This study established baseline data on the relationship attitudes and behaviors of entering first-year students. Subjects, 97 male and 178 female entering first-year students at a mid-sized regional mid-Atlantic public university, responded to a relationship questionnaire (for a response rate of 69%). Questions related to specific relationship…

Previous research has suggested that behavioral differences between shy and not shy persons may be explained by differences in inhibition rather than differences in interpersonal skills. To investigate the behavior of high and low social anxiety subjects in both ambiguous social situations and in explicitly structured ones, three studies using…

Examined were preschoolers' naturally occurring behaviors during their attempts to gain, maintain, and regain materials, space, and peers' attention/interaction in the classroom. The major question addressed was, Are there differences between "most" and "least" competent preschoolers in terms of (1) frequency and type of…

Embarrassment is an aversive state which occurs when the public image a person is trying to maintain during an interaction is abruptly discredited. When people are embarrassed, they try to salvage the situation by offering positive information about themselves to restore their endangered identities. To examine responses to the threat of impending…

Argues that human urban social complexity has been made possible by social evolution rather than biological evolution, and that this social evolution has had to counter individual selfish tendencies which biological evolution has continued to select as a result of the genetic competition among the cooperators. (Author/JM)

Two speech events, narration and joking conversation, are analyzed from speech samples of Hawaiian 5- to 7-year-olds. An underlying iterative routine was found which allows for both stories and joking to be produced jointly in a contrapuntal style. (Author/RM)

Assesses television's potential to influence both prosocial and antisocial behavior in children and cites supportive investigative studies. (MH)

Starts with a critique of the skill-oriented, teacher-centered concept of language learning: teacher as director and explainer, giving purely verbal training. Presents then a communication-oriented, learner-centered, "all-pragmatic" concept, emphasizing "social events." Suggests, with examples, reforming practice to develop learners'"signal…

A team approach for multi-handicapped children helps prevent fragmentary therapy or duplicated or conflicting programs. Successful social control in a rehabilitation center depends on staff/client relationship, the adaptability of the child, the program, staff orientation and role, attitudes of therapist and child, and acceptance of the child's…

This paper considers two classes of conversational errors: production errors and interactional errors. It is proposed that error correction can be used to invoke alternatives to concepts of persons, situation and relationships. (CK)

In producing and comprehending messages, a communicator relies on a "message design logic" embodying an individual's knowledge about how to relate message forms and functions. According to this model, there are three different message design logics: (1) expressive, in which self-expression is the chief function, and affective and…

Characteristic patterns of infant-parent relationships were examined in a sample of Black infants presumed to be at low risk for psychopathological development. Infant responses toward parents and a stranger in a structured laboratory play session were analyzed to determine normative patterns of Black infant-parent attachments. Infant exploratory…

This paper analyzes a conversational episode from a study of children's play in an educational setting to demonstrate conversational analysis as a research methodology. The analysis reveals the interactional means by which a dramatic play sequence is orchestrated. Children are seen to be sophisticated in their use of talk to create and shape the…

Because speaking was a major symbolic focus of 17th century Quakerism, a movement of radical puritanism, and distinctive ways of speaking represented the principal visible means by which the Quakers differentiated themselves from others, much of the religious and political conflict surrounding Quakerism implicated speaking in some way. One aspect…