Showing papers on "Interpersonal communication published in 1992"

Interpersonal Effects in Computer-Mediated Interaction: A Relational Perspective

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.

Relational schemas and the processing of social information.

Abstract: It has long been one of the grand ideas in psychology that people internalize their relationships with significant others, which influences their experience of subsequent relationships and their sense of self. Recent work in social cognition has largely neglected the impact of internally represented interpersonal information, however, with researchers choosing instead to focus on the perception of self and other persons in isolation. After a review of relevant theoretical models, it is proposed that research could profitably examine people's relational schemas, defined as cognitive structures representing regularities in patterns of interpersonal relatedness

Doctors Talking with Patients/Patients Talking with Doctors: Improving Communication in Medical Visits

Abstract: The verbal and nonverbal exchanges that take place between doctor and patient affect both participants, and can result in a range of positive or negative psychological reactions-including comfort, alarm, irritation, or resolve. This updated edition of a widely popular book sets out specific principles and recommendations for improving doctor-patient communications. It describes the process of communication, analyzes social and psychological factors that color doctor-patient exchanges, and details changes that can benefit both parties. Medical visits are often less effective and satisfying than they would be if doctors and patients better understood the communication most needed for attainment of mutual health goals. The verbal and nonverbal exchanges that take place between doctor and patient affect both participants, and can result in a range of positive or negative psychological reactions-including comfort, alarm, irritation, or resolve. Talk, on both verbal and non-verbal levels, is shown by extensive research to have far-reaching impact. This updated edition of a widely popular book helps us understand this vital issue, and facilitate communications that will mean more effective medical care and happier, healthier consumers. Roter and Hall set out specific principles and recommendations for improving doctor-patient relationships. They describe the process of communication, analyze social and psychological factors that color doctor-patient exchanges, and detail changes that can benefit both parties. Here are needed encouragement and principles of action vital to doctors and patients alike. far-reaching impact.

Mea culpa: A sociology of apology and reconciliation.

Abstract: Što je to isprika? Koje su funkcije ispri­ ke? Koji su njeni nužni, a koji varijabilni ele­ menti? Na koji način se isprika razlikuje od objašnjavanja, nijekanja i opravdavanja? Kako učimo ispričavati se? Postoji li međuodnos isprike i oprosta? Je li u pravu američki satiričar ABierce kada kaže da je \"isprika zapravo pripremanje terena za buduće grijehe\"? To su samo neka od pitanja na koja Nicholas Tavuchis (profesor sociolo­ gije na Sveučilištu u Manitobi /Zapadna Ka­ nada/) pokušava odgovoriti u pokušaju da nam približi temu kojoj, iako je svakodnev­ na, ne pridajemo veće značenje. Iako, naime, ispričavanje rabimo gotovo svakodnevno, vrlo rijetko ga analiziramo. Pitanja koja u pravilu nikada ne postavljamo jesu: kako se dovodimo u situaciju da se nekome ispričavamo, kako vršimo procjenu kada je nužno ispričati se, a kada je dovoljno jedno­ stavno ignorirati i ne spominjati temu koja se odnosi na naš čin? Nakon što smo prekršili neku normu, mi priznajemo da smo učinili nešto loše, iskazujemo žaljenje i obećavamo da se to neće ponoviti. A tada? Da li je to dovoljno? Da li je to sve? Iako smo se ispričali i dan nam je oprost (ako jest), još uvijek nismo u stanju izbrisati činjenicu da smo počinili nešto zbog čega smo se morali ispričati. Ipak, promislimo li o tome, postajemo svjesni či­ njenice da je isprika u stanju vratiti međul­ judske odnose u \"normalu\". Kako je to moguće? Kako tri riječi poput: \"Zao mi je\", uspijevaju postići takav rezultat? Iako autor nastoji sociološki obraditi temu, svjestan je da \"isprika\" i interakcijski procesi koji je proizvode nužno sadrže i elemente filologije, sociolingvistike, socijalne psihologije, antro­ pologije, filozofije, prava i religije. Opisi su i primjeri u knjizi, tako, \"eklektični\" te obu­ hvaćaju (pored sociološke i srodne literatu­ re) i stripove, aforizme, etnografske zapise i druge tiskovne izvore. Tavuchisa zanimaju si­ tuacije u kojima (individualno ili kolektivno) činimo ili kazujemo nešto što krši moralni imperativ, vrijeđa nekoga ili dovodi u opa­ snost naš socijalni status. Nešto što istovre­ meno nema za posljedicu formalne sankcije (legalnu kaznu). U takvim situacijama, jedini je izlaz jedina mogućnost \"rehabilitacije\" i povratka društvene harmonije da izjavimo: \"Mea Culpa\", tvrdi Tavuchis. Čineći to, priz­ najemo da je krivnja na nama, prihvaćamo odgovornost, izražavamo iskreno žaljenje i obećavamo da se takvo što više neće pono­ viti. Međutim, činjenica da ne možemo samo tako popraviti učinjeno vodi nas sljedećim pitanjima: 1. Da li se isprikom stanje stvarno vraća u \"normalu\"? 2. Da li postoji nešto što bi se moglo nazvati \"granicom\" do koje se isprika uva­ žava, odnosno točka iznad koje više nije do­ voljno samo ispričati se već je nužno i obeštetiti oštećenog? Tavuchis tvrdi da isprika igra važnu ulo­ gu u društvenom životu, posebice na razini organizacije skupina. Budući da organizacij­ ski sustavi i uređenje unutargrupnih odnosa nisu uvijek pisani ili lako uočljivi, oni mo­ raju biti spoznati kroz interakciju te potvrđeni od strane ostalih članova tako što će oni podržavati (ili negirati) radnje novih članova. U ovakvim situacijama \"isprika\" se javlja kao potreba stalnog prisjećanja tko smo i što smo stvorili, odnosno uočavanja onog što je određenim činom ugroženo. Isprika se može smatrati i oblikom samokažnjavanja, jer moramo prepričati i ponovo \"preživjeti\" naše djelo. Tražeći oprost, nasto­ jimo zadržati naše članstvo u ovoj ili onoj skupini.

