This paper provides a selected review of political candidate campaign advertising studies from the political science, mass communication, advertising, and political communication literature. The paper examines the literature in terms of research pertaining to (1) candidate advertising content (commercials for male versus female candidates and for…

A study compared adult learners and traditional undergraduate students in terms of three communication traits that may affect the quality and quantity of communication in the classroom. The study investigated whether adult learners differed significantly from traditional undergraduate students in terms of communication apprehension, willingness to…

A study examined the uses and functions of broadcast sports programming as compared with in-person attendance of sporting events by focusing on the motivations, behavior, and attitudes of audiences toward such activities. Subjects, 219 students from a major western university, completed a survey instrument. Findings indicated that: (1) sports…

A study examined the effectiveness of various formats for anti-drug messages on high school students. Subjects were 342 high school students from Kentucky, divided into drug user and non-user groups. Four different messages were tested, varying medium (video and print) and style of presentation (expository and narrative). Depending on the…

A number of past investigations have documented a relationship between height and personality for males and children. A study was conducted to discover the perceived personality characteristics dependent on women's heights. Subjects, 501 college students, responded to one of four pictures of two women, via a questionnaire, estimating personality…

Noting a dearth of research on the ethical use of evidence in forensic competitions, a case analysis details a speech delivered by a contestant who apparently borrowed both ideas and writing from another source. In a prize-winning speech, the contestant used source deception, plagiarism, and "pseudo" sources (attribution to sources…

A study examined some of the questions that have been raised regarding D. A. Infante and A. S. Rancer's (1982) Argumentativeness Scale. Specifically, the wording of the scale was examined. Operating under the principle that the use of the process word "arguing" and the product word "argument," as well as mention of issues or…

Summarizing research activities from January 1977 to September 1978, this is the fourth annual report of research on speech processing conducted in the Department of Psychology at Indiana University. The report includes extended manuscripts, short reports, progress reports, and information on instrumentation developments and software support. The…

To develop a taxonomy of Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) critics, a study associated professed judging philosophy and responses to survey questions with ballot behavior and elaborated judging profiles. Subjects were debate critics who judged rounds at CEDA tournaments in the Northeast during the Spring 1989 season. In all, 13 critics…

Given that elderly adults depend more heavily on their ability to communicate as independent activity becomes more restricted, their ability to alter the supersegmental component of the message becomes crucial. A study investigated the ability of older speakers to alter their speaking rate and to determine the strategies used to accomplish rate…

A study tested an indirect assessment instrument in examining the cognitive component of communication competence. The instrument was administered to 36 seniors graduating in speech communication and mass communication at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Findings revealed that test performance was mediated by overall grade point average,…

A study examined how beliefs about arguing are related to the general motivation to argue. Subjects, 505 undergraduate students, were administered the Argumentativeness Scale and a beliefs-about-arguing measure. The scale contained 10 items for measuring the general tendency to approach arguments and 10 items for measuring the general tendency to…

News reports regarding the relationship between Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank and a male prostitute reflect a growing willingness to hold public officials responsible for private acts. The incident triggered a classic example of apologia--a speech of self-defense. As critics have long suggested, the intangible nature of the…

The importance and varieties of human touch have been the subject of much research. Touching varies from culture to culture and is a way of talking in most Latin American countries. Three Puerto Rican novels provide examples of this nonverbal communicative style: "Mambru se fue a la guerra," by Jose Luis Gonzalez; "La vispera del…

A study was conducted to examine the face support and control moves that occur in a manager's communication to a poorly performing subordinate over the sequence of his or her violation. Face support was defined according to the degree of approval (positive face) and the degree of freedom (autonomy) given to the poor performers to define a course…