Research shows that people comply more frequently to threats when the credibility of the source is high rather than low and that compliance is directly related to punishment magnitude. To examine the impact of an advisor on a target of threats, male college students (N=74) participated in an experiment that included high or low threatner…

The purpose of this study was to determine the predicted differences in the effectiveness of social approval and disapproval cues. Three hypotheses were tested to determine what the effect on communication is if the source of the cue is a peer, family member, or society and what the response will be when a message advocates a position discrepant…

This study was designed to test the effects of speech analysis (television commentary) on audience responses to televised political speeches. Six hypotheses on the so-called instant analysis phenomenon were tested. Subjects for the study were 115 adults drawn from the Fort Collins, Colorado, community. While it was concluded that instant analysis…

See CS 703 555 for availability. (MH)

This paper offers the hypothesis that in times of low collective excitement rumors in a complex society whose content is beyond normal social discourse (a spectral rumor, for instance) will increasingly exhibit one or the other, or both, of two legitimizing agents--authority and mass media--as a means of gaining greater plausibility and…