A RULES APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF TELEVISION AND SOCIETY

A rule-based theoretical framework is presented as an alternative to scientific laws or purely interpretive approaches for examination of the activities undertaken by television audiences. Communication rules, which explains human actions in terms of its pragmatic and normative rather than causal features, is productively applied to the study of audience activity at two levels—the family and the larger society. Habitual, parametric, and tactical rule types are defined and described in relation to basic mass communication processes. Television-related interpersonal activities in the home are shown to be rule-governed while audience members and sources of media programming at the societal level are revealed to engage in rule-based interaction that perpetuates selected ideologies and their accompanying lifestyle models. Communication rules is proposed as a viable approach for resolving fundamental problems in mass communication theory building, including the “effects” vs. “uses” argument regarding direction of influence, and conceptual and methodological differences that have often polarized media critics and empiricists.     

INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION FOLLOWING THE WALLACE SHOOTING1

A natural social disruption produced by the attempted assassination of George Wallace provided an opportunity to conduct a field study concerned with the mediating effects of self-esteem, birth-order, sex, and social situation on the relationship between anxiety and interpersonal communication among a sample of high school students. Contrary to expectations based on previous research, the significant relationship between anxiety and affiliation, while affected by social situation, was not generally influenced or mediated by the other variables. Possible explanations for these findings are explored, and an overall causal model is suggested to account for the findings.     

STUDIES OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMUNICATION APPREHENSION AND SELF-ESTEEM

This paper reports research conducted as a part of a continuing program designed to provide empirical delineation of the communication apprehension construct. Five studies are reported which indicate a substantial correlation (r =?.52 to r =?.72) between oral communication apprehension and self-esteem. Results from two college student samples (N = 192 and N = 272), two samples of elementary and secondary teachers (N = 202, N = 384), and a sample of federal employees (N = 211) indicate highly consistent relationships across age groups and occupational types.     

Events That Increase Uncertainty in Personal Relationships II Replication and Extension

Events that change relational knowledge were investigated because they have theoretical implications for uncertainty reduction and relational cognition and they have important consequences in terms of personal trauma and relational damage. Data were gathered in ways that corrected major problems in earlier studies, results were compared between two studies, and hypotheses about differences were tested. Additional information was also gathered concerning how often such events occurred, what led up to them, attributions about causes, coping strategies, and how the experience was viewed in hindsight. The results indicated that although the emotional and cognitive effects of the events were nearly as strong as found in earlier studies, the effects on relationships were not as negative. Other findings and their implications for uncertainty reduction theory and existing models of schema change were also discussed.     

ORAL COMMUNICATION APPREHENSION: A SUMMARY OF RECENT THEORY AND RESEARCH

Editors Note: With this issue we inaugurate a new section of HCR devoted to summaries of research and theory in specialised areas within the field of human communication. Papers in this section will he designed to bring research and theory in a given area together so that both specialists and nonspecialists can determine the “state of the art” in that area up to the time the paper is published. Scholars who wish to prepare papers for this section are requested to contact the editor and make their interests known. Generally, papers for this section will be commissioned. However, unsolicited papers will be given full consideration.