Empirical evidence indicates that intrusions into an individual's personal space may produce anxiety and defensive or avoidance behaviors which might be reduced when conversation occurs between interactants. This paper briefly presents two field experiments designed to investigate this possibility. The first study hypothesized that invasion of…

National results for writing, one of the subjects assessed by National Assessment during 1969-70, were reported in November 1970. In the present report, results are presented by age (9, 13, 17 and young adults between 26 and 35) and by three classifications: (1) sex, (2) region: southeast, central, west, and (3) size of community: big cities,…

Provides evidence for rejecting Festinger's Substitute Locomotion Theory of organizational communication. Demonstrates a clear difference between formal and informal channels of upward communication. Indicates that high mobility individuals communicate significantly more with their supervisors than low mobility individuals and that males…

Designed to provide clues to research questions on sex differences nonverbal in communication, this paper contains the results of dyadic conversations processed on video tape. Twelve undergraduate and graduate student volunteers were solicited along with employed nonstudents between the ages of 19 and 30. Results indicated that males displayed…

Power modes in marital interactions were investigated in a laboratory observation study at the University of New Hampshire in 1975. Married couples (N=78) were the subjects in this study, whose focus was on the power modes (types of power assertion) used by the partners, shifting attention from the much-considered distribution of power in marriage…

Empirical and conceptual issues in the delineation of the construct of assertiveness can be viewed from the perspectives of social, personality, and clinical psychology. Results from a social psychological research program aimed at defining the nature and determinants of assertiveness suggest a need for replication to other subject populations,…

Based on the factorial analysis of data collected from 260 undergraduates, this study found differences in self-revealing associated with information content, target person, and sex of subject. Gilding was found to be related to self-disclosure and intimate rather than superficial information. Dogmatism did not influence either revealing or…

Four studies report on the performance of fifth-grade child dyads and adult dyads on three problem-solving tasks, extending previous research on the structural properties of the communications and on factors influencing the accuracy of the communications. Aspects of performance investigated are: (1) relative participation of dyad members in the…

To determine whether individuals with different sexual identities exhibit different amounts of touching behavior, 199 undergraduates completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) and a modification of the Touch Avoidance Measure (TAM). The BSRI produced scores indicating an individual's degree of association with both masculine and feminine traits.…

Reports the results of stage two of a three-stage project designed to develop, through field testing, a model for determining the norms of general adult communication behavior. Discusses implications of this study, including those for planners of communication instruction. (PD)

Among other findings, results of this study strongly indicate that (1) males and females differ in their communication behavior in initial interaction depending on whom they are talking to; and (2) a unique pattern of female interaction does exist which is different from interaction in dyads of other sex composition. (PD)