Concludes that Black and White kindergarten children indicate a preference for same-color peers at the beginning of kindergarten, that this preference increases over the school year, and that differences in behavioral style between Blacks and Whites may play a role in same-color preferences. (Author/RH)

Reviews elements of the respondent, operant, and modeling theories and various principles of the exchange theory that can be combined to facilitate changes in client behavior. Proposes the behavioral exchange model as a framework to help social workers conceptualize clinical phenomena and thus gain power to influence them. (Author/JAC)

Studied interactions between 40 elderly nursing home residents and their social partners. Results showed discrepant social contingencies for different resident behaviors, i.e., dependent self-care behaviors received continuous supportive responses, where independent self-care behaviors, obstructively engaged and nonengaged behaviors received no…

To further explore findings indicating that parental gender is a much more important predictor of caretaker behavior style than is involvement in parental role, 45 Swedish couples were observed at home interacting with their 16-month-old infants. Findings suggest that gender differences in parental behavior are much less amenable to social…

Groups of 270 Black and 270 White children drawn from the national stratified random sample used in the standardization of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) were matched on age, sex, and WISC-R Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient to facilitate investigation of the patterns of specific cognitive abilities. (Author)

Health educators may be expecting the public to accept too much personal responsibility for disease. Genetic, environmental, and other factors may be as important as health-promoting behavior in avoiding disease. If health educators overstate the role of personal responsibility for health, they may lose credibility with the public. (PP)

Examined differences between students who perceived themselves as "successful" and "unsuccessful" problem solvers. Results revealed "successful" and "unsuccessful" problem solvers differed in number of problems acknowledged, on self-report ratings about the personal problem solving process, and on ratings made by interviewers on several cognitive…

Investigated the impact of sexual composition and competitive/cooperative orientation on interaction patterns in same-sex and mixed-sex dyads. Found that the competitive or cooperative orientation of the interactants exerts a far greater impact on the communication behavior of dyads than does their sexual composition. (PD)

Identified the relationships of race and socioeconomic status (SES) to observed classroom behavior, academic achievement, and special education referral. Systematically selected and observed 109 fourth-grade Anglo, Black, and Hispanic boys from varying SES backgrounds, for 12 behaviors. Multivariate analyses found no race-related differences in…

Analyzed the self-reported substance use among selected Native American high school students (N=330). Results indicated 83.6 percent reported having experimented with alcohol, and an additional 43 percent reported using some combination of alcohol and other drugs on a fairly regular basis. Includes recommendations. (Author/RC)

Discusses the role of extrinsic reinforcement in intrinsic motivation in cognitive attribution theory. Concludes that cognitive attribution theory lacks parsimony, in that extant reinforcement analysis can account for undermining with equal facility. Suggests undermining is of little significance due to its elusive and transient impact on operant…

The Improvisation Test for Individuals consists of 12 roleplays that represent a variety of interpersonal situations. Test teams evaluated the reactions of the subjects to the roleplays and determined interrater reliabilities. Subjects found the roleplays generally realistic and their own performances lifelike. Interrater reliabilities were…

Analyzed self-disclosure patterns of Anglo Americans and Hispanics. Results reveal that females, in general, report significantly more disclosures than males. Anglo Americans indicate more disclosure than Hispanics, and disclosure among Hispanic males is particularly low. Suggests ethnicity was not a significant factor in determining preferred…

Proposes five rules to help job interviewers elicit data useful in predicting job performance. Rules include: developing critical job requirements; indirect exploration of job requirements; collecting data revealing motivated work behavior (such as candidate's self-reported enjoyable achievement experiences); and summing up data. (RC)

Assesses both the contact hypothesis and the superordinate goal hypothesis through an examination of interracial interaction on a desegregated high school football team. The research shows that one can be resocialized to accept and use new value codes and interaction patterns toward members of another race. (NEC)