Showing papers in "Communication Research in 1992"
TL;DR: The authors examined the assumptions, methods, and findings of such research and suggested that negative relational effects are confined to narrow situational boundary conditions and that communicators develop individuating impressions of others through accumulated CMC messages based upon these impressions, users may develop relationships and express multidimensional relational messages through verbal or textual cues.
Abstract: Several theories and much experimental research on relational tone in computer-mediated communication (CMC) points to the lack of nonverbal cues in this channel as a cause of impersonal and task-oriented messages. Field research in CMC often reports more positive relational behavior. This article examines the assumptions, methods, and findings of such research and suggests that negative relational effects are confined to narrow situational boundary conditions. Alternatively, it is suggested that communicators develop individuating impressions of others through accumulated CMC messages. Based upon these impressions, users may develop relationships and express multidimensional relational messages through verbal or textual cues. Predictions regarding these processes are suggested, and future research incorporating these points is urged.
2,376 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of multiple variables on user evaluation and perceived impacts of electronic mail and voice mail systems were investigated, including flow, type of technology, perceived technology characteristics (ease of use), and organizational factors (management support, communication partners' medium use).
Abstract: This study investigates the effects of multiple variables on user evaluation and perceived impacts of electronic mail and voice mail systems. It introduces flow as an important construct that characterizes perceptions of employee interactions with computer-mediated communication technologies as more or less playful and exploratory. Flow is hypothesized to be influenced by the technology (higher for electronic mail), ease of use, and computer skill. It is also proposed that flow, type of technology, perceived technology characteristics (ease of use), and organizational factors (management support, communication partners' medium use) positively influence employee evaluations and perceived impacts. A field survey was conducted at a large health care firm that had recently adopted both electronic mail and voice mail. The LISREL results provide mixed support for the hypotheses.
876 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the effect of the controllability of stressful events was tested as a predictor of the type of social support communications provided and preferred by spouses in a married couple.
Abstract: Among married couples, the effect of the controllability of stressful events was tested as a predictor of the type of social support communications provided and preferred. Sixty married individuals disclosed stressful events to their spouse. Controllability of the stress was rated by observers. The Social Support Behavior Code was used to assess the frequency with which each of five types of social support was provided by the spouse. Action-promoting support (information) was provided most frequently when the stressed person had high control over the event. Of the five types of support communications assessed, only information was evaluated differently in high- and low-controllable situations. Both controllability by the support recipient and controllability by his or her spouse were relevant to support evaluations. Results provide limited support for the optimal matching model proposed by Cutrona and Russell (Cutrona, 1990; Cutrona & Russell, 1990).
713 citations
TL;DR: For example, the authors found that for neutral ads, people estimated themselves to be more resistant than others, but for emotional ads, they were more yielding to influence than others and judgments of persuasive influence on self and others were markedly overestimated.
Abstract: A recent but robust phenomenon described in communication literature has been the third-person effect—the finding that in response to mass media messages, such as news stories and programs, people estimate themselves to be less affected than others. The present experiment asked whether this self-other pattern would characterize responses to two types of product commercials (i.e., those that did and those that did not engender emotion) and to public service announcements (PSAs). The authors were also concerned with how accurately people could estimate the effects of these types of ads on themselves and others. Results indicated that for neutral ads, people estimated themselves to be more resistant than others, but for emotional ads, people estimated themselves to be more yielding to influence than others. For PSAs, there were no differences in perceived self and other influence. In addition, judgments of persuasive influence on self and others were markedly overestimated. Perhaps most interestingly, there ...
310 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the influence of the truth bias and aroused suspicion on judgments of truthfulness in relational partners and find that relational partners in well-developed relationships demonstrated a strong truth bias, resulting in greater judgments oftruthfulness and (somewhat) lower detection accuracy.
Abstract: Relatively stable perceptions of truthfulness tend to develop in relationships, although situations may arise causing partners to become suspicious of one another. The truth bias that grows as relationships develop was conceptualized as a cognitive heuristic for judging a partner's veracity. This study of relational partners investigates the influence of the truth bias and aroused suspicion on judgments of truthfulness. Using a 2 × 2 × 2 experimental design, one partner was assigned the role of interviewee who responded either truthfully or deceptively to questions about his or her emotional reactions to a pair of film clips. The other partner was assigned to the role of an interviewer who was either suspicious or not suspicious and made judgments about his or her partner's veracity. Findings were consistent with the truth bias hypothesis. Partners in well-developed relationships demonstrated a strong truth bias, resulting in greater judgments of truthfulness and (somewhat) lower detection accuracy. Suspi...