Interpersonal Problem-Solving and Social Competence in Children

Abstract: Well-known sayings, quotations, and proverbs help provide us with bases for understanding socially acceptable thoughts and deeds. Generally, in Western cultures, it is believed that adherence to the Golden Rule and acting in a charitable manner will lead to interpersonal and intrapersonal profit, whereas those who subscribe to Machiavellian rhetoric will suffer because of his or her own moral ignorance, selfishness, and vice. In short, common sense dictates that those whose social behaviors are judged to be skillful, successful, and acceptable over time and across settings will lead productive, honorable, and successful lives. Those judged as incompetent are predicted to suffer a variety of malevolent consequences.

Forgiveness: a developmental view

Abstract: The concept of interpersonal forgiveness is described first through an examination of ancient writings and contemporary philosophical and psychological discourse. Two psychological models are then described. The first concerns developmental patterns in how people think about forgiving another. The second describes how people may go about forgiving another. Implications for counseling and education are drawn.

Learning to Communicate in the Classroom

Abstract: It is now generally accepted that second language (L2) acquisition can take place as a result of learning how to communicate in the L2. It is less clear, however, whether the kind of communication that occurs in a classroom is sufficient to ensure development of full target language competence. This article examines the extent to which the opportunities for communication in an English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom result in the acquisition of one particular illocutionary act—requests. A total of 410 requests produced by two child learners over 15–21 months were examined. The results suggest that although considerable development took place over this period, both learners failed to develop either the full range of request types or a broad linguistic repertoire for performing those types that they did acquire. The learners also failed to develop the sociolinguistic competence needed to vary their choice of request to take account of different addressees. One explanation for these results is that although the classroom context fostered interpersonal and expressive needs in the two learners, it did not provide the conditions for real sociolinguistic needs.

The dependent personality: developmental, social, and clinical perspectives.

Abstract: Developmental, social, and clinical studies of dependency have produced remarkably consistent results. A review and integration of these findings allow strong conclusions to be drawn regarding the etiology and dynamics of dependency. The etiology of dependency appears to lie in overprotective, authoritarian parenting. In social settings, dependency is associated with suggestibility, conformity, compliance, interpersonal yielding, affiliative behavior, and sensitivity to interpersonal cues. Dependency predicts the onset of certain psychological disorders and follows the onset of others. It seems that the fundamental motivation of the dependent person, from which the behaviors that are exhibited in different situations are derived, is a strong desire to obtain and maintain nurturant, supportive relationships. Implications of these findings for different theoretical models of dependency are discussed.

Trust, distrust, and interpersonal problems: a circumplex analysis.

