Showing papers on "Interpersonal relationship published in 1977"

Field dependence and interpersonal behavior.

Abstract: People with a field-dependent or field-independent cognitive style are different in their interpersonal behavior in ways predicted from the theory of psychological differentiation. Field-dependent people make greater use of external social referents, but only when the situation is ambiguous and these referents provide information that helps remove the ambiguity; field-independent people function with greater autonomy from others under such conditions. Field-dependent people are more attentive to social cues than field-independent people. Field-dependent people have an interpersonal orientation: they show strong interest in others, prefer to be physically close to people, are emotionally open and gravitate toward social situations. Field-independent people have an impersonal orientation: they are not very interested in others, show both physical and psychological distancing from people and prefer nonsocial situations. Finally, field-dependent and field-independent people are different in an array of characteristics which make it likely that field-dependent people will get along better with others. Altogether, field-dependent people have a set of social skills that are less evident in field-independent people. On the other hand, field-independent people have greater skill in cognitive analysis and structuring. This pattern suggests that, with regard to value judgments, the field-dependence-independence dimension is bipolar; each of the contrasting cognitive styles has components adaptive to particular situations.

A measure of interpersonal dependency

Abstract: Interpersonal dependency refers to a complex of thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors revolving around needs to associate closely with valued other people Its conceptual sources include the psychoanalytic theory of object relations, social learning theories of dependency, and the ethological theory of attachment A review of existing self-report inventories revealed none that adequately assessed interpersonal dependency A new 48-item self-report inventory which assesses interpersonal dependency in adults was developed, using a sample of 220 normals and 180 psychiatric patients It was cross-validated on two additional samples Three components of interpersonal dependency emerged: emotional reliance on another person, lack of social self-confidence, and assertion of autonomy The relationship of these components with normals and patients was discussed, as well as with the concepts of attachment and dependency

The social network, support and neurosis. The function of attachment in adult life.

Abstract: The psychological function of the social network is considered in terms of attachment theory. Social bonds are proposed as essential for obtaining a commodity commonly but unsatisfactorily referred to as support. Requirements for this complex commodity can be discerned in a wide range of contexts. Examples considered are the evolutionary origin of the social network itself, the concept of psychosocial supplies, the distribution of neurosis in Western and non-Western populations, the use of medical consultations, psychotherapy and habitual responses to adversity or disaster. In these and other contexts, it is apparent that individuals have, quite simply, a requirement for affectively positive interaction with others. Under stressful conditions this interaction is called 'support'. When support is lacking there is evidence that psychiatric and perhaps medical morbidity rates increase. For reaseach, the objective must now be to determine whether depleted primary group interaction is causally related to morbidity, or whether it is only an associated or a secondary factor in aetiology, or indeed wholly unrelated. Elucidating more precisely why people need people constitutes an important new task for social psychiatry.

Sexual Intimacy in Dating Relationships

Abstract: The patterning of sexual interaction in male-female dyads and the links between sexual behavior and emotional intimacy were investigated as part of a two-year study of college dating couples. Despite generally permissive and egalitarian attitudes, traditional sexual role playing in which the man encourages intercourse and the woman limits the couple's sexual intimacy was common. Three types of couples were compared: sexual traditionalists who abstained from coitus, sexual moderates who had coitus only after emotional intimacy was established, and sexual liberals who had coitus prior to developing emotional intimacy. Findings are discussed in terms of the psychological meaning of sexual behavior for young adults.

Social-Skills Training with Children

Abstract: The complex social skills necessary for confident, responsive, and mutually beneficial interaction with other people are certainly among the most important skills a child must learn. A person’s social facility has profound implications for nearly every facet of life—both in childhood and in adulthood. A lack of social skills may lead directly to problems in interpersonal relationships or may interfere indirectly with optimal functioning in school, occupational, and recreational activities. Yet, as frequently noted, the training of even the most basic social skills has been almost completely neglected in American schools (e.g., Winnett & Winkler, 1972; Lazarus, 1973). Researchers and clinicians have only recently begun to investigate methods of fostering specific social skills in children.

