Examines explanations for college students' risky sexual behavior (placing them at higher than average risk for HIV infection). Tests a model of factors influencing college students' sexual behavior. Finds that sexual motives driven by concern for health have only an indirect effect on condom use and that interpersonal influence from sexual…

Explores preferences for word-processed versus handwritten messages in an organizational setting. Identifies variables that affect preferences for written media: hierarchical level, message length, message complexity, anticipated reaction, communication task, need for documentation, and communication across work shifts. Shows that the cost control…

Surveys people in business to find out about their communication needs. Finds that respondents believe that oral communication before a small group is important; principles of communication should be stressed over formats for letters and memos; and reading and editing, as well as grammar skills, are very important. (SR)

Responds to two influential essays articulating "conventional social scientific notions of theory" by Roderick Hart. Argues with Hart's fundamental assumptions that commonality is more important than distinctiveness and that neo-Aristotelianism threatens the fragile status of contemporary scholarship in public address. Addresses notions…

Uses discourse analysis to display the interplay between resistance and domination using one man's description (in interviews and in a newspaper article) of sexual harassment and his attempts at redress. Reveals how the articulation of resistance becomes oppressive and the articulation of repression offers resistance. (SR)

Describes a longitudinal study of positive first-order efficiency effects of video teleconferencing technology. Finds in which ways video teleconferencing is equal or superior to face-to-face meetings, and in which ways it is less effective. Points out that in video teleconferencing, it is more common to have a more negative impression of the…

Examines by meta-analysis the effect that exposure to pornography produces on aggressive behavior under laboratory conditions considering a variety of possible moderating conditions. Demonstrates a homogeneous set of results showing that pictorial nudity reduces subsequent violent behavior, but that depictions of nonviolent sexual behavior and…

Examines student use of a prototype networked collaborative design environment to support or augment learning about engineering design. Finds that students use the channels for a variety of activities to increase depth of communication, increase breadth of communication, and overcome technical difficulty. Suggests that students need multiple…

Explores communication ethnographically in six text-based virtual realities through four items of jargon: spoof, spam, lurk, and lag. Suggests that articulated aesthetics serve as rules for proper behavior, markers of experience and belonging, metaphors for poetic expression, and resources for play and challenge within the community. (RS)

Explores the effects on other group members of positive and negative responses directed by one member of a discussion group to another. Finds significant differences between treatments for members' attitudes toward their group, but mixed support for the predicted sequence of treatment effects. Notes that the results differ notably from those…

Uses a semiotic reading of nonverbal communication as a way to comment on the ideologies of various cultural contexts. Suggests that the semiotic approach offers a method of "reading" the metatextual meanings surrounding nonverbal behavior. Finds that a reading of the political leaders of different cultures reveals the connection between…

Argues that Henry Clay's rhetorical performance during the 1850 compromise debate employed a particular idiom and enacted a particular form of prudential conduct: prudential accommodation. Explores the rhetorical forms and practical limits of this prudential idiom. Helps disclose an alternative prudential idiom--prudential audacity--within the…

Examines two factors (affirming/nonaffirming style and dyad sex) to determine if they influence perceptions of verbal aggression and argumentation behavior in an interpersonal dispute. Finds that fewer mistakes were made in the perception of verbal aggression in the conflict when they communicated with an affirming rather than a nonaffirming…

Explores some basic concepts and premises of E. Noelle-Neumann's spiral of silence theory, based on data from Israel during the Intifada. Suggests that the information environment is the primary factor in specifying the role of social adjustment mechanisms versus event information in determining the direction in which public opinion evolves. (SR)

Finds that during organizational entry, socialization tactics, communication traits, attitudes, and values influence information/feedback-seeking behaviors, which then result in higher attributional confidence and lower role ambiguity. Shows that newcomers who actively sought information and became critically involved during early employment were…