A study supporting the contention that opinionation in a persuasive message functions conjointly with the personality variable approval-dependence, to produce differential effects on recipient attitude change. (Author)

This study was conducted to provide additional insight into the functioning of authority-based assertion by controlling to a large extent other relevant variables. This control made possible a test of the interaction of authority-based assertion with critical thinking ability. (Author)

A study testing the hypothesis that persuasion decreases as comprehension decreases in an oral communication situation. Raises serious questions about the relationship of comprehension to persuasion. (Author/JB)

Reports a study of how selected predispositional and environmental variables interact to influence the processing of information in given communicative situations." (Author/SW)

Discusses the strengths and weaknesses in the rhetoric of Eugene V. Debs" in speeches delivered between 1874 and 1926. (Author/SW)

Students scoring high on creativity measures ( Creative Thinking Abilities") were found to be more susceptible to persuasion. Treatment: author fabricated report on high school activities; criterion: Attitudes Toward Guidance Programs." Data from a follow-up study using Children's Withholding Opinion Scale indicate a relationship…

Although argument in its ideal form is central to the study of rhetoric, controversy in the real world also needs to be addressed in the classroom. The author reports on his study of the Overton Park expressway controversy, which produced a landmark Supreme Court decision on environmental policy. (PD)

Examines the rhetorical role of several twentieth century historians who were opinion leaders on behalf of the American way of achieving success: by emulating the earlier qualities of our frontier and founding fathers. Discusses the role of Frederick Turner Jackson, Charles A. Beard, Carl Becker, Allan Nevins, and others. (PD)

Examines three strategies by which competitive debaters generate and organize their affirmative cases. Discusses how the persuasive writer can use these same three strategies as heuristics for deliberative discourse and as models for its organization. (HTH)

Two communication strategies, a brochure and a brochure plus personal contact, were used to disperse wilderness campers from a heavily used meadow. Results indicate that both strategies were successful, and no difference was found between them in overall effectiveness. (Authors/JN)

Argues that the news media actively promoted presidential debates, sought to establish expectations, and then became active critics. Concludes that presidential skills were seen as more important than message content. Notes that the current format does not enlarge public understanding and suggests a Lincoln-Douglas format in the future. (PD)

Argues that instructional development (ID) faculty in higher education settings should use a systematic approach grounded in ID principles to present the case for filling vacant positions in their field and provides guidelines for using message design techniques to develop a file to support the case. Eight references are listed. (MER)

To meet the Nazi Party's need for speakers, Fritz Reinhardt began a correspondence course in public speaking in 1928 which trained about 6,000 speakers by 1933. This essay examines the techniques Reinhardt used and the contributions his instructions made to the development of the Nazi meetings and Hitler's takeover. (PD)

Discusses President Carter's televised address on the Panama Canal Treaties in terms of five "topoi" for a rhetoric of retreat: timeliness, urgency, value, advantage, and shrewdness. Compares his failure to employ the commonsense arguments that a policy of retreat requires in the televised speech with his more successful impromptu…

Examines the metaphoric networks created by a presidential hopeful and a pope. Argues that what is significant about the rhetoric of each is not the recurrence of a single metaphor but rather the appearance of clusters of related metaphors which reveal the rhetor's projected relationship with his audience. (JMF)