The behavior of the battered child: A behavioral deficiency syndrome resulting from developmental interferences and reactive learning

Behavioral observation of battered children reveals a generalized syndrome consisting of apathy, social isolation, emotional constriction, aggression, and intellectual, motor and language retardation. This syndrome is considered to be a ‘behavioral deficiency syndrome.’ Developmental interference imposed by abusive parents upon the child, and subsequent reactive learning by the child are discussed as etiological factors in the development of this syndrome. Implication of these etiological factors for therapy of the abusive family are also discussed.     

Partner effects in social interaction

A person's behavior during social interaction is due not only to the person's dispositional characteristics but is also determined by his or her social partner. If a person consistently elicits the same behavior from others, the person has apartner effect. Partner effects in affect, cognition, and behavior are examined. Partner effects in behavior are presumed to be caused by partner effects in affect and cognition. A social relations analysis of data from six studies which meet rather strict methodological criteria suggests that partner effects are present in affect and cognition but are fairly weak. Further, partner effects are hardly evident at all on behavioral observations of friendliness and dominance, but are more evident in nonverbal behavior, especially gaze. The low level of partner effects is hypothesized to be due to the context in which the research was done, the degree of acquaintance between interaction partners, and the moderating effect of individual differences.This research was supported in part by a grant to the first author from the National Institute of Mental Health, MH 40295-01. We would like to thank Nancy Bernstein who assisted the first author in the collection of data. Also we thank Donald Fiske and Starkey Duncan, Debbie Moskowitz, Joseph Burleson, and Vickie McGillan who very generously provided us with their data. We also wish to thank Ross Buck, Donald Fiske, Judith Hall, William Ickes, Debby Kashy, Lawrence La Voie, and Debbie Moskowitz, who provided us with comments on an earlier version of this article.     

Reflections: Ethnographic content analysis

An ethnographic approach to document analysis is offered based on principles of qualitative data collection and analysis. It is proposed that numeric as well as narrative data be collected when studying such documents as TV new and movies. Ethnographic content analysis is briefly contrasted with conventional modes of quantitative content analysis to illustrate the usefulness of constant comparison for discovering emergent patterns, emphases and themes in an analysis of TV news coverage of the Iranian hostage situation. It is suggested that an ethnographic perspective can help delineate patterns of human action when document analysis is conceptualized as fieldwork.This draft has benefitted from comments and suggestions by Robert Emerson, Shulamit Reinharz, and three anonymous reviewers. An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Pacific Sociological Association, Albuquerque, NM, April 17–20, 1985.     

Success and interpersonal touch in a competitive setting

Early observations of interpersonal touch among American adults have revealed rates of touch well below that of many European and Latin American countries. Conclusions drawn from these results, however, mandate caution since touch has been shown to be affected by age, gender, race, and setting. Observation of mens' televised sports has revealed that high rates of touch often follow a successful performance. The present study attempted to quantify touch within a mixed-gender, competitive setting in both black and white subcultures. Interpersonal touch following a success and otherwise occurring was observed among bowlers during league play. Overall rates of touch were much higher than those reported for other public settings. High rates of touch following a success were reported only for blacks. Unlike previous studies females initiated cross-gender touch as often as did males.