Describes and examines 150 tape-recorded compliment sequences. Reports that the course and outcome of compliments and compliment responses are affected by: (1) the way a compliment is worded; (2) the type of statement that precedes or follows the compliment; and (3) the status and sex of the compliment participants. (RAE)

Finds that women use more justifiers, intensifiers, and agreement, whereas men exhibit more vocalized pauses and also receive more vocalized pauses; conversations of mixed-sex dyads contain more overlaps and, marginally, more interruptions than conversations of same-sex dyads; but that interruptions and overlaps were not performed more frequently…

Finds that women embarrassed men at "coed" wedding and baby showers by teasing and causing them to look unpoised, and that men used avoidance, humor, remediation, and justification strategies. Adds a new strategy, compliance, to previous frameworks to explain males' reaction to embarrassment. Discusses the importance of context and…

Studies of listening in the past have almost consistently been of the observer type, where participants watch a videotape and/or listen to an audio tape as stimulus material. However, a more accurate measure of true listening ability can only be done in an interactive setting. A study measured relational listening (an individual's ability to…

Several theories exist to explain the differences in the interruptive behavior of men and women. Early research suggested that men interrupt more than women, and this finding was attributed to the dominant/submissive relationship traditional in relationships among men and women. Later studies, however, found that either there were no significant…

Investigates how attributions of blame and control influenced evaluations by undergraduate students of comforting messages varying in level of person-centeredness. Finds messages low in person-centeredness were more appropriate with high-blame targets, whereas messages high in person-centeredness were more appropriate with low-blame targets;…

Links decoding ability to interpersonal cognitive complexity and to person-centered verbal adaptiveness. Finds females more likely than males to be higher in interpersonal cognitive complexity and person-centered verbal ability, and that the influence of sex washes out the relationship of nonverbal decoding ability and cognitive complexity with…

Investigates the relationship between the argumentativeness scale and judgments of its social desirability. Finds that when the variance in argumentativeness that can be attributed to social desirability is removed, the difference between the sexes diminishes. Analyzes sex differences in social desirability, and concludes that sex differences on…

Finds that highly satisfied couples engage in significantly more communication, particularly on certain topics (home life, sexual relationship, and vacations), than do less-satisfied couples. (SR)

Found that revenge had a strong impact on attributions and accounts following sexual infidelity, whereas intent only inversely influenced the production of guilt. Found that concessions were perceived as being the most mitigating while refusals and silence were evaluated as most aggravating. Consistent with traditional and modern sexual double…

Finds that, in an interactional context involving bargaining, power accounted for over three times the amount of variance in threat use than did gender, and was the best predictor of the use of powerful language in this context. (SR)

Examines the relationship of interpersonal solidarity to various aspects of idiomatic communication in the relational cultures of college student friends. Finds that idiomatic communication is prevalent and parallels the development of intimacy in friendship. Describes functions, types, and gender differences in idioms and their correlations with…

Examines effects of event type, sex of participant, and sex of target on comforting messages. Finds comforting messages more sensitive in response to major events than daily events; females generally comforted more sensitively than males; and comforting messages directed toward females were more sensitive than those towards males. Shows…

A study examined the role played by gender and communication content in the leadership emergence process in small, task-oriented groups. Six hours of transcribed group interaction from a sample of the group deliberations of 6 mixed-sex groups of college students (n=27) engaged in a 4-month-long decision-making project served as the database for…

Replicates and extends previous research in the use of relational maintenance strategies in marriage. Examines diary logs of 10 married couples. Finds significant differences between husbands and wives for openness, network, and especially task strategies. Notes a general decline in the use of all types of strategies as years of marriage…