The 73 papers in this collection were presented at the 1981 Summer Argumentation Conference, the purpose of which was to bring together interested scholars to discuss recent developments and research in argumentation. The four primary areas of study considered at the conference--argument, argumentation and forensics, philosophy and argument, and…

A study was conducted to examine the ways individuals in organizations interpreted and responded to ambiguous messages. Using Karl Weick's model of organizing, investigators measured the number of rules (criteria for taking action), the number of people, and the frequencies of message categories generated in two simulated organizations comprised…

Elementary school students were required to obtain objects from two adults engaged in conversation with each other. Results differed markedly between older and younger children. For the younger children, (1) there were three times as many statement requests (SRs) as interrogative requests (IRs); (2) almost 50% of requests were need statements; (3)…

Contemporary research findings in the fields of perceptual psychology and neurology of the human brain that are directly related to the study of visual communication are reviewed and briefly discussed in this paper. Specifically, the paper identifies those major research findings in visual perception that are relevant to the study of visual…

Problems of inquiry in intercultural communication are examined in this paper, and an inquiry process is presented that can be applied to the study of communication between people from different cultures. The first section of the paper outlines major, well-documented procedural problems in intercultural communication and considers additional…

Kenneth Burke's 20 ratios permit the rhetorical critic to make very specific statements about the discourse under analysis and open the way for analytic speculation. The ratio method permits the critic to describe and understand the specific qualities of practical ethical dispute. Burkian ratios were employed to analyze the justificatory rhetoric…

To assess patient preferences for male as opposed to female physicians, 120 adults were asked to complete a questionnaire. The results indicated that preference for male versus female physicians was influenced by three factors: gender of respondent, nature of the clinical complaint, and specified physician attributes. Overall, the responses…

Defining organizational socialization as the process by which people learn the values, norms, and required behaviors that permit them to participate as members of an organization, this paper offers a review of representative, relevant literature on the role of communication in the process. The studies are organized according to six general…

The influence of sex and androgyny on the emergence of small group leadership was studied. The subjects, 38 male and 28 female college students, were pretested on several personality measures, including Sargent and Miller's Leadership Questionnaire and Bem's Sex Role Inventory. Leadership in task and social situations was measured after four group…

Somatotyping is a term that has evolved for the reliable recognition of the expected relationship between body type and personality traits. Using a somatotypic measure, a study was conducted to identify the developmental changes in children's attraction preferences within their own peer groups, as tested in kindergarten, third, and sixth grades.…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 16 titles deal with the following topics: (1) the philosophy of rhetoric; (2) an analytical study of the development of major concepts of causality in philosophy; (3) an ontological approach to interpersonal communication…

Semantic differential statements were used to elicit attitudes toward aging from 176 high school students, college students, and older adults (nonstudents) who had viewed four sketches of a white male's appearance at ages 12, 19, 49, and 70 years. The results were the following: (1) High school students described aging as more personally…

The extension of computer based communication to the more task-focused communication required by groups involved in joint problem solving is discussed in this paper. Specifically, it addresses three areas: (1) the aspects of the joint problem solving that are most suited to computer based communication support, (2) the computer based communication…

A review of communication research was conducted to (1) describe and clarify the nature of empathy, (2) investigate the construct of assertiveness, (3) posit a possible relationship between empathy and assertiveness, and (4) provide possible suggestions for future research. The literature indicates that conceptualizations of empathy primarily…

The formal and substantive traits of the television program, "60 Minutes" reflect characteristics manifest in Daniel Boorstin's conception of the "pseudo-event." Through both the verbal and visual imagery presented in the context of a narrative format, this television news magazine illustrates the significance of mass media…