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 EFFECTS OF COMMUNICATION APPREHENSION ON INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION

Two studies are reported which indicate that high communication apprehensives are perceived as less interpersonally attractive than low communication apprehensives by members of the opposite sex. Effects of physical appearance and attitude similarity on interpersonal attraction, consistent with previous research, were also observed. It was also found that, in general, the more communication apprehensive the subject the less the subject was attracted to other people.     

THE SCOPE OF RATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Niko Kolodny has argued that some (local) rational requirements are narrow-scope requirements. Against this, I argue here that all (local) rational requirements are wide-scope requirements. I present a new objection to the narrow-scope interpretations of the four specific rational requirements which Kolodny considers. His argument for the narrow-scope interpretations of these four requirements rests on a false assumption, that an attitude which puts in place a narrow-scope rational requirement somewhere thereby puts in place a narrow-scope rational requirement everywhere. My argument against Kolodny is analogous to arguments which use holism about reasons to defend moral particularism.     

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.     

EFFECTS OF COMMUNICATION AND FEEDBACK ON COGNITIVE CONFLICT

BREHMER, B. Effects of communication and feedback on cognitive conflict. Scand. J. Psychol. , 12, 205–216.–The effects of communication and feedback upon policy similarity and policy consistency in cognitive conflict were studied in a 2×2×5 factorial experiment with communication (present/ absent), feedback (present/absent) and blocks of trials as the factors. Communication increased policy similarity and agreement, but feedback had no effect. Both subjects with linear and subjects with nonlinear policies gave up more of their initial policy in the communication condition, but only the nonlinear subjects managed to utilize communication to acquire new policies. In all conditions, including the condition without feedback and communication, the nonlinear subjects' policies were less consistent than those of the linear subjects. This suggests that nonlinear policies may be less stable than linear policies.     

COMMUNICATION PATTERNS OF FOREIGN IMMIGRANTS IN THE PROCESS OF ACCULTURATION1

This paper reports the theoretical development and testing of a causal model of communication patterns of foreign immigrants in the process of acculturation. Communication patterns are conceptualized on two levels: cognitive and behavioral. The cognitive level is observed by the complexity of an immigrant's perception of the host society; the behavioral level by the immigrant's involvement in the host society through interpersonal and mass communication. Three causal factors are identified as major determinants of the immigrant's communication patterns: language competence, acculturation motivation, and accessibility to host communication channels. The theory consists of nine propositions which explain the relationship among the three causal factors, behavioral participation in host communication channels, and cognitive structure in perceiving the host society. The theory was tested and supported by a survey among 400 randomly selected Korean immigrants in the Chicago area.     

THE SCOPE AND IMPLICATIONS OF MORALS NOT KNOWLEDGE

I greatly appreciate the opportunity provided by the editor of Zygon to further develop the ideas in my book Morals Not Knowledge: Recasting the Contemporary U.S. Conflict between Religion and Science in conversation with four critical commentaries. It is an honor to have one's work focused upon so intently, and I greatly appreciate the time and effort of the critics. The book was quite intentionally written as a provocation, an attempt at agenda setting, and as a call for changing the thinking of the entire religion and science academic community. In my previous writings I have kept close to the data, allowing myself at best mid‐level conclusions, but this book is a foray into the abstraction and inevitable lack of precision required for high‐level generalization. I hope that it continues to be generative of debate.     

THE ROLE OF COMMUNICATION IN BARGAINING

This essay classifies, reviews, and critiques the current literature on the role of communication in the bargaining process. As such, it provides an up-to-date review of the research findings within four areas: communication opportunity, information exchange, message strategies, and categories of interaction. These areas illustrate three different perspectives of communication: the mechanistic, the psychological, and the pragmatic views. Integration of this literature reveals that bargaining interaction differs from group problem solving in the types of messages used and in the evolution of bargaining stages, and that communication patterns distinguish between the initial and the latter stages of bargaining.     

THE EFFECT OF COMMUNICATION APPREHENSION AND SITUATION ON COMMUNICATION STRATEGY CHOICES

Volunteer undergraduate students were administered a questionnaire that assessed their perceptions of the probable use of certain persuasive strategies in a given situation and measured their level of communication apprehension. Data were analyzed to test hypotheses concerning the effects of communication apprehension and type of situation on the use of persuasive strategies. Data confirmed the impact of situation on strategy selection but failed to demonstrate the effect of communication apprehension or an interaction between communication apprehension and situation on strategy use. Implications for communication apprehension and communication competence were offered.     

THE EFFECTS OF OBSERVER PRESENCE ON THE ACTIVITY LEVEL OF FAMILIES1

In the present study, the possibility that the act of observing behavior may result in changes in those behaviors was investigated. An investigation of reactivity is important to the validity of research findings because the result obtained when observers are present may not generalize to situations when observers are absent. The effects of observer presence were assessed with five families, each consisting of a mother and two children, in a laboratory setting designed to resemble a typical family living room, containing a table, couch, chairs, toys, books, and a bathroom and kitchen area. The families were each exposed to a sequence of four 30-minute conditions during which an observer was alternatively physically present or absent from the room. From behind an unobtrusive one-way mirror, family members' locations were recorded every 15 seconds on gridded floor-plan diagrams drawn to the scale of the room. After all data were collected, lines were drawn for each family member connecting the numbers sequentially and a map-reading device was then used to measure the distance covered during each minute of observation. The presence of observers markedly reduced the activity level of all families, with the average reduction approximating 50%. However, more extended observations in natural family settings may reveal that families habituate to observer presence in a relatively short period of time. If so, the solution to the reactivity problem would involve extending the observation sessions. However, if families do not habituate, new forms of data collection might be required to guarantee the validity and generalizability of data collected by obtrusive observers.     

ACQUISITION OF EXPRESSIVE SIGNING BY AUTISTIC CHILDREN: AN EVALUATION OF THE RELATIVE EFFECTS OF SIMULTANEOUS COMMUNICATION AND SIGN-ALONE TRAINING

Two methods of training autistic children to use manual signs were compared. Two children, one mute and one capable of some verbal imitation, were taught to use signs as expressive labels for pictures of objects. Using an alternating treatments design, speed of sign acquisition was compared across two training conditions in which signs were presented either accompanied by, or without, the corresponding verbal label. In both conditions, the training procedure incorporated reinforcement, modeling, prompting, fading, and stimulus rotation. The efficacy of training in both treatment conditions was demonstrated by the use of a multiple baseline control across signs, but no clear differences in acquisition speed across conditions were apparent. Posttests conducted to assess stimulus control of signing, and learning of verbal labels when these were present in training, showed that the behavior of the imitative, but not the mute, child was controlled by the verbal stimuli. The implications of the results both for understanding deficits characteristic of autistic children and for developing appropriate language training procedures are discussed.     

MEASURING INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN THE NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION OF AFFECT: THE SLIDE-VIEWING PARADIGM1

This paper describes the slide-viewing paradigm for measuring nonverbal sending accuracy—the spontaneous tendency to display communicative nonverbal behavior— and nonverbal receiving ability—the ability to accurately decode such behaviors when they occur in others. Sending accuracy has been measured in adults, preschool children, and brain-damaged patients, and suggestive relationships have emerged between sending accuracy and gender, personality, autonomic responding, and presumed site of brain damage. The pattern of results suggests that sending accuracy may be related to both unlearned, temperamental factors and to gender-related social learning experiences. Receiving ability has been measured in adults and preschool children, and relationships with various measures have been demonstrated.     

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.