This paper explores some of the work that has been occasioned by the writings of D.A. Schon on the development of professional knowledge by teachers. The paper has four sections. The first is a sketch of one interpretation of Schon's theoretical approach. The second examines selected appraisals of the more general features of Schon's work. The…

Drawing from data generated in more than 100 hours of interaction within 15 leaderless groups, a study investigated the interaction characteristics of emergent leadership--leadership that is earned through face-to-face encounters in a group. Each group was instructed to reach consensus decisions on two tasks, both of which provided the possibility…

A review of literature and two surveys, one of college students and one of a random sample of adults, were used to examine four aspects of media embedded interactions (social behavior in front of a TV or radio): their functions, their environment, their effects, and the reactions of the interactants to them. Television is seen as performing a…

The Wright School (Durham, North Carolina) is a 24 student, short term residential ReEd program for emotionally disturbed children. A study of the Wright School Admission and Discharge Planning Conferences was undertaken to determine the level of conference participation by people in various roles and the nature of the topics being discussed…

To identify conditions that make a conversational interaction constructive--in the sense that the participants can find the way toward the success of what they wanted to accomplish--two situations were examined. In one, a professional researcher explained her data to a statistician. In the other, three groups of two people cooperated with each…

A study of classroom communication. (CH)

The author focuses on various types of nonverbal communication, reactions of both students and teachers to nonverbal communication, and techniques of developing improved communication to support openness in the classroom. An extensive literature review is presented to support the thesis that the essence of communication is nonverbal; if someone…

This investigation sought to learn what communication behavior, if any, differentiated high- from low-Machiavellians. Two independent variables were examined, Machiavellianism (high and low) and experimental condition (naive and confederate). Dependent variables included the 12 categories of Bales' Interaction Process Analysis. The results suggest…

The conceptual framework of the family presented in this paper views the family as a reality in itself. The four-dimensional energy field that is the family system is a living open system, a dynamic whole engaged in mutual and simultaneous interaction with a four-dimensional energy field that is the environment. The family system is patterned and…

The Group Atmosphere Scale (GAS) was developed to measure systematically the psychosocial environment of therapy groups. Twelve content subscales, each containing 10 true-false items, assess the consensual psychosocial environment. Several of these serve as indicators of group cohesion and conformity. The GAS makes feasible a comparison of…

Discusses some ways teachers can better understand their students through interviewing on a one-to-one basis. (CS)

One of the major tenets of relationship psychotherapy is that the client and therapist have a reciprocal impact on each other's behavior. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between client-therapist interaction patterns and therapeutic outcome. (Author)

This fourth and final of a series of papers on communication in the Spanish-speaking world deals with body language and other nonverbal communication. The use of nonverbal sounds, the visual and olfactory senses, and behavior patterns are noted. (Text is in Spanish.) (CK)

Two hundred forty elementary school age children were paired on the basis of sex, race, and level of self-concept to participate in a cooperative-competitive game situation. Black children were found to be more cooperative than white children. The low self-concept subjects were more cooperative than high self-concept subjects. (Author)