because threat credibility would then be overestimated. Threats from a low esteemed source would have lower credibility and lead to…

Jackson and Messick present the beginning of a broad theory of creativity which includes four sets of properties by which outcomes of creative processes can be judged. The properties are unusualness, appropriateness, ability to transform the constraints of reality, and ability to condense meaning. Current tests for creativity generally emphasize…

The elementary school principal's behavior is shaped by influences within the school district which tend to value compliance rather than individuality. The research into the behavioral characteristics of elementary school principals and the analysis of school climate provide evidence that the influence of experience in an administrative role has a…

The television viewing behaviors (program preferences) of children as influenced by family-type were examined in this study. To determine family-types, a four-fold typology of family interaction patterns (based on the degree of socio-interpersonal orientation and the degree of concept-idea orientation of the family) was used. Six hundred and…

Data were gathered through telephone survey of a random sample of 91 urban men and 97 farm operators to study pollution attitudes, knowledge, and household pollution abatement behavior among urban residents and farmers. The results indicate that urban men are more concerned about pollution, more willing to allocate tax money to clean up pollution,…

A large-scale study was designed to assess the extent of emotional disturbance among Head Start children and to provide a consistent basis for selection if therapeutic intervention were indicated. The study's aim was to avoid the problem of shifting baselines by individual teachers for determining the degree to which their children were departing…

An assessment was made of 5- and 8-year-old children's performance on a short-term memory task under two auditory and two visual distraction conditions, as well as under a nondistraction condition. Performance under nondistraction was found to be superior to that under distraction (p<.001), indicating that the extraneous stimuli had a generally…

An observational study explored whether characteristic behavioral patterns of an educable mentally retarded (EMR) population were unique and served as a label for identification in the social milieu. Of particular interest were differences between EMR children who were integrated into the regular classroom and their non-retarded peers. A…