Highlights the influence of Confucianism on Chinese thinking, learning style, and cultural values and the impact upon classroom behaviors. Corrects misconceptions Western teachers may have about the meaning of these behaviors. (SK)

Contributes to scholarship on defamation, legal interpretation, and social norms by examining 59 state and federal cases decided during the last 150 years involving allegedly false accusations of homosexuality. Finds 15% of the cases resulted in a determination that it was not defamatory to call someone gay, 35% that it was defamatory, and 50%…

Examines nonvoluntary relationships with disliked partners (NR/D). Hypothesizes that the subjects (undergraduate students) would try to attenuate this discomfort by increasing psychological distance between themselves and their disliked partners. Shows that people use distance to attenuate the discomfort created by an NR/D. Finds 36 distancing…

Teachers define the social quality of conduct. Each teacher creates a moral world in the classroom that influences the greater world. (SK)

Discusses how psychological methods can be applied to study cultural syndromes and presents examples of these approaches. It is argued that tight-simple cultures are most collectivist, and loose-complex cultures are most individualistic. Further, it suggests homogeneous cultures can have clear norms and impose them tightly, whereas heterogeneous…

Examined the effects of a primary prevention social norm intervention on residential college freshmen's binge drinking. Students were randomly assigned to standard or social norm interventions. Posttesting found no between-group differences on alcohol use or risk factor measures. Significant subgroup differences existed by stage of initiating…

Argues that "democratic education," as described in John Dewey's Democracy and Education, creates a tension between individuality and public education, and between spontaneous experiential learning and organized subject-related learning. Considers future problems of a European theory of "democratic education" after Dewey. (PGS)

This study compared the social problem solving skills of 15 adolescents with Asperger's syndrome with 15 typically developing adolescents. Subjects were presented with videotaped scenarios. The Asperger's group showed deficiencies in recounting pertinent facts, generating possible high-quality problem solutions, and selecting optimal and preferred…

Proficiency in social interaction with adults and peers is an important outcome in early childhood. The development of an experimental measure for assessing growth in social skills in children birth to 3 years is described. Based on the general outcome measurement (GOM) approach (e.g., Deno, 1997), the measure is intended for use by early…

This investigation tested the person-by-environment hypothesis that the joint influence of behavioral vulnerability (anxious solitude) and interpersonal adversity (peer exclusion) predicts heightened social avoidance and depression over time. The study assessed 519 fifth and sixth graders 3 times during 1 year. Teachers reported social behavior…

Previous studies by Holmes, Miller, and Lerner (2002) support the norm of self-interest and exchange fiction hypotheses. Together these arguments state that people want to act on compassionate feelings (e.g., by donating to charities) but are reluctant to do so if they cannot justify their behavior as being in line with their own self-interest.…

The purpose of this study was to determine alcohol use (particularly heavy drinking) and social normative estimations of alcohol use according to student residence (fraternity, sorority, residence hall, or apartment complex). To achieve this purpose, a survey was conducted in all 34 sections of a general education core English class at a…

Understanding the intentional actions of others is a fundamental part of human social cognition and behavior. An important question is therefore whether other animal species, especially our nearest relatives the chimpanzees, also understand the intentional actions of others. Here we show that chimpanzees spontaneously (without training) behave…

Quoting literary and scientific works, the duality of good and evil in human nature is analyzed. Article discusses mankind's detrimental behavior towards the environment and extreme acts of violence among human beings while examining similar violent behavior in animals. It is concluded that humanity's deeds stem from shared cultural traits,…

This research investigated the nature of play activities and the social engagement of young children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in inclusive early childhood settings. Twelve focus children with a diagnosis of ASD participated in the research. These children were enrolled in regular early childhood education programs with typically…