Objective: Depression is associated with poor social problem solving, and psychotherapies that focus on problem-solving skills are efficacious in treating depression. We examined the associations between treatment, social problem solving, and depression in a randomized clinical trial testing the efficacy of psychotherapy augmentation for…

Virtual worlds provide useful platforms for social behavioral research, but impose stringent limitations on the rules of engagement, responsiveness, and data collection, along with other resource restrictions. The major challenge from a computer science standpoint in developing group behavior applications for such environments is accommodating the…

The growing Hispanic population has come into increasing contact with the larger population of non-Hispanic Whites. It is important to understand the effects of this contact on prejudice. The effects of six kinds of contact were examined for their effects on prejudice between Hispanics (n = 156) and non-Hispanic Whites (n = 1,479) who were…

It has been a well-accepted axiom that the behavior of an individual is related closely to his perception. This research with children demonstrates the value of objective assessment of an individual's perception of social interactions in order to be able to predict more precisely some aspects of his interpersonal behavior. (Author)

Two concepts describing human special behavior are delineated. A field experiment was designed to test whether personal belongings left as markers in public areas (i.e. cafeteria setting) function to protect a territory or to maintain a comfortable social distance. It is suggested the term territory" be restricted to situations in which the space…

Observes the seating arrangements by sex of three or more people seated at rectangular tables in 176 social and 150 nonsocial settings. Postulates the importance of situational context and learned sexual norms in the observed spatial behaviors. (RL)

The purpose of the study was to examine more systematically the nature and structure of the social interaction objectives that individuals pursue in their everyday social relations. A pilot study was conducted to obtain a set of naturalistic social goals. Subjects in two studies were given the task of classifying these goals according to their…

This document is the report of a study of the distinctiveness effect on social infraction. Distinctive characteristics are those aspects of a person that are statistically uncommon within a social or cultural context. Previous research shows that people tend to categorize and make judgments about others on the basis of their distinctive…

It was predicted that the amount of satisfaction following an interpersonal exchange will be higher when the resource given is similar to the one reciprocated and lower when they are dissimilar. Interpersonal exchange situations were experimentally created in which two independent variables were manipulated. (Author)

Findings indicated that physically attractive couples were more likely to show public intimacy. Younger couples displayed more intimacy than older couples. Couples who were similar in age interacted more than couples who differed in age. Husband-wife attractiveness did not significantly influence intimacy. (Author/BEF)

Suggests that socially anxious and low anxious males may perceive social events similarly but interpret them differently. (RL)