Abstract: This study examined the self-reported interpersonal problems of individuals characteristically high or low in interpersonal trust. The interpersonal circumplex served as a guiding framework for assessing and interpreting these problems. As expected, extreme distrust was generally related to a symmetrical pattern of distress, with a peak at the hostile-dominant octant. Extreme high trust, on the other hand, was not associated with gullibility or with related interpersonal difficulties, supporting arguments that trust is essentially distinct from gullibility and exploitability. The Interpersonal Trust Scale and the Mach IV scale, the study's principal measures of trust, tap varieties of trust differing in their blends of dominance and hostility, leading to different problem patterns for extreme scorers

Tactile Stimulation and Consumer Response

Abstract: Tactile behavior is a basic communication form as well as an expression of interpersonal involvement. This article presents three studies offering evidence for the positive role of casual interpersonal touch on consumer behavior. More specifically, it provides initial support for the view that tactile stimulation in various consumer behavior situations enhances the positive feeling for and evaluation of both the external stimuli and the touching source. Further, customers touched by a requester tend to comply more than customers in no-touch conditions. Implications for consumer behavior theory and research are discussed.

Violence in America: a public health emergency. Time to bite the bullet back.

Abstract: Violence, according to one dictionary, is defined as "(1) exertion of any physical force so as to injure or abuse, (2) injury by or as if by distortion, infringement, or profanation, (3) intense, turbulent and often destructive action, or force." In his book Powershift Alvin Toffler identifies violence or the threat of violence as one of the three fundamental sources of all human power, the other two being money and knowledge. Toffler convincingly argues that these power sources influence every person and all groups including government. Of the three, violence is the lowest form of power because it can only be used to punish. Knowledge and money are far more versatile and can be used in an infinite variety of positive as well as negative or manipulative ways. 1 The violence referred to in this issue of JAMA is the interpersonal kind rather than such types as war or that

Culture and moral judgment: how are conflicts between justice and interpersonal responsibilities resolved?

Abstract: A 2-session study examined Indian and American adults' and children's (N = 140) reasoning about moral dilemmas involving conflicts between interpersonal and justice expectations. Most Indians gave priority to the interpersonal expectations, whereas most Americans gave priority to the justice expectations. Indians tended to categorize their conflict resolutions in moral terms. In contrast, when Americans gave priority to the interpersonal alternatives, they tended to categorize their resolutions in personal terms. Results imply that Indians possess a postconventional moral code in which interpersonal responsibilities are seen in as fully principled terms as justice obligations and may be accorded precedence over justice obligations. Findings also suggest that a personal morality of interpersonal responsiveness and caring is linked to highly rights-oriented cultural views, such as those emphasized in the United States.

African American Communication: Ethnic Identity and Cultural Interpretation

Abstract: Introduction Self, Identity, Ethnic Identity, and African American Ethnic Identity African American Communication Style Communication Competence Conclusions

Construct validity of interpersonal personality measures : the interpersonal circumplex as a nomological net

Abstract: To understand a construct means to set it within an appropriate «nomological net» of lawful relations. For measures of interpersonal constructs, the interpersonal circumplex provides a nomological system of great potential for validating constructs and their measures. Three multidimensional measures-of dependency, empathy, and narcissism-were subjected to an interpersonal analysis, and construct parameters and similarities were estimated by using formulas derived from the circumplex model. The results offered a distinctly interpersonal perspective on the construct validity of the respective measures

Studying Interpersonal Interaction

Abstract: This volume presents a comprehensive, critical examination of current research methods used to study human social behavior as it occurs in interpersonal settings such as families, acquaintanceships, friendships, and romantic partnerships. Multidisciplinary in approach, the book's chapters are written by leading figures in communication, social psychology, sociology, and family studies who explore the methodological choices a researcher must make in order to study interpersonal interaction.To permit clear comparison, all chapters in this volume reference the same, common research problem to develop examples, illustrate controversial issues, and describe the potential of the particular method under discussion. Written in an accessible style, chapters openly discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each method, consider underlying philosophy and assumptions, and note limitations as well as advantages. The result is an originally crafted work that offers readers a unique way to learn about, compare, and ultimately judge the many methods presently available to the researcher or student of interpersonal interaction.

An analysis of maintenance following functional communication training.

Abstract: The multiple and long-term effects of functional communication training relative to a common reductive procedure (time-out from positive reinforcement) were evaluated. Twelve children participated in a functional analysis of their challenging behaviors (Study 1), which implicated adult attention as a maintaining variable. The children were then matched for chronological age, mental age, and language age and assigned to two groups. One group received functional communication training as an intervention for their challenging behavior, and the second group received time-out as a contrast. Both interventions were initially successful (Study 2), but durable results were achieved only with the group that received functional communication training across different stimulus conditions (Study 3). Students whose challenging behaviors were previously reduced with time-out resumed these behaviors in the presence of naive teachers unaware of the children's intervention history. The value of teaching communicative responses to promote maintenance is discussed as it relates to the concept of functional equivalence.

