Reports on a study of competition, motivation, and performance among 60 adolescents in India. Finds that direct competition with another person led to higher levels of immediate performance. Also finds that indirect competition against a pre-set standard resulted in greater intrinsic motivation. (CFR)

Tested three alternative hypotheses regarding intergroup attribution patterns derived from the ethnocentric, the asymmetrical, and the stereotype-based models of intergroup attribution. Results from 582 junior high students in Israel show that members of majority and minority groups made internal attributions for stereotype-consistent positive…

Presents a 15-month follow-up to a study comparing inductive social skills training to skill assembly social skills training and cognitive-relaxation coping skills interventions for general anger reduction in college students. Compared to control group, counseled groups reported lower trait anger, general anger, anger across many situations, and…

Social interaction skills are an important part of leisure behavior. Many people with disabilities and/or illness lack adequate social interaction skills and require direct intervention. The article provides a background and explanation of social competence and a listing of commercially available resources for social skills intervention. (SM)

Examines the advice being given to today's college graduating classes in commencement speeches and compares it to that given in early premodern society. It shows how the old advice centered on basic skills and virtues that empowered youth to create an independent and worthy life, but today, youth are mostly getting adults' guilty conscience and…

Discusses the Teacher Behavior Continuum (TBC), which is a model of strategies for teachers to use in interacting with children. Strategies range from looking at children's behavior to physical intervention. Ways to use the TBC in dealing with victims in children's disputes and children's tattling are suggested. (LB)

Maintains that, because social development begins in the early years, it is appropriate for early childhood programs to include periodic formal and informal assessments of children's progress in the acquisition of social competence. A checklist of social attributes for teachers to use in examining children is provided. (BB)

Based on a 24-year medical practice, observes that Native American societies maintained group unity and suppressed interpersonal conflict through behavioral norms: noninterference, noncompetitiveness, emotional restraint, and sharing. Understanding these child-rearing norms, along with traditional attitudes and nonformal teaching practices, is…

Uses an 8-item Social Responsibility Scale to investigate social responsibility in a study involving 149 U.S. undergraduate students. Observes that satisfaction with the university and gratification delay are more powerful predictors of social responsibility among males. Identifies the socially responsible as those satisfied with an organization…

This study found that use of a dependent group evaluation system effectively decreased the group's inappropriate verbalizations and that the 9 students (ages 11-13) with disabilities had positive reactions to the system. The system involved delivering reinforcement based on an identified student's rating and congruence of the student's rating with…

Examined social and cognitive play behaviors of preschool children in comparison to tests of convergent and divergent thinking. High levels of nonsocial activity were associated with low scores on the convergent thinking measure. There were negative relationships between nonsocial play and divergent thinking. (GLR)

Four high school students who were peer tutors to students with severe disabilities received social interaction training and were then compared to four controls. The training increased the frequency of initiations of interactions from tutors, increased the proportion of social rather than task interactions, and increased targeted social behaviors…

Analysis of questionnaires completed by parents of 91 young blind children and 74 matched sighted children indicated that sighted children engaged in more complex levels of play at an earlier age; blind children interacted less frequently with other children than did sighted children; blind children preferred tactile-auditory games and toys; and…

Offers a theoretical and methodological approach to study of children's socio-cognitive interaction. Observation of object-centered activities among three age groups of children showed different modes of collaboration. Processes were similar across age groups; roots of basic peer interaction patterns reach back into infancy. Similarities across…

Comments on Verba's ideas about collaboration in peer interaction in this issue. Praises Verba for setting new direction in the study and understanding of social processes in cognitive development and for establishing important continuities in how children communicate with peers. Notes that Verba's analyses suggest natural categories of…