States that the purpose of two studies was to develop an instrument to measure patients' perceived communication apprehension in patient/physician interactions. Describes how, in the first study, the five-item Patients' Report of Communication Apprehension with Physicians (PRCAP) was developed. Examines the validity of the new test instrument.…

Tests two important theories in the history of mass communication research, agenda setting and cultivation, by comparing the effects of watching local television news with direct experience measures of crime on issue salience and fear of victimization. Finds that direct experience had no agenda-setting effect but did predict fear. (SG)

Documents three problems with the behavioral adaption explanation (BAE) that, taken together, suggest that it cannot account for the probing effect, i.e., the finding that sources interrogatively probed appear more honest to message recipients than nonprobed sources. (TB)

Focuses upon one aspect of legal preparation where effective communication skills are crucial, trial advocacy. Queries 30 practicing attorneys about the role of communication in the everyday conduct of trial procedures. Finds strong support for the study of communication as preparation for a legal career. (PA)

Examines how "-guo," a perfective aspect marker in Chinese, is used to narrate a sequence of events in speech. The study's analysis of transcribed audio-recorded natural conversation shows "-guo" indicates that a situation is viewed as a bounded whole with an emphasis on the situation's end-boundary, and that the confusion in…

Analyzes respondents' discussions of media framing of a variety of personal concerns including crime, education, taxes, economics, abortion, and more. Finds that accounts of commonly held personal concerns were highly individualized. Identifies three conceptual processes (linking, collapsing, and colorizing) as contributing to the way individuals…

Finds that 37% of a random sample of children had been frightened by a news story on television; percentage of children frightened by news increased from kindergarten to the elementary school years, whereas the tendency to be frightened by fantastic, unreal content showed a decreasing trend; and tendency to respond with fright to violence between…

Shows that long before it translates into actual behavior, the content and forms that romance assumes in the postmodern nexus of media and the market shape children's romantic imagination. Explores how children's imagined vision of romance moved from one molded by media to one characterized by a tension between what media promised and their…

Uses thematic meta-analysis to examine study method, medium and area of focus, theoretical approach, funding source, and time period covered in research articles published in 10 major mass communications journals during the 1980 to 1999 period. Finds that qualitative research methods continued to be much less common than quantitative methods…

Presents two experiments to address the questions of if and how normative social influence operates in anonymous computer-mediated communication and human-computer interaction. Finds that the perception of interaction partner (human vs. computer) moderated the group conformity effect such that the undergraduate student subjects expressed greater…

Notes that short-term exposure to nonviolent sexual media stimuli can produce cognitive changes in men which can affect their behavior toward women. Explores differences among these behavioral effects in a group of male and female undergraduate students based upon sexual degradation in film content and male viewers' gender schematicity. Discusses…

Focuses attention on the potential of deliberation for citizenship training in the academy. Offers lessons learned from case studies of courses in communication and political science to demonstrate the degree to which problems faced with deliberation in the wider population manifest themselves in the classroom. Presents examples of how these…

Explores the relationship between academic mentoring behaviors and the organizational socialization of new faculty members within the communication discipline. Indicates that mentors' tendencies to provide support and encouragement, a sense of collegiality, and research assistance are related to an organizational newcomer's feelings of…

Reports a meta-analysis of published cross-cultural self-construal research. Notes that the results across studies suggests that the evidence for the predicted cultural differences is weak, inconsistent, or nonexistent. Concludes that catastrophic validity problems exist in research involving the use of self-construal scales in cross-cultural…

Disagrees with Levine et al.'s conclusion (published in this issue, see CS 764 297) that the three self construal scales currently in use have "severe" or "fatal" flaws. Argues that the results of Levine et al.'s meta-analysis and priming studies do not raise problems with the validity of self construal scales. Concludes that the two-dimensional…