Experiments in the measurement of the size of social networks

This paper reports the results of a series of experiments conducted to measure the effects of alternative procedures for determining the size of social networks. The three methods tested are recall, recognition, and numerical estimation. Respondents were selected from work, church, and social groups. The major findings were that recall estimates are substantially below those obtained by recognition methods and become worse for larger groups. On average, numerical estimates are reasonable approximations of network size estimates based on recognition, but there is substantial variability in the accuracy of individual reports. Surprisingly, there is no evidence that recall is better for reports on number of close friends than of friends or acquaintances. There are order effects on numerical estimates of network size and better estimates are obtained by first asking about close friends. Finally, there is some evidence that respondent characteristics such as age affect recall of network size.     

The Extraction of Nonverbal Behaviors: Using Video Images and Speech-Signal Analysis in Dyadic Conversation

This study examined the validity and possible utility of a new procedure for the extraction of nonverbal behaviors from dyadic conversation. Three methods were used to extract nonverbal behaviors (i.e., hand gestures, adaptors, and utterances). A novel automated method employing video images and speech-signal analysis software programs was compared to the more traditional coding and behavioral rating methods. The automated and coding methods provided an objective count of how many times a target behavior occurred, while behavioral ratings were based on more subjective impressions. Although there was no difference between the automated and coding methods for hand gestures, the coding method using an event recorder yielded marginally significantly more instances of adaptors and utterances as compared to the software programs. Measures of each nonverbal behavior were positively correlated across the different methods. In addition, interpersonal impressions of each speaker were rated by both observers and conversational partners. Although R ² was lower than for the coding/behavioral rating methods, nonverbal behaviors extracted using the software programs significantly predicted familiarity and activeness ratings from both observer and partner points of view. These results support the validity and possible utility of the software-based automated extraction procedure.     

Nonverbal behavior in families with adolescents

In fifty-three families, mothers, fathers and one adolescent were videotaped discussing two issues relevant to the adolescent's behavior: the aspects of their behavior they could change, and rules appropriate to life in the family. Family members later watched these videotapes and rated themselves and each other every 15 seconds on levels of perceived anxiety, involvement, strength and friend-liness. From these videotapes, each family member's behavior was also coded for the use of smiles, various face and head movements and gestures. Results revealed that adolescents looked frequently at both parents, but parents looked even more at each other and the adolescent. Adolescents smiled more than their parents, while mothers smiled and nodded their heads more than fathers. More nonverbal expresivity occurred in conversations between parents and daughters than between parents and sons, although these results were mainly due to the behavior of fathers with daughters. Ratings of involvement by parents were related to the adolescent's nonverbal behaviors, but other ratings were not. Mothers rated adolescents as more involved when they used more head up movements and nods. Fathers rated adolescents as more involved when they gazed and smiled more.     

Women and men's use of coercive control in intimate partner violence

This study examined the relationship between coercive control and intimate partner violence (IPV) for men and women and for targets and perpetrators. One hundred and seventy-two participants (85 men, 87 women) recruited from three samples reported on their own and their partner's behavior. IPV was measured using the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS2). Coercive control was measured using modified items from the Psychological Maltreatment of Women Inventory (PMWI). Coercive control was associated with IPV, and this relationship was similar for men and women across the three samples. In fact, coercive control was predominantly reciprocal in nature, with women and men reporting both receiving and perpetrating controlling behaviors. Overall, coercive controlling behaviors were characteristic of individuals within violent relationships, regardless of their physical abuse status. The experience of violence, rather than gender, was the best predictor of coercive control.     

Gaze in married couples

This study examined the looking behavior of married couples during a 10 minute interaction segment. The variables examined included marital adjustment level, interaction role (speaking or listening) and type of message. Wives were more likely to look at their spouses than husbands were, and speakers were more likely to look at their partners than were listeners. While high marital adjustment spouses looked less over all types of mesages, low marital adjustment spouses particularly looked more than the highs on negative messages, suggesting either a confrontation component to the looking, or a strong need to monitor the partner's reactions in such situations. There was also evidence of more displayed competitiveness in the low marital adjustment couples. Correlational analyses revealed that there were different relationships between the looking behavior of the speaking spouse and the looking behavior of the listening spouse, and between the spouses' patterns of looking when speaking or listening and that these differences were dependent on marital adjustment level.     

