Reading skills and supporting behavior are topics treated, emphasizing the following concepts: the abandonment of regression, importance of clear objectives, a conscious effort to read faster, reading for meaning, having key words and phrases in mind, and previewing. (MW)

Researchers have offered a number of explanations for why people occasionally or frequently feel shy in social situations, focusing on behavioral, psychological, or somatic causes. However, each theory encompasses a problem with communication skills. A study examined the communication implications of shyness as reported in definitions by both…

How implicit assumptions govern the process of policymaking, and how those implicit assumptions are simultaneously consistent with both the political culture of the state and with behaviors that are effective in achieving desired policy outcomes are investigated in this paper. Interview data were gathered from policymakers and analyzed to discover…

This study employed a classwide peer recording (CWPR) program to demonstrate the efficacy of peers as behavior change agents in a physical activity setting. The study sought to determine whether or not the frequency of stimuli conditions presented by a game changes when a CWPR procedure is in effect, and whether or not the frequency of actual…

There is growing recognition that elementary, junior, and senior high schools are different organizations with different school cultures and different leadership needs. School-level differences in principal leadership behavior, student and teacher perceptions of the school culture, and student and teacher commitment were assessed using data from…

The concept of behavior settings--the environments shaping individual behavior--was originated by Roger Barker in 1950 in connection with his community surveys in a small Kansas town, code-named Midwest. This book seeks to provide rural social scientists with an understanding of Barker's eco-behavioral approach and proposed adaptations of it to…

A study was conducted to determine if (1) significant gender differences exist in prevalence of deception, motivation for deception, and recipients of deception; and (2) whether such differences support traditional gender role perceptions and expectations. Seventy-four subjects, 50 female and 24 male undergraduate students, recorded all instances…

Focusing on perceived sex differences in organizational settings, a study examined mutual evaluations of communicative competence in superior-subordinate relationships. Subjects, 86 superior-subordinate pairs from 23 organizations, completed the Communication Competency Assessment Instrument measuring competencies in communication codes, oral…

To determine whether teacher intervention in the form of experimentally manipulated variables would significantly change the level of students' dispositional writing apprehension, a study evaluated the effects of two classroom interventions--one apprehension-producing (AP) and one apprehension-reducing (AR). Four situational variables were…

A study examined the relationship between interaction involvement--a kind of communication competence--and communication behavior in a negotiation setting. Subjects, 120 college students, completed the Interaction Involvement Scale and were placed in same-sex dyads of three types: (1) mixed dyads of one high- and one low-involved subject; (2)…

The articles in this paper explore the status and progress of studies on the nature of speech, instrumentation for its investigation, and practical research applications. Titles of the papers and their authors are as follows: (1) "Task Dynamic Coordination of the Speech Articulators: A Preliminary Model" (Elliot Saltzman); (2) "Some Observations…

This paper reports findings from a naturalistic study of children's peer interactions in a kindergarten classroom. As the participant observation field-work of the study progressed, it became clear that much of children's interaction in their kindergarten classroom was covert in nature. That is, it took place in classroom contexts defined as…

The paper reports findings of a study describing and analyzing the creative and social behavior of four highly original children in the context of 1 year's preschool experience. Videotape, interview, participant observation, and artifact data were collected to construct the descriptions. The study attempted to answer the following questions: (1)…

This book, on the nature and problems of inappropriate drug use by older adults, provides researchers and health practitioners with an up-to-date survey and overview of the literature on drug use, misuse, and abuse among the elderly. The volume provides abstracts of 100 selected scientific articles on the major topic areas in the field. The…