A series of three studies investigated the role of play materials in supporting social interactions of nursery school children. Subjects were 14 boys and 11 girls, 4 and 5 years of age, who came from a variety of socioeconomic and racial backgrounds. Observations were made for 16 days, during the free play hour at each of four play centers: art,…

Affirmed that verbal behaviors (time speaking, initiated assertions, referrals received and first-person statements) were related to self-traits as measured by personality measures and a subjective self-report. The results are indicative of a proactive-reactive dimension of social interaction from both self and behavioral perspectives. (Author)

This literature review is a supplement to an earlier , extensive review by the author. It shows the increase in laboratory training methods and programs. The studies reviewed are classified as follows: methodology of evaluation, theory development, kinds of learning, factors influencing learning, participant characteristics, and laboratory…

This is a comprehensive report of a study of the mechanisms by which the family regulates its interaction with the immediate social environment. Subjects were four multiple family groups, each composed of six or more families, meeting in both hospital and home settings. In each family, at least one member was either an alcoholic or an adolescent…

This paper is designed to help youth's significant others harness dissident youth's energy into the reins of society's problems. Included is a comparison between healthy rebellion (arising out of love for something) and neurotic rebellion (having no purpose except to fight conformity or the establishment). The author classifies secondary and…

Using a series of communicational games, the author leads the participant through self-awareness, verbal and nonverbal communication, decision-making, problem-solving, and skills in perception, listening, and small group, organizational, and cultural communications. The thesis behind the book is that model-making, role-playing, or other forms of…

The Timed Interval Categorical Observation Recorder (TICOR), a portable, battery powered microcomputer designed to automate the collection of sequential and simultaneous behavioral observations and their associated durations, was developed to overcome problems in gathering subtle interaction analysis data characterized by sequential flow of…

Interaction theory has not been applied to interpersonal communication because the Western scientific model requires that variables be consciously apparent. A simple model of sending and receiving is not adequate to explain the complex nature of human communication, however. The dyadic pattern of interrelationship may be expanded to reflect the…

This study examined the effects of high and low communication inhibition on small group interaction. Communication inhibition was identified in terms of a scale developed through the factor analysis of the Personal Report of Confidence as a Speaker--Short Form, the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension--College, and Unwillingness to…

The effectiveness of the Delphi Technique is evaluated in terms of immediate and delayed controlled information feedback (feedback within 5 seconds as compared with a 24-hour delay); and the relationships that exist among measures of integrative complexity, estimations about the time of occurrence of future events, and time delay between task…

One hundred and ten college students, placed in 22 problem solving discussion groups, interacted for three fifty minute periods each. Three trained observers systematically recorded the interaction. Group members were classified as being task or socio-emotionally oriented and the functional leader in each group was identified by role category.…

This paper explores the power of the group to influence the initiation, maintenance, and termination of a given episode of group drinking by alcoholics. The study was undertaken to establish the parameters, within a controlled laboratory setting, of the various effects of group decision making on the social, affective, and drinking behavior of the…

Classroom discourse is evaluated for the contribution it can make to students' learning in groups. Data recorded from primary age children working at computers are categorized as exploratory, cumulative, and disputational talk. The teacher's role in making explicit strategies that optimize exploratory talk is discussed. (Contains 31 references.)…

A study assessed the validity of applying the Spitzberg and Cupach dyadic model of communication competence to small group interaction. Twenty-four students, in five task-oriented work groups, completed questionnaires concerning self-competence, alter competence, interaction effectiveness, and other group members' interaction appropriateness. They…

THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF THIS EXPERIMENT WAS TO DETERMINE WHETHER HIERARCHICALLY DIFFERENTIATED GROUPS WERE AS PRODUCTIVE ON PROBLEM-SOLVING TASKS AS HIERARCHICALLY UNDIFFERENTIATED GROUPS. THE EXPERIMENT ALSO INVESTIGATED THE EFFECTS OF FORMALLY BASED STATUS DIFFERENCES ON GROUP EFFICIENCY AND RISK-TAKING. TWENTY GROUPS CONTAINING FOUR SUBJECTS…