The individual who is a focus of public attention is an active constructor of outcomes. He attempts to anticipate important characteristics of his observers and modifies his reactions in order to control likely consequences. The nature of the task is also of central importance. For socially relevant responses the individual's behavior is closely…

"Audience experience" is a term used to denote the subjective meaning of news watching for the average American. This study examines audience experience in the following ways: the extent to which the television audience chooses, through self-defined goals, the television news broadcast they will watch, the uses and gratification…

Boys and girls (10-11 years) responded in a speed task faster in the presence than absence of an audience. Children were faster with the same-than opposite-sexed audiences. The results were discussed in terms of same-sex competitive motives, sex-stereotypes, and opposite-sex distractability. (Author)

Environmental education and communications may not be received openly by some audiences on the grounds that content represents only one perspective on an issue. Accordingly there is increasing appreciation of the need to recognize and include diverse groups' perspectives when designing environmental communications in order to reach and affect…

Objects assembled in nonrepresentational fashion from tinker toy pieces are the starting point for a technical description writing assignment designed to increase the students' awareness of audience while at the same time giving them practice in description, analysis, and active judgment. Having been separated into two groups, each facing a…

Twelve issues of Library Journal, randomly selected every other year from 1958 to 1980, were analyzed under the headings of general data, articles, text departments, book review sections, and advertisements to determine any changes such as scope, emphasis, and audience. Findings included increases in the number of pages per year during 1958 to…

Library historians and historians of literacy have been more creative than journalism historians in using individual-level historical data such as deeds, wills, depositions, surveys, and census figures to study reading behaviors of the past. For example, the series of family cost of living surveys conducted in the United States by state and…

This report presents the highlights of research activities conducted in 1980 by the Office of Communication Research (OCR), whose job it is to serve the information needs of five distinct entities: the United States Congress, national public broadcasting agencies, local public radio and television stations across the country, decision-making…

A two-part telephone survey was conducted to examine (1) the television viewing preferences of those who did and did not watch the television program "Shogun," and (2) the relationship between attitudes toward ethnic groups and perceptions of the program. An extensive questionnaire for a college student sample and a more simple form for…

Designed to assess the motivations viewers have for watching public television (PTV), the gratifications they derive from programs they enjoy, and their expectations of PTV, the pilot study described was conducted to provide information for program decision-making and efforts aimed at attracting different types of audiences. The research strategy…

The responses of 36 publishers and editors of city magazines--magazines such as "Chicago,""MPLS," and "Texas Monthly" that are published primarily for a local or regional market--provided data for an analysis of the positioning of these magazines in the media marketplace, factors leading to their success, their…

Because it focuses on questions of communication, the experimental theatre of the 1970s, particularly that created by Robert Wilson and Richard Foreman, can be analyzed according to two distinct theories regarding the communication process. The first theory defines communication as a process in which the communicator selects and transmits messages…

Unique in its communication effectiveness, the preaching style of George H. Morrison cannot be defined according to a particular communication classification system. Morrison's preaching reflected his deep concern for the individual person through simplicity of language, certainty of word choice, confident assertion of Scripture, and careful…

The last of four related manuals describing the goals and methods of an established developmental theatre project at the University of Colorado, this manual discusses the processes involved in selecting and adapting scripts for specific audiences. The manual suggests ways to cut longer plays for school audiences, methods for organizing parts of…