Using confirmation theory, this study investigated how romantic couples' (N = 100) accepting and challenging communication was associated with several weight management (WM) outcomes (i.e., partners' general effectiveness in motivating each other to enact healthy behaviors, productivity of WM conversations, and diet and exercise behaviors).…

This article focuses on the communication of compensatory self-presentations (CSP) (i.e., self-presentations that people engage in after publicly receiving unfavorable feedback), with prior work showing that people prudently constrain CSP to areas unrelated (vs. related) to the initial feedback. With the current project we examine the influence…

The article examines how the goals of maintaining and reaffirming interpersonal relationships are accomplished through the details of talk during closing sections of social encounters. On the basis of Russian language telephone conversations between close familiars, the article explicates ways in which interactions may be reopened and, more…

Reports three studies suggesting that speech rate perception is influenced by vocal frequency and, to some extent, by intensity, and that these relationships are not materially altered by the speakers' gender. (JAD)

Explains a speech accommodation theory for the interaction between a receiver's decoding ability and a speaker's voice tone on compliance with requests for help. Good decoders complied more with the fast request, whereas poor decoders complied more with the slow request. (RAE)

Investigates the perseverance of preinteraction expectancies in the face of actual communication behavior, the separate effects of personal attribute and communication expectancies, and the role of expectancy confirmation or disconfirmation on postinteraction evaluations. Confirms the validity of expectancy violations theory. (SR)

Reports a field study of computer professionals' client relationships. Concludes that client-oriented interaction behaviors grounded in the interactional view provide substantial discrimination between high and low-performing professionals. (MS/JAD)

Advances a complexity account that suggests that there are increased processing-capacity and temporal demands associated with formulating and maintaining more complex message representations. Reports on four studies of this complexity account. Suggests that results of these studies provide considerable support for the complexity hypothesis. (RS)

Examines linguistic features of help-seeking messages constructed to overcome obstacles to the achievement of interpersonal objectives associated with: (1) the type of request (borrowing or favors); and (2) relational intimacy. (SR)

Examines three cognitive theories which account for variations in verbal disagreement tactics. Finds that, of 40 dyadic interactions, planning measures strongly correlate with the use of integrative conflict tactics, and the individual difference measure is strongly associated with the quality of plans. Suggests that integrative models are needed…

Presents several rules for conversational interpretation of indirect responses to questions. (MH)

Tests three models describing the structure of talk and silence sequences within and across conversations: the Markov model, the independent decision model, and the incremental model. The implication for deriving dyadic interaction patterns from individual interaction styles is explored. (JMF)

Explores the consequences of differences in message design logic and goal structures for success in regulative communication situations. Finds that the level of message design logic was associated with every type of assessed effectiveness. Notes that differences in message goal structures had more selective effects on message evaluations. (SR)

Examines the separate and combined impact of hedges, hesitations, and intensifiers on perceptions of authoritativeness, sociability, character, and similarity, and the extent to which messages containing one or more of these language variables differ from a "prototypically" powerless message in evaluative consequences. (MS)

Explicates the production of multiple-goal messages from the perspective of action assembly theory. Reports an experimental investigation contrasting the speech of participants pursuing multiple social goals with the speech of people pursuing a single task. Finds that people pursuing multiple goals have longer speech-onset latencies with greater…