Robert R. Rodgers’s research while affiliated with Cornell University and other places

About 600 Israeli preadolescents, half from 29 kibbutzim and half from 9 classrooms in the city of Tel Aviv, were asked to describe the frequency of certain socializing behaviors of their mothers, fathers, teachers, peers, and, in the kibbutz, care givers as well. Kibbutz and city parents were seen as equally supportive, but the latter were much more salient as disciplinarians. Even more striking was the finding that the role of the kibbutz teacher more closely resembled that of the parent, particularly as a provider of emotional security. Contrary to expectations, neither the peer group nor the metapelet emerged as supportive figures, but both were salient as agents of discipline and disapproval. The implications of these patterns for personality development are discussed.

A comparison is presented of the responses of 741 English children with those of 968 American children, all in their sixth school year, to a questionnaire in which they reported in some detail on the child-rearing practices employed by their fathers and mothers. Although there were many similarities in the reported patterns of parent behavior in the two cultures, there were also many significant differences in English and American child-rearing styles. A speculative analysis, with some research documentation, is presented concerning the consequences of these differences for child behavior in England and the United States.

12-YR-OLD SS FROM THE UNITED STATES, GREAT BRITAIN, THE SOVIET UNION, AND SWITZERLAND RESPONDED TO A QUESTIONNAIRE THAT SAMPLED VALUE JUDGMENTS CONCERNING SOCIAL CONDUCT. GIRLS EXCEEDED BOYS IN THE RELATIVE VALUE GIVEN TO A "MANNERS" FACTOR, WHILE BOYS GAVE GREATER RELATIVE IMPORTANCE TO A "MASCULINITY" FACTOR. COMPARISONS BETWEEN PAIRS OF CULTURES INDICATED A STRONGER TENDENCY FOR AMERICAN THAN FOR ENGLISH SS TO GIVE SOCIALLY DESIRABLE ANSWERS AND A STRONGER TENDENCY FOR SOVIET THAN SWISS SS TO GIVE SOCIALLY DESIRABLE ANSWERS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Observation of the behavior of clients results in a classification of modes of relating to an outpatient milieu therapy organization. Considered as clients' definitions of the situation, they are: the waiting room, the alumni club, the hospital, the social club, and the day center. A distinction is made between these patterns of behavior and verbalized metaphors. The former are attributed to assumptions that vary among individuals and are relatively resistant to change. The latter refer to the social organization of the milieu and occurred in a sequence expressive of increasing autonomous activity on the part of the clients.