Discusses the differences between preliterate, literate, and multiliterate societies. Describes how societies move from the preliterate stage to literate and then to multiliterate, and speculates about the future of literacy. Includes a literacy chart. (SKC)

Investigated the effects of subject sex and target sex on reported conflict management styles. Found males more likely than females to use a competing style, while females were more likely than males to use a compromising style. Found all subjects more likely to use an accommodating style with female targets. (SKC)

Describes the development of a Communication Openness Measure (COM) based on an empirically supported model of the communication openness construct and suggests a number of speculative conclusions about the nature of communication openness. (JC)

Investigates relationships between dating competence and loneliness. Concludes that individuals with low loneliness reported significantly greater skills in dating, proximity, satisfaction in dating, and frequency of dating. Reports no significant differences between individuals with high and low levels of loneliness on apprehension about dating,…

Attempts to explain perceptual incongruence in coorientation of communication rules by examining the influence of sex composition in superior-subordinate relationships on rules coorientation and communication satisfaction. Indicates that, in mixed-sex dyads, higher levels of communication rules coorientation do not translate into higher levels of…

Compares high and low consensus discussions, and identifies patterns of communication which differentiate the two levels of agreement. Describes several interactional differences, including the variety of integration methods employed, and the method and distribution of generating possible solutions to the problem. (MM)

Summarizes recently articulated research needs in business and technical communication. Argues that qualitative studies of writing on the job and in the classroom are the most needed form of empirical research. Shows how research can be conducted using one type of qualitative research, ethnography. (JAD)

Examines the impact of attempts to reduce uncertainty about audience performance expectations on anticipatory audience anxiety. Reports that successful models presented to clarify audience performance expectations were ineffective in reducing anticipatory audience anxiety. (MM)

Presents a model of social confrontation (communication episodes initiated when one participant signals that the other's behavior violates a rule or expectation for appropriate conduct). Describes issues arising during social confrontation. Concludes that negotiating expectations or relational rules within a problematic situation is the crux of…

Investigates and analyzes the connections between couples' complaint behavior and their feelings about their relationships. Indicates that adjusted (as opposed to maladjusted) couples are significantly more likely to manifest behavioral (instead of personal characteristic) complaints, positive (as opposed to negative) affect, and agreement (rather…

Uses metaphor analysis to illuminate recent conflicts at Disneyland. Discusses a 30-year change of emphasis of root-metaphors from "drama" to "family" that reflects fundamental differences between management and employees, along with the implications of this confrontation for the future of Disneyland. (NKA)

Uses symbolic interactionism to understand media choice processes during managerial communications--studying communication incidents involving face-to-face, telephone, electronic mail, and written media. Suggests that managers' choices are influenced by (1) ambiguity of the message content and richness of the communication medium, (2) symbolic…

Notes that the rapid rise in private practice of an economic model known as "contract medicine" (such as the HMO) has introduced powerful new organizational constraints on interaction between member physicians and their patients. Examines the negotiation of specialty referral in two practices participating in contract plans. (MM)

Claims all-news radio programming has appeal because it is monotonous, cyclically repetitive and expectable and that (1) the style encourages "habitual" and "automatic" listening with an economy of effort, and (2) the structure anesthetizes listeners by couching the news in familiar linguistic forms which subtly stabilize and…

Explores the relationship between interaction involvement as a traitlike dimension of communicative competence and the use of grammatical cohesive devices to create explicit ties within conversation. Presents three dyad types and argues that the patterned use of cohesive devices is sensitive to the nature of the dyad type. (MM)