A study examined the effect of social style training on the workers of a state agency in the midwest. The Social Style Training Workshop was a half-day session designed to provide participants with an assessment of their social style as perceived by their coworkers. In addition, participants examined the meaning of various social styles, their…

Communication apprehension (CA) has emerged as the dominant paradigm for explaining communication stress and its corollaries. It has achieved this status largely because several key assumptions have not been challenged or assessed empirically. These assumptions are that CA (1) is a pervasive social phenomenon, (2) affects external outcomes of…

To determine the level of participation by females in Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) debate tournaments in the Northeast region of the United States, a study examined gender characteristics of participants in seven regional tournaments in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, and in the New England…

When people say that what they hear is "over their heads," they are describing a severe information-based complexity (I-BC) problem. They cannot understand what is said because some of the information needed is missing, contaminated, and/or costly to obtain. Students often face these I-BC problems, and teachers often exacerbate them. Yet…

To determine which measures best predict the seven dimensions of the Intercultural Behavioral Assessment Indices, a study examined 149 international students (mainly from the Far East, Asia, Middle East, Africa, and Europe) at a large midwestern university in the spring of 1986. Average age was 27.5 years, and average length of stay in the United…

To determine the most effective communication style for women in management, a study examined which of three power/gender speech strategies--stereotypical feminine (powerless), stereotypical masculine (powerful), and mixed stereotypical masculine/stereotypical feminine--was perceived most effective for a male or female when communicating with a…

The results of five studies of the relationship between debate training and critical thinking were examined to determine if in fact debate training improves critical thinking skills. All five studies compared the gains on the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal Test (WG) for subjects who had received debate training with control groups who…

Composition theory accounts of coherence have tended to look at relationships within the text rather than at those between the text and the real world. In fact, empirical evidence suggests that the relationships between the text and the real world may be just as important for coherence. Forty-eight short papers were selected at random from those…

Historical study of composition theory and teaching occupies a peculiar place in the discipline of composition instruction. It does not attempt new applications for theory, and pretends to no direct pedagogical applications at all. Unlike empirical research, it does not use experimental method or scientific rigor. However, the study of history,…

Existing theory suggests that women in the premenstrual and menstrual phases of their hormonal cycle would select and enjoy nonarousing television programs, sucy as nonhostile comedy and game shows, and would avoid action drama and hostile and arousing programs. To test this theory, female undergraduates from telecommunications and journalism…

The conferencee discussions and papers presented in this volume reflect the opinions and research of 20 authorities in the field of communication development. These authorities offer new perspectives on nonverbal communication, speech reception and production, and the development of language and thought. To provide a better understanding of…

Debate paradigms, which at one time established standards to help judges evaluate arguments and rules to guide debaters' argument choice and strategy selection, no longer offer consistent guidance for either judges or debaters. An increased emphasis on creativity and flexibility has led to a general unwillingness to use a rigid debate format. The…

A study related the communication responsiveness of instructors to the affective and cognitive outcomes of students in basic speech communication courses. Specifically, the study investigated both the instructors' overall responsiveness and their responsiveness as climate makers. The communication responsiveness of instructors was measured by the…

Ninety-eight women mass communication professors responded to a questionnaire on job satisfaction. Their responses were added to females' responses of a 1982 study, and the enlarged sample of women was then compared with the male respondents from that study. Marked differences were found in the background of the male and female assistant…

The decisions President Richard Nixon and his closest advisors made in the Watergate coverup were products of what Irving Janis calls "groupthink." Groupthink, a type of decision-making emphasizing unanimity over objective evaluation, develops when the decision makers (1) form a group of marked cohesiveness, (2) insulate themselves from…