182 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of differently valenced portrayals of old age on the emotional responses of elderly viewers were examined, and the results indicated that elderly viewers may benefit from varied portrayals more than from uniformly p...
Abstract: This study examined the effects of differently valenced portrayals of old age on the emotional responses of elderly viewers. Lonely and nonlonely elderly people (as determined in a pretest) were given a series of descriptions of television offerings and indicated the degree to which they desired to see each program. In a separate session, they were randomly assigned to view a negative portrayal (involving an unhappy, isolated old man) or a positive portrayal (involving a happy, socially integrated old man). The results indicated that lonely subjects showed greater interest in viewing negative than positive portrayals, whereas nonlonely subjects exhibited the opposite preference. In addition, lonely subjects felt better after viewing the negative portrayal than after the positive portrayal, whereas nonlonely subjects felt better after the positive than after the negative portrayal. The findings therefore indicated that elderly viewers may benefit from varied portrayals of old age more than from uniformly p...
164 citations
TL;DR: In this article, politeness theory integrates previous research on dilemmas of supportive communication and characteristics of helpful and unhelpful messages, and face work is a critical part of a theoretical framework for identifying and explaining characteristics of effective supportive communication.
Abstract: Supportive interactions often pose conflicting goals: Speakers want to give or receive support, simultaneously conveying and receiving acceptance and preserving the autonomy of both parties. Previous research on the presence or absence of supportive communication has overlooked how support is conveyed and how some message characteristics accomplish multiple goals. By highlighting these multiple goals, politeness theory integrates previous research on dilemmas of supportive communication and characteristics of helpful and unhelpful messages. Face work is a critical part of a theoretical framework for identifying and explaining characteristics of effective supportive communication. The heuristic value of this framework is demonstrated in a series of research questions.
133 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a psychophysiological model of the role of orienting responses (ORs) in learning from televised lectures is presented. But it is not shown that ORs are involuntary responses to environmental stimuli that are novel or signal the occurrence of something meaningful in the environment.
Abstract: This study outlines a psychophysiological model of the role of orienting responses (ORs) in learning from televised lectures. ORs are involuntary responses to environmental stimuli that are novel or that signal the occurrence of something meaningful in the environment. In the present study, ORs were indexed with phasic decelerative heart-rate patterns. The experiment demonstrates that insertion of videographics in talking-head lectures produces ORs in television viewers. It also demonstrates that if lectures contain familiar and therefore easier material for viewers to remember, the ORs enhance learning, but if the lectures contain unfamiliar and therefore more difficult material to remember, the ORs interfere with learning. These results extend the idea that attention to television exhibits limited attentional capacity and suggests that there is a trade-off between people's ability to attend to structural and informational aspects of the television stimulus.
123 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, uses and gratifications models derived from the mass media literature were applied to the study of media satisfaction and choice in organizations and telephone interviews were administered to key informants in 241 organizations, which varied in size, type of business, environmental instability, and length of time the most frequently used communication technology had been in place.
Abstract: Uses and gratifications models derived from the mass media literature were applied to the study of media satisfaction and choice in organizations. Telephone interviews were administered to key informants in 241 organizations, which varied in size, type of business, environmental instability, and length of time the most frequently used communication technology had been in place. Of the models tested, cross-channel discrepancies in gratifications obtained from media alternatives predicted choice of each channel and satisfaction with a communication technology but not satisfaction with face-to-face or written memos. Measurement of gratifications sought at a general level of organizational communication content seeking yielded inconclusive results for models incorporating gratifications sought. Further research is needed with channel-specific gratifications sought and the expectancy-value models not tested here.
102 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that younger adults reported fewer problems with receptive and expressive aspects of conversational language performance than did their older counterparts, except for two specially selected items for which the ratings predictably favored those aged 75 (i.e., telling enjoyable stories, sincere when talking).
Abstract: The present study tested differences between younger and older adults in self-perceptions and social perceptions of language performance. Sixty younger adults (M = 26.4 years) and 60 older adults (M = 72.9 years) completed the Language in Adulthood Questionnaire for themselves and then in terms of typical adults aged either 25 years or 75 years. As predicted, the younger respondents reported fewer problems with receptive and expressive aspects of conversational language performance than did their older counterparts. I terms of social perceptions, the two respondent groups expected individuals aged 25 to experience fewer problems with receptive and expressive language than individuals aged 75, except for two specially selected items for which the ratings predictably favored those aged 75 (i.e., telling enjoyable stories, sincere when talking). To provide perspective for these youth-oriented findings in the language domain, perceptions of conversational differences between adults of 25 and 75 were seen by b...
