Minority stress and intimate partner aggression among male same-sex couples

Intimate partner aggression (IPA) is high among gay, bisexual, queer, and other sexual minority men (SMM), and is strongly linked to minority stress. These links might be further magnified or buffered by communication between partners (i.e., negative and positive communication, respectively). The present study investigated associations of minority stress and IPA, and the moderating role of positive/negative communication, among male couples (N = 932 individuals, 466 couples). Partners completed measures of communication skills, minority stress, and IPA, which were analyzed using moderated actor-partner interdependence models. Results suggested that microaggressions increase one's own (i.e., an actor effect) and one's partner's (i.e., a partner effect) verbal IPA victimization, verbal IPA perpetration, and physical IPA victimization. Positive communication moderated the association between microaggressions and verbal IPA victimization, suggesting that high levels of positive communication may buffer the microaggression-verbal IPA link. Thus, minority stress' detrimental impacts on relationship functioning among male same-sex couples may be reduced by the presence of positive communication (e.g., effective conflict resolution). We discuss structural and clinical innovations to prevent IPA among male couples, with particular emphasis on the absence of positive communication as an aggravating factor.     

APPROPRIATE METHODS FOR COMMUNICATION POLICY SCIENCE: SOME PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS

This article inquires into the appropriateness of scientific methods now used by a social science of communication for use by an emerging communication policy science. Toward this end, changes in the communication field leading to a policy science are considered, and some of the problems and possibilities in methods of inquiry are outlined. Questions of communication sciences and methods are then set in a multicultural historical perspective. The article concludes with suggestions on how uniquely appropriate methods might be developed for communication policy science.     

Perceptions of parent-adolescent communication within families: it is a matter of perspective

This study examined the concordance between parental and youth's perceptions regarding open communication in their families and its association with youth's psychosocial adjustment. The relative importance of parental and adolescents' perceptions of open family communication in relation to youth's psychosocial adjustment was also investigated. Participants were 336 parent-youth dyads from inner-city low-income communities in an eastern city in the United States. Both parental and youth's perceptions of open communication in the family were categorized into "high" and "low" groups using a median split in scores. Four parent-youth concordance groups (i.e. high-high, high-low, low-high and low-low) were derived based on the combination of the levels of parental and youth's perceptions. Parental and youth's perceptions about open communication were modestly correlated (r = 0.129, p < 0.05). The level of concordance differed by youth gender with male adolescents and their parents being more likely to perceive lower levels of open communication (i.e. "low-low") than females and their parents (32% versus 19%, p < 0.05). In general, youth demonstrated poorer psychosocial adjustment if they perceived a lower level of open communication between them and their parents, independent of the level of their parents' perceptions (e.g. "high" or "low"). The findings suggest an important role of adolescents' own perceptions of the openness of the family communication in relation to adolescent psychosocial adjustment. Developmentally and gender appropriate intervention programs are needed to improve the openness of parent-adolescent communication, to help both parents and youth to recognize the significant preventive role of open communication in the family, especially, the socioeconomically disadvantaged families.     

Metaphor and Persuasive Communication: A Multifunctional Approach

Metaphors are pervasive in both mass communication and interpersonal exchanges and can play an important role in persuasion. Metaphor serves multiple functions in persuasive communication, and the effect of metaphor on persuasion is potentially mediated by multiple psychological process mechanisms. Nevertheless, we propose that past and future research in this area can be organized or grouped into three simple categories. First, metaphorical statements can activate information that is directly applied to the communication topic and thereby influence attitudes toward the communication topic. Second, metaphorical language may influence impressions of the communication source and thereby impact attitudes toward the communication topic. Third, metaphors may affect attitudes toward the communication topic by influencing the direction or amount of elaboration that takes place when recipients process literal statements contained in the communication. A review of past research is organized into these three categories, and proposals for future research in each category are introduced. It is concluded that future research within each of these domains should focus on two related questions: under what conditions does metaphor elicit a given psychological process in the receiver (e.g., attribute mapping, valence transfer), and under what conditions will a given process result in an increase versus decrease in persuasion?     

