To shed light on reciprocal social networks for adult literacy learners, an ethnographic study sought to understand the dynamics of social networks from a sociocultural perspective, that of the adult basic education learners themselves. Subjects were a diverse population of six adult learners at a suburban adult education center (five working to…

A theoretically-derived, easily employable, and widely applicable coding system for processing analysis of small group discussions is described. The system was constructed from established social influence theory, and pilot results from application of the system to group therapy interactions were presented. Eighty percent of all group…

Many decisions made by outdoor leaders are critical to the well-being of an entire group. Understanding the psychology of groups is important to successful leadership. This paper presents ways that individuals are motivated in groups, how groups respond, some symptoms of problems, and strategies to divert problems that can overwhelm a group.…

Organizational studies traditionally take the position that the more people involved in group decision making the more ideas will be generated. Recent studies demonstrate that people have a tendency to "loaf" in group situations and thus decrease the level of effort exerted by individual group members. This paper first reviews the…

Examining the relationships among social motivations, media use, and levels of political knowledge, a study (1) measured the unique contribution of social motivations beyond simple exposure and individual motivations, (2) tested for interactions between social and individual motivations and public affairs exposure, and (3) examined the interactive…

Expectancy of success refers to an individual's perceived probability of successfully exercising social influence. The leader's expectancy for success consistently emerges from theory and research as an important determinant in the type of influence he attempts to exert on group members. Theoretically, the leader's use of influence will be…

In this study, the effects of differing levels of obligation attached to a gift and differing levels of resources possessed by the donor on the attraction of the recipient toward the donor were studied. Using groups of between three and five college volunteers, subjects were seated in booths constructed so that they could not see each other, were…

Research on adolescent substance use has focused on prevalence and incidence; however, contextual factors have been largely ignored. A survey of 155 adolescents from a Minneapolis suburb was conducted to assess contextual factors affecting adolescent substance use. Subjects reported their use of alcohol, cigarettes, and marihuana with respect to…

This study followed each of three students in several different social contexts within an elementary classroom, analyzing their discourse from different theoretical perspectives. The social construction and reconstruction of students across different classrooms, tasks, and social contexts was examined, including the influence of constructs…

This study focused on explaining the social character of text-based computer mediated communication (CMC), focusing on the outcomes of self esteem and "self reference." Subjects were 200 undergraduate students of a German university. Three perspectives of CMC were compared in this study: CMC as an impersonal situation, via mediated small…

The social, behavioral, and physiological effects of episodic crowding on children and elderly adults are reported in this paper. Children ranging in ages from 9 to 16 and elderly adults ranging in ages from 60 to 90 were grouped by age into small and large rooms. Each group sat silently for 30 minutes in the rooms while skin conductance equipment…

Examines the extent to which variation in self-reported delinquency is explained by the seven containment variables (favorable self-concept, goal orientation, frustration tolerance, retention of norms, internalization of rules, availability of meaningful roles, and group reinforcement), and focuses on racial and sex differences in self-reported…

A brief overview describes the necessary components of an effective social learning evaluation system for the open classroom. In order to develop such a social learning evaluation system one must: (1) organize the evaluation system around the progress and needs of the child, (2) identify the kinds of social learning behaviors to be assessed, (3)…

Although there is a high level of research activities in the field of gender, these activities are only very loosely interconnected. In particular, the developmental and social psychological paradigms of research do not seem to have very much in common. This paper shows that at the intersection of developmental and social psychology many issues…

This research describes an observation study of 100 children, ages 9-13 years, on the island of 'Ua Pou, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia. The children were in a French government boarding school in the main valley of the island. Complex, sophisticated group processes among the Marquesan children were observed. The role structures of the group…