Summarizes research on disjunctive versus conjunctive, and multistage versus single-stage problem solving in a classroom setting. Concludes that students working in groups are less likely to drop out of class, give higher subjective motivation to learn ratings, perform better on tests, know more classmates, and score higher on Raven's Progressive…

Studies gender patterns in five- and six-year-old children's social interactions with one another and variables that may influence these patterns. Findings suggest that differences between boys and girls in the use of aggravated behavior in interaction style is strongly influenced by the nature of the activity being performed and by the gender of…

Examined angry conflict incidents in a sample of 108 children ages 7 to 11, focusing on relations of anger-related internal and behavioral reactions to children's social functioning. Found that individual differences in children's social functioning were related to boys' anger-related goals and children's anger-related strategies. (MDM)

Investigated the presence of sexual coercion, leading to sex play and intercourse as a feature of high school dating, carrying over to the college years. Responses from 217 female and 72 male college students illustrate that high school sexual coercion, including factors involving alcohol, drugs, and threats of force, cross over to the…

Examined the effect of resource availability on dyadic interaction of African American three- to five-year olds in a painting activity conducted under two resource conditions. Limited resources promoted more resource and task conflict, while plentiful resources promoted more nonconflictive social and task interactions. Results underscored the role…

Examined effects of directed art activities on behavior of two preschool children and one kindergarten child with disabilities. Results indicated that directed art activity had larger effect than control condition on social behavior of two children, whereas control condition generated little effect. Neither art activity had measurable effect on…

The social information-processing skills of 16 aggressive and 19 nonaggressive men with borderline-to-moderate mental retardation were examined. The two groups did not differ in their ability to generate multiple solutions or provide appropriate responses. K. Dodge's social information-processing model is considered. (Author/SW)

Used psychological tests to examine the effects of early childhood experiences on interaction patterns that have resulted from East and West German children growing up in different social contexts. Subjects were 140 East and West German adolescents. Found that West German adolescents showed more prosocial tendencies and had stronger emotion-based…

Reports the results of a study on the ways in which alcohol is built into the social role and social life of college students. Provides direct support for the idea that the patterns of drinking alcoholic beverages are integral to social and structural aspects of college. (LKS)

Research on interactions between mothers and children with hearing loss was reviewed. Communication between hearing mothers and children who are deaf is often characterized by asynchrony, excessive maternal control, and child dependence. Mothers who are deaf use various strategies to accommodate their child's need for visual language input.…

Examined the variability in the development of moral judgment by reanalyzing a set of Kohlberg's data studies on the concept of structured wholeness, a deep cognitive organization unifying different surface judgments given by the same subject. Although the results failed to show total consistency they also show that it is not meaningful to claim…

This study examined whether the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System was a valid self-report instrument for gathering alcohol consumption information. College students completed surveys regarding alcohol consumption and social desirability level. No significant relationship was found between social desirability and drinking behavior. The survey…

Investigated effects of "The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers" on aggression. Found that children in a group exposed to a televised Power Rangers episode committed seven times more aggressive acts in a subsequent two-minute play period than did a control group, boys moreso than girls. Results corroborate the causal link between television…

Discusses where outcome-based education (OBE) went wrong and the enormous backlash it created. It is argued that OBE's state mandated outcomes are aimed at creating a new social order which can cause a backlash with parents who do not agree with the direction being taken. A strategy is proposed for escaping the OBE problem. (GR)

Social learning theory is evaluated from a historical perspective that goes up to the present. Sears and others melded psychoanalytic and stimulus-response learning theory into a comprehensive explanation of human behavior. Bandura emphasized cognitive and information-processing capacities that mediate social behavior. (LB)