Organizational Communication: A Critical Perspective

Abstract: Using a critical theoretical approach, this article analyzes conceptualizations of organizational communication failures. Perhaps because interpretations of communication failures have been dominated by a social psychological perspective, these reveal an unargued acceptance of communication failures as a consequence of hierarchical design with no alternatives presented or analyzed. This essay adapts the concept of communicative competence developed by Jurgen Habermas in a radically different way than most previous interpretations, certainly those most extant in public administration. As articulated here, the model of communicative competence suggests the need to confront organizational structure and consider more symmetrical relationships in order to enhance the possibilities of nondistorted organizational communication. Specifically, the model moves beyond the widely accepted factor of interpersonal trust as facilitating nondistorted communication and suggests a new way of viewing such research. Minimall...

Media space and communicative asymmetries: preliminary observations of video-mediated interaction

Abstract: Despite the growing interest in using audio-visual technologies to support communication and collaborative work among individuals in different locations, we still have relatively little understanding of the organization of video-mediated interaction. In the following article, we discuss some findings of recent research concerning interpersonal communication in a sophisticated multimedia office environment. Based on the detailed naturalistic analysis of individuals collaborating on various tasks during their day-to-day working lives, we explore the extent to which the media space provides a satisfactory means for interpersonal communication and ordinary sociability. In particular, the research suggests that audio-visual technology introduces certain asymmetries into interpersonal communication that can transform the impact of visual and vocal conduct. These communicative asymmetries may be consequential for the design and implementation of audio-visual infrastructures used to support informal sociability and collaborative work. What of the hands? We require, promise, call, dismiss, threaten, pray, supplicate, deny, refuse, interrogate, admire, number, confess, repent, confound, blush, doubt, instruct, command, incite, encourage, swear, testify, accuse, condemn, absolve, abuse, despise, defy, flatter, applaud, bless, humiliate, mock, reconcile, recommend, exalt, entertain, congratulate, complain, grieve, despair, wonder, exclaim.... There is not a motion that does not speak and in an intelligible language without discipline, and a public language that everyone understands. (Montaigne, 1952, pp. 215-216)

Motivational Foundations of Behavioral Confirmation

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the motivational foundations of behavioral confirmation. Functional analyses have the potential to advance theory and research on social perception and interpersonal behavior. They constitute an explicit recognition of the motivational and purposive agendas that guide and direct human thoughts, feelings, and actions, and they speak directly to the mediational mechanisms and guiding processes involved in the enactment of these motivational agendas. Functionalist perspective possesses considerable explanatory power in diverse domains of human functioning. The chapter emphasizes that functional analysis shares much in common with related treatments of the roles of needs, motives, plans, and goals in understanding cognitive and behavioral processes in the social realm. The diverse approaches to human motivation have their points of individuation. It is the commonalities of these approaches that may provide the most compelling testimony to the power of motivational approaches to understand individual and social function. An analysis of psychological functions in future may help to understand the motivational foundations of the chain of events in behavioral confirmation scenarios; it may also be possible for a functional analysis to provide a motivational perspective on the dynamic interplay of cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal processes in social interaction and interpersonal relationships.

Cognitive, life stress, and interpersonal approaches to a developmental psychopathology model of depression

Abstract: One pathway to depression in children and adults is hypothesized to result from complex transactions among cognitive, stress, and interpersonal variables. Cognitive vulnerability includes not only appraisals of events and circumstances that emphasize personal unworthiness and incompetence, but also underlying beliefs and “working models” of the self and others. Such cognitions arise in part in the context of maladaptive attachment relations with the parents and may be reinforced by interpersonal incompetencies and difficulties in peer, family, and social relationships. Stressful conditions in early life and throughout development may undermine or erode the development of effective coping competencies. Moreover, maladaptive cognitions about the self and others, and ineffective coping competencies, may contribute to the occurrence of stressful events and circumstances —and these in turn may trigger depressive reactions. For many depressed people with chronic or recurrent depression, therefore, developmental processes play critical roles in the origin and continuation of the disorder.

