Journal of Behavioral Assessment, Vol. 6, No. 3, 1984 Dyadic Interactions in Accepted and Rejected Children 1 Susan Phillips Keane, 2 Anthony J. Conger, 3 and Joyce Vogel 3 Accepted April 25, 1984 Forty same-sex dyads were separated into three groups (accepted, rejected, and mixed status) on the basis of their scores on the likability and rejection scales of the Pupil Evaluation Inventory [Pekarik, E., et al. (1976). Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 4, 83-97]. These dyads participated in a lO-min videotaped interaction which was separated into three segments: waiting period, cooperative task, and conversational period. Observational recordings of six micro behaviors (talk time, gestures, gaze, smiles, orienta- tion, and laughs), as well as ratings of physical attractiveness and speech volume (loudness) and observational counts of cooperation were obtained from these tapes. These data were subjected to a 2 (sex) x 3 (status) x 3 (segment) MANO VA, with sex and status as between-group factors and seg- ment as a within-group factor. The results indicated a number of significant multivariate effects. Univariate tests for attractiveness, speech volume, and cooperation measures indicated a significant status effect for the variable of intensity. These results are interpreted in terms of the developmental litera- ture.on social behavior, as well as the data on face-to-face interactions pro- vided by S. D. Duncan and D. W. Fiske [(1977). Face to face interaction: Research methods, and theory. Hillsdale, NJ." Erlbaum]. Suggestions for future research are offered. KEY WORDS: social skills; dyadic interactions; acceptance; components. ~The authors wish to thank the principals, parents and children of Clinton Central Elementary, Frontier Elementary, and Western Elementary Schools for their help and participation in this project. We would also like to express our gratitude to Judith Conger, Patricia Moisan- Thomas, Judith Dygdon, and all other members of the research team who contributed their time and effort to this project. 2Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina 27412. 3Department of Psychology, Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana 47907. 171 0164-0305/84/0900-0171503.50/0© 1984PlenumPublishing Corporation