Two experiments are reported: one in which presentation of external information about a stranger evoked significantly higher attraction ratings than available psychological information; and a second where similarity of Subject and Other on external characteristics had greater effects upon attraction scores than did similarity of psychological…

A previous study (McCauley and Newman) found that there was less eye contact with strangers in the city than in the suburbs. The interpretation offered was that decreased eye contact in the city is an adaptation to overload of strangers. It is known from laboratory experiments that adaptation to interpersonal overload is relatively fast. Baum and…

Critically evaluates knowledge about relations between early interaction, the "strange situation," and later social behavior in normal and atypical infants including premature infants, abused or neglected infants, and the infants of depressed mothers. Attributes equivocal relations between early interaction behaviors and later attachment…

Compares uncertainty and social penetration theory expectations about the amount and nature of question usage in relationships. No differences were found in amount of question usage between friends and between strangers, but friends used more evaluative questions than strangers. (JMF)

Disputes claims concerning the association between strange-situation behavior around 12-20 months of age and subsequent child performance. Maintains studies have precluded causal inferences about the direction and nature of effects, finding associations only when the quality of care received was stable, thus, precluding inferences about the…

Postcards containing a message either favorable or unfavorable for the recipient, were "lost" in the public transportation systems of Paris, Madrid, London, Geneva, and Frankfurt. More postcards were returned when the message was favorable but only in high importance conditions. This pattern did not occur in Madrid. (Author/BEF)

In this article, the author presents the story of Laurie, a child who experienced difficulty separating from her parents during the first few days of school. The author assesses that children like Laurie require relaxed attitude about how long their parents may stay. A trusted adult should be there for as long as it takes for these children to…

This study examined infants' reactions to new people by manipulating the social context in which infants became acquainted with new people. Infants (N=48) met someone new in the presence of another unfamiliar adult and their mothers. The new acquaintance either: (1) chatted and worked on a puzzle with the mother; (2) remained silent and worked on…

It was predicted that the amount of satisfaction following an interpersonal exchange will be higher when the resource given is similar to the one reciprocated and lower when they are dissimilar. Interpersonal exchange situations were experimentally created in which two independent variables were manipulated. (Author)

Quality health education requires that health educators engage in the professional and personal development necessary to overcome xenophobia when working with special populations (obese, elderly, indigent, minorities, etc.). This article describes strategies employed in a university community health education class to help students overcome…

A self-esteem maintenance model was tested using 52 friendship pairs. Undergraduates (N=52) participated in a word identification task described as an indirect measure of important skills (high relevance) or as a game of password (low relevance). Participants presented clues to both a friend and a stranger. As predicted by the model, subjects gave…

Examined extent to which infant-mother attachment could be predicted by mother interactional variables and infant proneness to distress. Meta-analysis indicated that sensitive, responsive maternal interaction predicted the security of attachment in Ainsworth and Wittig's "strange situation." Proneness to distress, a temperamental variable,…

The effects of counter-aggression strategies on married couples resulting from use of the Taylor interactive paradigm were investigated. Married persons (N=52) competed in a complex reaction time task and set durations of 100 decibel punitive noise for either their spouse or an opposite-sex stranger. During pretrials (aggression escalation), males…

Maternal and infant interactional characteristics in early infancy were investigated in order to examine their causal relationship with later attachment as assessed in the Strange Situation. Although the results of rating for maternal variables at four months of age exhibited significant differences between the set (S1) composed of attachment type…

Discusses observations of sets of infant twins, aged 6 to 24 months, as they interacted with one another and with an unfamiliar peer. Assesses quality of infant-mother attachment. Finds twins are more likely to react with one another than with a peer. Results are discussed in relation to early peer relationships and attachment. (Author/RWB)