Quantifies sexual, violent, sexually violent, and prosocial behaviors in a sample of R-rated and X-rated videocassettes. Finds the predominant behavior in both X- and XXX-rated videos is sexual. Finds the predominant behavior in R-rated videos was violence followed by prosocial behavior. (RS)

Examines the history of business communication principles. Concludes that principles developed for business communication found in early twentieth-century business communication textbooks can be traced to a 2000-year-old tradition of epistolographic writings. Notes that business communication in the twentieth century and the ancient…

Conducts a factor analysis to determine listening barriers perceived as most frequently affecting the listening effectiveness among business college students. Finds the presence of six listening barriers, with the barrier "listen primarily for details or facts" as the most frequently encountered barrier perceived by students. (MM)

Investigates concerns among both disabled and able-bodied individuals concerning helping behavior in three settings: a sheltered workshop, a social activity group, and a university. Finds that helping did not appear to be a serious problem, and proposes 17 tentative "rules" for helping the handicapped. (KEH)

Examines reports written in mental health hospitals and community mental health centers. Analyzes a total of 150 randomly selected samples of 5 basic mental health records, and evaluates the rhetorical contexts for each with regard to author, purpose, audience and use. (KEH)

Argues that since invention in scientific research is discovery of the unknown, and since invention in writing is discovery of ideas within existing knowledge, then scientific research cannot be viewed as a part of prewriting in the scientific writing process. (KEH)

Introduces a special issue of "Communication Research," which examines (both quantitatively and qualitatively) how processes within individuals influence communication within marital and family life. (SR)

Investigates the persuasive communication of male and female middle managers, focusing on the mediating influence of a manager's power on his or her selection of anticipated compliance-gaining message strategies. Finds no marked differences between the genders in the types of strategies and tactics used to influence subordinates. (KEH)

Analyzes and reviews research related to interviewer and applicant questioning processes in the employment interview. Examines (1) constraints and antecedent factors associated with asking questions in the interview; (2) characteristics of interview questions; (3) and the consequences or outcomes of questioning. Discusses pragmatic implications…

Investigates the extent to which actor-partner points of view influence the outcomes of conflict messages on perceptions of communicator appropriateness, effectiveness, and global competence. Finds support for the attributional approach used to explain actor-observer judgments of actors' communicative competence. (MG)

Examines the effectiveness of indirect requests in attaining assistance from intimate and nonintimate others. Finds that directness of requests increases request force and interacts with relational intimacy to influence verbal compliance. Finds that directness is more effective at eliciting verbal compliance at higher levels of intimacy. (KEH)

Examines a descriptive model of communication relationships between members of collectives to determine whether perceptions are the result of formal structure, collective interests, or individual interests. Finds structures of perceived communication relationships are similar across organizations, whereas structures in observable communication are…

Examines whether trained observers detect deception more accurately than untrained observers. Finds that trained observers judge veracity of low self-monitors and unrehearsed liars with higher deception detection accuracy. Reports that discrepancy between observers' actual ability to detect deception and certainty in their judgment accuracy is…

Compares judgments of journalists and scientific information sources (including industry representatives, government officials, environmental advocates, and academic scientists) about what makes a "high-quality" news story about environmental risk. Finds that there is a deeper desire among traditional news sources to support the status…

Provides an overview of recent advances in the study of the psychology of question answering, with particular emphasis on the ability to answer questions about coherent spoken and written messages. Examines the components of question answering, employing strategies, memory search, and comparison operations. (SR)