Showing papers in "Communication Monographs in 1984"
TL;DR: In this paper, a theory of human communication based on a conception of persons as homo narrans is proposed, and the viability of the narrative paradigm and its attendant notions of reason and rationality are demonstrated through an extended analysis of key aspects of the current nuclear war controversy and a brief application to The Epic of Gilgamesh.
Abstract: This essay proposes a theory of human communication based on a conception of persons as homo narrans. It compares and contrasts this view with the traditional rational perspective on symbolic interaction. The viability of the narrative paradigm and its attendant notions of reason and rationality are demonstrated through an extended analysis of key aspects of the current nuclear war controversy and a brief application to The Epic of Gilgamesh. The narrative paradigm synthesizes two strands in rhetorical theory: the argumentative, persuasive theme and the literary, aesthetic theme.
1,546 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that strategic ambiguity is essential to organizing in that it promotes unified diversity, facilitates organizational change, and amplifies existing source attributions and preserves privileged positions, and that people in organizations confront multiple situational requirements, develop multiple and often conflicting goals and respond with communicative strategies which do not always minimize ambiguity, but are nonetheless effective.
Abstract: This paper argues that while most teachers, researchers, and practitioners of organizational communication encourage clarity, a critical examination of communication processes in organizations reveals that clarity is both non‐normative and not a sensible standard against which to gauge individual or organizational effectiveness. People in organizations confront multiple situational requirements, develop multiple and often conflicting goals, and respond with communicative strategies which do not always minimize ambiguity, but are nonetheless effective. Strategic ambiguity is essential to organizing in that it: (1) promotes unified diversity, (2) facilitates organizational change, and (3) amplifies existing source attributions and preserves privileged positions.
1,045 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a schema en douze dimensions: dominance/soumission, intimite, affection/hostilite, implication personnelle, inclusion/exclusion, confiance, profondeur/superficialite, vivacite des emotions, sang-froid, ressemblance, formalisme, socialite
Abstract: La communication dite «relationnelle» est traditionnellement reputee se deployer selon deux ou trois dimensions. On presente ici, a partir d'une analyse multidisciplinaire (anthropologie, psychotherapie, expression des emotions, analyse de contenu...) un schema en douze dimensions: dominance/soumission, intimite, affection/hostilite, implication personnelle, inclusion/exclusion, confiance, profondeur/superficialite, vivacite des emotions, sang-froid, ressemblance, formalisme, socialite
476 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a model of the affinity-seeking function of communication is introduced and explicated, which describes ways people try to get others to like and feel positive about them.
Abstract: A model of the affinity‐seeking function of communication is introduced and explicated. The affinity‐seeking construct describes ways people get others to like and feel positive about them. The research is grounded in the presumption that people attempt to generate liking by using various communication strategies. Four questions were addressed in six studies: (1) How do people attempt to generate liking? (2) What is the relationship of affinity‐seeking to interpersonal attraction? (3) How do individual differences and situational contingencies constrain affinity‐seeking? and (4) What is the multivariate structure of affinity‐seeking? An inductively‐devised typology of affinity‐seeking strategies provided a reliable operationalization of the construct. Affinity‐seeking was strongly and positively related to interpersonal attraction, life satisfaction, and social effectiveness. In addition, strategy knowledge and strategy preferences were related to various personality variables and situational contingencie...
223 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the influence of attitude similarity (similar vs. dissimilar), cultural similarity (intracultural vs. intercultural communication), and self-monitoring (covariate) on intent to interrogate, intent to self-disclose, and intent to display nonverbal affiliative expressiveness, attraction, and attributional confidence.
Abstract: This study examined the scope of Berger and Calabrese's (1975) uncertainty reduction theory of initial interaction. Multivariate analysis of covariance was employed to examine the influence of attitude similarity (similar vs. dissimilar), cultural similarity (intracultural vs. intercultural communication), culture (Japan vs. the United States), and self‐monitoring (covariate) on intent to interrogate, intent to self‐disclose, intent to display nonverbal affiliative expressiveness, attraction, and attributional confidence. Results indicate that each of the independent variables influences the set of dependent variables. The findings support Hall's (1976) high‐low context culture distinction and prior research on self‐monitoring, as well as supporting and beginning to identify boundary conditions for uncertainty reduction theory.
