Examined the developmental progression of third-grade children's adherence to social norms within the relationship contexts of friendship and acquaintanceship. Found that children do differentiate their behavior within naturally occurring relationships and that this differentiation appears relatively early. Attempts to integrate research on social…

Male and female college students judged the HIV-related risks of various sexual activities and acquiring a new same gender sex partner or one of opposite gender. Participants were aware of the risks of different sexual practices and partner combinations, although responses also revealed stereotypic and motivational biases. (LKS)

Discusses the article by Lewis in this issue in the context of complex systems theory. Reviews several concepts of complex systems theory, including self-organization, entropy, phase transitions, stochastic processes, nonlinearity, and attractors. Notes that Lewis highlights the need for psychological models to treat nonlinear processes, chaotic…

Examined the role that internalized cognitive representations may play as mediators of the link between family and peer relationships among 161 children age 7 through 12 years. Negative representations of self and others were found to be associated with increased social impairment, including dysfunctional social behavior and less positive status…

A total of 48 preschoolers were asked to cite reasons for their friendships, provide judgments of transgressions involving friends and nonfriends, and indicate preferences for conflict resolution strategies for friends and nonfriends. Children made conceptual distinctions between friends and nonfriends in judgments and offered justifications…

Conducted tutoring program designed to help children (n=497) in grades three through five undergoing unscheduled school transfers. Examined gender differences in self-concepts, academic performance, teacher evaluations, and peer ratings. Female transfer students reported lower self-concepts than males; teachers reported boys were more popular;…

Reports on an exploratory study of computer-mediated communication (CMC) that was conducted to provide empirical evidence of the emergence of social norms in computer conferencing. Results of a content analysis of transcripts of BITNET conferences are described, and a case study of one conference is included. (11 references) (LRW)

Observed rough-and-tumble play in young adolescent boys on the playground. Found that sociometrically defined average and rejected boys spent a greater portion of their time in rough play compared to popular boys and did so with children who were less dominant than they, suggesting that some children exploit play bouts for their own…

Children between 6 and 11 years of age watched vignettes of conflicts between children and adult authorities. Subjects categorized children in the vignettes as feeling bad, complying, or anticipating negative consequences for noncompliance. Reported compliance was correlated with anticipated negative consequences. (BC)

Comembership, an aspect of social identity that involves specific attributes (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender), was investigated in faculty-student advising interviews. Student language indicates that role comembership may increase the complexity of the interaction by increasing the need to mark participant status. (Contains 18 references.) (LB)

Ways are suggested for language researchers to understand the relationship between language and social identity. It is argued that speakers attempt to establish the social identities of themselves and others through verbally performing certain social acts and verbally displaying certain stances. (Contains 53 references.) (LB)

Studied effects of maternal employment and substitute child care on social behavior of four- and five-year-old children (n=2,209). Mothers from National Longitudinal Survey's youth cohort rated their child's social behavior using items from Behavioral Problems Index. In general, findings did not support contention that maternal employment is…

Describes the conditional probability methods (positive/negative predictive power, sensitivity, and specificity) used to differentiate children, judged by teachers as belonging to Social Competence (SC) or Low Social Competence (LSC) groups. Large differences were found in the number of social skills predicting LSC group membership for females and…

Examines the character of Pippi Longstocking, created in the 1940s by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. Argues that Pippi is a kind of clown-magician, courageous, exuberant, and unflappable. Shows how, by living life on her own terms, Pippi's comedy both subverts the trappings of adult society and affirms the possibility of a better world. (SR)

Explores the effects of three elements of the competitive situation (competitive set, competitive outcome, and interpersonal context) on intrinsic motivation in a sample of college students (n=100). Competitive outcome and interpersonal context affected intrinsic motivation: winning increased intrinsic motivation, while pressured interpersonal…