This special theme issue of the journal "Perceptions" is devoted to the topic of prosocial skills training for emotionally disturbed and behavior disordered children and adolescents. Following an introductory editorial by Howard Muscott, Richard Neel discusses factors that impede the development and inclusion of comprehensive social skills…

This paper describes some problems encountered in therapy groups of battered women and reviews several studies of these groups reported in recent literature. The five basic needs of battered women and a list of specific strategies developed to meet these needs are presented in an initial section. Three common goals of the group counseling strategy…

In an attempt to understand human aggressive behavior, psychologists have explored and emphasized variables related to the aggressor, the victim, and the situation, e.g., intentions of the aggressor and the consequences for the victim. Observer-related variables, such as level of moral reasoning have not been studied. To examine the relationship…

Some studies have suggested that TV encourages a variety of problems such as malnutrition, drug consumption, poor consumer habits, and violence. Others have argued that TV is a window to the world, promoting knowledge, cultural experiences and positive social values. This article examines some of these controversial claims and evaluates the impact…

This paper reviews the social science literature dealing with gender relations in marriage and the issues of wife abuse. It is argued that the old anti-woman biases of the literature have not really diminished under the impact of feminism. The sexist assumptions and victim-blaming focus of the new battery literature are examined through…

A study of communication patterns in a desegregated school, located in an urban middle class black neighborhood, revealed "meddlin" (verbal and nonverbal aggression) to be a key area of cultural dissonance. This pattern is more common among blacks. Name calling, rumor mongering, body bluster, verbal intimidation, taking or destroying…

This study investigated the attitudes, beliefs, and behavior of Canadian and American children in terms of television viewing of sports, preference for professional or amateur sport models, and proportion of violent to nonviolent television viewing. The written opinionnaire items used in the research determined: 1) demographic information on…

The psychoanalytic theory of identification and the cognitive-developmental and social-learning theories of imitation are briefly described. Pertinent empirical research in the following areas is summarized and critically evaluated: imitation in infants, observational learning, clinical use of modeling, and the relation of imitation to aggression,…

This paper describes three interrelated studies which investigated the cognitions, feelings, and motives involved in the emergence and progression of prosocial behaviors. The first study examined the child's emerging sensitivities to the affective events in his environment through data collected over a 9-month period from groups of 10-, 15-, and…

The document discusses the effects of frustration on the aggressive behaviors of emotionally disturbed and normal children with high or low self concepts. Predicted were that greater amounts of verbal and behavioral aggression would be shown by: (1) emotionally disturbed subjects in special education classes than for normal subjects; (2) subjects…

Assessment of the format and content of a teacher in-service program on the aggressive child is the topic of this study. The program was presented by the Alexandria Community Mental Health Center to 284 elementary teachers from the local community. The teachers were asked to fill out pre- and post-workshop questionnaires regarding their…

Designed to investigate verbal aggression in State of the Union messages during times of war and peace, this study attempted to devise a method for quantitatively analyzing verbal aggression in public, political communication and to describe and explain the relationship of verbal aggression in State of the Union messages to the existence of war…

A group of social scientists met to advise the National Institute of Mental Health on how best to follow up on the work of the Surgeon General's Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior. Participants were asked to: 1) define research issues and approaches, 2) identify means for conducting research, and 3) provide guidance…

The problems mankind faces are of such overwhelming importance that it is easy to see why we are interested in integrating the academic disciplines to study war, violence, and social change. Could not the behavioral sciences, properly mobilized, enable us to reduce the probabilities of war and violence, and make social change more tolerable?…

The studies in this fifth volume of technical reports to the Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior explore the role of mediated aggression and violence on relevant human behaviors in some new and interesting ways. The volume begins with an overview of the studies, presenting a statement of the principal questions asked,…