The development of a child's social awareness is reflected in, and in part accomplished through, requests. Requests for action and information--such as the assistance of another, typically older person--require an important set of linguistic and social skills. Re-requests become necessary when the initial request is ignored or not adequately…

A study was conducted to determine the role played by media use diversity in shaping public opinion during the 1979 campaign to elect a representative from Great Britain to the European Parliament. The study focused on the British audience's evaluation of the clarity of the campaign issues as presented in the media and on individual cognitions…

Research findings concerning early parent/infant interaction are presented to counter prevalent myths concerning the nature of babies. The myth of the passive infant is counterposed to research findings on the attempts of the infant to evoke from caretakers the attention it needs for its development. Special attention is given to the topics of…

Self-disclosure may be viewed through the framework of the role-taking processes by which we come to know ourselves and to be known to others. Because individuals ground utterances contextually, in anticipation of another's responses and according to the prescriptions of the situation itself, self-disclosure is more likely to be flexibly scripted…

A theory of group interaction with a focus on the trajectories of relevant variables as they change over time is developed in this paper. The four major components of the group interaction process (communication, conflict, involvement, and centralization) are presented and conceptually defined, and the nature of their interdependence is discussed.…

The ten articles in this special journal issue focus on social movements. Specifically, the articles discuss the following topics: (1) the study of social movements; (2) the meaning of "social movement"; (3) a skeptical view of movement studies; (4) coming to terms with movement studies; (5) defining social movements by their rhetorical…

Research has documented two behavior patterns known as Type A and Type B. Type A behavior is characterized by competitive striving, a sense of urgency, and hostility, while Type B behavior is less aggressive and more relaxed. It has been theorized that individuals exhibiting Type A behavior have a strong need to maintain control over their…

Noting that debates between theoreticians and practitioners of advertising are as old as the discipline itself, this paper discusses the logics of research for each group in order to identify strategies of research for both practitioners and researchers that will result in a satisfactory explanation of how advertising works. The various sections…

A study investigated a new method of measuring organizational communication other than the audit methods currently in use. The method, which employs fractionation procedures, was used with workers from five different business groups within a large multinational corporation. The results showed that: (1) workers could use the scales reliably, (2)…

Thirty parents, 8 males and 22 females, whose children were enrolled in kindergarten, participated in this study, designed to elicit parents' nonverbal expression of feeling toward their children. Two faceless, 30-inch unisex dolls were designed to represent the child. Depending on the situation, the dolls were dressed as either male or female or…

A comprehensive understanding of stage fright will better enable teachers and researchers to select the most appropriate "cure" and to determine those cases in which speech training will help reduce stage fright or other states of communication apprehension. Attempts to understand stage fright have focused on three psychological theories…

Twenty-eight senior staff members at the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) and 60 senior staff members at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) were surveyed regarding the frequency and importance of their work-related face-to-face, telephone, and written communication. Analyses of the communication networks showed…

The fundamental shifts in thinking about communication theory and research that are suggested in the hermeneutic writing made available during the last decade are reviewed in this paper. The issues reviewed include a consideration of hermeneutics as a philosophy of social science, the modern conception of textuality, and the status of interpretive…

A coorientation methodology was used to examine attitudes toward reporting news about the United States House of Representatives. Coorientation models are predicated upon the interrelationships of individuals in a communication system, measuring participants' attitudes in terms of agreement, accuracy, and congruency. Subjects included three…

The activities involved in coding conversation sequences and the lack of attention given to their systematic validation within the field of speech communication are discussed in this paper. The paper first reviews briefly the assumptions underlying relational coding and the implications of viewing these activities as practical accomplishments. It…