Question Order and Fair Play: Evidence of Even-Handedness in Rural Surveys1

The norm of even-handedness is a question-order effect known to occur in face-to-face interviews when respondents favor one of two complementary or competing opinion questions, both written at the same level of specificity. After defining and illustrating the concept, evidence of even-handedness in opinion questions is explored in a Montana mail survey and in recall of recent behavior in Iowa telephone interviews. The Montana survey provides evidence of education effects that are not consistent with previous theories of cognitive sophistication, suggesting that future research must consider the interaction between substantive issues and cognitive processes. The Iowa poll provides evidence that respondents' recall of their recent behaviors and the behaviors of their partner also are subject to context effects. This poll also provides evidence that even-handedness operates independently of social desirablity, especially among women.     

Predicting serial position effects and judgment errors in retrospective evaluations from memory recall

When forming global impressions in retrospect, the first, the last, and the most outstanding experience often have a lasting impact on the final evaluation of an event, as most prominently captured in the peak-end rule. Such serial position effects in impression formation provide indirect evidence that individuals reconstruct their evaluations by retrieving previous experiences from memory, instead of updating their impression online. Yet, latest work sheds doubt on the ability to predict global evaluations from memory retrieval on the individual level. In three experiments, we aim to quantify how much variability in retrospective evaluations can be attributed to memory retrieval by relating serial position effects in retrospective averaging judgments to serial recall curves from memory. The experiments revealed serial position effects in memory recall and corresponding, but less consistent effects in averaging judgments, demonstrating that individuals better recalled and more heavily weighted the first and last item. For long sequences, memory recall permitted to predict individuals’ averaging error to a moderate to strong degree, even if individuals were unaware of number recall as a potential averaging strategy (Experiment 2). Yet, shorter sequences fail to evidence the same relationship, possibly because individuals attempt to apply more optimal averaging strategies (Experiment 3). We discuss retrieval patterns as markers for distinct evaluation strategies.     

Functions of gaze in social interaction: Communication and monitoring

Hypotheses and assumptions on the intimacy regulating and the monitoring function of gaze were tested in three successive experiments. In a 2 (sex of the dyad) × 6 (order of the intimacy levels) × 3 (questions' intimacy level) factorial design 144 subjects were interviewed by a confederate who was either constantly looking into their eyes (experiment I), was constantly avoiding mutual gaze (experiment II) or showed varying looking behavior (experiment III). The data clearly revealed that the compensation hypothesis predicting an inverse relationship between gaze and topic intimacy has to be rejected. Intimacy regulation through gaze functions more via adaptation processes. Adaptation can also account for differences in gaze dependent upon the partner's looking behavior. The sequence hypothesis which predicted decreasing gaze with increasing predictability of the partner's behavior was confirmed.It follows from these data that looking behavior has an internal structure with information receiving (regarding the partner's attentiveness and the ease of monitoring the interaction, monitoring function) more important in an encounter than information sending (communicative function); and—at least in the type of situation chosen—reactions towards situational conditions are primarily performed via adaptation processes.This research was supported by a grant from the University of Bielefeld 86/2754.     

Pluralistic ignorance and hooking up

Hooking up--when two people agree to engage in sexual behavior for which there is no future commitment--has become popular on college campuses. In this study we examined the extent to which pluralistic ignorance affects hooking up. One hundred thirty-six female and 128 male college students answered questions regarding their own comfort and their perceived peers comfort in engaging in a variety of sexual behaviors while hooking up. We hypothesized and found that both women and men rated their peers as being more comfortable engaging in these behaviors than they rated themselves. Men expressed more comfort than did women in engaging in these behaviors, and both sexes overestimated the other gender s comfort with hooking up behaviors. Pluralistic ignorance appears to apply to hooking up on college campuses, and we explore some potential consequences of pluralistic ignorance in this context.     

