The concept of behavior settings--the environments shaping individual behavior--was originated by Roger Barker in 1950 in connection with his community surveys in a small Kansas town, code-named Midwest. This book seeks to provide rural social scientists with an understanding of Barker's eco-behavioral approach and proposed adaptations of it to…

Based on the assumptions that relational messages are multidimensional and that they are largely communicated by nonverbal cues, this experiment manipulated five nonverbal cues--eye contact, proximity, body lean, smiling, and touch--to determine what meanings they convey along four relational message dimensions: emotionality/arousal/composure,…

A study of the effect of the twin sibling relationship upon interactions between monkey mothers and infants. Findings provided strong support for the prediction that the twin sibling presence decreases the amount of behavior directed from infant to mother. Differences in maternal behavior were concluded to be reactions to differences in infant…

This study assesses the effect of visual versus audio observation/recording on both client and therapist verbal and non-verbal behavior in ongoing therapy. Three co-led, therapy groups were studied over six weekly sessions under counterbalanced observation conditions. Measures of verbal behavior, verbal productivity, and non-verbal behavior were…

The purpose of this research was to investigate egocentrism and to investigate the relationships between egocentrism, popularity, and certain playground behaviors for students in Grades 1-5. More than 200 students participated in the study. The results showed that: (1) egocentrism decreases with age, (2) males were less egocentric than females at…

Reexamines existing research in persuasion by testing the predispositional and alignmental hypotheses. Evidence of past investigative failures is discussed and implications for future research are presented. (MH)

Arguing that the motion picture industry policies affecting audiences must be developed in terms of behavioral implications, this paper reviews the literature related to the Motion Picture Association of America's (MPAA) film rating system to ascertain the degree to which the system has met its purposes. The first section of the paper offers a…

The effects of feedback letters sent to students thanking them for their course ratings were examined in two experiments. In the first study, students who initially rated the course highly were not affected by the feedback letters. However, after being exposed to poor instructional materials (an inadequately prepared study guide), students who…

Although many studies have concluded that males are more aggressive than females in a variety of situations, significant variation exists among individuals in their willingness to respond to provocation with aggressive behavior. The pervasiveness of the sex role stereotyping of aggressiveness as a masculine trait and passivity as a feminine trait…

Data from 464 adults were analyzed to provide a more heuristic paradigm for mass communication uses and gratifications research in a study of the interactive nature of television viewing motivations, viewing behavior, and attitude gratifications. Factor analysis located five principal television viewing motivations: passing time, information,…

It is argued that the current theoretical orientation of motor behavior research toward information processing is only at the descriptive level. An outline of requirements for motor behaviorists to discover the mental operations that precede motor performance is presented. It is suggested that unless basic knowledge is obtained on how movement…

INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE NATURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL BEHAVIOR IN HUMAN INFANCY HAVE RAISED MANY RESEARCH ISSUES AND HAVE INDICATED MANY ADDITIONAL AREAS OF INQUIRY. EARLY AND CONTEMPORARY STUDIES HAVE BOTH BEEN CONCERNED WITH PROVIDING MORE PRECISE ANALYSES OF STIMULUS AND SITUATIONAL DETERMINANTS OF SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL…

This study examines social comparison processes occurring in the interactions among normal adolescents in peer groups. Eight types of social comparison processes were predicted. Two of these, specific to adolescent developmental processes, are new. The experimental design called for behavioral observation documenting occurrence of social…

An evaluation was made of the methodology and findings presented in "Television and Antisocial Behavior. Field Experiments," by Stanley Milgram and R. Lance Shotland (New York: Academic Press, 1973). In the book, seven experiments were reported, all concerned with antisocial behavior toward a medical charity. Three episodes of Medical…

The primary research emphasis of School to College: Opportunities for Post Secondary Education (SCOPE) is to analyze and report the interrelationships of yearly data in such ways as to help answer questions about why different students behave and believe as they do, and how these actions and attitudes influence the decision-making process. For…