Showing papers in "Communication Studies in 1976"
TL;DR: The authors raised and attempted to answer three questions: Is there one way of knowing or many? What sort of knowing does rhetoric strive to achieve? And, is rhetorical relativism vicious?
Abstract: This essay raises and attempts to answer three questions: Is there one way of knowing or many? What sort of knowing does rhetoric strive to achieve? And, is rhetorical relativism vicious?
127 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a method of agon and cluster analysis is developed and amplified to the speeches of President John F. Kennedy to illustrate the usability of Burke's method, which offers the rhetorical critic a way of obtaining a more objective picture of a given speaker's rhetoric.
Abstract: Kenneth Burke's method of agon and cluster analysis is developed‐and amplified. The method is then applied to the speeches of President John F. Kennedy to illustrate its usability. Burke's method offers the rhetorical critic a way of obtaining a more objective picture of a given speaker's rhetoric.
56 citations
TL;DR: This article investigated the assumption that extreme ratings on the semantic differential are preferable and that common agreement exists among users in the interpretation of items by measuring ideal ratings for three source types and found that the assumption is false.
Abstract: This article investigates the assumption that extreme ratings on the semantic differential are preferable and that common agreement exists among users in the interpretation of items. These assumptions were investigated by measuring ideal ratings for three source types.
51 citations
TL;DR: In this article, Perelman's concept of the universal audience is used to establish the reasonableness of arguments in rhetorical discourse, where it is applied to the process of invention where it serves as a "check" on the arguments being constructed.
Abstract: This essay explicates Chaim Perelman's concept of the universal audience as a tool that can be used to establish the reasonableness of arguments in rhetorical discourse. The concept is applied to the process of invention where it serves as a “check” on the reasonableness of the arguments being constructed.
37 citations
TL;DR: A somewhat belated reply to Robert Cathcart's 1972 call for a specifically rhetorical definition of movements is given in this paper, where the authors summarise the brief history of the rhetorical study of movements and explain it in detail.
Abstract: This article is a somewhat belated reply to Robert Cathcart's 1972 call for a specifically rhetorical definition of movements After summarizing the brief history of the rhetorical study of movements, the article proposes such a definition and explains it in detail
34 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that auditors with initially extreme attitudes were affected differently by a speaker's evidence than were those with initially neutral attitudes and suggested that the role which evidence plays in persuasion may be related to the particular game a communicator plays with his audience.
Abstract: This study found that the auditors with initially extreme attitudes were affected differently by a speaker's evidence than were those with initially neutral attitudes and suggests that the role which evidence plays in persuasion may be related to the particular “game” a communicator plays with his audience.
31 citations
TL;DR: This paper developed a speech anxiety scales by soliciting items from students who identified themselves as anxious about speech making and found that students view speech anxiety markedly differently than do researchers who have constructed scales in the past.
Abstract: This study developed a speech anxiety scales by soliciting items from students who identified themselves as anxious about speech making. After viewing the data, the authors conclude that students view speech anxiety markedly differently than do researchers who have constructed scales in the past.
26 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the mediating effect of a person's ability to attend to social cues (selfmonitoring) on conformity behavior in communicative situations was found to be significant.
Abstract: An experiment was conducted to determine the mediating effect of a person's ability to attend to social cues (self‐monitoring) on conformity behavior in communicative situations. High self‐monitors conformed more in group situations than low self‐monitors. There was no difference between the two in dyadic situations.
25 citations
21 citations
TL;DR: The authors argues that staged withdrawal is a recurrent event, because of the recurrence of the described relationships among occasion, audience, and speaker role, and because the ultimately converging interests of the resigner and survivor dictate a recurrent manipulation of the discourse to exploit ambivalent audience expectations of the resigned speaker role.