95 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined how interacting with a friend as opposed to a stranger in anticipation of a stressful event (giving an extemporaneous speech) affects coping and found that participants perceived more social support after interacting with an opposite-sex friend than with a stranger.
Abstract: The experiment described in this article examined how interacting with a friend as opposed to a stranger in anticipation of a stressful event (giving an extemporaneous speech) affects coping. Results indicated that subjects perceived more social support after interacting with a friend than with a stranger. They were less depressed and were judged to be more confident during the extemporaneous speech after interacting with an opposite-sex friend than with an opposite-sex stranger. Specific verbal and nonverbal behaviors contributed to successful coping. Subjects reported less fear if they talked about their feelings about public speaking during the social interaction, and they were more confident while speaking if they engaged in problem-solving talk. Problem-solving, other-related, and unrelated talk predicted perceived social support. Of the nonverbal behaviors measured, eye contact was the best predictor of coping and perceived social support.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the structure and organization of the phonogram (records, cassettes, and compact discs) industry internationally and its effect on concentration and diversity in popular music.
Abstract: This study investigates the structure and organization of the phonogram (records, cassettes, and compact discs) industry internationally and its effect on concentration and diversity in popular music. Results of a major study are reported that found that there is no longer a negative relationship between the proportion of best-selling records produced by the leading firms (concentration) and the number of different top-selling records (diversity). The implications of recent ownership changes in the industry are discussed and a new popular music model is presented that takes into account the open system of musical production as a strategy in maintaining control of the marketplace.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide some conceptual tools for thinking about how news will fare as a market-driven product and conclude that those who argue that market forces will improve journalism have not carefully examined the nature of news with market theory, and that commodities like news are likely to engender opportunism on the part of news organizations.
Abstract: U.S. news organizations, both print and broadcast, are moving from practices in which “professional” journalists define what is newsworthy toward letting the market decide. The trend has generated much debate, but little from a theoretical perspective. This article seeks to provide some conceptual tools for thinking about how news will fare as a market-driven product. The analysis concludes that those who argue that market forces will improve journalism have not carefully examined the nature of news with market theory—microeconomics. In fact, microeconomic theory suggests that commodities like news are likely to engender opportunism on the part of news organizations.
TL;DR: This article examined the distribution of sentence fragments in a corpus of spontaneous narratives and found that young-old adults were more likely to produce false starts and old-olds were more frequent to produce filled pauses; both types of fragments were more common in embedded clauses of complex sentences than in the main clauses.
Abstract: The distribution of sentence fragments was examined in a corpus of spontaneous narratives told by two groups of adults, a young-old group 60 to 74 years of age and an old-old group 75 to 90 years of age. Although there was no overall increase in the occurrence of sentence fragments with age, there was a change in where fragments occurred and what types of fragments occurred. Young-old adults were more likely to produce false starts, whereas old-old adults were more likely to produce filled pauses; both types of fragments were more common in embedded clauses of complex sentences than in the main clauses. Hence the production of sentence fragments appears to be associated with syntactic processing problems that contribute to word-retrieval problems and sentence reformulation.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compared the contribution of chronological age and contextual age (physical health, life satisfaction, economic security, mobility, social activity, and interaction) in explaining elders' motives for communicating with others.
Abstract: The aim of this investigation was to contrast the contribution of chronological age and contextual age (physical health, life satisfaction, economic security, mobility, social activity, and interaction) in explaining elders' motives for communicating with others. A sample of 49- to 89-year-old adults (N = 272) completed self-administered questionnaires. Results indicated that contextual age was more important than chronological age in determining the interpersonal motives of elders. Those with a positive life position, that is, greater life satisfaction and higher levels of social activity, reported pleasure and affection as reasons for communicating with others. Elders who were less mobile, healthy, and socially active communicated to seek control or comfort. As in previous research using the Interpersonal Communication Motives scale (ICM), there were differences in communication motives due to gender. Women reported using communication primarily for emotionally expressive reasons, whereas men reported u...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report two studies of the process by which supportive messages in nonintimate relationships yield positive outcomes, comparing the efficacy of instrumental and emotional support in reducing distress and improving performance on a cognitive task.
