Ninety-six male students participated in an experiment studying the relationship between reciprocity and compensation in dyadic communication. The subjects were asked to solve a hypothetical problem and, depending on their pretest instructions, were given an orientation toward competition or cooperation with their partners. Time was used to test…

A semantic-differential model of communicator style was tested by collecting data from 108 superior-subordinate dyads at a medium-sized midwestern company. Communication style variables were measured with Norton's Communicator Style Measure (CSM), which was modified slightly to give both superiors' self-evaluations of communication styles and…

It was hypothesized that the dimensions of R. P. Hart's rhetorical sensitivity scale--rhetorical sensitivity, noble self, and rhetorical reflector--would correspond, respectively, to the categories of androgyny, masculinity, and femininity in Bem's Sex Role Inventory. The two instruments were administered to 426 college students (211 men and 215…

Patient noncompliance with medical advice is of major concern to physicians. Although many do not consider compliance their responsibility, research studies indicate that physicians can control many of the variables influencing compliance. Physicians' verbal and nonverbal communication habits that convey directiveness, coldness, complexity, and…

The purpose of this paper is to outline theory and methods associated with a research strategy for identifying elements of cultural congruence or incogruence in classroom speech events. The hypothesis of "sociolinguistic interference" proposed by D. Hymes is discussed and studies of language education of Hawaiians and other minorities…

The manner in which hermeneutics (the study of the interpretive process) has treated the phenomenon of interpretation is examined in this paper. Following a historical review of hermeneutics from its Hellenic roots through the phase of traditional hermeneutics to the major reformulation of the field by Friedrich Schleiermacher and Wilhelm Dilthey…

Focusing on the effects that research on the Taiwan family planning program has had on social change, both in the intergration of research findings into national action programs and in the dissemination of these ideas to other Asian countries, this report discusses five individual case studies and presents a summary and analysis of the research…

This extensive bibliography contains more than 1,800 entries about communication and aging. The citations include journal articles, unpublished papers, speeches, dissertations, research studies, and books that relate aging and the aged to a variety of topics, including the following: physiological deterioration, socialization, political…

Violations of interpersonal spacing expectations have been demonstrated to influence a receiver's perception of the credibility, attraction, and influence of an initiator of such violations. Recent research on distraction and on personal space points to several potential strategies a persuader may adopt when trying to influence another individual.…

To determine the effectiveness of upward communication programs within nonindustrial companies in the United States, a study was devised that examined the ways in which top management and employees communicate. Of the 130 respondents to a survey of 300 top nonindustrial companies, 62 companies acknowledged that they maintained some type of upward…

A study was conducted of experimental mortality (subjects' drop-out) in counter-attitudinal advocacy research, a line of research that explores the extent to which people can be induced to persuade themselves to a new attitude. Subjects were 54 volunteers from undergraduate speech classes. The study involved three stages: a pretest for attitude,…

The goals of this study were to replicate the findings produced in a previous conversation simulation study, to examine the conditions whereby persons attribute blame, and to extend the methodology employed in simulation game study. Conversations were simulated by a two-person game in which subjects (46 undergraduate students) were provided a deck…

Ongoing research programs conducted at General Motors Institute are motivated by the practical objective of improving the company's organizational effectiveness. Computer technology is being used whenever possible; for example, a technique developed by Herman Chernoff was used to process data from a survey of employee attitudes into 18 different…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 12 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: communication and perceptions of organizational climate; perceptions of communications between federal and local educational agencies; intraorganizational conflict…

The study described in this paper illustrates how key features of rhetorical analysis can be operationalized to apply to the study of therapeutic transactions. After a discussion of psychotherapy as an influence process, the paper describes the methodology used in an analysis of tape-recorded discourse between three therapist/client dyads in an…