Achieving 'Shared Reality' in the Communication Game: A Social Action That Create; Meaning

Abstract: This paper reviews research on the 'communication game' (Higgins, 1981a) that supports two sets of conclusions. The first set of conclusions concerns communication as social action: (a) Communicators tailor their summary of target information to suit their audience's knowledge of or attitudes toward the target; that is, they achieve 'shared reality' with their audience and thereby perform a social action; (b) Communicators' different motivations to achieve 'shared reality' with their audience influences the extent to which they tailor their message to suit the audience, as evident in 'super-tuning', 'anti-tuning', and 'nontuning'; (c) When there is a delay between successive messages about a target, communicators' use their first message to construct their second message even though the two audiences have different characteristics. The second set of conclusions concerns how communication as social action creates meaning: (a) Communicators use their message summaries about a target as a direct source of in...

The relationship between physical competence and peer acceptance in the context of children's sports participation

Abstract: Youth sport literature contends that the development of self-esteem is influenced by social interactions in the physical domain. However, little research has investigated the role of the peer group in developing perceptions of physical competence and social acceptance. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship, between competence in physical skills and interpersonal competence with peers in a sport setting. Children (N=126) completed measures assessing perceptions of physical competence and peer acceptance» perceptions of success for athletic performance and interpersonal skills, causal attributions for physical performance and interpersonal success» and expectations for future success in these two areas. Teachers' ratings of children's actual physical ability and social skills with peers were also obtained. Canonical correlation analyses indicated a strong relationship (rc = .75) between indices of physical competence and peer acceptance. Children who scored high in actual and perceived p...

Interaction and learning in mathematics classroom situations

Abstract: An analysis of one ten minute episode in which three seven year-old students engage in collaborative small group activity is presented to explore the relationship between individual learning and group development. Particular attention is given to the establishment of a taken-as-shared basis for mathematical activity and to the attainment of intersubjectivity. From a perspective which treats communication as a process of active interpretation and mutual adaptation, learning as it occurs in the course of social interaction is characterized as a circular, self-referential sequence of events rather than a linear cause-effect chain. In addition, the relationship between individual learning and group development is such that the students can be said to have participated in the establishment of the situations in which they learned.

Characteristics of Child Victims of Physical Violence Research Findings and Clinical Implications

Abstract: This article reviews recent empirical studies that examine the short- and long-term sequelae of physical child maltreatment (PCM). The current status of research examining the impact of PCM on children's development (e.g., medical, cognitive) and psychosocial functioning (e.g., psychiatric disorders, behavioral, interpersonal, academic, affective) is reviewed. Major findings are discussed in the context of pertinent qualifications of existing evidence. To encourage clinical-research advances in this area, recent developments and future directions pertaining to the areas of conceptualization, assessment/methodology, and intervention are described.

Local Worlds of Suffering: An Interpersonal Focus for Ethnographies of Illness Experience

Abstract: Ethnography is advanced as a methodology that links the humanities and social sciences with the health sciences. Ethnography deepens the study of human suffering by refraining the experience of illness as interpersonal processes in a moral context. Because ethnography's validity depends on the skills and training of the ethnographer, medical ethnographers must be effectively prepared to conduct research studies. This will become a serious issue in the development of qualitative research within the health sciences.

A Cognition (Attribution)-Emotion Model of Violence in Conflict Situations

Abstract: The present research was designed to examine the relationships between attribution processes and interpersonal emotions (anger and empathic emotions) as determinants of violent reactions in conflict situations. A model including the mediating role of attribution processes and emotions as well as all theoretically meaningful relationships among the variables was proposed and tested using Bentler's structural equations program (EQS). Results show that the model fits the data well and the mediating role of anger and empathic emotions is supported In addition, the role of attributional thinking (e.g., perceived intentionality of an instigation and controllability of its cause) as a determinant of anger and empathic emotions is confirmed. Results are discussed in terms of potential extensions and applications of attribution theory and the role of interpersonal emotions in antisocial behavior and interpersonal relations in general

Nonverbal communication, affective sharing, and intersubjectivity

Abstract: A critical difference between nonverbal joint attention and requesting skills may lie in their conveyance of affect as part of the communicative act. This study of 32 infants (mean age = 20.2 months) indicated that more positive affect was displayed in association with joint attention rather than requesting acts. Thus, joint attention behaviors not only involve the coordination of attention to objects and events, but also the capacity to share affective experience vis-a-vis objects and events. Therefore, measures of joint attention behaviors may provide an operationalization of one aspect of intersubjectivity in infancy.