Illustrates both the need and a reasoning method for normative social ethics in communication by applying Reinhold Niebuhr's concept of justice to advertising as a preliminary case study. (KEH)

Examines one organization's complex rhetorical processing aimed at shaping ethical conduct of newcomers. Reveals a strategy of evoking identification to the organization through a series of strategically focused identifications which culminate in an attempt to shape commitment to a set of organizational values. (KEH)

Investigates the status of Ph.D. communication education in research ethics. Analyzes research issues and reading materials used in coursework offered in research ethics. Finds that no program surveyed currently devotes an entire course to communication research ethics and that overall instruction in ethics is not extensive. (KEH)

Studies the effect of involvement in responses to persuasive appeals. Explains that mass communication students, grouped by high and low ability and motivation levels, were given pretests and then listened to health information. Reveals correlations among attentiveness, ability, and recall of irrelevant words. Indicates that motivation…

Studies the effects of preexposure briefings upon male undergraduate communication students viewing films portraying violence against women. Concludes that viewings preceded by antirape messages and by the writing of antirape papers by the students themselves made students more likely to sympathize with female victims of violence. (SG)

Investigates specific differences in self-reports of shy and not-shy individuals regarding their communication behavior: social composure, social confirmation, social experience, appropriate disclosure, articulation, and wit. Finds significant differences on social composure, articulation, and social experience. (SR)

Examines patterns of television viewing and viewing motivations for the "PTL Club" in light of the recent PTL scandal. Extracts the ritualized user and a modified version (curious consumer) of the instrumental user only. Discusses implications for the future of religious television. (SR)

Studies the effect of musical preferences on undergraduate students' estimation of numerous behavioral traits and the desirability of a potential heterosexual date. Finds that such disclosure influences attraction, as well as the perception and evaluation of pertinent traits, the effects being a function of genre-specific stereotypes and…

Investigates teachers' use of humor in relationship to immediacy and affective learning outcomes. Reports that (1) amount and type of humor influenced learning; (2) students were particularly aware of tendentious humor; (3) an overdependence on tendentious humor diminished affect; (4) male and female students perceive humor differently; and (5)…

Examines change in the United States Forest Service, an organization lauded for its ability to control members through its culture. Describes current control practices, and field tests three theoretical claims regarding unobtrusive control. Finds that control practices have changed from more unobtrusive to more obtrusive. Illustrates the pragmatic…

Examines the role of orality in multiple-audience analysis and adaptation. Finds that interaction is the central means of analyzing and adapting discourse to multiple audiences, fulfilling rhetorical and social goals, and building and sustaining a corporate culture. Suggests that orality is more potent than literacy in composing behavior and…

Examines the rapidly growing role for technical communicators in the computer industry as members of the external design team. Describes the kinds of decisions they are responsible for with regard to all phases of product development--as user advocates, usability testers, screen designers, and online documentation specialists. (KEH)

Analyzes how John Dickinson's "Letter from a Farmer in Pennsylvania" appropriates pastoral design and convention for rhetorical ends. Explores how literary idiom lends its force of expression to meet the needs of public controversy and how rhetorical judgment is both insubstantiated in the argument and is its chief mode of appeal. (KEH)

A wide variety of studies have offered glimpses of how learners put their second-language knowledge and skills to use during communication. It is shown that the same empirical findings can lead to very different conclusions. (49 references) (GLR)

Reviewed are previous studies that have examined adults' and children's ability to understand verbal directions. Differences in style and the implications of these differences for educating children are discussed. (CW)