HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE INVERTED SPECTRUM

It is possible for a person and their environment to be physically identical each day and yet the representational content of their beliefs about color are inverted. Each day they utter the same words, 'Wow! The colors of everything have switched again today.' In uttering these words, they express a different proposition each day. This supports the view held by Reichenbach and Carnap that when it comes to representations of colored objects, relations of similarity and difference are fundamental. There are no such things as colors like 'redness' and 'greenness' apart from the particular things we call red and green.     

The Effects of Fast Start Reading: A Fluency-BasedHome Involvement Reading Program,On the Reading Achievement of Beginning Readers

This study tested the effects of a fluency-based home reading program called Fast Start. Thirty beginning first-grade students, representing a wide range of early reading abilities, were randomly assigned to experimental or control conditions for a period of 11 weeks.

Parents and students in the experimental group received Fast Start training, weekly materials packets, and weekly telephone support. Control group parents and students received the parent involvement opportunities typical for their family and classroom. Significant effects for those students most at-risk in reading (as measured by pretest) were found on measures of Letter/Word recognition and reading fluency. Verbal and written survey information collected from the experimental group indicated generally positive perceptions of the program by parents.     

Communication and Interdependence in Geographically Separated Relationships

This article discusses the theoretic underpinnings of a framework for the analysis of communication in ongoing social relationships. A set of studies that have investigated various aspects of the framework are summarized. The majority of these studies have tested the notion that communication between members of ongoing relationships generates a shared view of the world that bonds relationship members. Relationship members who have achieved this type of bond are referred to as symbolically interdependent. The remainder of the article presents results of a study of the relationships between symbolic interdependence and time spent talking in groups of premarital couples that were either separated geographically or living in close proximity. Results supported the hypothesis that this relationship would be stronger in the group of geographically separated couples. Implications of the study are discussed as well as future directions for research on the perspective.     

SIGNIFICANCE AND SUBSTANCE: AN EXAMINATION OF EXPERIMENTAL EFFECTS

The dimension of obtained effect size (OES) was examined in this report. The 1977 volumes of Communication Monographs, Human Communication Research, and the Journal of Communication were reviewed, and a comparison of OES magnitude, reporting, and interpretation was conducted. Additional data gleaned from the 1975, 1976, and 1978 volumes of Human Communication Research were also included. The magnitude of experimental effects was relatively high in Communication Monographs and Human Communication Research. The number of authors reporting OES was most pronounced in Human Communication Research. The role of OES in relation to significance was discussed, and some recommendations for the reporting of data were advanced.     

ANXIETY AROUSING MESSAGES AND EGO-INVOLVEMENT AS DETERMINANTS OF COMMUNICATIVE PREDISPOSITIONS

A theoretically integrated rationale was generated combining affiliation, ego-involvement, and balance-restoring responses and research was conducted testing hypotheses: (1) slightly involved subjects will demonstrate a greater desire to communicate upon receipt of an anxiety-arousing discrepant message than highly involved subjects; and (2) slightly involved subjects will demonstrate a greater desire to communicate upon receipt of a nonanxiety-arousing discrepant message than highly involved subjects. Results confirmed both hypotheses and the findings were discussed in terms of a proposed theoretic framework identifying the effects of message impact on communicative predispositions.