Data analyzed from Communication Climate and Student Questionnaires confirmed the following hypotheses: (1) liked classes have a more supportive and less defensive communication climate than disliked classes, and (2) student behavior in classes with a defensive communication climate is characterized by the use of coping mechanisms (daydreaming,…

Tests the traditional two-part hypothesis that partisan predispositions motivate a person to be selectively exposed to political campaign communications, which in turn serve to reinforce those original predispositions. Draws inferences about differences in these processes that exist between adolescents and their parents. (PD)

Introduces and comments on articles in this symposium issue. Contends that speech teachers have methods to overcome communication problems. Challenges them to sort their methods out, test and phrase them in clear language, document assertions from their own classroom investigations, and eventually build a theory to help people improve their…

Using a computerized content analysis, the authors demonstrate changes in speech behaviors of prison inmates. They conclude that two to four hours of public speaking training can have only limited effect on students who live in a culture in which "prison speech" is the expected and rewarded form of behavior. (PD)

Addresses communication between organizations and publics. Proposes an expanded theory of communication behavior that explains when publics will become active and interpenetrate the organization. Uses this theory in a study to identify publics that arise from corporate public affairs issues and suggests how the corporate communication manager…

Analyzes citation patterns of communication and social science journals from 1970 to 1980. Concludes that communication researchers use the scholarship of the social science discipline far more than social science researchers use the scholarship of the communication discipline. Suggests ways to increase interdisciplinary credibility for the…

The two studies described in this monograph were designed to generate new ideas about the development of children's metacommunicative understanding and comprehension-monitoring abilities. Older subjects were more likely than younger subjects to detect inadequacies in communication; furthermore, younger children responded differently to…

Proposes an inductively derived taxonomy as a more valid and reliable classification scheme of compliance-gaining strategies. Compares the taxonomy with a multidimensional scaling representation of college students' perceptions of persuasive messages. Concludes that the taxonomy has a high degree of representational validity. (PD)

Explores and develops a contextual age concept as an alternative to the chronological age concept in communication and aging research. Investigates the dimensions of contextual age and their relationships to the sociodemographics and television viewing patterns of aged persons. (PD)

Classifies, reviews, and critiques current literature on the role of communication in the bargaining process. Provides a review of findings within four areas: communication opportunity, information exchange, message strategies, and categories of interaction. Concludes that communication is an essential variable in bargaining research. (PD)

Contrasts the relationships between the communication apprehension construct and its two most common operationalizations--the 20- and 25-item versions of the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA). Concludes that the PRCA may be valuable as an indirect measure of evaluation apprehension, but not of oral communication apprehension.…

Collected and studied personal messages which were reported to exert a powerful influence on the course of people's lives. Explored the relationship between memorable messages and proverbs. (PD)

Hypothesizes that young children respond incorrectly in interpreting ambiguous communications in referential tasks because they respond to the elocutionary performative force rather than the locutionary content of the communications. Results of two experiments tended to confirm the hypothesis. (Author/RH)

Investigates the relationship between an observer's familiarity with the normal, truthful communicative behavior of an individual, and the observer's ability to detect deception on the part of that individual. Provides an experimental test of the degree of linearity between familiarity and judgmental accuracy in detecting deception. (JMF)

Reviews the progress of communication research within two decades. Notes the increasing reliance on theory, the greater emphasis on programmatic research, and the attempts to fit methods to particular research objectives. These advances, along with an increasing number of capable researchers, have heightened the credibility of communication…