The two Alger Hiss perjury trials of 1949 provide an opportunity to compare two different aspects of trial drama: courtroom drama and crime drama. Much recent scholarship on legal rhetoric has acknowledged the dramatic quality of courtroom communication, which results in part from the physical appearance of the courtroom and the style of language…

Twenty-five groups, each consisting of one superior and three subordinates, participated in a problem-solving exercise to test the hypotheses that subordinates who are exposed to external conflict, in conjunction with their immediate superior, will perceive their immediate superior as more credible and more homophilous than those who are not…

A study was designed to measure the effects of the source's body type--endomorph (fat), mesomorph (muscular), and ectomorph (thin)--in relation to his perceived credibility by the receiver. Five hundred subjects were randomly selected from a basic communication course and, in groups of twenty in a classroom setting, were each given a…

Analyzes media effects during the 1972 general election campaign and concludes that agenda-setting is indirectly effected by voters prior dispositions. (MH)

This study failed to support earlier findings that jargon as a behavioral cue and assigned prestige as an external cue can be manipulated to affect perceived helper expertness. Several interpretations are drawn from the lack of hypothesized effect in the present study. (Author)

In a study of the relative credibility of newspaper and television news, it was found that 76 percent of college students surveyed said they would believe television news, and 24 percent said they would believe newspaper news, in case of conflicting or different reports of the same news story. (GW)

The centrality of interpersonal trust for effective managerial problem solving was illustrated by inducing either a high-trust or a low-trust mental set in experimental groups. Subjects operating in a high-trust environment were significantly more effective in problem solving. (Author)

Contends that rhetoric of apologia constitutes a discrete genre and suggests that the needs that motivate apologetic speaking are inner-directed, social or personal and tend to shape the speech itself. (MH)

Contends that television is a pre-eminent source of persuasion in American today and examines the television news reporting strategies that have succeeded in contributing to televisions persuasive impact. (MH)

Describes a survey of news sources' judgments of three television stations' accuracy in reporting. (KS)

Results indicated that television is perceived to be a more credible, truthful, and important news source than the newspaper. (KS)

Supports research indicating that disclaimers have no effect on perceptions of source credibility. Reveals that frequency of disclaimer use was unrelated to subject-juror evaluations of witness credibility and testimony believability; females did not use more disclaimers than males during examination; and when females used disclaimers, they were…

To recruit students and raise money, some colleges are presenting increasingly distorted pictures of themselves. Misrepresentation in fund-raising includes using money for a purpose other than the one for which it was raised. (MLW)

Undergraduates in six programmed T-groups received feedback that was either behavioral, emotional, or combined behavioral-emotional. Negative behavioral feedback was more credible than negative emotional feedback. Participants in group psychotherapy and encounter groups who give each other behavioral feedback can enhance the credibility of the…