Examines threats, suggestions, hints, and promises for politeness and expediency in gaining others' compliance. Tests predicted rank-orderings of politeness/expediency of threats, suggestions, etc., stemming from politeness-theory literature. Indicates hints, although inefficient, are not the most polite for gaining compliance; threats, although…

Focuses on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (VVM). Evaluates the critical responses of communication scholars and others to the VVM. Suggests directions for research which would attempt to explain the social functions and ideological uses of this extraordinary site. (MS)

Replies to an article in "Human Communication Research" (v14, n4), "Item Desirability Effects in Compliance-Gaining Research: Seven Studies Documenting Artifacts" by Brant R. Burleson, Steven R. Wilson, Michael S. Waltman, Elizabeth M. Goering, Teresa K. Ely, and Bryan B. Whaley. (MS)

Examines accounting behavior in predicaments using a triangular accountability model. Finds that subjects made excuses and justifications to weaken the linkages among the three elements of the accountability triangle (identity, prescriptions, and the event); and that subjects showed a consistent preference for accounts related to a weakened link.…

Finds that compulsive communication has low positive relationships with assertiveness, willingness to communicate, self-perceived communication competence, and neuroticism; low negative relationships with introversion and communication apprehension; and moderately high negative correlation with self-reports of behavioral shyness. Suggests that…

Examines turnout of registered voters in a special vote-by-mail U.S. Senate election in which the Democratic candidate (Ron Wyden) pledged to stop using attack ads, and the Republican candidate (Gordon Smith) did not. Finds that only Republicans' participation fell, while Republicans, Independents, and Democrats who felt Wyden had lived up to his…

Delineates a metatheoretic rationale for a biologically based theory of verbal aggressiveness. Integrates neurobiological principles into the concept of verbal aggressiveness. Presents a working model, and addresses the implications of this theoretical position. (SR)

Investigates how employees perceived organizational "rules" in describing specific communication problems. Finds that stating clear policy would have helped head off 20% of the problems described; respondents mentioned many more unwritten than written means by which communication expectations were conveyed; and organizations with written…

Evaluates the framing concept and its utility for communication research in conflict resolution. Defines frames as communicative, rather than cognitive, constructions. Provides a theoretical framework for explicating the communicative framing process and its potential issues in conflict. Explores the effects of particular framing patterns on…

For the thirty-second year, the Research and Theory Division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. This volume includes papers presented at the national convention of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology held in Louisville, KY. This…

This article offers a case study of a graduate class in communication research methods with a service-learning approach. Students were engaged in evaluating the public information campaign of a nonprofit organization exposing human rights abuses in US prisons. They gained hands-on experience in the use of a variety of basic research methods and…

This study explored the effectiveness of communication training for clergy, working to create an outcomes assessment model for such endeavors. Clergy-participants (N=46) completed an extensive training process designed to increase the transformative quality of their sermon communication. Training outcomes were assessed with a prepost test design,…

Despite considerable research on teaching and learning in higher education, the relationship between university teachers' and students' understandings of the same teaching-learning events has not been a focus. This exploratory qualitative study used individual interviews to investigate the role of conceptions of teaching, learning and knowledge in…

The University of Ottawa in Canada offers a peer-mentoring program (whereby an experienced student provides support and guidance to another student) and an associated training program for all peer mentors through its Student Academic Success Service. In addition to the formal training, some peer mentors receive feedback and support through an…

An experiment tested hypotheses derived from self-categorization theory's explanation for gender-based language use. Under high or low conditions of gender salience, men and women sent e-mail to an ostensible male or female recipient yielding either an intra- or an intergroup setting. Gender salience was manipulated so that the stereotypically…