Suggests that the decade of the 1970's is experiencing an uneasy equilibrium among three sets of rights--those of the individual, of disadvantaged groups, and of social institutions designed to serve a post-industrial society. No one of these rights are said to have been chosen for preference by American society. (Author/AM)

College students (N=27) were assigned to a time-extended or a marathon group or a control condition to evaluate the effects of encounter experiences on self-perception and interpersonal behavior. Both experimental groups showed significantly greater changes in self-perceptions from pretest to posttest than the control group. (Author)

Elaborates the virtues of using group dynamics to teach communication in the college English class. (RB)

Family reconstruction is an imaginative process of family therapy whereby in a day's time a person gets connected to his or her family roots in a new and viable way leading to inner strength and wholeness. In family reconstruction, the person who does the reconstruction is called the Explorer. Within a group of people, the Explorer (who previously…

A study examining small group performance replicated and extended a previous study by L. Kelly and R. L. Duran to reanalyze their operationalization of cohesiveness. To test the hypotheses of the original study and to explore questions about using the polarization index as an indication of group cohesiveness, the study used a large number of…

Because of a multiplicity of approaches to small group argument, research in this area often needs to be summarized, condensed, and redirected. Researchers have identified the rational, cognitive and interactive components of argumentation, and have demonstrated that arguments can take several forms and fulfill a variety of functions. The result…

In spring 1990, the Center for Literacy Studies convened two 1-day workshops on group literacy instruction, bringing together some 41 literacy coordinators, teachers, volunteers, and students from the eastern part of Tennessee. The workshops were designed to share experiences on the introduction of group methods, to exchange ideas on "what works,"…

Alcohol use and abuse has received extensive attention, with recent concerns focused on the use and abuse of alcohol by adolescents and young adults. Alcohol use has become one of the major rituals in the rites of passage from childhood to adulthood. Anthropologists have documented the importance of rites of passage rituals for marking the…

This paper describes the first phase of a research study that examined (1) how superintendents define and select their administrative teams; (2) how team values are conceptualized by superintendents; (3) how "trust" is defined and its value perceived by superintendents; and (4) whether or not gender influences the way superintendents define "team"…

Mythologies develop in corporations the same way they develop in tribes or nations and provide the driving force for building loyalty to and identification with the organization. The myth-building process involves a constituting experience or founding event, an existential interpretation of the event, the institutionalization of the event, and the…

Communication scholars have addressed a number of theoretical issues concerning the basis of knowledge and reality. They have not, however, accompanied their theories with parallel empirical studies. Given the important implications such work might have for the interpretation and generalizability of observer accounts, two studies were conducted…

The paper is the third of a series of working papers developed by a project which conducted a cooperative study of existing student study team (SST) processes in nine California special education local plan areas. The working papers augment the final report by providing detailed descriptions of the methods used and the preliminary findings. This…

Much of the variation in achievement in college classrooms can be eliminated through the use of cooperative learning groups similar to those that have been used successfully in the elementary school setting. The group succeeds when every member succeeds--success meaning mastery of the concept or problem being posed. Its use in reading methods…

Three decision-making models that have applications for college presidents and administrators are reviewed. While both individual and group decision-making are addressed, emphasis is placed on the importance of group decisions on institutional policy planning. The model of Edmund M. Burke (1979) presents specific decision-making strategies in…