Social Networks and Pathways to Psychiatric Treatment

Abstract: Cultural interpretations have dominated the study of class differences in entering psychiatric treatment. This study compares the power of cultural variables and structural variables to predict the entry into psychiatric treatment. The concept of the social network is used to show that structural relationships, in addition to the culture of the different social classes, are important predictors of psychiatric labels and referrals, severity of symptoms, and duration of symptoms in the community. Interviews with 120 outpatients and short-term inpatients at a community mental health center provide the data for the study. The findings support the hypothesis that structural variables are important determinants of the pathways into psychiatric treatment and point to the need to link the structure of social networks to the content of networks. Studies of psychiatric help-seeking have emphasized the cultural forces predisposing individuals to enter psychiatric treatment. Sociologists have paid particular attention to the attitudes, knowledge, and verbal skills of persons of various social class backgrounds (Dohrenwend and Chin-Song; Gove and Howell; Hollingshead and Redlich; Myers and Roberts). For example, middle-class persons have more favorable attitudes toward psychiatry and greater knowledge to correctly identify psychiatric disorders than lower-class people, leading them to enter psychiatric treatment with less severe problems and in shorter periods of time (Gove and Howell). In addition, the greater intellectual sophistication of the middle and upper classes makes them more likely to initiate hospitalization themselves while the lack of such sophistication among the lower classes makes social control agents more likely to initiate hospitalization (Gove and Howell). The primary causal factor in these studies has been different cultural attitudes -how they lead to different behavior patterns in psychiatric help-seeking. Recently, researchers have questioned this preoccupation with cultural forces and have used structural patterns of interaction to predict

Characteristics of the Western Family Considered Over Time

Abstract: Institutions and cultural complexes have to possess some persistence over time, some perdurance, if they are to be significant for the historian of social structure. The Western family pattern, like the European marriage pattern so brilliantly described over a decade ago by John Hajnal, must be shown to have been present over many generations in order to qualify as a characteristic trait of Westernness. This family pattern no longer singles out Western European culture as once it did – or did according to the view which I shall propound here. Indeed certain important features of it have ceased to exist altogether in the contemporary West, notably the servants, whose numbers used to be considerable. This is to be expected now that cultural and institutional convergence has become so conspicuous in high industrial society. It is in this way that a socialist Russia, a transformed Japan, and a country like Denmark may all finally come to resemble each other as they now are more than they resemble themselves as they previously were. Nevertheless, the data now coming into view suggest that there may have been a particular set of characteristics present in the Western familial setting at all periods for which we have information up to the point of original industrialization (whatever that may mean, or whenever it may be taken to have occurred).

Coping with Cupid: The Formation, Impact, and Management of Romantic Relationships in Organizations.

Abstract: March 1977, volume 22 A model of the dynamics of organizational romance is important because organizations are a natural environment for the emergence of romantic relationships. Their emergence is feared and these fears influence decisions about the acceptability of women in organizations. The frequency of such relationships is likely to increase with more women in the workforce. Little is known about the phenomenon in general. Qualitative data from interviews with third parties and numerical data from a questionnaire are used to delineate the types and varieties of behavior associated with the formation, impact, and management of organizational romance. Factors in the formation of romantic relationships are proximity, motives, and characteristics of the work group or setting. Visibility of the relationship, behavior changes by participants, the reactions of members, and overall changes in the system are delineated as elements in understanding the impact of organizational romance. In considering the management of romantic relationships, three types of behavior are identified: no action, punitive actions, and positive actions. The impact of organizational romance is discussed in terms of Weberian assumptions and beliefs, exchange theory, personal costs, and social equity.*

Cognitive Complexity, Social Perspective-Taking, and Functional Persuasive Skills in Second- to Ninth-Grade Children

Abstract: The assumption underlying this research is that effectiveness in communication involves social perception processes. Specifically, it was predicted that effectiveness in adapting persuasive messages to recipients would be related to the complexity of the interpersonal construct system (cognitive complexity) and to the ability to represent the perspectives of others (social perspective-taking). Fifty-eight children ranging from second through ninth grade engaged in tasks yielding scores on the three variables under consideration. Both predictions were confirmed: effectiveness in adapting persuasive communications correlated .53 with cognitive complexity and .64 with social perspective-taking.

Social impairments four years after an acute depressive episode

Abstract: Social functioning of 40 depressed women was studied four years following the acute episode, and compared with 40 normal community subjects. Results show that the social impairments of depressed patients persist well beyond the acute episode, particularly in marital and close interpersonal relations. Clinical and public health implications are discussed.

Communication apprehension, student attitudes, and levels of satisfaction

Abstract: (1977). Communication apprehension, student attitudes, and levels of satisfaction. Western Journal of Speech Communication: Vol. 41, No. 3, pp. 188-198.