182 citations
Abstract: An essential characteristic of human communicative behavior is that it is at once novel and creative yet patterned and repetitive. This observation suggests processes of selection of memory elements and subsequent construction of novel behaviors. In an effort to explicate these processes a general theoretical framework is developed. Further, a specific theory, consistent with the general framework, is also advanced. The theory is comprised of five axioms and seventeen propositions which serve to specify the nature of the relevant structures and processes.
171 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: This paper examined the extent to which seven forms of language were perceived as powerful and effective when used by an interviewee in a hypothetical job interview and found that respondents made rather fine discriminations among powerful and powerless language forms, that these discriminations were quite stable, and that some ostensibly powerless forms were judged to be relatively powerful in fact.
Abstract: Two studies are reported. The first study examined the extent to which seven forms of language were perceived as powerful and effective when used by an interviewee in a hypothetical job interview. Results suggested a five‐level model of linguistic power and effectiveness, which is independent of communicator sex. The second study examined the same seven linguistic features but in this case two dissimilar intentions were attributed to the interviewee: desire to appear sociable versus desire to appear authoritative. Results indicated that power of style interacted with communicator intention, qualifying to an extent the five‐level model suggested by Study 7. Again, effects were independent of communicator sex. Results of both studies showed that respondents made rather fine discriminations among powerful and powerless language forms, that these discriminations were quite stable, and that some ostensibly powerless forms were judged to be relatively powerful in fact.
146 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that trait communication apprehension, as measured by the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA•24), correlates significantly with state anxiety, measured by Spielberger state anxiety measure, in each of four contexts.
Abstract: This study revealed that trait communication apprehension, as measured by the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA‐24), correlates significantly with state anxiety, as measured by the Spielberger state anxiety measure, in each of four contexts. The multiple correlation between PRCA and state anxiety across four situational contexts was .69. The results are interpreted as consistent with the theoretical relationships advanced and as supportive of the PRCA as a cross‐situational predictive instrument.
140 citations
TL;DR: The negativity effect occurs in the formation of judgments when disproportionate weight is given to negative information in contrast to equidistantly valenced positive information as mentioned in this paper, and the extremity hypothesis can be modified and expanded to provide a thorough understanding of the negativity effect.
Abstract: The negativity effect occurs in the formation of judgments when disproportionate weight is given to negative information in contrast to equidistantly valenced positive information. While multiple explanations for such an effect exist, the extremity hypothesis advanced by Fiske (1980) can be modified and expanded not only to provide a thorough understanding of the negativity effect, but to explain positivity effects (where disproportionate weight is given to positive information when forming a judgment) as well. These negativity and positivity effects, taken to be manifestations of informativeness effects, are examined in the areas of vocal productivity, disclosure, and initial interaction. Informativeness effects appear to be widespread phenomena affecting, guiding, and resulting from interpersonal interaction. Data reveal that both negativity and positivity effects are possible in social interaction due to skews in the underlying distributions of social actors’ expectations about themselves and others. R...
131 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the extent to which seven forms of language were perceived as powerful and effective when used by an interviewee in a hypothetical job interview and found that respondents made rather fine discriminations among powerful and powerless language forms, that these discriminations were quite stable, and that some ostensibly powerless forms were judged to be relatively powerful in fact.
Abstract: Two studies are reported. The first study examined the extent to which seven forms of language were perceived as powerful and effective when used by an interviewee in a hypothetical job interview. Results suggested a five‐level model of linguistic power and effectiveness, which is independent of communicator sex. The second study examined the same seven linguistic features but in this case two dissimilar intentions were attributed to the interviewee: desire to appear sociable versus desire to appear authoritative. Results indicated that power of style interacted with communicator intention, qualifying to an extent the five‐level model suggested by Study 7. Again, effects were independent of communicator sex. Results of both studies showed that respondents made rather fine discriminations among powerful and powerless language forms, that these discriminations were quite stable, and that some ostensibly powerless forms were judged to be relatively powerful in fact.
128 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined relationships among age, social cognitive development, and comforting skill and investigated how these relationships change over the course of development by assessing several social cognitive indices and the use of listener-sensitive comforting strategies.
