Girls' dating behavior as a function of social context and maturation.

Examined how environmental and physical characteristics contribute to the emergence of adolescent girls' dating behavior. The premise was that one set of individual characteristics, pubertal processes, may have more influence on girls' dating behavior in one context than in another, specifically more in girls who attend dance schools than in those who do not. Seventh to ninth grade girls were seen, 59 who were enrolled in national classical ballet company school and 328 who were not. Body image, dating behavior, career aspirations, pubertal status, and maturational timing were assessed via self-report and maternal report. Dancers were less likely to date than nondancers. A Dance/Nondance Group?×?Pubertal Status interaction was found: Premenarcheal dancers had lower dating scores than postmenarcheal dancers, whereas menarcheal status was not related to dating in nondancers. With regard to body image, a Breast Development?×?Dance/Nondance Group interaction was found, with breast development being negatively related to body image in dancers and unrelated in nondancers. Findings are discussed in terms of interactions between environmental and physical characteristics and the goodness of fit between contextual demands and a girl's particular physical characteristics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development, microevolution, and social behavior.

The central questions of social development—from the roots of mother–infant attachment to the plasticity of aggressive behavior—pivot on the relations between genetic and ontogenetic sources of variance. It is proposed that (a) developmental, experiential, and microevolutionary processes typically collaborate, rather than compete, in achieving social adaptation; (b) social behavior patterns are mostly closed to modification in the course of development and across generations, but avenues of vulnerability exist in ontogeny and microevolution for dynamic, rapid, and reversible changes in key features; (c) a general avenue for change is delay or acceleration in the developmental onset of one or more features of the behavior pattern, which in turn modifies the functions and properties of the adaptive configuration; and (d) the features of social behavior that are open to rapid change in ontogeny should be open as well to rapid changes in microevolution, although different underlying processes may be involved. Empirical findings from the investigation of aggressive interactions are used to illustrate this proposal on the dual genesis and coincident adaptation of social behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's intention-cue detection as a function of maternal social behavior: Pathways to social rejection.

This study examined the role of maternal social behavior in children's behavioral reactions to provocation. Popular and rejected 1st graders and their mothers independently completed an intention-cue detection task. Mothers also completed a questionnaire assessing if their responses to their child were based on the child's intent. A moderate relation within the mother–child dyad was noted for all measures. Rejected children and their mothers reported more aggressive behavioral responses to nonhostile and ambiguous provocations than did popular children and their mothers. Mothers of popular children provided more prosocial resolutions to provocation than did mothers of rejected children. In addition, mothers of popular children focused more on the intent of their children's actions than did mothers of rejected children, particularly when behavior led to negative outcomes. Implications of these findings in terms of the correlates of social status are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of family conflict and dominance as a function of child age and social class.

Systematically evaluated 44 family triads, consisting of middle- or lower-class families with 11- or 16-yr-old sons, by direct observation procedures. When dominance and conflict patterns were assessed by process measures (talking time, attempted interruptions, successful interruptions) and by outcome measures (unrevealed difference technique), both social class and age of child were significantly associated with many of the selected interaction indexes. Results indicated that the adolescent accrues influence at the expense of the mother in middle-class families, whereas the adolescent's gain in influence is often at the expense of the father in lower-class families. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in children's verbal behavior as a function of social approval and manifest anxiety.

"This study investigated the operant conditioning of a class of verbal behavior as a function of manifest anxiety and of two types of social approval in grade school children. Anxiety levels were inferred from the Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale. Social reinforcers consisted of a 'head nod' and the verbalization 'good.' Acquisition of a verbal conditioned response was obtained in both reinforcement groups with the verbal reinforcer being significantly better than physical movement. Anxiety effects were not demonstrable." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Open-field behavior of the rat as a function of age: Cross-sectional and longitudinal investigations.

Exposed 52 female Sprague-Dawley albino rats to an open field for 5 min. daily between the ages of 31-110 days. Ss 40 days old or younger showed day-to-day increments in activity during repeated apparatus exposures, while no group 70 days old or older showed this activity change. In Exp. II groups of 9 Ss, 31 and 110 days old, respectively, were given 60 open-field trials. The juveniles increased their activity and maintained this elevated behavior; adults never did exhibit any significant increase in activity. Results indicate a critical period among rats such that high rates of ambulation are typical of only those animals that are placed in the apparatus prior to Day 70. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The conditioning of verbal behavior as a function of the need for social approval.

