The author presents a case-study in which the group process Program Planning Model, a problem solving approach developed at Wisconsin School of Business, was used to help resolve the hostility between a small rural community and a college with a varied student body. (Editor/LF)

Provides examples of observed behavior to support the claim that television viewing is an interactive phenomenon, a social experience in which young children actively participate with parents, siblings, and others. Contends that the view of a passive receiver underestimates the abilities of the child to understand and shape experiences. (PD)

Analyzes an urban alternative school program to determine the extent to which the social relations underlying educational encounters were transformed. Found that students and teachers were both reproducing previously learned social definitions of roles and behaviors and altering the fundamental character of the social relations underlying…

Suggests that young children use their expectations of a context-specific, normal range of pause duration in timing the onset of a turn at speaking. (FL)

The handicapped and nonhandicapped children changed differentially over time in their solitary activities and dominant interactions and in their interaction with handicapped and nonhandicapped peers, but these changes all moved in the direction of making the two groups less distinguishable. (Author/SBH)

Patterns of verbal interaction between staff and 29 residents (8-32 years old) in a training center for young mentally retarded persons were examined. Conversation type initiations from staff elicited more verbal responses from residents than other types of verbal stimuli. (Author)

Analysis of postobservation conferences between 20 pairs of teachers and supervisors revealed four major micropolitical strategies used by participants to influence conference interaction. Two strategies--reflecting personal orientation and conversational congruence--prevailed in conferences rated positively by participants, whereas supervisor use…

This study investigated the effects of teaching sociodramatic scripts on interactions among three triads, each containing two typical preschool children and one child with autistic characteristics. Results supported the inclusion of systematic training of scripts to enhance interaction among children with and without disabilities during…

The hypothesis that teachers are unaware of the pattern of their interactions with students was tested by observing dyadic interactions between teachers and students and having teachers estimate their interactions. Results indicated a general lack of awareness on the part of teachers of the frequency and types of their interactions. (Author)

All 199 circuit court judges in Wisconsin were surveyed to explore the relationship between judges and the news media, to determine how judges communicate with the public through the news media, and to examine the influence of individual, organizational, and institutional variables on judges' use of the news media as a link with the public.…

This study sought to describe the norms of reciprocity in social interaction from the viewpoint of immediate behavioral exchanges by examining the social interaction of preschool peers in a free-play situation. Seventeen 4-year-old children, eight girls and nine boys, were observed during free play activity periods after a picture sociometric test…

A study of randomly selected "Donahue" shows revealed how host Phil Donahue interacts with several parties at one time and how he subordinates various interactions to suit the hierarchy of importance he attributes to each party, with the television viewer being the most important. Donahue organizes his body movement mainly for television…

Since much of the recent literature concerning leadership has emphasized the study of verbal interactions among leaders and other group members (ignoring the role of nonverbal communication), a study was undertaken to investigate several aspects of nonverbal communication in leadership. Specifically, it examined whether (1) leadership messages…

A study explored the relationship between the functional communication patterns occurring in conflict and post conflict impressions of relational concern. The first part of the study involved the development and testing of an instrument to measure perceived relational concern, while the second part investigated whether varying styles of functional…

The purposes of this book are to offer the outlines of a reciprocal-interactionist view of communication and education, to show some of its applications and implications, and to stimulate questions for exploration of the subject. Topics discussed in the seven chapters of the book are (1) the nature of interactions, (2) communication in reciprocal…