Abstract: Although considerable research indicates that both functional communication skills and prosocial behaviors increase across childhood and adolescence, relatively few studies have examined developmental and individual differences in the prosocial communication skill of comforting. The present study examines relationships among age, social‐cognitive development, and comforting skill and investigates how these relationships change over the course of development. Assessments of several social‐cognitive indices and the use of listener‐sensitive comforting strategies were obtained from 137 students enrolled in grades one through 12. All of the social‐cognitive indices were moderate to strong predictors of comforting skill, and remained moderate predictors even when controlling for the effects of age. Each of the indices made an independent contribution to the prediction of comforting skill. Moreover, the relationship between social‐cognitive ability and comforting skill apparently is contingent on age; social‐co...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors extended the construct of interaction involvement by relating scores on the interaction involvement scale to individuals' experienced mood state and information recall in two different communication settings and found that highly involved persons felt more positive and less negative during an unstructured conversation and recalled more detail about the conversation than low involved persons.
Abstract: The construct of interaction involvement was extended in this study by relating scores on the interaction involvement scale to individuals’ experienced mood state and information recall in two different communication settings. Consistent with hypotheses, highly involved persons felt more positive and less negative during an unstructured conversation and recalled more detail about the conversation than low‐involved persons. Similarly, highly involved persons felt more positive and less negative during a competitive negotiation than low‐involved persons. The results were interpreted to suggest that there is a significant affective component in interaction involvement which in part accounts for a disruption in the capacity for intersubjectivity on the part of low‐involved persons.
TL;DR: This article examined gender differences in perceived importance placed on four conditions: setting, receiver, sender, and relationship characteristics judged to be needed before disclosing private information about oneself to others, and found that women find sender and receiver characteristics more important as prerequisite conditions for self-disclosure than do men.
Abstract: Using a scheme previously developed by the authors to define conceptually self‐disclosure, this study focuses on one dimension found in that investigation— prerequisite for disclosure. The research examines gender differences in perceived importance placed on four conditions: setting, receiver, sender, and relationship characteristics judged to be needed before disclosing private information about oneself to others. The study also looks at the influence of topic on males’ and females’ use of conditions. Results suggest that women find sender and receiver characteristics more important as prerequisite conditions for self‐disclosure than do men. No significant effect of topic on the use of conditions was found for men or women.
TL;DR: The authors argues that the rhetoric of the Sophists exhibits a distinct preference for the world of possibility, which is different from the Aristotelian rhetoric, which privileges the real world.
Abstract: This essay argues that the rhetoric of the Sophists exhibits a distinct preference for the world of possibility. As such, it is different from Aristotle's rhetoric, which privileges the world of actuality. After showing how this is so, the essay compares the sophistical and the Aristotelian versions of rhetoric by discussing their respective implications for language and persuasion. The conclusion reached is that the Aristotelian version, although textually and topically more complete, is not superior to but merely different from the sophistical.
TL;DR: This article examined conversational relevance and topic extension in a situation where communicators are attempting both to be attentive to their partner and to introduce a new topic, and found that the priority of respondents' goals influenced the directness of links with the conversational issue.
Abstract: This study examines conversational relevance and topic extension in a situation where communicators are attempting both to be attentive to their partner and to introduce a new topic. Extending previous research that examined conversational relevance in “issue‐event”; structured conversations, the experiment tests a set of hypotheses about conversational extensions in a multiple‐goal situation. In contrast to prior research which found no evidence that social‐motivational factors influenced conversational extensions, this study demonstrated that the priority of respondents’ goals influenced the directness of links with the conversational issue. In addition, direct evidence is provided that conversational attentiveness is realized through extensions of the partner's issue. Several other ways in which multiple goals influence the nature of conversational extensions are discussed and directions for future study are suggested.
TL;DR: The authors explored the complex relationships between culture, myth, and ideology and their expression in public argument, and used this analysis to explain the development and demise of "Southern Culture" and found that a culture under increasing attack grants a preeminence to ideology that imbues it with mythic qualities such that it now redefines the polarizing image.
Abstract: This essay explores the complex relationships between culture, myth, and ideology and their expression in public argument. Myth provides the unique, characteristic “polarizing image”; around which elements of a culture coalesce. As culture is subjected to criticism, however, ideology emerges as an appropriate cultural form which “justifies”; that particular world view. A culture under increasing attack grants a preeminence to ideology that imbues it with mythic qualities such that it now redefines the polarizing image, hence, the culture itself. This analysis is used to explain the development and demise of “Southern Culture.”;
TL;DR: For instance, the authors found that high-complex subjects comprehend more listening material than do their cognitively simpler counterparts, while low-complexity subjects comprehend less listening material, while high-level cognitive complexity is associated with higher comprehension.