The hypothesis tested herein is that need for approval will facilitate learning. Need for approval was measured by the M-C Social Desirability Scale (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960); the learning task employed the model of verbal conditioning as used by Greenspoon (1955); the Ss were undergraduate psychology students. The results supported the hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conditioning of verbal behavior as a function of awareness, need for social approval, and motivation to receive reinforcement.

This investigation evaluated the effects of awareness, need for social approval, and motivation to receive reinforcement on verbal conditioning. 61 male college students were reinforced with "good" for constructing sentences beginning with "I" or "we." Awareness and reinforcement motivation were assessed by an intensive postconditioning interview; need for social approval was measured by the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability scale. Ss aware of a correct response-reinforcement contingency gave more "I" and "we" sentences than Unaware Ss, who showed no evidence of learning. Aware Ss motivated to receive reinforcement gave more "I" and "we" sentences than unmotivated Aware Ss. Contrary to expectation, need for approval was not related to Ss' reinforcement motivation or performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job enrichment versus social cues: A comparison and competitive test.

41 part-time student employees were randomly assigned in a 2–2 factorial design (2 types of social cues and 2 levels of job enrichment) to investigate the effects of the independent variables on perceptions of job enrichment, job ambiguity, job satisfaction, and productivity. All Ss worked in a simulated organizational setting involving a routine clerical task. Results show that both the cues given by co-workers as well as the physical properties of the task had an effect on employee perceptions of job enrichment and job ambiguity. In addition, Ss receiving positive social cues from co-workers were more satisfied and more productive than Ss receiving negative social cues from co-workers. Results are discussed in terms of their relevance for current theories of job motivation. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessment of psychopathy as a function of age.

The assessment of psychopathy was examined as a function of age in 889 male prison inmates between the ages of 16 and 69. Ratings of psychopathy were made with the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL), which measures 2 correlated factors. Factor 1 describes a cluster of affective-interpersonal traits central to psychopathy. Factor 2 describes traits and behaviors associated with an unstable, unsocialized lifestyle, or social deviance. Cross-sectional analyses revealed that mean scores on Factor 1 were stable across the age-span; mean scores on Factor 2 declined with age. The prevalence of antisocial personality disorder, and, to a lesser extent of PCL-defined psychopathy, also declined with age. The results are consistent with a conceptualization of psychopathy as encompassing 2 correlated but distinct constructs. They also suggest that age-related differences in traits related to impulsivity, social deviance, and antisocial behavior are not necessarily paralleled by differences in the egocentric, manipulative, and callous traits fundamental to psychopathy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work attitudes and decisions as a function of manager age and employee age.

Research has shown the importance of employee age relative to coworker age in determining attitudes, performance, and career-related opportunities. The authors used chronological and subjective measures of employee and manager age to determine whether employee age relative to the manager has an impact on these same outcome variables. One hundred eighty-five managers and 290 employees completed surveys. The strongest and most consistent age effects were observed for interactions between employee and manager chronological age. Both the magnitude and pattern of the employee-manager age interactions varied by self- and manager-rated outcome measures of work attitudes, performance and promotability assessments, and developmental experiences. Results are discussed in light of the relational demography and career timetable literatures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal mediation as a function of age level.

A variety of experimental paradigms (reversal-nonreversal learning, transposition learning, etc.) indicate that young children evidence less mediational behavior than older children. Many variables have been shown to influence mediation, but it is not yet clear whether the emergence of mediational behavior is a voluntary or involuntary process, i.e., modifiable or unmodifiable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lexical priming deficits as a function of age.

The effects of age on implicit memory were assessed in elderly and young adults using 2 priming procedures. Subjects also completed the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised (WAIS—R), 3 tests to assess frontal lobe function, and 2 recall and 2 recognition tests of explicit memory. In Experiment 1, subjects were exposed to the low-frequency member of a homophone pair in a test purported to assess general knowledge. Subsequently, subjects completed a spelling test that contained the previously presented homophones to assess priming. Young subjects demonstrated priming (p?p?p?     

