This annotated bibliography focuses on contemporary sources that address customer service in these changing times, as the service is influenced by business communication activities and skills. Twelve selections are presented. The annotations date from 1980 to 1989. (NKA)

Mentally retarded adults' ability to express facial emotions of happiness, sadness, anger, and fear was investigated. Photographs of facial emotional expressions posed by 52 retarded adults were judged by familiar and unfamiliar nonretarded adults. Happiness and sadness were accurately posed most often. The ability of retarded adults to encode…

To identify the repertoire and the selection of negotiation strategies of children in natural settings, the interactions of 34 elementary school students in classrooms and playgrounds were recorded by two observers who focused on each child for about 3 hours. Children observed and interviewed were in grades 4 and 6 and approximately 10 and 12…

Findings from past research emphasize the importance of social isolation and Type A-B behavior in stress management and suggest that relative to Type Bs, Type As are more likely to be social isolates. A study was conducted to measure the interrelationships between Type A-B behavior, social isolation, and the perceived frequency of life stress…

The relationship between physical attractiveness and social competence is complex. A study was undertaken to assess the relationship between ratings of physical attractiveness and ratings of conversational skill. Sixty male and 60 female undergraduates viewed tapes depicting 18 heterosocial interactions. Subjects were asked to rate physical…

The curriculum is a modification and adaptation of the special education curriculum on sexual exploitation for mildly retarded students developed by Seattle Rape Relief. A Title IV-C Developmental Grant was written to develop a curriculum to meet the needs of moderately and severely handicapped students. The curriculum was subsequently evaluated…

As part of an effort to help preschool classroom teachers of the hearing impaired identify those children at risk in developing positive peer relationships, information was collected on 100 children with hearing impairments and 82 children with normal hearing. For hearing impaired subjects, data were collected on age, gender, age of onset of…

While most instructional supervisors recognize the importance of mutual trust and collaboration in building effective interpersonal relations with teachers (involving high cooperation, mutually agreed upon goals, and demonstrated positive outcomes), supervisors' attempts to achieve these ends often prove frustrating. This paper examines factors…

The development of a social skills curriculum for elementary-age emotionally disturbed children is described. Based on classroom observations leading to a list of 20 behaviors considered important for classroom adjustment and learning success (e.g., sitting still in a group, not disturbing others, and working independently), the program consists…

Defining "willingness to communicate" as the degree to which an individual will talk to others in various situations, a study was conducted to test the hypothesis that a linear composite of the dimensions of communication apprehension and willingness to communicate is significantly related to a linear composite of the dimensions of…

A study assessed the accuracy of public perceptions of public reactions to a politically problematic situation, the return of the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China in 1997. The analysis sought to relate differential patterns of communication behavior related to pluralistic ignorance (shared incorrect beliefs about…

This review was intended to identify generic skills in interpersonal relations and to examine the implications of research for attempts to assess these skills. Using a developmental framework, three areas of research were reviewed: the social development of children and adolescents, clinical studies of interpersonal competence, and studies of…

Defining relational competence as the extent to which objectives functionally related to communication are perceived to be fulfilled through interaction appropriate to the interpersonal context, this paper offers a brief summary of a model of relational competence, along with its major definitional, conceptual, and measurement assumptions. In…

Interactional behaviors for 15 moderately and severely handicapped elementary and preschool students were observed for approximately 1 month across a variety of settings. Behaviors were classified along a continuum of adaptive behaviors, and their proposed "degree of adaptation" was compared to commonly used definitions of adaptive behavior and…

The effects of modeling on conversational skills and on metaconversational knowledge of 52 learning disabled and normally achieving boys (grades 2 to 8) were investigated. Ss listened to one of two brief audiotapes: (1) a dialogue of a child interviewer modeling open ended questions, conversational devices, and contingent comments and responses;…