Abstract: Implicit in the conceptualization of listening as human information processing is the assumption that comprehension is dependent, in part, upon an individual's level of cognitive complexity. That assumption was tested in two separate studies. Results indicate that high‐complex subjects comprehend more listening material than do their cognitively simpler counterparts.
TL;DR: The authors examined Bem's gender schema theory as it relates to communicator style and found that speakers using powerless language were perceived to be less dominant than generic speakers, and powerful speakers were perceived as more competent.
Abstract: This study examined Bem's Gender Schema Theory as it relates to communicator style. Participants who had completed the Bem Sex‐Role Inventory (N = 793) were presented with transcribed interpersonal exchanges in which one speaker's communication style was manipulated to appear either powerless or generic. Impressions of the speakers were recorded on a number of interpersonal attribution items. Although results failed to substantiate many of the predicted differences between sex‐typedand non‐sex‐typed persons’ perceptions of speakers’ power, two main effects for powerless speech were found: (1) speakers using powerless language were perceived to be less dominant than generic speakers, and (2) powerless speakers were perceived to be more competent than generic speakers. Implications of these findings for power issues and Gender Schema Theory are discussed.
TL;DR: In this paper, conversations were examined to assess the preference system for self-repair over other-repair, which is a communication phenomenon which helps to sustain social interaction by allowing conversants mutually to handle problems which arise as they communicate.
Abstract: Conversational repair is a communication phenomenon which helps to sustain social interaction by allowing conversants mutually to handle problems which arise as they communicate. In this sense, conversational repair is a form of alignment talk. In the present study, conversations were examined to assess the preference system for self‐repair over other‐repair said to exist in conversation. Problem Type, Initiation Type, and Relationship History were also included in the analysis. The structure of repair episodes was found to be sensitive not only to sequencing determinants such as Initiation Type but also to content determinants such as Problem Type and to social, contextual determinants such as Relationship History. These findings suggest that approaches to conversation based primarily on sequencing and turn organization are limited. Conversational repair is also related to other conversational phenomena such as coherence.
TL;DR: This paper examined past conflicting evidence on the relationship of attitude similarity and interpersonal attraction in early acquaintance and concluded that the conflict in the findings is due to differences in the communicative environments used in research.
Abstract: >This study examines past conflicting evidence on the relationship of attitude similarity and interpersonal attraction in early acquaintance. The results suggest that the conflict in the findings is due to differences in the communicative environments used in research. In the present study, attitude similarity and interpersonal attraction were positively related only in highly atypical communicative relationships. These results are interpreted as generally supporting a goal‐oriented perspective on the similarity‐attraction association over traditional social validation and balance perspectives.
TL;DR: In this paper, audio and videotapes of actual employment screening interviews conducted at a university placement center were analyzed in order to determine the relationships among certain interviewer verbal behaviors, applicants' perceptions of their interviewers as empathic listeners, and actual interview outcomes (receiving/not receiving a second interview offer).
Abstract: The audio and videotapes of actual employment screening interviews conducted at a university placement center were analyzed in order to determine the relationships among certain interviewer verbal behaviors, applicants’ perceptions of their interviewers as empathic listeners, and actual interview outcomes (receiving/not receiving a second interview offer). Analyses revealed the frequency with which interviewers made interruptive statements to be significantly and negatively associated with applicants’ perceptions of empathic listening. However, screening interviews from which second interview offers were eventually made were not differentiated either by applicants’ empathie listening perceptions or interviewers’ empathie listening behaviors from interviews from which no offers were forthcoming.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors clarified the trait-state nature of communication apprehension by applying an emotion-based theory of human response as a means of resolving methodological and conceptual problems associated with the manipulation of the situation variable and the definition and measurement of the dependent variable of anxiety.
Abstract: The original conceptualization of Communication Apprehension (CA) as a trait has been challenged recently on the grounds that those identified as high CAs do not always feel greater anxiety than low CAs when confronted with oral communication situations. That challenge is based on research that is difficult to interpret; methodological and conceptual problems are associated with the manipulation of the situation variable and the definition and measurement of the dependent variable of anxiety. This study clarifies the trait‐state nature of communication apprehension by applying an emotion‐based theory of human response as a means of resolving these problems. The results support the conceptualization of communication apprehension as a trait‐like personality characteristic which predisposes certain individuals to higher levels of anxiety in oral communication situations.
TL;DR: In this paper, account analysis of influence in group decision-making is presented, with a focus on the role of the speaker's influence in the group's decision making process, and a discussion of the impact of influence on group decisionmaking.
