Examines the relationship between domestic, occupational, fantastic, and peripheral role enactment and object ideation, social organization (solitary versus interactive behavior), and metacommunication. Each of 12 same-age, same-sex triads of three and one-half- and five-year-old children was observed during two 30-minute sessions under conditions…

Examines the immediate and long term effects of sociometric testing on preschool children's peer interactions. Positive and negative nomination as well as rating-scale sociometric measures were administered individually to children from two preschool classrooms, and behavioral observations of peer interactions were conducted before, after, and…

Research suggests children readily distinguish between moral wrongs and social norm violations. Moral concepts consistently focus on issues of justice and compassion regardless of religious belief. Moral education can be compatible with, and independent from, religious doctrine. Two principals for such education are suggested as useful for…

Compares number of classmates' photographs named by boys and girls on four different occasions in two kindergarten classrooms. Patterns of name learning were compared to examine sex differences in the speed and extent to which classmates' names are learned as well as differential selectivity in the sex of peer relationships. (Author/DST)

During the summer before first grade, 22 boys were videotaped as they attempted to enter a group composed of two unfamiliar boys. Confederates of the experimenter, the unfamiliar boys enacted scripted games and presented several scripted problematic social situations. Subjects' behavior in the setting was used to predict their first-grade…

Summarizes recent trends in French developmental psychology, including those regarding (1) cognitive development as it relates to Piaget's theory, (2) psycholinguistics in preschool children, (3) social interaction, and (4) the structuring of time and space by infants and toddlers. (Author/RH)

People living in neighborhoods where certain social classes are more prevalent will tend to have friends from that class. Even though individuals demonstrated strong preferences for certain kinds of friends, the neighborhood setting affected that choice. Friendships are formed by individual preferences operating within the boundaries of a social…

The phrase "community of scholars" contains a contradiction. Actions that strengthen the community weaken the scholarship and actions that strengthen the scholarship weaken the community. Continuing tradeoffs between community and scholarship produce many of the unique organizational properties that universities exhibit. (Author/MLW)

Discusses a study that evaluated the impact of an interpersonal skills training program designed to enhance the social work behaviors of mentally retarded adults. (JOW)

Discusses differences between authors' view of conversation and Ervin-Tripp's (included in this issue) on the similarities between adult and child conversation, planfulness in achieving topic coherence, the generalization of research results to other groups, and the socialization of conversational behavior. Also presents evidence supporting their…

Assessed the effects of two interventions on hyperactive children's (N=24) social behavior. Results indicated that both methylphenidate (Ritalin) and reinforced self-evaluation were superior to the contrast treatments. Medication plus cognitive-behavioral self-evaluation proved optimal, and placebo plus reinforcement alone was significantly worse…

Investigated attraction toward a group as a function of attitude similarity and perceived geographic distance in students (N=60). Results showed that effects of attitude similarity were strongly significant and that distance had no signficant effect on attraction and limited effect on evaluations. (LLL)

Compared 65 senior auditors with 200 older people to examine the association between activity level and participation in higher education. Significant relationships were observed for perceived levels of physical and mental activity but not social activity. Senior auditors thought their mental and physical activity levels were higher than…

Examined the view that Asian Americans are nonassertive and that they display differential assertiveness depending on situational variables. Results indicated that Chinese-American and Caucasian subjects (N=76) were equally assertive on all behavior measures. Race of the experimenter was not an important variable in the performance of Asian…

A questionnaire was developed to assess medical students and faculty with respect to several dimensions of their role expectations and perceived role enactments with each other. A comparison of mean scores on each of nine dimensions for faculty members from five departments in one medical school revealed significant differences on six dimensions.…