Assessed the interactions of preschooler dyads during two play sessions one year apart. Found that dyads' scores on measures of positive social orientation, cohesiveness, and control were correlated across time and that coordinated play and positive social orientation were more salient at time two than time one. (BC)

Eighteen handicapped and six nonhandicapped preschool children were observed during free play time. Children engaged in social behavior more often when playing with toys classified as social toys compared to isolate toys, and the incidence of social play was higher in integrated groups than in nonintegrated groups. (Author/JDD)

Clifford Nass, one of the authors of "The Media Equation: How to Treat Computers, Television and New Media Like Real People and Places," observes that, when people interact with computers, television, and other new media, they tend to display the same social behaviors as when they react to other humans. (JOW)

Three persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI) were matched with four community participants for leisure activities. Community participants were trained and were given specific interactions suggestions. Integrated social contacts were measured using a multiple-baseline design across participants. Results suggest that social integration can be…

Discussion of the use of daily habits or common social activities by anthropologists and sociology teachers to illustrate the power of popular culture focuses on the role of coffee. Provides a list of more than 60 specific songs and albums that could be used for classroom discussion. (Author/LRW)

Highlights the influence of Confucianism on Chinese thinking, learning style, and cultural values and the impact upon classroom behaviors. Corrects misconceptions Western teachers may have about the meaning of these behaviors. (SK)

Contributes to scholarship on defamation, legal interpretation, and social norms by examining 59 state and federal cases decided during the last 150 years involving allegedly false accusations of homosexuality. Finds 15% of the cases resulted in a determination that it was not defamatory to call someone gay, 35% that it was defamatory, and 50%…

Examines nonvoluntary relationships with disliked partners (NR/D). Hypothesizes that the subjects (undergraduate students) would try to attenuate this discomfort by increasing psychological distance between themselves and their disliked partners. Shows that people use distance to attenuate the discomfort created by an NR/D. Finds 36 distancing…

Teachers define the social quality of conduct. Each teacher creates a moral world in the classroom that influences the greater world. (SK)

Discusses how psychological methods can be applied to study cultural syndromes and presents examples of these approaches. It is argued that tight-simple cultures are most collectivist, and loose-complex cultures are most individualistic. Further, it suggests homogeneous cultures can have clear norms and impose them tightly, whereas heterogeneous…

Examined the effects of a primary prevention social norm intervention on residential college freshmen's binge drinking. Students were randomly assigned to standard or social norm interventions. Posttesting found no between-group differences on alcohol use or risk factor measures. Significant subgroup differences existed by stage of initiating…

Argues that "democratic education," as described in John Dewey's Democracy and Education, creates a tension between individuality and public education, and between spontaneous experiential learning and organized subject-related learning. Considers future problems of a European theory of "democratic education" after Dewey. (PGS)

This study compared the social problem solving skills of 15 adolescents with Asperger's syndrome with 15 typically developing adolescents. Subjects were presented with videotaped scenarios. The Asperger's group showed deficiencies in recounting pertinent facts, generating possible high-quality problem solutions, and selecting optimal and preferred…

Proficiency in social interaction with adults and peers is an important outcome in early childhood. The development of an experimental measure for assessing growth in social skills in children birth to 3 years is described. Based on the general outcome measurement (GOM) approach (e.g., Deno, 1997), the measure is intended for use by early…

This investigation tested the person-by-environment hypothesis that the joint influence of behavioral vulnerability (anxious solitude) and interpersonal adversity (peer exclusion) predicts heightened social avoidance and depression over time. The study assessed 519 fifth and sixth graders 3 times during 1 year. Teachers reported social behavior…