Subjects (students, coaches, communication instructors, general public) listened to audiotaped speeches, indicated the criteria used in evaluating speeches, rated the importance of criteria, and ranked the speakers. Findings indicate that subjects tended to interpret and apply criteria differently. Study suggests need for stronger feedback between…

Results suggest that subordinates who perceive their supervisors as highly involved in organizational politics are less open in communication and less satisfied with their supervisors than subordinates who perceive their supervisors as moderately or minimally involved. (PD)

Reviews recent research on mother-infant communication that takes into account both the infant's and parent's influences in interactions. Topics discussed include varieties of infant communications, cross-cultural research, the beginnings of communication patterns, assessment of communication effectiveness, and sequelae of differing mother-infant…

Results of an experiment manipulating violations of distancing expectations and physical attractiveness indicate that both may be sources of distraction. Offers modest support for the prediction that attractive individuals engaging in violations of expectations will serve as positive sources of distraction, leading to greater susceptibility to…

Found that children aged 3, 4, and 5 who are more attractive to peers communicate in a more contentious, impression-leaving, dramatic, open, and animated style. Those children who are more attractive to teachers have a style that is more attentive, friendly, and relaxed. (PD)

Analysis reveals that the four labels do not denote four discrete problems; rather, the constructs overlap to a great extent. Author recommends systematic interviews with individuals to identify their problems and then a treatment dependent on the exact nature of the problem. (PD)

Tested the persuasiveness of three extended concluding metaphors: sex, death, and sex-death. (Speech topic for high school students was the anti-legalization of marihuana.) Results indicated that attitudes changed more toward the position advocated in the speech when it contained a concluding sex metaphor than when it did not. (PD)

Argues that the assumptions and methods of hard sciences do not fit the study of human communication behavior. The result is subversion of human dignity through method-oriented findings that do not produce useful generalizations. The path to scientific respectability lies in the traditional study of oratory. (PD)

Surveyed high school principals in Iowa and Michigan exhibited confusion as to their legal rights of prior restraint in matters concerning the content of student newspapers. (RL)

Argues that several areas of rhetorical criticism on political speeches need reassessment. These include rhetorical biography, the speaker's purpose, issue analysis, organization or identifying patterns of construction within a speech, and style. (JMF)

Discusses assumptions and criticisms of rule-governed approaches to interpersonal communication research and theory. Outlines a definition of rules that does not require sole reliance on interpersonal actors' statements about their behavior or assumptions of communicator self-awareness. Suggests consideration of rules-based concomitants of…

Presents an exploratory study designed to provide some empirical basis from which to guide inquiry into the correlations between content and relationship dimensions of human communication. Illustrates the feasibility and potential for further research efforts to determine the interactions between these two dimensions. (JMF)

Examines the long-term effects of cognitive modification and informed teachers on communication apprehension among fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students. Results indicate that the treatment had lost its effect two months after termination for the majority of students. Informed teachers had no effect on the children's communication…

Examines the effects of the preparation and presentation of a speech on the changing attitudes of the speaker. Concludes that individual attitudes are affected by the preparation stage more than the presentation stage. Draws implications for the teaching of public speaking. (JMF)

Summarizes and critiques 114 studies on small group communication published in speech communication journals between 1969 and 1979. Classifies the literature into three new lines of research focusing on communication variables of small group processes and three traditional lines of research, namely, leadership, discussion, and pedagogy. (JMF)