Examined the relation between infant-sibling affective involvement and the attachment security of 1-7-year-old children of 53 mothers. Secure infants reacted less negatively than insecure infants when mothers turned their attention to an older child. (RJC)

Outlines a lecture designed for an introductory sociology course. Explores the ways that cult leaders manipulate their followers. Deals with possible dysfunctions of extremely religious groups of people. Utilizes a card trick to illustrate the ways in which charismatic leaders successfully control their audience. (KO)

Basketball experts (N=28) responded to "rule- and norm-related behavior" questionnaire, assessing crisis relevance of behaviors which were against rules of situation and were either fair or unfair, called or not called by officials. Results revealed that officials' calls and fairness of violations substantially influenced diagnostic…

Investigates factors of social influence strategies employed by 195 children aged 11-15 and 114 mothers. Girls reported more frequent use and success of strategies anticipating noncompliance and boys more frequent use and success of autonomous strategies. Mothers reported differential reinforcement of boys' and girls' strategies. (RJC)

Behavioral and physiological assessments of 41 seven-and-one-half-year-old children who had been selected to be inhibited or uninhibited at 21 months and observed again at four and five-and-one-half years revealed that each of the two original behavioral profiles predicted theoretically reasonable derivatives. Shy children remained shy, while…

This introduction to and overview of a special issue on social behavior assessment within schools discusses the impact of function-based methodologies on assessment and intervention practices in identification and remediation of challenging social behaviors. (JDD)

Provides an analysis of America based on the travel accounts of several foreign visitors and diplomats over the course of U.S. history. Viewpoints are expressed that reveal an America with many contradictions and a dark side. (GLR)

Describes investigation systematically comparing influence of naturalistic social behaviors and nonbehavioral variables, measured by live observations, on development of peer status in unfamiliar boys attending summer research program. Participants included attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and comparison boys. Discusses implications for…

Examined the relations among strategy knowledge about making friends, prosocial and antisocial behavior, and peer acceptance at school in a sample of 423 sixth and seventh graders. Findings indicated that knowledge of both appropriate and inappropriate strategies for making friends was related to both types of social behavior and to peer…

This paper discusses historical efforts to integrate social competence into a definition of mental retardation; presents a reconceptualized model of mental retardation as a condition characterized by deficits in social, practical, and conceptual intelligence; and argues that a definition of mental retardation based on social competence outcomes…

Assessed the interactions of preschooler dyads during two play sessions one year apart. Found that dyads' scores on measures of positive social orientation, cohesiveness, and control were correlated across time and that coordinated play and positive social orientation were more salient at time two than time one. (BC)

Eighteen handicapped and six nonhandicapped preschool children were observed during free play time. Children engaged in social behavior more often when playing with toys classified as social toys compared to isolate toys, and the incidence of social play was higher in integrated groups than in nonintegrated groups. (Author/JDD)

Clifford Nass, one of the authors of "The Media Equation: How to Treat Computers, Television and New Media Like Real People and Places," observes that, when people interact with computers, television, and other new media, they tend to display the same social behaviors as when they react to other humans. (JOW)

Three persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI) were matched with four community participants for leisure activities. Community participants were trained and were given specific interactions suggestions. Integrated social contacts were measured using a multiple-baseline design across participants. Results suggest that social integration can be…

Discussion of the use of daily habits or common social activities by anthropologists and sociology teachers to illustrate the power of popular culture focuses on the role of coffee. Provides a list of more than 60 specific songs and albums that could be used for classroom discussion. (Author/LRW)