Abstract: The author argues that staged withdrawal promises to be a recurrent event, because of the recurrence of the described relationships among occasion, audience, and speaker role, and because the ultimately converging interests of the resigner and survivor dictate a recurrent manipulation of the discourse to exploit ambivalent audience expectations of the resigner‐speaker role.
15 citations
TL;DR: This article examined the small group composed of Nixon and his closest aides and associates through their fantasies about the mass media and discussed image control, appearance vs. reality, channel choice and timing of messages, and individual members of the news gathering institutions.
Abstract: This article examines the small group composed of Nixon and his closest aides and associates through their fantasies about the mass media. Four categories are discussed: image control, appearance vs. reality, channel choice and timing of messages, and individual members of the news gathering institutions.
TL;DR: The Supreme Court majority opinion in the publicized 1973 abortion case Roe v. Wade demonstrated this rhetorical nature of decisions both in its choice of arguments and evidence and in its effort to organize symbolically the world of the medical and legal considerations surrounding abortion.
Abstract: Court decisions themselves, and not just arguments before courts, are rhetorical works The Supreme Court majority opinion in the publicized 1973 abortion case Roe v Wade demonstrated this rhetorical nature of decisions both in its choice of arguments and evidence and in its effort to organize symbolically the world of the medical and legal considerations surrounding abortion
TL;DR: In this article, the authors measured the stage fright during classroom public speaking while speakers monitored what was assumed to be feedback of their heart rate measurements, and found that true stage fright heart rate was found to vary from the norm, according to the level of false feedback monitered by the speakers.
Abstract: Stage fright heart rate during classroom public speaking was measured while speakers monitored what was assumed to be feedback of their heart rate measurements. Speakers in fact were monitoring false heart rate feedback controlled by the experimenter to display either unusually low or unusually high levels of stage fright. True stage fright heart rate was found to vary from the norm, according to the level of false feedback monitered by the speakers.
TL;DR: The authors explored the question of when a politician evasively respond to a request for his commitments without losing endorsement, and found that high issue involvement on the part of an audience, and high language intensity of a politician provide two opportunities for evasion without losing the endorsement.
Abstract: This study explored the question: When can a politician evasively respond to a request for his commitments without losing endorsement? The results suggested that high issue involvement on the part of an audience, and high language intensity on the part of a politician provide two opportunities for evasion without losing endorsement.
TL;DR: The authors explored the potential relationship between rhetorical choices and world views of epistemology, psychology and metaphysics and found that rhetorical choices can be associated with epistemological, psychological and metaphorical beliefs.
Abstract: This article explores the potential relationship between rhetorical choices and world views of epistemology, psychology and metaphysics.
TL;DR: This article argued that persuasion as opposed to additional information holds the key to adoption of a new idea, based primarily on the experience of India with the gram sewak or village level worker.
Abstract: Theory building in the area of diffusion innovation has classically overlooked the possibility that, at some point, persuasion as opposed to additional information holds the key to adoption of a new idea. The present discussion articulates and defends this assumption based primarily upon the experience of India with the gram sewak or village level worker.
TL;DR: In this article, four interaction models were generated and tested under two context conditions, and Osgood's congruity model, adapted to metaphor, demonstrated the greatest power to predict responses to metaphoric assertions.
Abstract: Explicit in Richard's theory of metaphor is the concept of semantic interaction between the tenor and vehicle in the resolution of metaphoric meaning. Four interaction models were generated and tested under two context conditions. Osgood's congruity model, adapted to metaphor, demonstrated the greatest power to predict responses to metaphoric assertions.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe an approach to using the unstructured group which has worked successfully with their undergraduate students, and explain the learning process which takes place in the group experience.
Abstract: The authors describe an approach to using the unstructured group which has worked successfully with their undergraduate students. Then they explain the learning process which takes place in the group experience, and discuss the advantages of using the unstructured group in teaching interpersonal communication.
TL;DR: This article identified difficulties with the traditional political communication research model, outlined an alternative position, and assessed the ability of key concepts from both positions to explain survey data from the 1972 Presidential campaign.
