Two experiments presented 36 preschool children with videotapes of their own and unknown mothers interacting with strange and familiar people. The children were able to guess correctly whether their own mother was interacting with a friend or a stranger, but were unsuccessful with unknown mothers. (Author/JMB)

Examines the expectations that students bring to an introductory sociology course and analyzes how they affect general course evaluation items. Results show that students' gender, year in school, and grade point average are associated with different levels of expectancy and expectancy violation, affecting general course evaluation items.…

The article reviews comparative studies of normal and developmentally disabled or at-risk infants in interaction with their mothers, relates these studies to the literature on optimal parent-child interaction, and draws implications for early intervention programs. (DB)

An investigation of turn-taking during conversations between speech-handicapped adults with cerebral palsy and normally speaking adults found that interactants used available behaviors to signal turn exchanges and that most control rested with the normal speaker. Handicapped speakers were frequently unsuccessful at interaction management and in…

The conversational responsiveness and assertiveness of 10 language-disordered children (4:1 to 5:9 years old) was compared to that of 10 non-impaired younger children matched for language ability. Results indicated that the handicapped children responded to questions less often but were as assertive in conversation as normal children. (DB)

Presents an exploratory taxonomy of small group interaction-coding systems. Six dimensions that characterize interaction-coding schemes are presented in a hierarchical order ranging from abstract conceptual issues to specific methodological ones. These dimensions are: philosophical perspective, conceptual and operational focus, observer inference,…

Reports a study of interactions of middle-class parents from 27 Swedish families, designated as shared child care or traditional families, with their first-born infants, aged 8 to 12 months. Suggests that differential involvement in child care has significant effects on fathers' behavior. (DR)

Evaluation approaches to measuring reliabilty in interaction analysis by (1) presenting criteria for a sound reliability estimate, (2) evaluating currently used tests against these criteria, and (3) discussing application of appropriate tests to interaction data. (PD)

Identifies components of group process and describes leader functions. Discusses personal elements, focus of interaction/psychological distance, group development, content, quality of interaction, and self-reflective/meaning attribution, illustrated by a case study of a group of persons (N=5) arrested for drunk driving. (JAC)

The Facial Action Code (FAC) was derived from an analysis of the anatomical basis of facial movement. The development of the method is explained, contrasting it to other methods of measuring facial behavior. An example of how facial behavior is measured is provided, and ideas about research applications are discussed. (Author)

Purpose of the article is to capture the flow of a process of persons working toward the goal of bringing TORI Theory into educational systems. TORI is coined by joining together the first letters of each of four factors which seem essential for growth within organizations made up of interacting human beings--trust, openness, realization, and…

The present study investigates the relationship of the temporal characteristics of therapists' verbal behavior to the communication of empathic understanding in psychotherapy. (Author)