This article presents a brief overview of Gestalt theory, the group interventions utilized to experiment with interpersonal contact in a conference workshop along with their theory base, an evaluation of the workshop, and some experimental ideas and recommended activities that group leaders may want to incorporate into similar interpersonal…

Social traps, such as the overgrazing of pasturelands, overpopulation, and the extinction of species, are situations where individuals in a group respond for their own advantage in a manner damaging to the group. Alaboratory analog was devised to simulate conditions that produce social traps. The intent was to cause an immediate positive…

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of varying leader selection systems on the performance of political decision-making groups (judges). The type of leadership choice of the court was the independent variable and degree of dissent the dependent variable. As predicted, merit choice had less dissent. (NG)

A major means by which a culture maintains self-division and violence is abstraction. In the social sciences too, the process of employing abstraction to divorce us from ourselves is becoming increasingly more institutionalized. States that the meanings that emanate from some sectors of psychological research are also not congruent with human…

Investigates how adolescent friendship groups become homogeneous. Analysis of 49 student friendship groups indicates that homophilic selection is most important for group homogeneity, conformity pressures are somewhat important, and disproportionate group leaving contributes nothing to homogeneity. The conclusion is that the magnitude of peer…

The effects of an audiotaped leaderless encounter group on training in basic helping skills were examined. No changes in trainees' self-actualization, trait or state anxiety, or rated verbal helping behavior were found due to participation in the encounter group. (Author)

Outlines research using a behavioral measure of self-disclosure in a natural small group setting and compares the results with those obtained in a laboratory dyadic exchange. (MH)

Presents a study designed to contrast the effects of task-based and interpersonal cohesiveness on group performance of students. Concludes that high task cohesion helped group performance, while interpersonal attraction had no apparent effect. Finding that increased interpersonal cohesion improved task commitment, the authors suggest that…

The degree to which 484 Japanese, Korean, and American subjects sacrificed their self-gain to benefit in-group members in allocating a group reward was tested. Results indicated that although the effects involving culture were not significant, students in general were more individualistic than adults. (Author/BJV)

The study was created of a typology of low-literate adults based on deterrents to participation in adult basic education. Deterrent information obtained from 160 low-literate adult students was used as the database for the research. Six types of low-literate adults were identified. The typology provides a basis for program development to meet the…

Discusses a theory of leadership effectiveness in small discussion/decision making groups developed to facilitate discussion and goal efficacy. Develops four leadership styles (coordinator, inventor, enthusiast, and director) focusing on two critical questions the leader must address. Discusses implications of the model for leadership training and…

Investigated reliability and dimensionality of Bales's Interpersonal Rating Forms (IRF) using volunteer subjects (N=266) enrolled in undergraduate communications course. Results documented shortcomings of IRF as a measuring instrument finding the subscales neither reliable nor dimensionally structured; only 2 of 18 items in each subscale are…

Results of a case study designed to test the hypothesis that acting-out students would exhibit less disruptive behavior when grouped with "well-behaved" peers than when grouped with disruptive peers indicated that placement with well-behaved peers significantly reduced disruptive behavior, suggesting that grouping is an effective and nonintrusive…

Provides a review of the literature on human behavior in disasters and gives insights about what people do with and without training, organization, and control. It also points to the need for such preparations. The nature of the milieu in which emergency management must take place is examined. An emergency management model is included. (CT)

By reviewing this analysis of the behavior of both groups and individuals in groups, human resources managers can learn to tell whether committees, task forces, and departments may be encouraging or inhibiting the work they set out to do. (Author)