In an experiment conducted with southern white college students, a sex-neutral task was used to test male-female paired students for dominant behavior. Males were found to challenge their partners' opinions far more than females were, even though the task was not one culturally defined as either masculine or feminine. (GC)

The procedures by which children from lower and middle class backgrounds attempt to obtain rewarding outcomes from each other were observed under semicontrolled conditions. Ten male and 9 female dyads, each composed of 1 middle class and 1 lower class preschool child, were required to complete 12 simple block puzzles in which each was given some…

Following the reasoning of "expectation states theory", the present study was designed to answer three questions: (1) Is the task orientation of males and females different when they work on a task together? (2) Is the task orientation of males and females working on a task, separately, different? and, (3) If there are differences, will status…

Two studies are presented in which three fourth- or fifth-graders, assigned to five experimentally-created conditions which differed systematically in presence or absence of task-roles and group roles, were asked to cooperate in making a block-pattern on a round board. Behavior was pre-coded in various group-oriented and individual-oriented…

This investigation used social psychological concepts in analysis of social processes among pupils engaged in a cooperative task. It explored several ways of increasing interdependence among participants and determined the effects of such conditions on pupil performance. The subjects were 228 randomly selected fourth and fifth grade students. The…

This study examined the effects of different degrees of task structure on leadership between 18 married parents, 18 childless married spouses, and 18 unmarried men and women who comprised newly acquainted couples. Each couple completed three tasks which varied along the dimension of task structure and the order of task presentation. Analysis of…

Attributions of causes of successful task performances as a function of task and sex of the performer were investigated. Introductory psychology students (N=157) were presented with closed-circuit, videotaped episodes in which a male or female stimulus person performed a card-guessing task for 10 trials. Subjects heard the task described to the…

The problem-solving performance of young boys and girls was examined in three conditions in which good performance was indicated as being appropriate for boys, for girls, or for both boys and girls. The relations between task scores and five sex-role measures were also examined. As predicted, the boys performed significantly poorer when the task…

This paper presents: (1) an extension of comparison theory to behavior in the elementary classroom; (2) a description of interaction methodology used to determine the occurrence of comparison behavior; and (3) summaries of three studies which test various theoretical implications about the nature of comparison behavior in the classroom. (CK)

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…

A study was conducted of children's expression of social as well as spatial relations in their placement of dolls. The study was designed to determine how both face contact and physical distance varied according to the social relationship ascribed to the dolls. It was hoped to find out, through this, whether' children's working definitions of…