Abstract: (1984). Account analysis of influence in group decision‐making. Communication Monographs: Vol. 51, No. 1, pp. 67-78.
TL;DR: In this article, an exploratory study aimed to: (1) extend McLeod and Chaffee's (1973) coorientation measurement model to relations between individual members and their group, (2) incorporate a measure of meta-meta-level perceptions in a group (Laing, Phillipson & Lee, 1966), and (3) develop procedures to assess time trends in accuracy, agreement, congruency, and feelings of being understood.
Abstract: This exploratory study aimed to: (1) extend McLeod and Chaffee's (1973) coorientation measurement model to relations between individual members and their group, (2) incorporate a measure of meta‐meta‐level perceptions in a group (Laing, Phillipson & Lee, 1966), and (3) develop procedures to assess time trends in accuracy, agreement, congruency, and feelings of being understood. Subjects were 12 small‐group members who met 15 times as part of a course. The relatively low reliability of coorientation data and the small amount of variance accounted for by time suggest a need for measurement revisions in further research. An impact of variables other than time spent communicating is also indicated. In particular, findings suggest a possible influence of early agreement on accuracy.
TL;DR: The way in which messages are styled can amplify, dampen, or entirely cancel the public reactions of respondents to communicated information as discussed by the authors, by constraining what can follow in the unfolding text or transaction with minimal risk of misinterpretation, and without undesired inductions about the character and traits of the respondent.
Abstract: The way in which messages are styled can amplify, dampen, or entirely cancel the public reactions of respondents to communicated information. Certain options of phrasing and syntax have this impact by constraining what can follow in the unfolding text or transaction with minimal risk of misinterpretation, and without undesired inductions about the character and traits of the respondent. Such stylistic options are a resource for strategic communication when conventions and protocols for structuring discourse do not apply or are rejected.
TL;DR: This paper explored decoding and reasoning behavior with conditional propositions and found that persons tend to make illicit conversions of conditionals to biconditionals, and have difficulty with Modus Tollens and contrapositive inferences.
Abstract: This study explores decoding and reasoning behavior with conditional propositions. The research confirms the major findings of prior research on conditional reasoning: Persons tend to make illicit conversions of conditionals to biconditionals, and have difficulty with Modus Tollens and contrapositive inferences. Most importantly, the research findings indicate that persons reason better when the stimulus material is generalized rather than specific and more context restricted.
TL;DR: In this paper, a radio newscast and editorial under simulated broadcast conditions were compared between beginning broadcasting students, university broadcasters, and professional broadcasters, with respect to broadcasting prescriptions, psycholinguistic theories of ideal delivery and cognitive rhythm, and functional implications of broadcast performance.
Abstract: Beginning broadcasting students, university broadcasters, and professional broadcasters read a radio newscast and editorial under simulated broadcast conditions. Levels of broadcast experience and speech tasks were distinguished by the frequency, duration, and location of silent pauses (SPs), and by speech rate and fluency measures. The distinctive performance of professionals versus nonprofessionals was discussed with respect to broadcasting prescriptions, psycholinguistic theories of “ideal delivery” and “cognitive rhythm,” and the functional implications of their broadcast performance. Greater broadcast experience was reflected by smaller newscast SP duration and SP frequency, and by slower editorial speech rate. Professionals altered more often and with greater fluency the newscast text, but refrained from changing the editorial text. Also, the professionals were distinguished on both speech tasks by more syntactic SPs, more fluent syllables, and fewer speech errors. Finally, performance differences b...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a model of social interaction based on content, interpretation, emotion, transference, selection, and relationships, abstracted from the literature and tested in the presence of radio news, radio entertainment, and non-enduring interactions.
Abstract: This programmatic research tests a model of social interaction. Six elements: content, interpretation, emotion, transference, selection, and relationships, abstracted from the literature, are said to constitute the domain of social interaction. In the model the substances exchanged in the interaction are posited to determine their form of expression, and variables at deeper phenomenal levels are hypothesized to determine those at more surface levels. Phase I examined three alternative models based on this perspective of social interaction and identified the superior of the three, which is also tested here. Phase II corrected some methodological problems detected in the first phase and further confirmed the utility of the model examined here. The current phase of this research, Phase III, extends the model to the context of non‐enduring interactions. It uses respondent self‐reports to test the model in the following experimental situations: interacting in the presence of radio news, radio entertainment, te...