Abstract: This paper identifies difficulties with the traditional political communication research model, outlines an alternative position, and assesses the ability of key concepts from both positions to explain survey data from the 1972 Presidential campaign.
TL;DR: The authors argued that the rhetorical critic must possess a broad familiarity with the love of axiology, or the study of the nature and types of value, and that the systematic study and application of values is not often undertaken by contemporary rhetorical criticis.
Abstract: The systematic study and application of values is not often undertaken by contemporary rhetorical criticis. This omission can lead not only to superficial criticism but can also strip our derived rhetorical theory of value axioms. The author argues in this essay that the rhetorical critic must possess a broad familiarity with the love of axiology, or the study of the nature and types of value.
TL;DR: This article investigated the extent to which simulations and games are employed within the discipline of speech communication in the classroom, and found that they are used to increase the theoretical and pragmatic application of simulation and games.
Abstract: Speech Communication educators with increased frequency are reporting the theoretical and pragmatic application of simulations and games in the classroom. This study undertook to investigate the extent to which these pedagogical strategies are employed within the discipline of Speech Communication.
TL;DR: This paper argued that the critical statement must include judgments of the philosophical, the rhetorical aesthetic, and the ethical dimensions of the act in order to fulfill the functions of rhetorical criticism, rejecting effects-oriented bases for criticism.
Abstract: Rejecting effects‐oriented bases for criticism, the authors contend that “the critical statement” must include judgments of the philosophical, the rhetorical‐aesthetic, and the ethical dimensions of the act in order to fulfill the functions of rhetorical criticism.
TL;DR: In this paper, the Toulmin model is used as a procedural base for teaching students to develop the structure of critical analyses in an orderly scheme. And a working definition of criticism as argument is posited and discussed.
Abstract: This paper addresses the matter of method in rhetorical criticism, especially from a pedagogical viewpoint. Seven postulates are advanced as an approach to the study of criticism. A working definition of criticism as argument is posited and discussed from which is derived a specific proposal and plan for adapting the Toulmin model as a procedural base for teaching students to develop the structure of critical analyses in an orderly scheme.
TL;DR: The authors found that student audiences rated speeches of their peers significantly higher if the raters thought the speakers had completed a course in public speaking, and a secondary finding provided information about the interaction of speeches rated relatively high or low and whether those speeches are heard in a primary or recency position.
Abstract: The results of two studies indicated that student audiences rated speeches of their peers significantly higher if the raters thought the speakers had completed a course in public speaking. A secondary finding provides information about the interaction of speeches rated relatively high or low and whether those speeches are heard in a primary or recency position.
TL;DR: The authors examined several generalizations which link speech anxiety to demographic variables, and clarified the relationship between self-reported speech anxiety and general anxiety and found that the relationship was not causal but not causal.
Abstract: This study examines several generalizations which link speech anxiety to demographic variables, and clarifies the relationship between self‐reported speech anxiety and general anxiety.
TL;DR: This article studied the impact of children's verbal style, age, and sex on social perception and found that there was a decline in positive evaluations of the speakers as verbal style decreased in "standardness" and as subjects increased in age.
Abstract: This investigation studied the impact of children's verbal style, age, and sex, on social perception. There was a decline in positive evaluations of the speakers as verbal style decreased in “standardness” and as subjects increased in age. It was also found that the Mexican American and Black Southern speakers were negatively perceived along various dimensions of social judgment.
TL;DR: The authors summarizes Mao Tse-Tung's theory of revolution, the principal theme which evolves in his writings, speeches, reports, and letters, 1926−1971, and posits general characteristics of his rhetorical methodology.
Abstract: This essay summarizes Mao Tse‐Tung's theory of revolution, the principal theme which evolves in his writings, speeches, reports, and letters, 1926‐1971, and posits general characteristics of his rhetorical methodology.