Relational intimacy was studied for its influence on choice of interpersonal conflict strategies. Data were collected from 143 speech communication students who were randomly distributed among three groups representing different levels of intimacy (stranger, acquaintance, intimate) and were asked to imagine serious conflict with a person of the…

Examines the nature of communication symbols in American society in an attempt to interpret features of racist language. See CS 703 548 for availability. (MH)

An exploratory study was conducted to define and differentiate interruptions structurally and tactically. The participants were 60 college students assigned to female-female, female-male, and male-male conversational dyads. The dyadic conversations were recorded for 14 minutes, during a period of "getting to know each other" and during a…

Analyzes the expectation that a group subjected to organization development interventions will behave differently in the work setting from a group not subjected to such interventions, predicting that the differences will be attributable to interdependency awareness in the intervened group. (Author/JM)

Discusses a study designed to specify the interpersonal communication related determinants of anomia within a close friendship context. (MH)

Prevailing criticism of communication research in and out of university speech departments is justified and means that the quality of research must be improved. The last three years of speech communication research has not been noteworthy, dramatic, or significant. An initial remedial step might be the development of good, relevant, and sound…

The communication apprehension and interpersonal needs of college students in the People's Republic of China were examined and compared to similar data on college students in the United States, Korea, Japan, and Australia. The instruments used in the studies were the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA) and the Fundamental…

Currently researchers are reexamining the validity of viewing alcoholics outside of their most important social unit: the family. However, a review of the current research shows little directly addressing how communication patterns influence and possibly sustain alcoholic behavior within the family setting. One study suggests that alcoholism and…

Sixty half-hour family discussions generated by the "revealed differences technique" were analyzed to determine the emotional intensity and quality (friendliness/attacking) of messages between individuals in families with schizophrenic and "normal" sons. Thirty families in each situation (schizophrenic/normal) were matched for comparison. Both…

A model of the generation of initial trusting attitudes toward groups by individuals who were not members of those groups was developed from the literature on interpersonal trust. The model proposed that perceptions of situational threat would be preconditions to the saliency of trust as a concept. Given that trust was a salient concept, the model…

This study addresses three issues: (1) the influence of proxemic variables (distance, furniture presence) on dyadic interaction; (2) the consistency between measures of self-disclosure; and (3) the applicability of reciprocity and distance-equilibrium views of dyadic interaction. Dyads of male college students were randomly assigned to one of four…