Examines differential preferences in use of and expectations of use of affinity-seeking strategies as a function of participant's sex. Indicates distinct differences between male and female strategies and expectations that an individual of the opposite sex would mirror their own preferences when seeking affinity. Offers two alternative…

Provides comparative data on the use of humor, self-disclosure, and narrative by award-winning college and secondary teachers. Indicates that these teachers used these dramatic behaviors to clarify course content, and that they used them significantly more than the nonaward winning teachers from the same educational levels. (MS)

Examines the role of motives, attitudes, and audience activity in explaining affective, cognitive, and behavioral involvement of daytime soap opera viewers. Finds that viewing attention and perceived realism of soap opera content correlated with parasocial interaction, suggesting that parasocial interaction may be a functional alternative to…

Several members of the emerging augmentative and alternative communication profession held a meeting at Purdue University in August 1987. Issues addressed included: public policy; documentation of the field; and such service provision issues as candidacy for service, communicative competency, focus of intervention, and intervention strategies.…

Literature is reviewed on augmentative and alternative communication research and intervention for individuals with severe intellectual disabilities. The review focuses on prerequisites for intervention, symbol systems and sets, computer technology, and teaching strategies. Future research directions are outlined, and clinical and educational…

Examined the types of comments made by 12 mothers to their prelinguistic children (between 10 and 14 months of age) in the communication-specific setting of book reading. Found the degree of illustration to have important effects on the types of comments made by mothers to their children. (SKC)

Examines the relationships among different dimensions of empathy, communication, and prosocial behavior. Supports an altruistic interpretation of prosocial behavior and suggests that the egoistic model be reformulated. (JK)

Indicates greater attention to televised news was related to subsequent increased fear, concern, and avoidance activity in the public's behavior. Finds no such effects for newspaper crime news attention, although greater concern was related to subsequent increased readership. (JD)

Examines managers' persuasive strategies in their attempts to convince a subordinate to comply with an obligatory work-related task and a nonobligatory work-related task. Indicates that male managers rely more often on punishment-based strategies, while female managers rely more often on altruism- and rationale-based strategies. (JK)

Examines the inability of the propaganda paradigm to maintain its position as the standard framework for rhetorical inquiry in the sociointellectual atmosphere that surrounded World War II and the Cold War. Discusses the epistemological and ideological roots of the shift from propaganda to statistical/experimental communication research. (JD)

Examines discourse patterns in playmaking to see if they differ from those found in more traditional settings. Indicates that playmaking can foster students' empathy, utilize their logic and creativity, and provide them with the experience of working in a group to a common end. (JD)

Indicates that communicator gender and cultural ancestry interacted to influence the intensity of language chosen. Reveals that men of Chinese and Japanese ancestry produced significantly more intense messages than did their female counterparts, while no significant differences were apparent between the messages produced by Caucasian men and…

Replicates the findings of earlier examinations of relationship disengagement. Extends the range of variables pertinent to strategy selection by evaluating the role of network overlap, partner desirability, trust, and dyadic adjustment. Finds that both relational variables and tactics were associated with consequences of disengagement. (JD)

Discusses how chronometric measures such as the DART (Display And Response Timing) computer program, have become virtually indispensable in testing cognitive theories of human social behavior. Describes how the DART (1) provides a way to collect response latency data; and (2) allows measurement of response latencies to a set of user-specified,…

Discusses how Type-Token Ratios (TTRs) have been used in a variety of research efforts in speech communication, including studies of the interactions between source credibility, motivation, cognitive states, and context with language use. Describes the two versions of a TTR computation program that are available in BASIC. Presents sources…