Abstract: This article reports two studies of the process by which supportive messages in nonintimate relationships yield positive outcomes. The first experiment compares the efficacy of instrumental and emotional support in reducing distress and improving performance on a cognitive task. The second experiment examines the perceived effectiveness of instrumental and emotional support messages. The results suggest that instrumental support provided by an experimenter improves performance and is evaluated positively.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined person-centered comforting communication among members of interdisciplinary teams in one hospice organization and found that team members employ sophisticated comforting strategies in responding to another team member who appears emotionally distressed.
Abstract: This study examined person-centered comforting communication among members of hospice interdisciplinary teams. Five teams were studied in one hospice organization. The results indicate that hospice team members employ sophisticated comforting strategies in responding to another team member who appears emotionally distressed. Training in hospice was negatively associated with person-centered comforting message strategies. Results from the analysis of survey items indicate that satisfaction with perceived comforting communication from other team members was positively related to satisfaction with the team's communication and evaluation of the team's success in accomplishing its tasks.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined several qualitative features of the friendship circles of lonely college students, and found that some communicative attributes of a friendship circle predicted participants' levels of social acceptance and loneliness.
Abstract: The project described in this article examined several qualitative features of the friendship circles of lonely college students. It was expected that because communication is the cornerstone of young adult friendship, individuals whose social companions lacked important communicative attributes would experience poor peer relationships and, therefore, greater loneliness than individuals whose social companions possessed relevant communicative attributes. The liked peers of 208 participants (102 male, 106 female) were identified. Aggregate measures of social acceptance, loneliness, communication attitudes, communication values, and communication skills were obtained from liked peers, as were indices reflecting the extent to which individual participants were accepted by peers and felt lonely. Results indicated that some communicative attributes of the friendship circle predicted participants' levels of social acceptance and loneliness. A few significant gender differences in these relationships were also o...
TL;DR: In a secondary analysis of data from a study of political socialization among Israeli teenagers, this paper employed a modified and abbreviated version of Chaffee and McLeod's typology of family communications to examine its relationship to political participation, political outlook, and the "reproduction" of parents' political outlook in their children.
Abstract: In a secondary analysis of data from a study of political socialization among Israeli teenagers, this article employs a modified and abbreviated version of Chaffee and McLeod's typology of family communications (FCP) to examine its relationship to political participation, political outlook, and the “reproduction” of parents' political outlook in their children. The findings confirm that the pluralist family is most likely to induce political participation, measured by media exposure, political knowledge, and conversation. Family communication pattern was also found to be associated with political outlook, measured in terms of hawkish-dovish orientations to the Arab-Israeli conflict, with a disproportionate number of dovish parents and children in the pluralist families. Nevertheless, the rate of reproduction of specific outlook does not vary significantly among the four types of family communication patterns, except for a suggestion in the data that families have a better chance of reproducing doves when ...
TL;DR: To examine the content of physician-elderly patient medical primary care encounters, audiotapes of 66 routine follow-up general medical visits were analyzed and both physicians and patients were most likely to initiate discussion of medical topics.
Abstract: To examine the content of physician-elderly patient medical primary care encounters, audiotapes of 66 routine follow-up general medical visits were analyzed. Using the Multi-dimensional Interaction Analysis system, coders determined which content areas were discussed, which interactive participant initiated the discussion, and the quality of physician responsiveness in the different content areas. As hypothesized, physicians initiated discussion of the majority of subjects. Both physicians and patients were most likely to initiate discussion of medical topics. Physicians were more responsive to those topics that they initiated compared to the topics that older patients initiated. Implications of the research for physicians and elderly patients are discussed.
TL;DR: This paper examined the public's responses to newspaper and television reports of an impending natural hazard that threatened local water supplies and found that distinct characteristics of the two media differentially affect response behavior.
Abstract: This article examines the public's responses to newspaper and television reports of an impending natural hazard that threatened local water supplies. A conceptual model is developed in which we argue that distinct characteristics of the two media differentially affect response behavior. The results provide strong support for the hypotheses derived from the conceptual model, suggesting that different aspects of reports in the two media affect response behavior, as measured by wholesale sales of bottled water.
TL;DR: The authors examines the architecture of the global mass media system, with emphasis on the United States, and describes the way that executives are responding to key changes that have affected the U.S. media system and others during the past couple of decades.
