THE CONSTRUCT OF AROUSAL IN COMMUNICATION RESEARCH

The construct of arousal is pivotal to those who investigate the relationship between emotions and communication. This study seeks to compare Zillmann's and Mehra-bian's concepts of arousal in order to identify common ground between the theorists. The goal is, through such commonalities, to provide a more complete and useful framework for understanding arousal's role in communication. This common framework is important to those researchers who find merit in both Zillmann's and Mehrabian 's theories, important to those in the field who look for an understanding of human communication from a variety of viewpoints.     

ON THE RELATION OF MANDS AND THE FUNCTION OF DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOR

When standard analogue functional analysis procedures produce inconclusive results in children with conversational speech, the child's mands may help to identify the function of destructive behavior. In the current investigation, functional analyses conducted with 2 children who exhibited self-injury, aggression, and property destruction were undifferentiated across conditions. Based on informal observations and school and parental report, an analysis was conducted using mands to help determine the function of the destructive behavior. Using a multielement design, the therapist's compliance with the child's mands occurred either on a fixed-ratio (FR) 1 schedule or contingent on destructive behavior. Destructive behavior occurred at high and consistent levels when reinforcement of mands was contingent on destructive behavior and at near-zero levels when reinforcement of mands occurred on the FR 1 schedule. Based on these results, a second analysis was conducted in which compliance to mands occurred only when the child appropriately requested it (i.e., functional communication training plus extinction) and, for 1 child, compliance with mands was terminated contingent upon destructive behavior (i.e., functional communication training plus response cost). For both children, the rates of destructive behavior decreased markedly. The results suggest that assessing the child's mands may be useful in decreasing destructive behavior when a functional analysis is inconclusive.     

THE IMPORTANCE OF MAGIC TO SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS

Many anthropological explanations of magical practices are based on the assumption that the immediate cause of performing an act of magic is the belief that the magic will work as claimed. Such explanations typically attempt to show why people come to believe that magical acts work as claimed when such acts do not identifiably have such effects. We suggest an alternative approach to the explanation of magic that views magic as a form of religious behavior, a form of communication that promotes or protects cooperative social relationships. We suggest that all forms of religious behavior involve persons communicating acceptance of a supernatural claim and that this act communicates a willingness to accept nonskeptically the influence of the person making such a claim. Thus, religious behavior communicates a willingness to cooperate with the claim maker and others who accept his or her influence. We suggest that magic, which can be distinguished by the communicated acceptance of the claim that certain techniques have supernatural effects, also promotes cooperation. Different types of magic, including sorcery, love magic, and curing magic, can be shown to communicate different types of messages, such as a threat to use violence to punish unsocial behavior, sexual desire, or concern for a person's well‐being. Ethnographic examples are used to support this hypothesis. This approach requires no assumptions about whether the practitioners of magic do or do not believe that the magical acts work as claimed. It attempts only to account for the identifiable talk and behavior that constitute magical acts by examining the identifiable, and often important, effects of these acts on the behavior of others.     

SLCA III: A METATHEORETIC APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE

Discourse analysis is a fundamental concern for the study of human communication, accessible through an analysis of language behavior. A theoretic basis is provided for eight variable classes identified by Syntactic Language Computer Analysis (SLCA-III). Numerous empirical studies support its utility as an indicator of perception and cognition. Issues are raised regarding the role of language research in communication. Emphasis is placed on treatment of language as a behavioral indicator of experience, fluctuating as a barometer of social roles, psychological states, communication disorders, and communication mode.     

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF SEX AND SEX ROLE TO THE ABILITY TO DECODE NONVERBAL CUES

This paper reports an investigation of the ability to decode nonverbal cues. Past studies of decoding have often tested for differences in ability between males and females. Results do not consistently favor the ability of one sex over the other, but, when differences do appear, they indicate greater sensitivity for females. Researchers in the area of sex differences in human communication emphasize that variability may be related to sex roles. With regard to nonverbal sensitivity, researchers have suggested that femininity may be associated with better nonverbal decoding because of practice gained in traditionally feminine occupations. It has also been reasoned that certain traits, such as submissiveness and expressiveness, are linked to both femininity and nonverbal sensitivity. The present study investigates the relationship of sex, sex role, and nonverbal sensitivity. Whereas female sex was found to be positively associated with nonverbal ability, femininity was negatively related. Several interpretations of this surprising result are offered.     

THOUGHTS ON THE PSYCHOBIOLOGY OF RELIGION AND THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF ARCHETYPAL EXPERIENCE

Abstract. There is good reason to suppose that religious belief and ritual are manifestations of the archetypal blueprint for human existence encoded in the genetic structure of our species. As a consequence, religion has become a focus of study for psychobiologists and neuroscientists. However, scientific explanations of religious experience do not "explain away" such experience nor are they substitutes for the experience itself. On the contrary, scientific discoveries may be seen as corroboration of religious insights into the unus mundus , the essential oneness of all experience, which links human nature with the nature of the cosmos.     

