According to the cognitive development theory of Lev Vygotsky, learning is formed, and thinking is transformed as a result of participation in purposeful activity with others. Through joint activity, social problem solving is learned and eventually internalized into intrapsychological processes. This paper describes an experimental teacher…

Symbolic interactionism, or the interactional perspective, provides the broadest overview of the major theoretical divisions in the field of speech communication. It is neither too abstract nor overly concrete and is directly linked to communicative behavior, and thus does not impose an inappropriate mechanism on the discipline in order to create…

This paper reviews critically four studies on teacher thinking as conducted at the Center for Instructional Psychology, University of Leuven, Belgium. The four empirical studies were: (1) a process analysis of teaching; (2) subjective problems of student teachers while teaching; (3) context variables during lesson planning; and (4)…

A code to systematically observe preschool settings in which handicapped children were placed was designed to determine the types of interaction and play behavior that occurs in these settings. The code records the following information: play area the child is in, how many children are in the same area, the play behavior the child is undertaking,…

A common assumption in family therapy supervision is that the relationship between supervisor and supervisee changes over time, following a developmental continuum from the tentative competency of the supervisee as a therapist to relative competency. In particular, Ard (1973) theorizes that supervisees and supervisors move steadily together…

This tightly focused profile of an exceptionally able elementary school teacher includes background material on her youth and early years in teaching as well as an in-depth analysis of her teaching methods and relationships with students. Videotapes of her classroom performance and retrospective interviews were used to obtain information. An…

This study investigated the effects on group performance of both the promotion origin of new leaders (from within the group or brought in from the outside) and the reassignment of the former leader (either remaining with or leaving the group). Using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) moon survival exercise, same-sex groups of…

In a microsupervision workshop experiment designed to investigate group differences in acquiring an indirect style of supervisory conference behavior, 18 elementary school inservice teachers were randomly assigned to a video-modeling, written-modeling and performance-feedback treatment or non-treatment. Criterion performances were the frequency…

Forty-nine college students participated in a study designed to determine the relationships among self-monitoring, relational competence, and relational intimacy. Each student was asked to find a willing conversational partner, to decide upon a conversation they had recently, and--without consulting with each other--to complete a questionnaire…

A study tested five sets of hypotheses derived from an interaction model of the ways reporters and legislators exchange information. Three hypotheses attempted to distinguish among election-oriented, policy-oriented, and specialist legislators in the ways they seek information, and two hypotheses predicted the patterns of reporter-legislator…

In everyday conversation, people sometimes laugh as they speak. A study was conducted to determine whether the content of statements occurring with laughter differed systematically from that of statements occurring without laughter. Tape recordings of 20 utterances taken from a conversation among a small group of college students were categorized…

Recently, research has been conducted using an interactional understanding of depression, which views depression as a disorder exacerbated by a pathogenic social system. The interaction between intimate social partners seems especially relevant. Couples (N=26) participated in a study of depressed out-patients and their spouses and a matched…

This study investigated the effects of an older sibling's aid in an object sorting task on the younger sibling's conceptual style. Children aided by siblings used descriptive style less than children who worked alone; children aided by siblings four years older used inferential style more than children aided by siblings two years older. Children…

Reports a study of 540 first-, fourth-, and eighth-grade students who participated in a discrimination task under three reinforcement conditions: reward, punishment and a combination of both. Results indicate the superiority of learning under punishment conditions. Interactions involving the sex of subject and experimenter are also discussed.…

This study investigates the power of the sex-role social norm in determining dominance: is dominance determined by personality "type" (from Myers-Briggs) or by the sex-role expectation? Thinking (T) and feeling (F) types were paired, including all possible combinations of sex and T-F. Thirty-two dyads, 16 opposite sex and 16 same sex,…