Explores levels of communication apprehension reported by 5- to 11-year-old children in the United States and Sweden. Suggests significant amounts of apprehension develop and increase in early years and indicates the need for research and educational efforts with children and communication apprehension. (SR)

Views "communication" as a product of a particular historical epoch and set of social conditions. Illustrates the birth of communication and the accompanying modern conditions and commitments by examining John Locke's linguistic and political theories. Traces Locke's commitment to the individual as master of meaning. (SR)

Assesses effectiveness of two desensitization strategies for reducing children's emotional reactions to mass media. Examines children having passive exposure, modeled exposure, or no exposure to lizards before watching a horror movie involving lizards. Finds that modeled exposure decreases emotional reactions and negative interpretations, whereas…

Surveys children's access to media sources and assesses their diversity of content. Finds that children have access to numerous old and new media, since most live in households that receive cable television and own VCRs. Suggests broadcasting and videocassettes offer little diversity in children's content, while cable enhances programing choices.…

Examines whether the special features of VCRs lead to transformations in families, or whether preexisting family relationships and media orientations determine the uses of VCRs. Finds that VCRs mainly augment and extend family television patterns, and suggests that VCR use is both a cause and a symptom of family conflicts. (KEH)

Identifies how Americans viewed twentieth-century wars metaphorically as extensions of earlier frontier experience. Traces "social functions" of those metaphors which have become, from an ethical perspective, tragic not only because of their false analogies but also for their lack of worth when compared to other, more responsible…

Reports the results of a study on perceptions of stress among business communication students, from a questionnaire completed by students and an alternate form completed by faculty. Finds that faculty perceived students to be more stressed than students reported. (SR)

Offers clarification on the central role of the liberal arts and sciences in education for the communication professions, and assesses curriculum needs in advertising, broadcasting, magazine journalism, news-editorial journalism, public relations, and visual communication. (MS)

Compares the communication patterns of individuals in racially homogenous groups to their communication in racially heterogeneous groups. Asserts that both Black women and White women exhibit different patterns of interaction when communicating in racially homogenous groups. (SR)

Examines the role of the brain in conceptualizing and understanding intrapersonal communication. Drawing on research and theory from several disciplines, develops a communicative perspective on intrapersonal communication, focusing on specific interhemispheric and intermodular processes inherent in intrapersonal communication. Discusses…

Examines teaching effectiveness as it affects faculty and administrators in departments of speech communication. Summarizes a survey of current evaluation practices in these departments. Discusses what these practices mean for both faculty who are seeking promotion and tenure and administrators who participate in these decisions. (MS)

Presents a case study of a conversational storytelling in which a recipient redirects an ongoing storytelling. Finds that storytelling may be a way of accomplishing interpersonal activities, both for teller and recipients, and that the recipient can be an active participant in the storytelling. (MS)

The complex set of economic problems facing Black families can best be understood from a communication perspective. Corporate America historically has taken advantage of its access to information and use of communication media to control the economic conditions of Black families. Through research and communication technology Black families can…

Examines the relationships between communicator competence, listening ability, and frequency of task-related talk and employee performance with technology. Finds correlational evidence that these communicative abilities are related to employee productivity levels with new computer systems. (SR)

Argues that President John F. Kennedy's civil rights discourse evidences an important evolutionary pattern marking a transition from legal argument to moral argument. Highlights two speeches as exemplars of this change. Asserts that this analysis is useful in the study of contemporary presidential discourse during times of domestic crisis. (MM)