Communication,representation, and scientific knowledge: A conceptual framework and case study

What is the significance of communication in science? Though the question has been addressed by researchers in a number of fields, most have tended to see communication as an intermediary step on the way to some other phenomenon of interest, aprocess that is only interesting insofar as it produces some other structural or functionalproduct, e.g., documents, organizations, or social groups. From a communication research perspective, however, the communication processes themselves are the object of study. The diversity and flexibility of scientists’ communication behavior, and the complexity of their communication channels, styles, messages and networks, have not been assessed as a set of related phenomena. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to draw together several analytical concepts regarding scientific communication processes that have been proposed by the author elsewhere, including the issue of social representations (Lievrouw, 1990), the scientific communication cycle (Lievrouw and Carley, 1991), and the scholarly research narrative (Lievrouw, 1989, and Mokros and Lievrouw, 1991). The concepts are combined here into one conceptual framework and applied to the case of a single biomedical specialty, lipid metabolism research, which has developed from an esoteric biochemical subfield to a large and well-funded specializaiton with a great deal of influence on American culture’s preoccupation with heart disease.     

Stability and transitions in mother-infant face-to-face communication during the first 6 months: a microhistorical approach

In this study the authors attempted to unravel the relational, dynamical, and historical nature of mother-infant communication during the first 6 months. Thirteen mothers and their infants were videotaped weekly from 4 to 24 weeks during face-to-face interactions. Three distinct patterns of mother-infant communication were identified: symmetrical, asymmetrical, and unilateral. Guided by a dynamic systems perspective, the authors explored the stability of and transitions between these communication patterns. Findings from event history analysis showed that (a) there are regularly recurring dyadic communication patterns in early infancy, (b) these recurring patterns show differential stabilities and likelihoods of transitions, (c) dynamic stability in dyadic communication is shaped not only by individual characteristics (e.g., infant sex and maternal parity) but also by the dyad's communication history, and (d) depending on their recency, communication histories varying in temporal proximity exert differential effects on the self-organization processes of a dyadic system.     

Computer-assisted communication and team decision-making performance: the moderating effect of openness to experience

This study examined the effects of computer-assisted communication on team decision-making performance as a function of the team's openness to experience. Seventy-nine teams performing a multiple-cue probability learning task were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 experimental conditions: (a) verbal communication or (b) computer-assisted communication (which combined verbal and computerized communication). The results indicated that access to computer-assisted communication improved the decision-making performance of teams, but only when the teams were high in openness to experience. This effect was observed using both global openness and more specific openness facets, as well as a variety of team-level aggregation strategies. Moreover, the beneficial effects of openness in computer-assisted conditions were mediated by the efficiency with which teams integrated verbal and computerized forms of communication.     

Introduction to Organizational Psycholinguistics

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - The paper introduces organizational psycholinguistics as an approach to professional communication i.e., the communication in organizations. The author...     

Overview: For crying out loud--dangers and opportunities of communicating in the public domain

Communication often extends into the public domain, inviting "eavesdropping" and other forms of exploitation by other species. Conflict is frequently the result, although interspecific communication can be mutually beneficial even when interests conflict fundamentally, such as between predator and prey. However, the most complex communication systems are likely to involve species with mutual rather than with conflicting interests. When interests do conflict, exploitation of the communication systems of others may impose high costs on signalers and select for signals that are less exploitable. Other costs of communication in the public domain arise from "mistakes" (e.g., mating with the wrong species) and select for more species-specific signal structure. The articles in this section illustrate the complexity of interspecific communication and yield important insights into the dynamic nature of communication systems.     

