Examines the effects of office aesthetic quality on students' perceptions of teacher credibility and communicator style--97 students visited either a low or high aesthetic quality office or were assigned to a no-office exposure control group. Indicates that office aesthetic quality influenced participants' evaluations of teacher credibility and…

Examines the combined effects of on-air and online network news exposure, placing student and adult news consumers in broadcast news, online news, and telewebbing conditions. Indicates that perceptions of network news credibility are affected by channel used. Offers evidence for the existence of a synergy effect between on-air and online news. (PM)

Euro-American historians have not allowed Native American scholars to participate as intellectual equals in academic debates concerning Native history. A comparison of received histories of Sequoyah and the emergence of the Cherokee syllabary and Traveller Bird's 1971 "Tell Them They Lie" reveals that Traveller Bird's argument is at…

Discusses how to use the Sender-Receiver Communications model to illustrate for students the process of "targeting your audience." Includes an assignment in which students are asked to apply knowledge gained from the model. (MS)

Shows that the criteria people use to judge television news credibility are different than those used to judge newspapers. Demonstrates that one source of this difference is that newspapers and television are evaluated from different levels of analysis. (RS)

Uses meta-analysis to test three models of the "sleeper" effect (a theory proposing that in the long term low credible sources may actually attain greater attitude change in message recipients than high credible sources). Concludes that the sleeper effect does exist, and offers suggestions for practitioners and theorists. (SR)

Examines cultural and personal values constraints on apologia through a case study of Governor Ray Blanton's apologia. Applies Bitzer's concept of functional communication and extends Jamieson's concept of the constraint of antecedent genre upon the rhetorical situation, examining of the impact of a speaker's antecedent rhetorical style upon later…

Relates personal experiences of a sociologist of Asian origin in an effort to illustrate problems inherent in the process of becoming accepted as an academic sociologist. Identifies important themes of marginality, credibility, and impression management. Points out ways in which the Asian sociologists can go about achieving credibility. (KO)

The inadequacy of available foster homes frequently paralyzes the foster-care system and hinders agencies in meeting their most basic mandates. This examination of foster-parent recruitment discusses escaping the inoperable system cycle, a broad-based holistic recruitment approach, retention efforts initiated and maintained comparable to…

This brief statement addresses the credibility of the accreditation process for dental schools, suggests that innovation and excellence be part of the process, and questions the need for the number of accrediting bodies that exist. The author argues for greater cooperation in solving the accreditation problem. (GLR)

Discusses methodological issues concerning qualitative research and describes research practices that qualitative researchers use to address these methodological issues. Topics discussed include the researcher as interpreter, the emergent nature of qualitative research, understanding the experience of others, trustworthiness in qualitative…

This study examined the impact on school personnel of a psychological report purported to have been authored by a computer-based test interpretation system versus a psychologist. Identical reports were rated in terms of perceived quality, credibility, and interpretation. No effect on subjects' appraisal of the reports based on authorship was…

Discusses components of credibility for academic departments from the local (on campus) view and from the cosmopolitan (disciplinary) perspective. (SR)

Examined relationship between children's ability to infer the veracity of an adult's statement and the adult's informedness. Found that children tended to believe utterances from speakers who were better informed than they themselves were and to disbelieve less well-informed speakers, with no age-related differences. Children gave explicit…

Examines changes in definitions of critical thinking. Explores two strands of social psychology research, one providing evidence for the notion that people find it much easier to believe than to disbelieve, and the other suggesting that once beliefs are formed, they are extremely resistant to change. Discusses how these tendencies are able to…