Pluralistic ignorance and Hooking up

“Hooking up “—when two people agree to engage in sexual behavior for which there is no future commitment—has become popular on college campuses. In this study we examined the extent to which pluralistic ignorance affects hooking up. One hundred thirty‐six female and 128 male college students answered questions regarding their own comfort and their perceived peers'comfort in engaging in a variety of sexual behaviors while hooking up. We hypothesized and found that both women and men rated their peers as being more comfortable engaging in these behaviors than they rated themselves. Men expressed more comfort than did women in engaging in these behaviors, and both sexes overestimated the other gender's comfort with hooking up behaviors. Pluralistic ignorance appears to apply to hooking up on college campuses, and we explore some potential consequences of pluralistic ignorance in this context.     

Representational Gesture,Pointing Gesture,and Memory Recall of Preschool Children

This study investigated the effects of two different types of hand gestures on memory recall of preschool children. Experiment 1 found that children who were instructed to use representational gestures while retelling an unfamiliar story retrieved more information about the story than children who were asked to hold their hands still. In addition, children who engaged in some forms of bodily movements other than hand gestures also recalled better. Experiment 2 showed that a simpler and more basic form of gesture, the pointing gesture, had a similar effect on recollecting and retelling the details of a story. The findings provide evidence for the beneficial effects of hand gestures, both representational gestures and pointing gestures, on cognitive processes such as memory retrieval and verbal communication for preschool aged children.     

The interpretation of nonverbal behavior in a role-defined interaction sequence: The police-citizen encounter

Videotapes of staged police-citizen interactions were shown to subjects. Nonverbal behaviors of the citizen were programmed to reflect empirically derived reactions to spatial intrusion versus nonintrusion conditions by the police officer. In the first study subjects made attributional ratings of the citizen based on the nonverbal behaviors only with the physical distance between the interactants held constant. Citizens exhibiting spatial intrusion reaction behaviors were judged to be significantly more deceptive, guilty, anxious, and generally more suspicious and unfavorable than citizens not exhibiting such behaviors. In the second study physical distance was explicitly manipulated to create a close versus distant condition. The behavioral cue manipulation from the first study was reproduced in each of these proximity conditions. Many replications of results from the first study were obtained indicating that the preponderant cause of impression formation of the citizen was based upon spatial intrusion behavioral cues, regardless of the perceived physical distance between the interactants. However, significant interaction effects between proximity and behavioral cue conditions were obtained and confirmed an attribution theory prediction regarding degree of confidence in impression-formation ratings made of the citizen.     

THERAPIST AND CLIENT BEHAVIORS IN THE FIRST INTERVIEW: EFFECGTS ON SESSION IMPACT AND TREATMENT DURATION

The first-session behaviors of therapists and clients in 38 cases were observationally codes and their relations to client ratings of session impact and treatment duration were examined. Results indicated that few first-session global types of behaviors of participants affect treatment durations. Clients may suspend judgement about continuing in therapy untill after they have attended more than one session, regardless of the first inverview's impact. Thus, the first interview may be less crucial than traditionally asserted. It also appears that first-session behaviors of therapists and clients that are associated with greater impact may vary as a function of client type, that is individuals as opposed to couples and families.     

Disproportionality and Acting-Out Behaviors Among African American Children in Special Education

African American children are more likely to be diagnosed with behavioral disorders and are overrepresented in special education. This may be due to misdiagnosis. If diagnoses are accurate, prevention and intervention efforts should be targeted to improve African American children’s behavior and long-term outcomes. This study aimed to see if teachers, mothers, and African American children in special education rate children’s externalizing behaviors differently and to understand what factors impact the externalizing behaviors of African American children in special education. A secondary data analysis of African American children in special education (n = 126) found that teachers’ scores were similar to mothers’ scores of externalizing behaviors and that mothers’ ratings of their children’s acting-out behaviors were significantly higher than children’s self-report. African American boys are more likely to experience acting-out behaviors than girls. Children’s environment, efficacy beliefs, and the Nurse-Family Partnership intervention were not significantly associated with their acting-out behaviors.     

