An abundance of academic research has focused on identifying, explicating, operationalizing, and analyzing variables used to understand the dynamics of customer service. Despite this scholarly attention, applied researchers and the popular press have long reported consumers' dissatisfaction with the service received during their customer…

While most scholars view argument as a single conversational event, the interaction can be seen as a serial episode that occurs and recurs in everyday life. This essay presents a model of serial argument with supporting data. (PD)

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…

Eighteen conversations between patients and nurses or physicians were videotaped to examine patterns that the interactants followed to maintain dominant or recessive roles. Physicians/nurses were viewed as the dominant interactants because of their greater control in the hospital setting whereas patients were viewed as the recessive interactants…

Compares the compliance-gaining interactions of selected marital types determined by the Relational Dimensions Instrument. Concludes that the various marital types used are associated with different compliance-gaining communication patterns. (MS)

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.…

Presents a conceptual and operational definition of one cognitive dimension of communicative competence--interaction involvement--based on Goffman's model of face-to-face society. Reports two studies to support the validity of the definition. Outlines the implications for future research on communicative competence as well as instructional…

Using data drawn from ten initial physician/patient interviews, an original category system was employed to analyze patterns of physician/patient communication. Static analysis, interaction analysis, and Markov chain analysis were used to discover the underlying communication patterns associated with patient satisfaction. Results revealed that…

Investigates perceptions of the amount of interpersonal communication and attitudes towards communication frequency after the Trappist monk's rule of enforced silence and solitude was lifted in 1969. Concludes that increased interpersonal communication resulted in increased self-awareness and therefore more meaningful and effective silence. (MH)

Describes a perspective designed to examine the structure, function, and process of interpersonal communication to locate the major sources of problems in particular interactions. States assumptions of the perspective, defines the elements and processes of interpersonal communication, suggests ways to use the framework, and describes current…

Written transcripts of spouses' discussions were coded using two different systems. Findings indicate that the results obtained from one coding system cannot easily be compared with results obtained from the other system. Author calls for resolution of differences in coding procedures if relational communication research is to be usefully…

Results indicated that observers familiar with a communicator's truthful behavior were more accurate in detecting deception than those who were not familiar, and that accuracy increased as self-monitoring increased. (High self-monitors are individuals particularly sensitive to the expression and self-presentation of others in social situations.)…

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)

A study analyzed the decision making process of a dual-career married couple debating whether they should relocate for his or her career. Their interaction was examined and interpreted through multiple components of conversational context, such as institutional constraints influencing the couple, their shared knowledge and perceptions, the…

Presents the foundation of a communicator style construct which is stipulated to include communication variables which reflect the "way one verbally and paraverbally interacts to signal how literal meaning should be taken, interpreted, filtered, or understood." (MH)