The impact of a change in technology on job characteristics: a quasi-experiment.

Abstract: A number of individuals were helpful at various stages of the research. Dr. Mitchell Shapiro was instrumental during the early planning. Dr. Robert Banasik, the technical consultant to the hospital, informed us of the impending change and facilitated entry. Numerous individuals conducted interviews and helped to prepare the data. The management of the dietary unit, Mrs. Keefe, Mrs. Vecozols, Mrs. Merryman, Mrs. Widder, and Mrs. Wilken, provided invaluable assistance throughout the course of the study. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their useful suggestions.

Subjective culture and interpersonal relations across cultures

Abstract: It seems appropriate for a conference o n cross-cultural research t o focus t o some extent o n the future directions of such research, My particular area of interest is social behavior, with a special concern for the cultural determinants of social behavior. This paper will examine directions for research on the relationship between ecology and social behavior. The topic is, of course, central t o social psychology. Social psychology is now in a state of crisis. There are many reasons for this crisis, which I have discussed elsewhere.42 I will here only summarize some of the arguments. ( I ) The variables of social psychological theories account for too little variance. Most social phenomena are outcomes of many and complex influences. Any process summarized or modeled by a theory is like a drop in the bucket when it comes t o accounting for a phenomenon. The drop may be real (valid) enough, yet it makes very little difference. To use an analogy, imagine Newton's problem, when he was working o n mechanics, if the forces of friction had been immense, relative t o the force of gravity and the other forces he was considering. The laws he developed would still be valid, but they would have almost no social relevance. (2) The variables of social psychological theories are operating as the theory specifies in only a limited range of samples of people and in limited time periods. Interactions between variables across samples and across time are so important that main effects are often of little social significance. Cronbacha has summarized the argument for the importance of interactions, and has even challenged time-honored laws, such as Weber's Law, which states that a person's difference limen is smaller for stimuli of smaller magnitude. Gergen' has presented the case for interactions involving time. (3) Our theories d o not make point predictions. Meeh130 observed that when we predict a difference (as most experiments that involve a n experimental and a control group do) rather than a particular value or a t least a region within which the values of observations are likely t o be found the more observations we make, the more likely we are t o reject the null hypothesis and accept our theory. If we use very large samples to test our theories, any theory, no matter how idiotic, has a .5 probability of being confirmed.27 The crisis in social psychology has been discussed by many. McCuireZ9 has offered prescriptions for new directions, suggesting that we must (a) develop more complicated theories, (b) train our students to be creative, (c) reject linear models in favor of interactive and feedback models, (d) obtain much broader data bases by making more observations without theory, (e) use more social data archives, (f) collect data at different points in time and use path analysis or related procedures t o determine t h e direction of causation, and so on. HarrC and Secord' presented an approach that is a radical departure from present social

The effect of attribute statements on cooperativeness and competitiveness in school-age boys.

Abstract: In considering the antecedents of cooperation and competition in school-age children, attention has been given to the role of classroom instructional style, value inculcation, reinforcement, and modeling. The present study is an attempt to modify children's cooperative and competitive behavior through the mechanism of attribution. The research question is simply, Does it predispose one to behave more cooperatively or more competitively to be told that one possesses the appropriate characteristic?

Interpersonal awareness in children: toward an integration of developmental and clinical child psychology.

Abstract: This paper postulates a five-stage developmental sequence of awareness of interpersonal issues such as trust in friendship and loyalty in peer group relations. Results of research comparing the impersonal and interpersonal awareness of children with poor peer relations is presented in an attempt to clarify the function of social cognition in clinical contexts.

Perceived Organizational Structure And Alienation Among Management Trainees

Abstract: The article discusses a study on perceived organizational structure and alienation among management trainees. The results indicated that the sentiments of management trainees with regard to their c...

Relationship of siblings to the elderly person's feelings and concerns.

Abstract: This study investigated the feelings and concerns of 64 elderly persons, as revealed by a projective instrument, in relation to number of sex of siblings. Partilal correlations, with effects of age, education, and occupation removed, were computed separately for each sex. The number and proportion of female siblings were found to have a greater influence than male siblings on the elderly's feelings and concerns. For men, sisters appeared to be emotionally supportive, while for women sisters appeared to be more challenging, as indicated by greater social concerns.