This paper proposes a definition of social skills in order to operationalize the components that need to be considered when teaching social skills to individuals with mental retardation in employment settings. It also presents current approaches to teaching social skills in employment settings. Social skills are defined as goal-oriented,…

The problems which emerge in a critical assessment of social perception research reflect limitations at both the theoretical and implementational levels. Traditionally, social perception research has focused on conscious, cognitive, and linguistic processes in studying the perception of psychological qualities of people. Such a focus leaves…

Avoidance strategies involve the tactics and techniques people use when they don't wish to be influenced by others. To investigate the types of avoidance strategies men and women use to deal with an unwelcome persuasion attempt from an intimate partner, undergraduates wrote essays describing how they avoided such attempts. A 24-strategy coding…

Exploratory research was conducted to generate hypotheses regarding behaviors of a 2-year-old subject during social interaction with multi-age partners. The subject of the study was a female child age 2 years and 4 months. Interactions observed were limited to those occurring with a number of partners who were members of the subject's social…

Previously, analysis of repeated teacher ratings and time-sampling observations of selected social behaviors in young children had provided evidence of clearly delineated dimensionality in interpersonal orientations with substantial behavioral continuity and intra- and interindividual stability. The present investigation was designed to replicate…

Responds to a number of recent criticisms of labeling theory made by those who criticize it for its empathy with deviants, and Marxists who criticize it for ignoring oppression and exploitation. Conceptual problems of defining what is deviance and who is a deviant are discussed. (Author/AM)

The following two main hypotheses were tested: a) personal adjustment is associated with liking for close, personal relationships; and b) apparent adjustment is a manifestation of a test-taking style of favorable self-presentation. Data obtained from college students in three cultures tended to support the first interpretation best and the second…

Suggests that the concept of maturity, while having utility in many scientific and medical areas, has gradually become a major ingredient in the attempt of some people to neutralize certain personal life-style evolutions as well as some social and political movements. (Author/AM)

An examination of the combined effect of a situational factor, disclosure, and two personality variables, "need for approval" and "inner-other directedness" on attitude - action relationships with respect to marijuana related attitudes and behavior of college students. Subjects with different personality characteristics were found to respond…

Presents two studies of preschool children, which test the hypothesis that a child's scores on two factor-analytically derived dimensions of social-emotional functioning are directly related to the frequency and type of his peer interactions. (Author/SDH)

This study was conducted to compare the social style of Japanese and Americans. Participants included 241 Japanese students from Otsuma Women's University and Nihon University (Tokyo, Japan) and 252 American students from West Virginia University (United States). Each completed the Richmond-McCroskey Assertiveness-Responsiveness Measure (which…

This study examined the influence of the family environment, day care in the infant's first year, and the fit between child characteristics and the caregiving context as correlates of children's social behavior. Subjects were 39 Caucasian infants and their mothers and caregivers. Mothers and caregivers were asked to rate children's behavior on a…

Conceptual encounter methodology has been used to investigate the experience of anger. With this method, investigators have attempted to construct an abstract structure that describes essential features of the experience being investigated. People are interviewed about concrete examples of the experience, given the abstract conceptualization, and…

Although there has been much research on the link between femininity and female appearance, body image, and eating disorders, there has been little research with respect to the behavior of eating itself. Recent literature has indicated that an individual's perception of a women can be affected by the amount of food that the woman is perceived as…

As the belief that social support and coping can moderate the impact of stress becomes part of the common wisdom in the mental health field, the demand for support-oriented interventions has increased. However, a review of the stress-buffering research indicates that the effect of support is more modest and more complex than most researchers…