Compared male and female managers' communication style with subordinates in staff meetings. A category system was developed for coding communicative behaviors. Managers were administered the Bem Sex Role Inventory. Results indicated that male and female managers demonstrated similar communication styles and similar masculine perceptions of…

Indicates the existence of such communication dimensions as attentive, relaxed, animated, dominant, impression leaving, communicator image, and apprehension. Finds that high school students who perceived themselves as being relaxed and attentive, low on communication apprehension, and as having a positive view of their communication image also…

Examined communication strategies that 68 preschoolers used to negotiate themes and roles in social pretend play. A major finding was that children in the disliked group used higher proportions of suggestions and demands than did children in the liked and low-impact groups. Disliked girls used the highest proportion of suggestions. (LB)

An exploratory study was conducted to define and differentiate interruptions structurally and tactically. The participants were 60 college students assigned to female-female, female-male, and male-male conversational dyads. The dyadic conversations were recorded for 14 minutes, during a period of "getting to know each other" and during a…

Focusing on perceived sex differences in organizational settings, a study examined mutual evaluations of communicative competence in superior-subordinate relationships. Subjects, 86 superior-subordinate pairs from 23 organizations, completed the Communication Competency Assessment Instrument measuring competencies in communication codes, oral…

Reframing, (redirecting or changing the perceptual experience of a situation by placing it in another frame that fits the facts equally well or better) is a relatively unique approach to interpersonal problem solving. A study was conducted to determine whether reframing could be taught as a self-help interpersonal problem-solving skill and to…

To determine whether individuals with different sexual identities exhibit different amounts of touching behavior, 199 undergraduates completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) and a modification of the Touch Avoidance Measure (TAM). The BSRI produced scores indicating an individual's degree of association with both masculine and feminine traits.…

Reports the results of stage two of a three-stage project designed to develop, through field testing, a model for determining the norms of general adult communication behavior. Discusses implications of this study, including those for planners of communication instruction. (PD)

A study was conducted to examine speech interruption patterns as an index of communication dominance and gender differences in language behavior. Six graduate student groups involving a total of 35 subjects were videotaped. The data extracted for study were 255 transcribed interruption sequences. A category system was developed and used to code…

Examined the rates, contextual meanings, and attributional meanings of nonverbal behavior occurring during role-played conflict between dating couples. Eighty couples reported perceptions of their own behaviors and their partners' behaviors and were observed by trained raters. The nonverbal channel was used significantly more by females than by…

To explain evidence that females receive higher grades in communication courses than males, one researcher has posed a competence/compliance paradox: either, women are more competent communicators and are only judged to be less competent in public life because of prejudice, or, women are not as competent as men in communication as demonstrated in…

Despite the increase in the number of women entering the work force, the organizational setting is not typically conducive to upward mobility for most women. According to a variety of research studies, the impact of sex role stereotyping clearly suggests a set of communication behaviors appropriate for male managers and a different set appropriate…