Three- and 4-year-old children were asked to judge which of a set of 3 lines was the longest, both independently and in the face of an inaccurate consensus among adult informants. Children were invariably accurate when making independent judgments but sometimes deferred to the inaccurate consensus. Nevertheless, the deference displayed by both age…

Observers can decide what kind of relationship exists between two people by identifying cues provided by the pattern of benefits given and received in relationships and the type of relationship, either communal or exchange. Communal relationships, i.e., friendships or romances, are characterized by feelings of responsibility for each other's…

Dimensions of Japanese person perception are assessed through an instrument standardized to tap basic dimensions of person perception and whose scales are defined behaviorally. Dimensions are then compared statistically with results from similar cross-cultural studies. (AM)

This study identified differences and similarities among the perceptions of adult and adolescent community members regarding drug use patterns and practices. A written questionnaire was administered to 5,128 adolescents from grades 7 through 12 in the rural inland northwest, and a similar questionnaire was administered to over 900 adults in the…

As part of a longitudinal study of first-term enlisted naval personnel, perceptions of job scope (the complexity and challenge of a job), were investigated to predict criteria of satisfaction, enlisted performance ratings, and turnover. Correlations between job scope (Job Diagnostic Survey scores) and behavior as moderated by a variety of…

Risk-taking attitudes and behaviors among young and elderly adults were investigated. Elderly subjects, from both a nursing home and the community, and college students responded to choice dilemmas involving aged central characters. Each subject responded twice, once under "self" instructions, and once as the "average elderly person" would…

Both North American and Latin American business professionals were investigated in a study that focused on the perceived communication problems between the two groups. A number of major areas of interest were considered, including the following: (1) source of credibility (what dimensions of personality were seen as most desirable in the…

Two studies investigated the effects of training on how accurately observers (college students) decoded a complex nonverbal stimulus. In the first experiment, observers viewed silent videotapes of 16 third and fourth-grade school children who were listening to an easy or a difficult lesson. Half of the children were responding spontaneously, while…