Development of pointing as a social gesture.

Determined the age at which infants call interesting objects to another's attention by pointing, related their ability to follow another's pointing to their own use of the gesture, and compared the uses of pointing and reaching. 48 Ss aged 10–16 mo were studied with their mothers in a setting containing 6 special stimulus objects. By 12.5 mo, most Ss pointed, usually vocalizing or looking at their partner while pointing. The communicative function of the gesture was further established by the partner's response of verbal acknowledgment and looking at the object. The ability to follow another's points seemed to be acquired before Ss began to point but improved with their own use of the gesture. Reaching partook of the behaviors associated with pointing but developed earlier and decreased as pointing increased. Data show that at an early age Ss exhibit an elementary form of the ability to take the visual perspective of others. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's personal space as a function of age and sex.

Gathered measures of personal space from 74 children (ages 3, 5, and 7) when they approached boys or girls of their own age. A significant difference was found between the 3-yr-olds (who kept less distance from their age peers) and the 5- or 7-yr-olds. No other differences attributable to age were found. For all Ss, the sex of the interacting child was relevant in that less distance was kept from girls than from boys. Results are discussed in the light of learning and developmental processes. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Primary process in children as a function of age.

Extending Freud's formulation with regard to the nature of the primary process, it was posited that language should reflect Freud's content that "contraries are not kept apart from each other, but are treated as though they were identical." Hypothesizing that secondary process thinking is a function of development, 3rd graders and 6th graders were compared on the basis of a paper-and-pencil test wherein the task was to select a synonym word from a group containing the synonym, an antonym, and an irrelevant word. Primary process thinking, as measured above, was found to be more characteristic of the younger group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Suggestibility in children as a function of chronological age.

4 measures of visual perceptual suggestibility were obtained on a sample of 290 school children in Grades 1-12. Suggestibility was found to decrease with increasing chronological age. The relationship was significant and curvilinear (p = .001). In order of influence on the children the 4 measures of suggestion could be ranked as follows: prestige suggestion with ambiguous stimuli; conformity suggestion with ambiguous stimuli; prestige suggestion with unambiguous stimuli; baseline or selfsuggestion (p = .001). No sex differences were found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling effectiveness as a function of counselor social interest.

Examined the relationship between counselor social interest and 3 dimensions of counseling effectiveness. 99 students and 8 counselors at a university counseling center participated, and data were analyzed using a multivariate trend analysis. Measures included the Early Recollection Questionnaire, the Rating Scale of Social Interest Characteristics, and the Counseling Evaluation Inventory. Results show that the counselor's social interest score was significantly related to the client's scores on satisfaction, self-acceptance, and sociability. Experimental support was obtained for one of the major contributions of Adlerian theory, the concept of social interest. Implications of the findings for successful counseling outcomes are discussed. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concept identification of schizophrenics as a function of social interaction, sex, and task complexity.

150 schizophrenics participated in a study including 2 sex groups, 3 levels of task complexity, and 3 conditions where Ss served individually or in pairs. In free interaction 2 Ss were free to communicate in reaching mutual decisions; in restricted interaction discussion between Ss was prohibited. The Ss' task was to solve concept-identification problems. Females performed poorest in interpersonal situations and best when alone, whereas male Ss performed as well alone as in free interaction. In free interaction no relationship was found between errors and verbal activity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assertiveness, territoriality, and personal space behavior as a function of group assertion training.

42 18-40 yr old females who requested services from a university counseling center were employed to examine changes in assertiveness, territoriality, and personal space as a function of group assertion training. Ss were assigned to either a treatment (assertion training) group or to a control (waiting list) group. The following outcomes were hypothesized: (a) Ss who participated in the assertion training treatment program would increase their assertive behavior significantly more than controls. (b) Treatment Ss would exhibit smaller personal space zones than would controls. (c) Treatment Ss would use more space on a drawing task than would controls. Data collected from a battery of measures, including the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule, the College Self-Expression Scale, and the Assertive Behavior Situation Test, provided strong support for the 1st and 3rd hypothesis and partial support for the 2nd hypothesis. Implications of the findings for counseling and for the use of ethological constructs are discussed. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)