Ninety-three officers and enlisted men of the United States Army National Guard were surveyed for their communication attitudes in a study comparing rhetorical sensitivity to two organizational communication variables--leadership effectiveness (as a managerial skill) and position in an organizational hierarchy (rank). The survey measured the ways…

Fantasy Theme Analysis was used to examine the rhetorical clash of incongruent world views during the 1978 controversy over a gay rights ordinance in St. Paul, Minnesota. Fantasy Theme Analysis considers the individual and collective dramatizations of a group's goals, scope, and activities--the group's conceptualized reality, or fantasy theme--in…

Among the characteristics of communicative apprehensive individuals are fearful reactions to communication situations, perceptions of low personal competency, an inability to identify appropriate social behaviors, and an anticipation of negative outcomes to interaction. One proposed model for communication apprehension assumes that a state of…

A survey was conducted of students participating in the 1982 Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) tournament to uncover the reasons why they were competing in CEDA, whether they had ever participated in the National Debate Tournament (NDT), and which style of debate they preferred. Of the 133 respondents, 83 males and 50 females, 42%…

Research has established that classroom verbal interaction typically involves turn taking cycles described as "teacher solicits,""pupil responds," and "teacher reacts." A study examined the question/answer cycles occurring within 36 videotaped language arts lessons conducted by six elementary school teachers and made inferences regarding what…

As part of a project investigating how communication within hospital systems differs from communication in other types of organizations, the employees of a 40-bed hospital were surveyed for their attitudes on perceived uncertainty, internal patterns of communication in the hospital, and worker satisfaction. Variables that were studied included…

The results obtained by researchers interested in the speech-time relationship indicate that the sequential organization through time of speech sounds necessary for communication requires a universal "grammar" consisting of vowel and consonant sequences and an awareness of the duration experienced in that process, as well as the memory…

To examine the nature of sex differences in children's speech during play, 10 boys and 10 girls in kindergarten were videotaped continuously during 10 minute dyadic play sessions involving non-sex-typed toys. Each child participated twice -- once with a same-sex peer and once with an opposite-sex peer. The videotapes were coded according to whom…

Narrative observations were made of kindergarten through fourth grade students' challenges of their peers' inappropriate behavior and of the responses made to the challenges. Approximately 90 hours of observation in 10 classrooms yielded 728 occasions in which an interchange began with one child challenging another. Three types of responses to…

One pathway through which second order effects proceed is "social referencing," a process in which the individual utilizes another's interpretation when appraising a situation. This phenomenon is well identified in adults and older children. While it had not been studied in infancy, there are good indications that the necessary cognitive…

A study examined three aspects of the collective bargaining situation that involves, either directly or indirectly, communication behavior: (1) the number of opportunities to communicate, (2) the degree of cooperation/competitiveness shown by an opponent, and (3) the degree of communication apprehension possessed by parties to the process.…

Recent social scientific interest in juror selection has advanced the "voir dire" (jury selection) process beyond Clarence Darrow's formula for choosing a jury likely to be sympathetic to his client. From a communication perspective, generalization to different cases in different sections of the country and under different conditions…

A study analyzed the decision making process of a dual-career married couple debating whether they should relocate for his or her career. Their interaction was examined and interpreted through multiple components of conversational context, such as institutional constraints influencing the couple, their shared knowledge and perceptions, the…

Research has shown that most individuals assume that they have realistic perceptions of the significant people in their lives, be they family, friends or adversaries. However, under special circumstances, images of significant others may be shattered as they are seen "for the first time." A phenomenological analysis of 60 descriptions…

A two-year long study investigated the influence of being in a mainstreamed classroom on nonhandicapped children's abilities to communicate with the handicapped. The study involved three groups of students: (1) 66 nonhandicapped, nonintegrated (those in classes without handicapped children); (2) 24 nonhandicapped, integrated; and (3) 55…