Information processing theories have been very useful in psychology. The application of information processing literature to communication, however, requires definitions of audiences and definitions of messages relevant to information-processing theories. In order to establish the relevant aspect of audiences, a multiple-stage model of audiences…

Listening skills are important in social situations and in the classroom. A study investigated the relationship of birth order and listening. The Kentucky Comprehensive Listening Test was given to 189 undergraduates enrolled in lower division communication courses. Results showed that first-borns in two-sibling families ranked higher than…

To gain insight into whether debate judges actually do treat impromptu speaking as miniextemporaneous speaking, a study compared the comments judges wrote to extemporaneous speakers with those they wrote to impromptu speakers during the first two rounds of a forensic tournament. Approximately 1,000 comments from 152 ballots (102 impromptu and 50…

The conflict resolution communication attempts practiced by a food cooperative were studied to determine if they revealed the primary ideals of the counterculture philosophy. To highlight the findings, the study also examined the conflict resolution communication attempts of a fraternity--a representative of the dominant culture philosophy. Data…

Noting the tendency for some researchers to reject communication network analysis because the original data might be self-reports, this paper proposes automated network analysis as a means of circumventing such objections. The paper first identifies seven different approaches to defining networks--(1) objective, (2) analyzed, (3) user perceived,…

A study examined cable access centers--studios established by cable television systems for the use of community groups, institutions, and individuals--in order to identify the characteristics of those used frequently. Data were gathered from 119 respondents concerning 34 access centers in major metropolitan areas in the United States. The findings…

A study investigated the influence of communication apprehension on preference for channel of communication: face-to-face meeting, telephone call, or written note. Subjects, 68 college and vocational-technical school faculty, were interviewed on a variety of topics, including telephone apprehension (TA); and completed written tests for speech…

Noting the recent growing concern for the theoretical development of intercultural communication, this paper reviews various interpretive schools of thought that have used qualitative research methods in either intracultural or intercultural communication contexts. Following a brief discussion of the differences between qualitative and…

Expressing the need for a description of communication that is equally applicable to all the social sciences, this report develops a general model of the communication process based upon the principle of convergence as derived from basic information theory and cybernetics. It criticizes the linear, one-way models of communication that have…

In academic, scientific and professional communities, individuals request reprints of published articles from the authors of those articles. To investigate the effect of the method of communication, letter or postcard, with or without a personal handwritten note, on request compliance rate and response latency, two separate studies, in 1979 and in…

This study examined one form of organizational socialization, the new employee orientation program, to determine whether such organizational efforts would increase levels of organizational identification and employee perceptions of job satisfaction when employees underwent such a program. An alternative model was tested to ascertain whether or not…

This study examined the relationship between a superior and subordinate's interpersonal need orientation and subordinate job satisfaction, based on W. C. Schutz's Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation theory which suggests that compatible interpersonal needs are characterized by relational satisfaction. Subjects, 118 people in 59…

A study was conducted which partially tested the validity of assumptions of the Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM) based model of communication competence. Two research questions were explored: (1) how well can a CMM-based model predict an individual's perceived communication competence in a given context? and (2) how is an individual…

Two studies examined the effectiveness of a model designed as an instructional aid in teaching college students how to respond to potentially discriminatory employment interview questions. Subjects in the first study, 91 students enrolled in communication classes in a mid-size Wisconsin university who were told that they would be asked to respond…

A study examined public perceptions of unethical employee acts as a function of variations in a corporation's cultural image, with emphasis upon the effect of congruent and incongruent organizational messages upon the perception of the degree of unethicality. Subjects, 200 adults approached at public locations, were asked to: (1) read one of three…