AN EMPIRICAL APPRAISAL OF THE PRCA FOR MEASURING ORAL COMMUNICATION APPREHENSION

Since 1970 about 80% of the research on oral communication apprehension has used one of two versions of McCroskey's Personal Report of Communication Apprehension. The original 20-item PRCA was introduced for the purpose of measuring apprehension beyond the traditional public speaking context. Although the PRCA-20 is reliable, some serious criticism of it has centered on its ability to tap interpersonal behavior outcomes. In an attempt to bolster its interpersonal applicability, five “interpersonally-oriented” items were added to form the PRCA-25. The studies reported herein demonstrate that both versions fail to possess sufficient reliable variance to be applicable to contexts other than public settings. In addition, it was found that the interpersonal items are a separate component of the PRCA, and as such, do not justify being treated equal in terms of additivity and, therefore, reduce the construct integrity of the PRCA.     

AN EVOLUTIONARY CRITIQUE OF THE CREATED CO-CREATOR CONCEPT

Abstract The created co‐creator theology states that human beings have the purpose of creating the most wholesome future possible for our species and the global ecosystem. I evaluate the human aspect of this theology by asking whether it is possible for human beings to do this. Do we have sufficient knowledge? Can we be motivated to do what is necessary to create a wholesome future for ourselves and our planet? We do not at present have sufficient knowledge, but there is reason to believe that with further scientific research we will be able to acquire it. The more difficult question is whether we can be motivated to cooperate on the scale necessary to fulfill this purpose. Evolutionary theories of human sociality, altruism, and cooperation are reviewed. I conclude that it is possible for human beings to fulfill the purpose defined for us by the created cocreator concept, but doing this will not be easy.     

THE EXPERIENCE OF HOME AND THE SPACE OF CITIZENSHIP

I argue that, although we are inherently intersubjective beings, we are not first or most originally “public” beings. Rather, to become a public being, that is, a citizen—in other words, to act as an independent and self‐controlled agent in a community of similarly independent and self‐controlled agents and, specifically, to do so in a shared space in the public arena—is something that we can successfully do only by emerging from our familiar, personal territories—our homes. Finding support in texts from philosophy, psychology, and the social sciences, I construe the claim that citizenship is a developed stance as a spatial issue. I conclude that a state (or, for that matter, a philosophy) that takes the human being to begin as an isolated individual agent fails to recognize the essential spatial relationships on which we depend—namely, those arising through our way of being‐at‐home in the world; and, as a result, such a stance not only misconstrues the parameters on which citizenship is itself possible but also risks developing a social situation that encourages behaviors we see in the agoraphobic—namely, the behaviors of alienated and fundamentally homeless human beings.     

THE EFFECTS OF REARRANGING WARD ROUTINES ON COMMUNICATION AND EATING BEHAVIORS OF PSYCHOGERIATRIC PATIENTS

Several aspects of ward routine were changed to study the effects of environmental manipulation on the behavior of 21 psychogeriatric patients. Furniture was rearranged to be more conducive to conversation (i.e., grouped around tables instead of along corridor walls), and mealtime routines were changed to allow patients more time to eat, more freedom in choosing the composition of the meal, and more pleasant surroundings. Patients were divided into experimental and control groups, and data were collected on the frequency of verbal and tactile communication and degree of skill in eating behavior. Following baseline, environmental changes were introduced across behaviors. Results show that the frequency of communication increased for the experimental group, as compared to both baseline and the control group. Eating behavior also improved significantly for the experimental group. The study shows that minor changes in the physical environment can promote therapeutic change in the behavior of patients diagnosed as senile dementia.     

人力资源实践对员工创新行为的影响：心理契约破裂的中介作用及上下级沟通的调节作用

本研究选取了影响员工创新行为的组织（人力资源管理实践）、个体（对心理契约破裂的感知）及领导因素（上下级沟通）,通过402名企业员工的问卷调查,采用有调节的中介研究设计,对人力资源实践影响员工创新行为的机制进行研究。结果发现：（1）人力资源管理实践水平与员工创新行为正相关;（2）心理契约破裂在人力资源管理实践与创新行为关系间起部分中介作用;（3）上下级沟通水平调节了心理契约破裂与创新行为的关系,也调节了心理契约破裂对人力资源实践与创新行为关系的中介作用。     

THE SOCIAL USES OF TELEVISION

Building from the social constructivist view, this paper provides evidence that audience members create specific and sometimes elaborate practical actions involving television in order to gratify particular needs in the context of family viewing. The ethnography of mass communication is recommended as a methodological framework suitable for discovering and documenting these behaviors. Based on findings from systematic participant observation research, and from the pertinent uses and gratifications literature, a typology of the social uses of television, with emphasis on their communicative value, is presented. Mass media are found to be valuable social resources, not unlike language or the occasions for talk, which are particularly useful to the imaginative social member for the construction and maintenance of desired relations at home.     

