Two issues in language development are explored--the emergence of the ability to communicate and the relationship between emerging forms and functions. Solutions to these problems involve the notion of interpretation and depend on the fact that adults interpret children's behaviors as if they were meaningful according to the adult system. The…

Patient noncompliance with medical advice is of major concern to physicians. Although many do not consider compliance their responsibility, research studies indicate that physicians can control many of the variables influencing compliance. Physicians' verbal and nonverbal communication habits that convey directiveness, coldness, complexity, and…

This report examines the stimulated recall data gathered from 67 audiotapes of library users who requested online bibliographic searches and who later viewed videotapes of their presearch interviews. The analysis was part of a study which gathered data on 80 presearch interviews in seven medical libraries in order (1) to identify verbal and…

This report summarizes a study which gathered data on 80 presearch interviews in seven medical libraries in order (1) to identify the verbal and nonverbal behaviors that facilitate, maintain, or impede information exchange in interviews between search intermediaries and library users requesting computer-based literature searches; (2) to identify…

The 35 exercises presented in this paper have been designed to simulate real-life experiences involving the process of persuasion and to enhance understanding of the persuasive process. Among the aspects of the persuasive process dealt with are the identification of persuasive events, emotive language, language intensity, source credibility,…

The essays in this book focus on the role of the reader in textual interpretation. Specifically, they examine "open" and "closed" texts. The three essays in Part I deal with both verbal and nonverbal texts. The first considers musical compositions that leave considerable autonomy to the individual performer and also discusses…

This booklet presents child care guidelines for mothers of newly adopted children. Hints for getting acquainted with a baby and developing a close mother-child relationship are provided. Medical checkups, feedings, and physical displays of affection (touching) are emphasized. Also provided is information pertaining to special cases of adoption: if…

Ongoing research programs conducted at General Motors Institute are motivated by the practical objective of improving the company's organizational effectiveness. Computer technology is being used whenever possible; for example, a technique developed by Herman Chernoff was used to process data from a survey of employee attitudes into 18 different…

There are three "communication contexts": interpersonal, intrapersonal (relating to others through internal thought), and mass media, especially television (relating to others in an indirect, impersonal manner). People satisfy different needs through different contexts. Open-minded people may choose television for relaxation and the interpersonal…

Health professionals tend to view dying patients with two intertwined attitudes. On one hand the patient possesses an irreversible pathological condition and the doctor is obliged to help that patient embrace death with as much dignity as possible. On the other hand, the patient's imminent death is daily testimony to the limits of the doctor's…

Mothers' ability to decode the emotional expressions of their male and female children was compared to the decoding ability of non-mothers. Happiness, sadness, fear and anger were induced in children in situations that varied in terms of spontaneous and role-played encoding modes. It was hypothesized that mothers would be more accurate decoders of…

The connectionist theory of brain functioning, which holds that specialization exists within the brain, has three implications for teachers of nonverbal communication. One implication involves the relative emphasis to be placed on linguistic/linear versus nonlinguistic/nonlinear mental processing. Teachers can shift emphasis to nonlinguistic…

In the context of reciprocity theory (in which disclosure by one person elicits self-disclosure by another person), personal space preferences of three-, four-, and five-year-old children were examined. Equal numbers of each age group and sex (N=120) were either given or not given material rewards and were either touched or not touched by the…

This booklet contains five papers focusing primarily on the potential of television for contributing to children's learning and prosocial behavior and on the problems involved in realizing this potential. The first paper provides information relevant to child development and learning theory. The second paper discusses the potential power of…

The purpose of this study was to investigate nonverbal facial, body, and paralanguage cues to deception in children. A sample of 31 Hispanic and Black second and third grade students were videotaped while playing a color identification that required six honest and six deceptive verbal responses to a randomized stimulus presentation. Frame-by-frame…