People are generally reluctant to transmit bad news to others. To examine this reluctance, college students (N=96) were randomly assigned to two conditions (i.e., assistant or confederate subject). Assistants administered a "psychological inventory" to confederate subjects. Student assistants believed the subject had previously taken one inventory…

Researchers are divided as to whether loneliness is a result of diminished quantity or quality of social interaction. Although results have been produced which support each position, few studies have examined the relationship between the two. To qualify the relationship between the quantitative and qualitative aspects of loneliness by exploring…

Previous research has suggested that behavioral differences between shy and not shy persons may be explained by differences in inhibition rather than differences in interpersonal skills. To investigate the behavior of high and low social anxiety subjects in both ambiguous social situations and in explicitly structured ones, three studies using…

Embarrassment is an aversive state which occurs when the public image a person is trying to maintain during an interaction is abruptly discredited. When people are embarrassed, they try to salvage the situation by offering positive information about themselves to restore their endangered identities. To examine responses to the threat of impending…

Type A individuals are characterized by a sense of urgency, hard-driving competitiveness, and hostility which are manifested in their attempts to establish and maintain control over personal and environmental events. In order to investigate conformity and interpersonal dominance in Type A personalities, 87 male college students completed the…

Research on individual's response to emergency situations in the presence of others has produced conflicting results. The bystander effect is the label applied to inaction or the unlikelihood of assistance with others present. The social facilitation effect occurs when the presence of others energizes response; strong habit responses are…

Uniqueness theory suggests that individuals are most comfortable with the thought that they are moderately different or unique from others. To test whether individuals with a high need for uniqueness are perceived as being different from those with a low need for uniqueness, 144 college students participated in a two-part study. In part one,…

Self-evaluation research reveals that individuals are differentially receptive to approval and disapproval from others. To examine how individuals respond to interpersonal evaluation, 96 male and female college students, chronically low or high in social anxiety (shyness), received evaluative information after a successful or unsuccessful outcome…

Little research has focused on the particular characteristics necessary to gain and retain social support. To examine whether individuals' differing social support level could be differentiated on social skill level and physical appearance, and if these differences apply equally to males and females, 168 college students (84 males, 84 females)…

Research studies on group versus individual bystander responses either have involved nonviolent emergencies or laboratory simulations. To investigate group versus individual bystander response to a violent assualt in a natural setting, 80 male college students (from an original pool of 393 white, male students) were observed either individually or…

The behavior of 19 decision-making groups provided the basis for a model of the development of norms in newly formed groups. Data from the decision-making groups are used to illustrate the model, and implications for related research domains are discussed. Appended are 39 references. (MLF)

Reports a study that examined the influence of authoritarianism on the formation of behavioral intentions by female college students. High authoritarians took subjective norms less into account relative to low authoritarians, providing support for the theory that personal and subjective norms can be distinguished empirically. (LS)

Self-efficacy is defined as the belief that one can successfully perform a behavior. Self-efficacy theory asserts that self-efficacy expectancies exert powerful influence on behavior and behavior change. The Self-efficacy Scale, which was developed to assess generalized self-efficacy expectations, consists of two subscales: general self-efficacy…

Traditionally, members of couples are similar in age, race, class, appearance and education. But within that common background, men tend to marry women slightly below themselves, a phenomenon known in sociology as the marriage gradient. To determine the extent to which students are comfortable with unequal relationships and traditional and…

To explore the impact of the environment on perceptions of compliance gaining situations, 97 university students were asked to recall and describe situations in which they had had to persuade someone to do something. Their descriptions of compliance gaining situations were then evaluated for similarity by three additional groups of students. The…