Three-month-old infants received two consecutive 5-minute periods of adult social stimulation. Study results showed that social reinforcement changes the pattern and not the rate of infant vocal responding. (MS)

Proposes a model for mate selection which outlines three modes of interpersonal relating--fantasy, testing, and assessment (FTA). The model is viewed as a more accurate representation of mate selection processes than suggested by earlier theories, and can be used to clarify couples' understandings of their own relationships. (JAC)

Examined relief and distress as responses to the termination of marriage in a study of 205 individuals soon after their final separation. Results showed that relief is a frequent response to marital separation. Group differences in response were associated with the rewards and costs of ending a marriage. (JAC)

The scale demonstrated reasonable item homogeneity. Validity data from five separate samples suggested that scores on the Group Therapist Orientation Scale related meaningfully to actual behavior in a group therapy context. (Author)

For 178 employees, perceptions of organizational politics were negatively related to manager assessments of employees' likelihood of staying. This association was true only for employees with moderate to strong exchange ideology (beliefs regarding workplace reciprocity). (Contains 45 references.) (SK)

Describes a social exchange experiment in which subjects (college students) with different assigned levels of reward power and punishment power exchanged rewards or punishments with each other or with computer-simulated actors through computer-mediated exchange networks. Contains 33 references. (SV)

Proposes Value-Behavior Congruency Model of Family Life Satisfaction, model which assesses family from its own value base. Sees model as way to define and conceptualize family life satisfaction. Explains that model is anchored both theoretically and empirically, and discusses implications of the model for clinical assessment and intervention.…

Early theoretical work on social exchange focused on how exchange relations generate social structural outcomes. Specifically, gift giving was said to evoke status structures. No experimental evidence exists to verify or refute the notion that gift giving during exchange processes generates status hierarchies. We present experimental results…

This study proposes relationships between job satisfaction, affective commitment (organization, supervisor and workgroup), and exchange relations with supervisor, organization and workgroup members among extension personnel. Perceived self-esteem (SE) is hypothesized to moderate relations between the social exchange foci and the corresponding…

The economic theory of social exchange has some serious shortcomings when applied to minorities--especially the disabled. First, it assumes dyads comprise the basic unit where exchange occurs and that rewards and costs must occur at that level. Second, the model standardizes the experience of white, Western European and American males. The model…

Children aged 5, 9, and 13 years did work superior to, equal to, or inferior to another child and allocated reward between them. The three age groups showed qualitatively different allocations consistent with hypothesized age-related stages: (1) no relation of allocation to relative work, (2) preservation of rank from work to reward, and (3)…

Investigated the interaction between older adults and their adult children, focusing on the impact of social structure and subjective factors on family interaction and on the influence of family exchanges on self-feelings among the elderly. Found that older adults with families have a higher sense of well-being than others. (CMG)

Explores marriages in which marriage and family life are organized around the wife's job or career rather than the husband's (N=46). Found three predictive social conditions: wives having traditionally male jobs, flexibility of husbands' jobs, and absence of children. Describes techniques of deviance neutralization used to minimize costs. (JAC)

Studied the aging process and the mechanisms used by the elderly to cope with age in rural Ireland. Reciprocity is identified as one of the major strategies that reinforce independence, manifested in the stem family, sibling relations, pets, neighbors, parental caretakers, financial resources, and family configurations. (JAC)