Speech communication plays a significant role in a liberal arts education. Studying and practicing oral communication constitutes direct inquiry into the social and psychological features of social life and survival and presents reality phenomena more directly and emphatically than do writing or other types of communication. Such direct social…

Through self-presentations, individuals claim a variety of public images that influence how others regard and treat them in social interactions. An examination of self-presentation in a leadership situation focused on three dimensions of leader behavior: competence, socioemotionality, and prominence. Subjects (N=128) were assigned leadership…

Burnout in education is described in terms of system stress. Systems and their relationships are viewed at four levels: somatic, psychological, social, and cultural. "Burnout" is defined as a reduction of the function of an organism or living system. Changes in the state of a system create increased demands for adaptation. Stress is a general…

Previous research studies show that interacting elements affecting reported classroom observation of teacher behavior are: (1) teacher characteristics; (2) observer characteristics; (3) influence of status characteristics upon social interaction; (4) effect of sex and topic on judgment of competence; (5) beliefs concerning teaching and teaching…

The three sections of this paper, written by General Motors Corporation employees from three different countries, discuss different aspects of communication consulting and factors involved in becoming a successful international organizational consultant. The first section, written by an American, outlines the need for communication consulting,…

This document includes several articles and reviews related to science education. Included are the following: (1) a critical review of science classroom interaction studies; (2) a review of the meaning of, and arguments for, integrated science; (3) trends in selection of science courses in secondary schools; (4) cultural borrowing and comparative…

The diagnostic labeling of exceptional children was investigated in two experiments. In the first experiment videotapes of simulated parent/diagnostician label and no-label sessions were viewed by different groups of college students who then reported their perceptions of the child on a questionnaire. Results indicated that label subjects felt…

Some of the distinguishing features associated with behavioral prevention methodology are discussed. Behaviorists for Social Action have already implicitly identified target populations for preventive interventions, and the two distinct populations which have been identified can form the focus of preventive endeavors. The dissimilar populations…

This paper reports two studies which examined sequential dependence in the dyadic interaction between mother and infant. In the first study, brief videotaped behavioral samples were collected for 24 primiparous mother-infant (M - I) dyads to examine the degree of reciprocal contingency in M - I interactions. Two coders, using a computer interfaced…

A step-by-step description is given of the development of a model for the improvement of student teacher relationships. This model was created by a student forum in workshop sessions with teachers, other school personnel, and parents. In this report the design of the workshops is described, and the recommendations resulting are outlined. Included…

This report compares two parent education groups with a control group on three measures of maternal knowledge and attitudes. The subjects were low income Black mothers with 18- to 24-month-old toddlers as of the beginning of the 2-year programs in 1974. The two programs were Levenstein's Toy Demonstration Program, in which mothers (N=26) observed…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among maternal and neonatal characteristics in two groups of women, those who had participated in childbirth education class (CE) and those who had not, and their newborn children. Two groups of eight mothers and their first born infants, matched on several demographic and medical…

A five-month ethnographic study of conversations in a Philadelphia nursing home revealed some of the rules governing situationally appropriate conversational behavior. The social communicational perspective of the study differed from both psychological and discourse analysis approaches. Analysis of the data indicated that sustained…

IN GENERAL, PROBLEM SOLUTIONS CAN BE FOUND ALONG A CONTINUUM OF ABSTRACTION FROM THE SPECIFIC TO THE GENERAL. THERE IS, AT ANY GIVEN POINT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOLUTION, A MOST EFFICIENT OR OPTIMUM STRATEGY. IN INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION IS USUALLY OBTAINED, AT A MORE SPECIFIC RATHER THAN AT A MORE ABSTRACT LEVEL. THE…

Data are presented from an exploratory study examining the influence of dental school building design on the quality and quantity of student information conversations. The purposes of the research were to determine--(1) what patterns of interaction exist commonly among dental students, and (2) how the architectural design of the building…