The Perceived Intent of Potentially Offensive Sexual Behaviors Among Adolescents

Individual differences may partly explain how students react to potentially offensive sexual behaviors from peers. This study focused on situational and personal characteristics that may make such behaviors more or less upsetting. Six hundred and thirty two Quebecois high‐school students in Grades 8–11 completed questionnaires regarding their experience with potentially offensive sexual behaviors. Behaviors experienced at the hand of a close friend were less upsetting than those experienced at the hand of other peers. Compared with high self‐esteem peers, students with lower self‐esteem were more upset by such behaviors and were more likely to perceive the perpetrator's intent as unacceptable. In addition to sex of target, self‐esteem, and relationship with the perpetrator, the attribution of unacceptable intent to the perpetrator predicted upset ratings.     

Safety and Soundness and the CRA: Is There a Conflict?

Ordered probit regressions of the supervisory ratings assigned to banks point to a conflict between the credit enhancement objectives associated with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and financial safety and soundness standards. Aggressive banking strategies tend to help CRA ratings but hurt safety and soundness ratings. In addition, banks with financial problems are more likely to receive substandard CRA ratings, even though their condition may require a retrenchment from CRA objectives. Finally, there is some limited evidence to suggest that a greater focus on lending in low-income neighborhoods helps CRA ratings but at the expense of safety and soundness.     

Ratings of social functioning in outpatients with schizophrenia: Patient self-report versus caregiver assessment

Patients with schizophrenia often have deficits in day-to-day functioning that are central to their disability. The ability of patients to rate their own social functioning, however, has not been established. In this study we examined the concordance between the ratings on the Social Functioning Scale of 58 outpatients with schizophrenia and their caregivers. We found a high level of overall concordance between the self and informant ratings. Items measuring the frequency of behaviors were among those with the highest concordance, while ratings of ability or social skill showed lower correlations. On only nine of 73 items did patients rate themselves significantly higher than did caregivers. There was no difference in concordance between family and nonfamily caregivers. These findings indicate that outpatients with schizophrenia can provide self-report ratings that are consistent with the ratings of their caregivers.     

Recall of Nonverbal Cues: Exploring a New Definition of Interpersonal Sensitivity

Interpersonal sensitivity, defined as the accurate recall of another person’s nonverbal behavior, was measured in two studies. In Study 1, nonverbal recall accuracy (NRA) was based on recall of cues expressed by a man and/or woman being interviewed on videotape. Retest reliability after 2 weeks was satisfactory and the male and female tests demonstrated sufficient convergence. Participants could assess their own recall accuracy at better than chance levels; ability to decode the meanings of visual nonverbal cues was positively related to NRA; discriminant validity of NRA was demonstrated with regard to general cognitive ability; and women had higher NRA than men. In Study 2, NRA was based on recall of a live interaction partner. Women again had higher NRA than men; NRA was significantly better than chance; and higher NRA was associated with more smiling and self-reported positive affect during the interaction. Nonverbal recall accuracy is a promising new definition of interpersonal sensitivity.

Influence of gender and experience on college students' stalking schemas

Although stalking has been increasingly recognized as a serious social problem, surprisingly few studies have investigated perceptions of the specific behaviors that comprise stalking. The focus of this article, therefore, was to further delineate college students' stalking schemas and to examine the influence of gender and personal knowledge of stalking on their schemas. Participants judged whether or not a variety of behaviors were examples of stalking. Behaviors were designed to range from mild, somewhat ambiguous, examples of stalking to more severe examples. Results revealed an interaction between gender and experience on ratings of mild stalking behaviors. Men who had personal knowledge of stalking (by having been stalked themselves or knowing someone who had been stalked) were significantly more likely to rate mild stalking behaviors as stalking than men who had no experience. In contrast, experience did not affect women's perceptions of mild stalking, as no differences were found between women as a function of experience. Results are discussed in terms of overall relationship schemas.