Reported two studies on the relations among observer familiarity, perceived behavioral discrepancy, and judgmental accuracy in detecting deceptions. Results indicated, among other findings, that observers having prior exposure to baseline information were significantly better at detecting deception, though repeated exposure did not significantly…

A study investigated whether various measures of communication competence would be more positively associated with constructive message strategies than with either destructive or avoidance strategies, and whether individuals would prefer a partner to be constructive rather than being constructive themselves. Subjects were 114 college students who…

Findings suggest that (1) the effects of rehearsal on deceptive success vary depending upon certain characteristics of the communicator/deceiver and (2) a relationship exists between certain behavior correlates of deceptive communication and observer accuracy in detecting deception. (PD)

This study examined the context within which subjects (students) selected one of the following failure management strategies: silence, concession, excuse, justification, and refusal. Contextual variables included: relationship with the reproacher, the students' communicative goal orientation, moral severity of the failure, character of the…

Four studies were conducted to investigate the relationship between communication and predictive accuracy. Subjects, students enrolled in various college speech and communication classes, completed the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values, first in terms of their own values and then in terms of how they believed a specified target would respond.…

Results indicate that individuals with relatively less developed (less differentiated) interpersonal construct systems can be expected to exhibit greater consistency between their attitudes about a person and their behavioral intentions toward that person than those with more developed interpersonal construct systems. (PD)

Tested the use of interviews, specifically the Focus Group Interview technique, to generate information about how high communication apprehensives (CAs) characterize their attitudes, experiences, and behaviors. Found that much of what high CAs said about themselves corresponds with what has been conceptualized and tested quantitatively about…

To compare differences between types of friendships on an assortment of communication and situational variables, a study was conducted that involved pairs of four types of intimate friends: male-male, female-female, male-female with romantic interest, and male-female without romantic interest. Subjects, 61 pairs of college students, completed…

Selected aspects of Kenneth Burke's "dramatistic" model of symbolic interaction were operationalized to describe and compare verbal patterns in transactions between five pairs of friends and five pairs of strangers. Based on Altman and Taylor's social penetration theory, it was predicted that interactants would display verbal patterns unique to…

A study investigated the relationship between levels of communication apprehension (high or low) and eight heterosocial (between sexes) communicative behavior variables--conditioned anxiety, heterosocial skills, heterosocial apprehension, activity, proximity, heterosocial expectations, physical attractiveness, and heterosocial importance. In…

These two experiments focus on nonverbal behaviors that might have meaning in defining the relationship between partners and on the broader relational connotations produced by a reticent person's verbal and nonverbal communication style. (PD)

Reporting validity information, this study concludes that the CCAI is a valid and reliable instrument tapping a variety of situations in which students communicate. The method of operationalizing the construct--observation of communication behavior--is clearly superior to self-report methods. (PD)

Results of this study suggest that knowing the sex and level of dominance of the potential liar should help in detecting deceptions and provide guidelines as to where observers should look for cues. (PD)

Subjects (high and low in interpersonal construct differentiation) completed measures of religious attitudes/behaviors and attitudinal confidence. Findings indicate that the role of differentiation as a direct mediator of non-interpersonal attitude-behavior consistency is comparatively small. The influence of attitudinal confidence on…

The argument has been advanced that in intimate self-disclosure sex differences occur with males being less intimately disclosive than females--especially to other males. The argument posits that males who have homophobia (a fear of sexual contact with members of the same sex) might view intimate self-disclosure as a homosexual act and thus avoid…