The structure of speaker-auditor interaction was explored, using detailed language transcriptions and body-motion behavior. Three signals were hypothesized: a speaker within-turn signal, an auditor back-channel signal, and a speaker continuation signal. Signal sequences marked speaking turn units of interaction. (CK)

After an extensive review of the literature on the theoretical underpinnings of humor in human interaction, a six-category typology of humor was developed and exemplified by examples from mass media comedy. Humor can first be divided into two major types: individual level humor or social level humor. These levels are then further divided into the…

The present study compared the presence of sibling versus non-sibling partners in relation to the exploratory behaviors of toddlers in a novel environment. It was predicted that young children would use siblings as a secure base from which to explore the environment even in the absence of an adult attachment figure, whereas the presence of a…

The interactions of severely handicapped and nonhandicapped students in integrated educational settings were evaluated, based on observations made in 1981 and 1982. Data based on 2 hours of observation (on different occasions) for each of 235 severely handicapped students were collected in the fall, and data based on 2 hours were collected in the…

Erving Goffman has made significant, sustained contributions to the understanding of human behavior. Goffman studied the minute details of human interaction and how social arrangements protect and promote those interactions. Central to Goffman's study of human interaction was the concept of "self." Goffman believed that the self has two…

In order to examine the development of social pretend skills in the toddler period, social pretend play was observed in same and mixed age dyads. More complex social pretend play was expected in the mixed age than in the same age condition. A second purpose of the study was to compare 5-year-old children's attempts to communicate pretend meanings…

This paper, which probes current knowledge about the role of conflict in the formation and maintenance of children's friendships, presents results of an observational study of the spontaneous conflicts of nursery school children. Observed were 26 males and 27 females from two classrooms in a university's nursery school and one classroom in a child…

Recent literature on television and behavior is reviewed, synthesized, and assessed in this report, the first of two volumes. Questions of television's impact on viewer functioning are addressed for the general reader, for the purpose of elucidating research findings and their implications for public health and future research. The focus of this…

The paper analyzes changes in conceptions of social interaction in infancy from a unidirectional process to a bidirectional one requiring dyadic analysis. Developments in the fields of ethology and comparative psychology are cited as are implications of early behaviorist research that pointed out the effects on the mother of the infant's behavior.…

Findings of two field studies of lower and middle class black and white school children contradict the contention that cross subcultural groups display proxemic behavior. (Author/KM)

Effects of observing differentially generous models, instructional constraint, and age on private and public charitability were assessed with 192 fourth and fifth grade girls, who engaged in a concept formation task which provided them with money. Implications for social learning theory and for moral development are discussed. (Author/CS)

The Family Communication Game, described in this article, provides a simple, flexible structure for an active experience in family communication behavior. (Author)

Lefcourt and Telegdi's concepts of congruence and incongruence between perceptual skills and expectancies were studied. (Author)