Explores the procedure of dropping the low rank/low rating that is used at some national forensic tournaments and finds that a significantly altered pool of contestants for elimination rounds is not produced. (MM)

Assesses whether a contestant's seed in an elimination round is a good indicator of the contestant's finish in that particular round, and finds limited support for concluding that seeding is a good indicator of final placement. (MM)

Reports on a research program investigating a model of mediator communicative competence in a divorce mediation context. Presents coding schemes for categorizing mediator interventions and disputants' negotiation tactics. Displays and interprets data by focusing on the pragmatic value of the model for practicing divorce mediators. (MM)

Introduces a new procedure for assessing communication style, the Communication Style Q-Set. The measure consists of a deck of 100 items describing communication orientations and behaviors. These may be sorted by subjects or raters to describe an individual's unique style. Presents evidence to support the measure's face, concurrent, and…

Explores the rhetorical nature of political cartoons by applying Kenneth Burke's concepts and terminology to this graphic art form. Examines (1) formal strategy of "perspective by incongruity," (2) burlesque attitude in political cartoons, and (3) fusion of form and attitude in the tropal principles of this graphic art. Draws from…

Examines patterns of aggression as culturally sanctioned forms of relationships governed by recognizable rules and voluntarily selected. Results indicated that although uninvolved, spectators of aggression expect, advise, and condone the escalation of aggression to the point of physical violence. (SRT)

Presents an exploratory taxonomy of small group interaction-coding systems. Six dimensions that characterize interaction-coding schemes are presented in a hierarchical order ranging from abstract conceptual issues to specific methodological ones. These dimensions are: philosophical perspective, conceptual and operational focus, observer inference,…

Argues that the unconscious mind plays a central role in argumentation. Discusses the nature of the unconscious and analyzes invention, focusing on rules theory. Claims that argument reception is controlled by the unconscious. Identifies a series of basic issues needing investigation. (JD)

Supports research indicating that disclaimers have no effect on perceptions of source credibility. Reveals that frequency of disclaimer use was unrelated to subject-juror evaluations of witness credibility and testimony believability; females did not use more disclaimers than males during examination; and when females used disclaimers, they were…

Reviews two books by Martin Jay on the intellectual history of Western Marxism and critical theory "in exile" that detail the complex foundations of an ideological critique of culture and society and evaluates their meaning for communications scholarship. (JD)

Investigates the nature of breakpoints, or the introduction of new topics, as they occur in group decision making processes. Defines breakpoints, analyzes the utility of the concept of breakpoints in group discussion, and offers tentative conclusions about the nature of group interaction. (SRT)

Discusses three studies that generated six replications of the subjective message construct theory indicating that between 25 percent and 50 percent of the variance in belief change can be explained by the theory. Indicates that subjective probabilities can be used to construct valid operational measures of importance and novelty. (NKA)

Defines and tests two gratifications sought and obtained models. Suggests the transactional model is more effective in predicting dependency on, while an expanded discrepancy model better predicts frequency of, viewing two kinds of television news programs. (MS)

Compares three letter libraries designed for IBM-style personal computers. Finds the quality of the three approximately equal, but rates sample letters as generally poor. (MS)

Uses a thematic approach to explore the therapeutic norm, the confrontation communication, and the nature of commitment in a small contemporary commune. Focuses on the behavior of prominent individuals. (MS)