The effects of crowding and sex on reactions to a side-to-side invasion of personal space were examined. Male or female experimenters violated the personal space of 40 male and 40 female subjects who were sitting at library tables that were either crowded (several persons present) or uncrowded (subjects sat alone). The subjects' body movements,…

Three distinct theoretical explanations for the effect of attire on aiding behavior were examined in a study. The reinforcing value of attire itself predicted that well-dressed persons would always receive more assistance than poorly dressed persons. The reinforcing value of perceived similarity predicted that similar persons would receive more…

The influence of sex and androgyny on the emergence of small group leadership was studied. The subjects, 38 male and 28 female college students, were pretested on several personality measures, including Sargent and Miller's Leadership Questionnaire and Bem's Sex Role Inventory. Leadership in task and social situations was measured after four group…

Observing that many of the women in an acting class were having more difficulty than the men with some physical exercises requiring strong use of the arms (labeled nonassertive arm movement behavior), a teacher educator researched the psychological and physiological reasons behind this behavior pattern. The search revealed numerous studies showing…

An exploratory study was conducted to define and differentiate interruptions structurally and tactically. The participants were 60 college students assigned to female-female, female-male, and male-male conversational dyads. The dyadic conversations were recorded for 14 minutes, during a period of "getting to know each other" and during a…

A research study was conducted (1) to investigate the effects of sex and gender of discloser, and sex of the interaction partner on self-disclosure reports and behaviors, in particular the dimensions of intimacy and control; and (2) to investigate the relationships between self-report and behavioral measures of disclosure and the impact of sex and…

A study examined the behavior patterns of patrons arriving at theatres that showed both "X" rated and "PG" rated movies. The study was undertaken to update the findings of the President's Commission on Pornography and Obscenity, which conducted similar research in 1970 and 1971. Patrons entering the theatre's X and PG rated…

Two hundred forty-eight male and female subjects from United States, Mediterranean, Near East, and Far East cultures completed a touch avoidance measure in a study examining cultural differences in touching behavior. Factor analysis of the instrument yielded four factors: opposite sex, other-directed same sex, kissing, and self-directed same sex.…

A 328-item checklist, suitable for the self-reporting of responses to any stimulus event, was administered to 107 upper division college students in an attempt to investigate the physiological-cognitive-emotional responses to defense arousing communication and to discover a greater range of the key features of the phenomena of…

A study was conducted to determine how males and females were perceived when using identical dominant behaviors. The subjects, 360 college students, viewed one of six stimulus drawings of groups of four seated people and indicated their attributions of dominant behavior on 22 bipolar perceptual scales. Analyses were conducted to create and compare…

After 177 college students in 49 groups participated in group tasks, their perceptions of those groups and individuals in the groups were analyzed for gender differences. In the discriminant analysis of the three interpretable factors for perception of groups (group cohesiveness, power, and personality), gender was a predictor of an individual's…

A study was conducted to examine speech interruption patterns as an index of communication dominance and gender differences in language behavior. Six graduate student groups involving a total of 35 subjects were videotaped. The data extracted for study were 255 transcribed interruption sequences. A category system was developed and used to code…

Rating scales were developed and applied to evaluate deferential/nondeferential language users. Participants were 1,262 college students in small discussion groups containing two experimenter's confederates who used either deferential or nondeferential language. The characteristics of deferential language users were questioning/tentative behavior,…

Two experiments involving 49 male and 49 female college students were conducted to determine the effects of physician physical attractiveness on the patients' disclosures of personal information (symptoms). In the first experiment, subjects rated pictures of physicians for physical attractiveness and reported their willingness to disclose and…

An experiment was devised to apply role theory to the prediction of communication behavior by observing dominance behavior as a function of gender and attitudes toward sex role stereotypes. Task type was used as an exploratory variable. The hypothesized interaction of gender and sex role attitudes did not occur, and the hypothesis that men would…