让你的谈话发挥效力

让我们想象这样一幅场景：一位人类学家来到你的办公室，他用了一整天时间跟在你身边，寸步不离地观察你的一言一行。当你一天工作结束之后，他告诉你，在这一整天当中，他只看到了一件事情——人们在不停地进行沟通。这位人类学家告诉你，在这一天的时间里，他参加了一些正式的会议，看到人们在进行面对面的交流，进行随机的讨论，或者是通过电子邮件进行沟通。“没错，确实如此，”你说道，“可那叉怎样呢？”人类学家告诉你，你在这一天当中所说的话大多数都是重复的。“这很好，”你告诉自己，     

The Urge to Merge: A Multiple‐Case Study

The authors undertook a comparative study of three recent mergers of nonprofit organizations in a Midwestern urban center, within the context of political‐economy theory. The research explored the impact of the same environmental factor, managed care, on the initial decisions by organizational leaders and the effects of these early decisions on subsequent actions taken to implement the merger. The study tested the authors' model of the motivations for merging, which proposes that the relationship between the decision‐making style of the leadership and the internal and external resources of the prospective partners determines whether the merger is driven primarily by mission, practicality, stability, or fear. Although the findings provide initial support for the hypotheses derived from the model, a demonstration of the differences in the approach to the merger by each organization indicated that other factors emerged as important driving forces during the various phases of the process.     

Family factors in child care research

The purpose of this article is to review evidence concerning the joint impact of family characteristics and child care experiences in understanding children's development. Although child care experiences are related to children's development across a variety of domains, family characteristics, particularly socioeconomic status and parenting quality, are typically stronger predictors of children's outcomes. An important implication of these findings is that high-quality child care experiences are likely to have stronger effects on children who are at risk of poorer outcomes because of less optimal family environments; evidence from experimental and nonexperimental studies generally supports this conclusion. From a policy perspective, an important goal for future research is to identify subgroups of families within the heterogeneous low-income population that are in particular need of relatively more intensive services and to develop effective interventions that are tailored to their needs.     

Infant Electroencephalogram Coherence and Toddler Inhibition are Associated with Social Responsiveness at Age 4

Previous work has suggested that individual differences in infant functional neuroconnectivity are a potential biomarker for later cognitive and social outcomes, but the mechanisms are unclear. This study investigated a longitudinal model of infant frontotemporal electroencephalogram (EEG) coherence predicting toddler inhibition, which then predicted childhood social responsiveness. A structural equation model showed good fit, with increased right hemisphere frontotemporal EEG coherence predicting less inhibition at age 2, which in turn predicted less social responsiveness at age 4. These findings support the hypothesis that infant frontotemporal connectivity is indirectly associated with later social behavior, with toddler inhibition as a potential mechanism.     

Health Behavior Change and the College Personal Health Class: A Multifaceted Approach

Abstract

Both the literature review and the results of a behavioral change project conducted at the University of Oregon indicate that health courses can bring about positive lifestyle changes when behavior is made a focus of the class. A multi-faceted behavioral intervention strategy was developed and used with 433 students enrolled in personal health classes during the fall term, 1983. At the end of the term, 23% of the students reported they were 100% successful in obtaining their desired behavioral changes. Another 40% reported they had just missed their goal. Overall, it appears the intervention was highly successful. More research is needed to validate the approach.     

A Preliminary Investigation of Risks for Adverse Outcomes of Relationship Seeking on Social Network Sites (SNS): A Descriptive Study of Women Over 50 Seeking Relationships on MySpace in Hillsborough County,Florida

In contrast to younger populations, little attention has been paid to the increase in seniors using Internet-based venues to find relationships and the potential risk for adverse outcomes this poses. This study examined data collected via an online survey from 45 ethnically diverse women aged 50+ “seeking relationships” on MySpace. The majority of women reported a relationship with someone they met online (85%). They also reported experiencing adverse events including financial exploitation (40%), threats (55%), and physical harm (38%) by someone they met online at levels greater than traditional relationship seeking in the general population. Directions for future research are explored.     

Gesture in Instruction: Evidence from Live and Video Lessons

Previous studies have shown that teachers’ gestures are beneficial for student learning. In this research, we investigate whether teachers’ gestures have comparable effects in face-to-face live instruction and video-based instruction. We provided sixty-three 7–10 year old students with instruction about mathematical equivalence problems (e.g., 3 + 4 + 5 = __ + 5). Students were assigned to one of four experimental conditions in a 2 × 2 factorial design that varied (1) instruction medium (video vs. live), and (2) instruction modality (speech vs. speech + gesture). There was no main effect of medium: The same amount of learning occurred whether instruction was done live or on video. There was a main effect of modality: Speech instruction accompanied by gesture resulted in significantly more learning and transfer than instruction conveyed through speech only. Gesture’s effect on instruction was stronger for video instruction than live instruction. These findings suggest that there may be a limit to gesture’s role in communication that results in student learning.