THE EFFECTS OF COMMUNICATION APPREHENSION ON COMMUNICATION EFFECTIVENESS1

This study investigated the following hypothesis: physiological, psychological, and verbal behavior indices of communication apprehension can predict comprehension, perception of speaker credibility, and ratings of speech effectiveness. The stimulus materials were videotapes of the first minute of 85 different students expressing their views on women's liberation. Measurement on all the indices of communication apprehension had been taken on these students as the videotapes were being prepared. Each of these one-minute videotapes was shown to a single receiver who then filled out forms measuring comprehension, perception of source credibility, and rating of speech effectiveness. Results supported the hypothesis that the indices of communication apprehension could predict all the communication effects save one, perception of character. The strongest relationship between the set of communication apprehension variables and the set of communication effectiveness variables indicated that individuals who reported high apprehension experienced much silence in their speech and received low ratings on language facility, vocal characteristics, and general effectiveness.     

THE IMPACT OF CAMPAIGN SPOT ADVERTISING ON VOTING DEFECTIONS

This research investigates the possibility that political campaign communication is partially responsible for recent increases in the number of voters defecting from their partisan identification when making their electoral choices. Survey and contextual data from 1970, 1972, and 1974 are used to explain why some voters defect from their party identification when voting for senatorial and congressional candidates while others do not. Multiple regression and discriminant analysis indicate that exposure to political broadcast advertising is an important explanatory variable, even when holding constant a variety of other independent variables. Consequently, the availability of this form of campaign communication may have implications for the traditional functions of American political parties and for the dynamics of the public policy process.     

THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN SCIENCE AND THEOLOGY IN UNCOVERING THE MATRIX OF HUMAN MORALITY

Abstract. Theology and the life sciences are mutually dependent on one another in the task of understanding the origin and function of moral behavior. The life sciences investigate morality from the perspective of the historical and communal dimension of humanity and point to survival as the primary function of human behavior. A Christian ethic of self-sacrifice advances the preservation of the entire human and nonhuman creation and should not, therefore, be objected to by the life sciences. Religion, however, is more than a survival mechanism. It points to a preserving agency beyond humanity and prevents the life sciences from reducing life to its strictly biological side.     

THE EFFECTS OF SEVERE BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS IN CHILDREN ON THE TEACHING BEHAVIOR OF ADULTS

Applied behavior analysts have focused on how adults can influence the problem behavior of children using a variety of behavior modification strategies. A related question, virtually unexplored, is how the behavior problems of children influence adults. This child-effects concept was explored empirically in a study involving 12 adults who were asked to teach four pairs of children in which one member of the pair exhibited problem behavior and the other typically did not. Results demonstrated that problem children displayed tantrums, aggression, and self-injury contingent on adult instructional attempts but not at other times, whereas nonproblem children showed little or no problem behavior at any time. Importantly, from a child-effects perspective, adults engaged in teaching activities with nonproblem children more often than with problem children. Also, when an adult worked with a problem child, the breadth of instruction was more limited and typically involved those tasks associated with lower rates of behavior problems. The implications of these results are discussed with respect to theories of escape behavior, current assessment practices, and intervention issues related to maintenance. The existence of child effects suggests that problem behavior may be better understood when it is conceptualized as involving a process of reciprocal influence between adult and child.     

META‐HUMANS AND METANOIA: THE MORAL DIMENSION OF EXTRATERRESTRIALS

Abstract. Although we do not know whether intelligent extraterrestrials exist, they are a permanent fixture of literature and philosophical argument. Part of their appeal is that they watch us from above and thus serve as a metaphor for human self‐reflexivity. This makes fictional aliens especially useful when moral issues are at stake. In order to evaluate stories about aliens with respect to moral conclusions two conditions must be fulfilled. First, the stories have to be detailed enough that we can understand the circumstances of the aliens' moral choices. Therefore science fiction often is more useful than arguments involving aliens in short technical papers. Second, their fictional lives need to be possible in our own universe, or very nearly so, in order to be relevant for our own moral conduct. Taking as an example the unfallen aliens in C. S. Lewis's novels Out of the Silent Planet (1938) and Perelandra (1943), we can acknowledge the theological interest and literary subtlety. Nonetheless, the stories fail as moral parables in one important respect: The aliens depicted could not be a product of evolution in our universe, at least as we currently understand its scientific laws. This realization has important consequences for our self‐understanding and thus underlines how fictional aliens can be useful in making sense of the complexities involved in moral argumentation.