Examines narcissistic communication and the ways it is exhibited in everyday conversation. Identifies the following behavioral referents: boasting, refocusing the topic of conversation on the self, exaggerating hand and body movements, using a loud tone of voice, and "glazing over" when others speak. Suggests that conversational…

Reviews the history of the Public Relations Body of Knowledge Abstracts, a database of public relations research and literature. Describes the uses of the abstracts for research purposes, and reports assessments of new research directions as set forth by members of the Public Relations Society of America's permanent Body of Knowledge Board. (MM)

Analyzes a recent instance of focus group research applied to a public relations case (rather than a marketing case). Reviews the advantages and disadvantages of this qualitative method, and describes the case of a county department of mental health relying on focus group research to help plan a program aimed at reducing the stigma of mental…

Surveys employees of the Hershey Medical Center in Pennsylvania to examine why they read "Vital Signs," the employee newsletter. Finds that employees with a higher level of organizational integration often place more emphasis on reading the employee newsletter to survey system functions and the employee social network. (MM)

Examines the question of who have been the most important theorists in the communication field. Evaluates the relative importance of various theorists by counting the number of pages in the "International Encyclopedia of Communication" that mention each theorist. Provides a chronological list of the 120 theorists most often named in the…

Observes that three dominant perspectives on intentionality--the encoder, decoder, and interactional--emerge from communication literature. Explains that the encoder perspective links intent to conscious activity, whereas the decoder perspective associates intent with observable actions. Notes that the interactional perspective attempts to unite…

Proposes a new thesis about the role of individual differences in managers' media choice behavior. Argues that individual differences influence media choice only under conditions of low message equivocality. Reports that the findings of an exploratory study provide some support for this theoretical notion. (MG)

Examines whether delayed judgments of observed behaviors are more biased than immediate judgments. Finds that delayed judgments more closely approximate implicit theories of communicative competence. (SR)

Presents new measures of musical syntax which allow systematic comparison of normative and distorted syntactic structure and thus investigation of the notion that distortion, both semantic and syntactic, enhance audience attention. Applies the measures in an examination of the social forces that influence the use of normative versus distorted…

Explores and illustrates the different types of press relations commonly undertaken by terrorist organizations. Argues that large and small groups both engage in publicity efforts, but employ different patterns of press relations activities. (SR)

Advocates the traditional controlled message, crossed design for the study of language variables in communication research. Analyzes and rejects arguments (presented in the article, "Messages as Replications: Toward a Message-Centered Design Strategy," in the same issue) in support of the multiple-message design. (SR)

Advocates the multiple-message design (message replication within experiments) for message research in communication. Analyzes and rejects arguments (presented in the article, "The Design and Analysis of Language Experiments in Communication," in the same issue) in support of the single-message design. (SR)

Investigates jury decision-making factors, decision timing, and the decision-making process by talking to actual trial jurors. Indicates that jurors were influenced by the evidence, witnesses, lawyers, and defendant and that the jurors made their decisions early in two trials and later in another trial. (SR)

Examines words per pause (W/P) as a means of identifying solidarity between speakers and listeners. Speakers use significantly more words per pause with friends than when speaking with strangers. W/P can be used to investigate speaking style in various contexts and to diagnose sympathy and estrangement between speakers. (JL)

Considers issues in rhetorical epistemology whose significance transcends religious communication and commitment. Examines consensus-based epistemology as a model for understanding religious belief. Discusses the implications of Jeffery Bineham's position for rhetorical criticism (presented in a previous article in this issue) as well as the…