Protection motivation theory proposes that a perceived threat to health activates cognitive appraisals of the severity of the threatened event, the probability of its occurrence, and the efficacy of a coping response; a recent reformulation of the theory incorporates self-efficacy expectancy as a fourth mediating cognitive process. To test the…

It was hypothesized that if perceived reality is an important factor in determining children's reactions to television, radical differences in the structure of perceived reality should lead to radical differences in its functioning as well. Questionnaires were answered by 153 children from first, third, and sixth grades in a suburban Wisconsin…

Recent research studies suggest a relationship between an individual's level of competence in the use of language and of nonlinguistic communication and that person's ability to function competently in society. This document reviews the theories and definitions related to the concept of communicative competence, discusses the cognitive and…

People's cognitive maps (images of self, beliefs and values, evaluations of relationships with individuals and groups) determine attitudes and behavior, provide the basis for communication, and determine in part their response to events. The cognitive map of an organization performs the same function for groups. Thirty-five newspaper employees…