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…

An experiment tested a theoretical framework for goal detection in dyadic interactions of close friends and unacquainted strangers wherein one conversationalist pursued a goal unbeknownst to a detector. The extent to which pursuers' conversation goal was cognitively associated with the dyad's relational type was manipulated. As hypothesized,…

Given women's communally oriented socialization and social pressures to find romantic partners, many heterosexual women may derive self-worth from having romantic relationships (relationship contingency). Across two studies, we explored whether relationship contingency heightens women's body shame. Studies 1A and 1B found that relationship…

An attempt was made to determine from role playing and questionnaire responses the extent to which persons believe that the evaluations of them made by a persuader and an observer are affected by their yielding or nonyielding responses to a persuasive attempt. Implications for social behavior are considered. (Author/RK)

Attempts to relate psychosocial maturity to social behavior, specifically, to interpersonal attraction. (Author/RK)