The fact that little research has been conducted on the penalties for violating communication rules precipitated this study exploring the consequences of a superior lying to a subordinate and of a subordinate lying to a superior. The subjects were 82 college students who filled out attribution scales regarding the superior and subordinate depicted…

Finds that (1) under certain conditions, females (uninvolved third-party observers) appear to be more sensitive to relational deception than males and report more negative attitudes and perceptions of the deceiver's character, competence, and sociability; and (2) the consequence for the target impacted both observer attitude toward the specific…

This study reports on two investigations designed to determine the generalizability of source credibility scales for immediate superiors across organizational contexts. Semantic differential-type scales that have been found to load on factors of course credibility in previous studies were combined to provide an item pool for this investigation. In…

Presents a review of selected relational communication studies that indicates the relevance of humility, wisdom, industry, faithfulness, and self-control. Indicates that self-control is related to believability, trustworthiness, and marital satisfaction. Argues that the inclusion of personal virtue and vice as communicator characteristics would…

To determine the extent to which males and females bring similar or dissimilar attitudes of trust to encounters with members of the same or the opposite sex, a study was conducted that examined attitudes of interpersonal trust according to the subject's perception of the expertness (validity of judgment), reliability, and dynamism of the attitude…

Three exploratory studies were aimed at describing the purposes of lies and the consequences of lying. Data were collected through a partly open-ended questionnaire, a content analysis of several tape-recorded interviews, and a large-scale survey. The results showed that two of every three lies were told for selfish reasons, while three of every…

Presents two experiments to address the questions of if and how normative social influence operates in anonymous computer-mediated communication and human-computer interaction. Finds that the perception of interaction partner (human vs. computer) moderated the group conformity effect such that the undergraduate student subjects expressed greater…

Investigates the relationship between an observer's familiarity with the normal, truthful communicative behavior of an individual, and the observer's ability to detect deception on the part of that individual. Provides an experimental test of the degree of linearity between familiarity and judgmental accuracy in detecting deception. (JMF)

Investigates the relationship between nonverbal behaviors of immediacy and dominance on teachers' initial impressions of trust toward a supervisor. Notes that supervisor immediacy resulted in higher perceptions of trust than supervisor dominance, and immediacy also rated higher on measures of appropriateness and effectiveness than dominance.…

Examined hypothesis that cognitive misers (CM)--individuals low in the need for cognition--forego effortful message scrutiny with a presumably truthful communicator. Results showed that CMs depended more on message scrutiny when a knowledgeable source is of questionable honesty than when the source's honesty is clear. Other factors are discussed.…

A model of conversational distance violations that claims that these violations mediate communication outcomes such as source credibility, source attraction, and learning was examined in a study involving 136 undergraduate students. The students were tested in small group settings using eight confederates, four rated highly and four lowly in…

A model of the generation of initial trusting attitudes toward groups by individuals who were not members of those groups was developed from the literature on interpersonal trust. The model proposed that perceptions of situational threat would be preconditions to the saliency of trust as a concept. Given that trust was a salient concept, the model…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 18 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: the relationship of speech communication variables to perceived communication competence; interpersonal communication in a simulation game of intercultural…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 25 titles deal with a variety of topics, including: (1) persuasive messages and the hearing impaired; (2) the judicial speeches of Cicero; (3) the rhetoric of employment interviews; (4) doctor/patient communication; (5) black…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 19 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: an informal communication process with implications for information retrieval; a rhetorical approach to the nonsexist language controversy; a validation study of…