Discriminated functional communication: a procedural extension of functional communication training

A limitation associated with communication-based interventions for problem behavior is the potential for requesting reinforcement at high rates. Multiple-schedule arrangements have been demonstrated to be effective for controlling rates of responding (Hanley, Iwata, & Thompson, 2001). In the current study, we extended previous research by teaching individuals to attend to naturally occurring discriminative stimuli (e.g., caregiver behavior) instead of arbitrary stimuli (e.g., picture cards). Following successful treatment with functional communication and extinction, 2 participants were taught to request attention differentially based on whether the caregiver was engaging in a variety of "busy" (e.g., talking on the phone) or "nonbusy" (e.g., reading a magazine) activities. Following training, each participant engaged in communication primarily when caregivers were engaged in nonbusy activities.     

Recipient Design in Communicative Pointing

A long‐standing debate in the study of human communication centers on the degree to which communicators tune their communicative signals (e.g., speech, gestures) for specific addressees, as opposed to taking a neutral or egocentric perspective. This tuning, called recipient design, is known to occur under special conditions (e.g., when errors in communication need to be corrected), but several researchers have argued that it is not an intrinsic feature of human communication, because that would be computationally too demanding. In this study, we contribute to this debate by studying a simple communicative behavior, communicative pointing, under conditions of successful (error‐free) communication. Using an information‐theoretic measure, called legibility, we present evidence of recipient design in communicative pointing. The legibility effect is present early in the movement, suggesting that it is an intrinsic part of the communicative plan. Moreover, it is reliable only from the viewpoint of the addressee, suggesting that the motor plan is tuned to the addressee. These findings suggest that recipient design is an intrinsic feature of human communication.     

Management Communication and Employee Performance: The Contribution of Perceived Organizational Support

This study used a cross-lagged panel design to examine the temporal relationship between management communication and perceived organizational support (POS), and its consequences for performance. We assessed management communication and POS 2 times, separated by a 3-year interval, in a social services organization (N?=?236). Our findings suggest that management communication was positively associated with a temporal change in POS. In addition, we found that POS fully mediates the relationship between management communication and both in-role and extra-role performance. The present study advances our theoretical knowledge concerning how management communication affects performance, with implications for practice. Specifically, it reveals that management communication affects performance mainly because it signals that the organization cares about the well-being and values the contributions of its employees.     

Microblogging and the Value of Undirected Communication

Online social networks have become extremely popular, but what drives sharing through these channels? We demonstrate that one of the most popular features of online social networks, microblogging (e.g., tweeting or sharing Facebook status updates), is driven in part by its undirected nature. Microblogging allows people to simultaneously express themselves to a large number of potential communication partners without having to address anyone in particular. As a result, this communication channel is particularly valued when people feel socially apprehensive; it allows them to reach out without having to impose communication and potentially bother anyone in particular. These findings shed light on one reason why people use online social networks and provide insight into the value of undirected communication.     

Psychotherapists' attitudes towards and observations of nonverbal communication in a greeting situation: II. Relationships to background variables.

An interview study of 79 Swedish psychotherapists was performed to investigate their attitudes towards and observation of nonverbal communication in a reference situation in relation to background factors such as gender, length of professional experience, and theoretical approach. The greeting situation, i.e., the first time a therapist and patient meet in a waiting-room, was chosen as the reference situation. Face communication in that greeting situation was significantly less achieved by male psychotherapists with relatively short experience than by female therapists. However, this sex difference was not significant among therapists whose psychotherapeutic experience was longer than 13 years. Attaching great importance to nonverbal communication in psychotherapy was related to an intention to be well-kept and to perform correctly in front of the patient, to establish direct communication in the greeting situation, and to background factors such as frequent work in psychotherapy and an eclectic psychotherapeutic approach.     

The evolution of mutualistic interspecific communication: assessment and management across species

This article investigates the evolution of interspecific communication within a mutualistic setting, using the assessment-management approach to communication as a theoretical framework. The author introduces sequential stages in the evolution of mutualistic interspecific communication from unilateral assessment, to bilateral assessment, to asymmetric communication, and finally to highly complex, coevolved bilateral assessment and management and presents animal examples of each evolutionary stage. From these examples, the author forms predictions regarding when and how interspecific communication is most likely to develop, along with suggestions for further research.     

