Consistency theory holds that persons are motivated to behave in ways that maintain a "steady state" cognitively and otherwise; need-fulfillment theory argues that people will act in ways that reinforce their sense of worth and enhance their self-esteem. While consistency theory predicts that low self-esteem persons will exhibit more eye…

Guided by the belief that impressions of communication competence are based on observations of behavior appropriate to a particular context and on inferences about others' capabilities and motivations, a study was undertaken to (1) examine the relationship between self perceptions and other perceptions, (2) discover the role of motivation in…

A total of 286 subjects was presented with a series of motivations and asked to evaluate the relative importance of each in their exposure/avoidance decisions about watching sports programs on television. The 188 sports viewers assessed the importance of each motivation for their viewing of baseball, hockey, football, and tennis. The 98…

A study tested the effectiveness of ridicule as an educational and social corrective in children's educational television programs. Arbitrary activities involving a novel object were presented to 69 four-year-old and 83 six-year-old children via videotaped presentations and demonstrations. In each of three types of motivational message (ridicule,…