Three studies investigated the purposes of teasing and the reaction to it. The first study asked 26 college students to describe one instance when they were teased and one when they teased someone else. In addition, they were asked to explain why the teasing had occurred and why they categorized it as teasing. The second study, involving 24…

In order to investigate speech accommodation--the way in which communicators influence each other's speaking patterns and rhythms--a study examined its occurrence, as well as the extent of a conversational partner's influence, and the influence of interpersonal uncertainty and differences in arousal level upon that accommodation process.…

The study examined instructional consultation in terms of Argyrian theory by carrying out three specific tasks: (1) operationalizing the key Argyrian concepts of collaboration and bilateral control; (2) classifying and coding consultation behaviors on videotapes; and (3) drawing implications from the data for researchers and practitioners. The…

Examines the impact of communication apprehension (CA) and interaction structure on participants' perceptions and behavior during initial interactions. Finds that high and low CA males perceived their female interaction partners differently, while females reported less satisfying interactions in the structured versus unstructured condition. (SR)

Attempts to demonstrate that the discourse strategies of high-involved and low-involved communicators exhibit the same systematic pattern in managing pragmatic resources in conversation as previously demonstrated for the management of textual resources in conversation. (MS)

Twenty students participated in this study in which white lies were collected and coded for analysis. Overall, findings confirm previous findings that lies are often used to cope with difficulties in unequal power relationships. (PD)

This study examined the type of change that occurs in student-faculty relationships. The events perceived by the students as creating change in the relationship were considered "turning point events." Through a process of interviewing 45 senior students and then applying content analysis to the interview data, the researchers were able to…

Assessed the relationship of conversational involvement and loneliness among college students. Found that lonely participants in this study had lower rates of talkativeness, interruptions, and attention than the nonlonely; they were also perceived as less involved and less interpersonally attractive. (PD)

Suggests conditions or "cues" that provoke the process of second- guessing, and describes an experimental study confirming that interactants do second-guess when confronted with those cues. (MS)

Relationships--categorized as no growth, low growth, or high growth--were monitored over a two-week period with structured diaries kept by one party to the relationship. Overall differences were found between males and females, primarily on the four variables of satisfaction, importance, effectiveness, and personalness. (PD)

Forty-nine college students participated in a study designed to determine the relationships among self-monitoring, relational competence, and relational intimacy. Each student was asked to find a willing conversational partner, to decide upon a conversation they had recently, and--without consulting with each other--to complete a questionnaire…

In everyday conversation, people sometimes laugh as they speak. A study was conducted to determine whether the content of statements occurring with laughter differed systematically from that of statements occurring without laughter. Tape recordings of 20 utterances taken from a conversation among a small group of college students were categorized…

Results of this investigation suggest that the greater an individual's cognitive sophistication about conversation, the better his or her performance in, and memory for, social interaction. (Auth/PD)

Examines the taken-for-granted assumptions students make about selection interviews and how these assumptions affect the interview process. (PD)

Compares the Group Valence Model (GVM) to several derived versions of the Valence Distribution Model (VDM), as they relate to the group problem-solving process. Suggests that, not withstanding predictive accuracy, the VDM seems generally inferior to the GVM, which consistently accounts for more of the decision-making phenomenon. Discusses…