Communication Formats and Their Impact on Patient Perception and Working Mechanisms: A Mixed-Methods Study of Chat-Based vs. Face-to-Face Psychotherapy for Insomnia

The application of Internet-based interventions within stepped-care models raises the question of when patients should receive Internet-based treatment and when patients should receive face-to-face (FtF) treatment. To address this question, the patient perception and effects of working mechanisms were evaluated after brief psychotherapy for insomnia applying a mixed-methods approach. Treatment was either delivered through a text-based chat or it was delivered FtF. Almost half of the patients who received the chat-based treatment indicated that chat-based communication was appropriate for them when dealing with sleep difficulties, but that they would prefer FtF communication for more sensitive topics. Results from the therapists’ evaluations of working mechanisms yielded that these working mechanisms were more strongly associated with treatment outcome in the FtF condition than they were in the chat-based condition. To understand and to interpret the results, media richness theory may be a useful tool: More severely impaired patients and patients with more complex concerns may need more complex (richer) communication formats for treatment delivery. Such heuristics may help to better justify treatment recommendations and optimize media choice in Internet-based interventions, e.g., by defining moments when human interaction is needed and moments when communication could be conducted by nonhuman chatbots.     

Deciding to Dissolve: Individual- and Relationship-Level Predictors of Roommate Breakup

The desire to change roommates served as a model of nonromantic relationship dissolution within 115 college roommate dyads. We measured personality, mental health, social/communication patterns, and academic achievement attitudes over the course of a semester, and we used multilevel modeling to estimate individual-level and relationship-level predictors of dissolution. Self-characteristics (e.g., one's own depression), roommate characteristics (e.g., roommate's poor communication), and relationship characteristics (e.g., similarity in attitudes toward competition) each increased desire to end the roommate relationship. In these data, unique contributions from one's own psychological health, one's own and one's roommate's social/communication style, and roommates' attitude similarity predicted relationship dissolution.     

Deej‐a Vu: Documentary revisits facilitated communication pseudoscience

Deej is a documentary about a young man named Deej who has autism with complex communication needs (i.e., nonverbal autism). To the uninitiated, Deej might look like a poignant story about people misperceiving Deej until he reveals the intelligence hidden inside him. The documentary uses Deej's story to suggest that other people with complex communication needs are similarly misunderstood. In actuality, the documentary is misleading and concerning. Deej demonstrates his hidden intelligence via facilitated communication. The documentary does not mention the science that discredits facilitated communication or the harm that facilitated communication has enabled. In the present paper, I use the history of facilitated communication to examine Deej. I describe how the documentary promotes facilitated communication by encouraging improper forms of scientific reasoning. Finally, I suggest that skepticism toward facilitated communication is necessary to ameliorate its harmful influence and to encourage genuine acceptance of people with complex communication needs.     

When Height Carries Weight: Communicating Hidden Object Properties for Joint Action

In the absence of pre‐established communicative conventions, people create novel communication systems to successfully coordinate their actions toward a joint goal. In this study, we address two types of such novel communication systems: sensorimotor communication, where the kinematics of instrumental actions are systematically modulated, versus symbolic communication. We ask which of the two systems co‐actors preferentially create when aiming to communicate about hidden object properties such as weight. The results of three experiments consistently show that actors who knew the weight of an object transmitted this weight information to their uninformed co‐actors by systematically modulating their instrumental actions, grasping objects of particular weights at particular heights. This preference for sensorimotor communication was reduced in a fourth experiment where co‐actors could communicate with weight‐related symbols. Our findings demonstrate that the use of sensorimotor communication extends beyond the communication of spatial locations to non‐spatial, hidden object properties.