Abstract: Synergy and related strategies have become major building blocks of the global mass media system as it moves into the 21st century. This article examines the architecture of that system, with emphasis on the United States. It describes the way that executives are responding to key changes that have affected the U.S. media system and others during the past couple of decades. Their activities are raising important challenges for members of the public as well as for their competitors.
TL;DR: This paper examined characteristics of young adult children's vocal communication with parents and grandparents and found that their voices were generally higher in pitch and sounded more babyish, feminine, and unpleasant when conversing with grandparents versus parents.
Abstract: This study examined characteristics of young adult children's vocal communication with parents and grandparents. Seven young adult women telephoned their parents and grandparents, had a brief conversation with them, and described a collage to them. Voice samples of the conversations were rated by groups of 12-15 male and female judges on scales reflecting vocal qualities and interpersonal attitudes. Judges also guessed with whom the speakers were talking. Finally, collage descriptions were coded for message complexity. The major findings were that although speakers did not manifest differences in the use of complex linguistic forms, their voices were generally higher in pitch and sounded more babyish, feminine, and unpleasant when conversing with grandparents versus parents. Moreover, speakers were judged to be more deferential and congenial when speaking to grandparents. Variations in the nature of young adult grandchildren's vocal behavior were interpreted more as reactions to familial obligations than ...
TL;DR: This article provided an overview of research on communication and the aging process, focusing on the three areas addressed in this special issue: cognition, language, and relationships, and discussed the relationship between theories of aging and communication research.
Abstract: This article provides an overview of research on communication and the aging process, focusing on the three areas addressed in this special issue: cognition, language, and relationships. The overview illustrates how the articles in this special issue extend prior research on communication and aging. In addition, the authors address two issues of general concern to researchers: (a) appropriate methodologies for the study of communication and aging and (b) the relationship between theories of aging and communication research.
TL;DR: In this paper, economic models of program choice were extended to explain why non-broadcast video technologies such as cable and videocassettes not only segment audiences more finely with narrow appeal programs but also offer relatively expensive, apparently "broad appeal" programs that are typically repeated on different media over time.
Abstract: This article revises and extends economic models of program choice to explain why nonbroadcast video technologies such as cable and videocassettes not only segment audiences more finely with “narrow appeal” programs but also offer relatively expensive, apparently “broad appeal” programs that are typically repeated on different media over time. Specifically, it shows plausible conditions under which the availability of direct pricing mechanisms and expanded channel capacity (or the introduction of new video delivery systems) may induce a program producer or distributor with monopoly power to broaden rather than more narrowly focus program appeal, in conjunction with increasing production expenditures on those programs. Contrary to previous models, these programs may have increasingly “lowest common denominator” content. Evidence of successful intertemporal price discrimination by theatrical movie distributors and of production cost inflation are offered in empirical support. Nonbroadcast media appear to in...
TL;DR: In this paper, conversation is explored as the relational arena in which elderly identity is assembled and displayed, and an elderly identity of frailty orients communicators to illness and death and reflects the allocation of power within relationships between the elderly and others.
Abstract: Conversational texts gathered in a study of relationships between elderly individuals and college students are interpreted as the discursive production of elderly frailty. Conversation is explored as the relational arena in which elderly identity is assembled and displayed. Accomplished in and through discourse, an elderly identity of frailty orients communicators to illness and death and reflects the allocation of power within relationships between the elderly and others. Frailty is also examined as a frame for the narration of accumulated life experience.
TL;DR: The role of confidence in beliefs as an outcome of message exposure and as a factor in the process of belief change has important theoretical implications for theories of media effects and theories of beliefs change.
Abstract: The role of confidence in beliefs as an outcome of message exposure and as a factor in the process of belief change has important theoretical implications for theories of media effects and theories of belief change. Using as stimuli messages portraying women of two different cultural backgrounds, this experiment identifies some effects of source expertise and message discrepancy on confidence in beliefs over three posttests (immediate, 10-14 days, and 6 weeks). Messages that were discrepant with existing beliefs had a greater impact on confidence in beliefs than did nondiscrepant messages; more expert sources also slightly increased confidence in beliefs. The direction of the effect of discrepancy (an increase) was opposite to that predicted. Path analyses suggest that the effects of confidence in beliefs on persistence of belief change in this study are largely indirect; the authors suggest that effects of message exposure on confidence and the effects of confidence on belief change persistence may depen...