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.     

The Sexual Harassment Coercive Offer

There is disagreement in the coercion literature over whether an offer, which necessarily lacks a threat, could be coercive, which tends to imply at least some affinity with coercion, which, in paradigm cases, includes a threat. In one difficult sexual harassment case, someone is offered a promotion in exchange for sex, but there is, due to the arrangement of the case, no implied threat or repercussion for refusal. I argue this case counts as coercive since the offer‐making attempts to recast the agent's self‐image simply by making the offer: the harasser attempts to define his employee as a sexualized object in the workplace to whom it is acceptable to make this kind of offer. Yet, such an offer can only be acceptably made to a woman who would accept sexual intrusions in her career, and it can never be right to assume others are willing to have their business lives sexualized. Thus, the offer is coercive in its disrespect for the employee's autonomy, although it involves no threat.     

Bringing Back Bamiyan's Buddhas

Bamiyan's Buddhas, long the treasured centrepiece of Afghanistan's material culture, were blown up by the Taliban in 2001. Since then controversy has arisen regarding whether — and, if so, how — the sculptures might be resurrected. One option — possible in principle because of careful 20^th century survey work — would be to reconstruct exact replicas. I argue this would be a mistake. Reconstructing the sculptures, though it might serve useful ends, is inappropriate on aesthetic, moral, and metaphysical grounds. I then consider restoration, arguing that it is appropriate on these same grounds. Unlike reconstruction, restoration stands to (partly) resuscitate the artistic, cultural, and historical value that now lies, inaccessible, in piles of rubble. And while restoration stands to achieve this worthy end, it would contribute as well to the economic and political well‐being of Afghani citizens. In short, I argue that restoring — and thereby resurrecting — Bamiyan's Buddhas, both metaphysically possible and morally appropriate, is a win‐win proposition. Afghanistan deserves our support to make this happen.     

THE USE AND ABUSE OF FACTOR ANALYSIS IN COMMUNICATION RESEARCH

This paper discusses several decisions that researchers must make in their application of factor analysis to data related to communication phenomena. Several suggestions are provided to aid researchers in reaching appropriate decisions.     

Am “I” more important than “we”? Couples’ word use in instant messages

Recent studies have identified robust associations between the types of words that people use and their psychological health. This study investigated whether couples’ word use in their daily instant messages (IMs) is linked to the quality and stability of their relationships. Sixty‐eight dating couples in the United States submitted 10 days of IM conversations with each other, which were analyzed with a linguistic word count program. Six months later, couples indicated whether they were still dating. Pronoun use and emotion word use both were associated with relationship satisfaction and stability. These findings extend previous research showing that the frequencies of certain words that people use are associated with the quality of their social relationships.     

The Structure of Communication

The structure of the discipline of Communication is examined using the frequency of joint memberships in the International Communication Association's divisions and interest groups. The results suggest that the structure is more complex than previously suggested by bibliometric research. There are at least two dimensions that differentiate the divisions/interest groups. As reported in the bibliometric literature, one is a dimension that separates the mass media and the interpersonally oriented divisions. The second differentiates the humanistic from the scientific. One method found a third dimension: theoretical to applied. Cluster analysis based on the actual number of joint memberships found three clusters: humanistic, mediated, and interpersonal. A cluster analysis that controlled for the size of the divisions/interest groups found only two: humanistic and scientific. Blockmodeling of the joint memberships identified four: humanistic, mediated, interpersonal, and information technology.