Demands for public accountability have built to a crescendo over the past several decades, driving home the fact that governing boards have premier responsibility as guardians of a college or university's performance. But to what extent do higher education's many stakeholders hold common perspectives on the definition and purpose of…

In this article, the author expresses his concern about the current state of the profession and the changes in college admission processes. Paper has been replaced with computers, counseling has been replaced with marketing, and the emphasis on "fit" has been replaced by a preoccupation with prestige, or perceived prestige. These changes point to…

University-wide courses increase visibility and credibility of family and consumer sciences programs and provide students with a valuable cross-cultural experience. A sophomore required course facilitates cross-cultural understanding regarding diversity and human appearance. One course project includes four interviews with a partner from a…

How different are the generations, really? Everybody knows that the "generation gap" between younger and older people causes stress and frustration at work. Are the differences people complain about just a big misunderstanding, or are they real? And most important, how can one use similarities and differences among the generations to be more…

Frequent use of credibility phrases such as "to be perfectly honest" and "frankly speaking" may lend credence to the description of this era as being the Age of Disbelief. It is not enough that truth is implied in a discussion, it must be made explicit verbally. What do students think when they see headlines that decry fraud,…

A study investigated how the attribution of a problem solution to an individual or group affects the consumer's perception of the solution's quality. Based on the tendency to support group decision-making (Hydra phenomenon) it was predicted that decisions attributed to groups would be perceived as higher in quality than those made by individuals,…

The present study raises serious questions regarding the interpretation of earlier research that has generally indicated that "favorable" personality descriptions are accepted more highly than "unfavorable" personality descriptions. The higher acceptance evidently resulted from the greater base-rate truthfulness existing in the favorable…

Relates a study designed to measure the extent to which trust-destroying communication affects verbal fluency of members in small group discussions. (MH)

A new scale of interpersonal trust for adolescents was constructed using a representative sample of 70 students from a community high school. The hypothesis was tested that disaffected youth compared to the more conventional would show less interpersonal trust. (Author/RC)

Raymond Yeager, director of forensics and professor of speech at Bowling Green State University, has made a major contribution to the field of speech communication. He has been much appreciated as professor, mentor, and friend. Yeager, the personification of the "good man skilled in speaking," is a well-spoken gentleman of principle who…

Responsible editors avoid printing falsehoods, but the public sometimes demands that rumors be covered in the press. One example of such rumors and the way editors deal with them is the "Mutilated Boy." The "Mutilated Boy" rumor has been circulating for decades and involves a brutal attack upon a small boy in a public rest…

This paper focuses on issues of data trustworthiness in praxis-oriented empirical work, research openly committed to the building of a world in which we can all flourish. The central argument is that those exploring the possibilities for a change-enhancing advocacy paradigm for doing empirical research in the human sciences must begin to be more…

Photography editors from three major newspapers and three former presidents of the National Press Photographers Association were surveyed to establish a framework for discussion of ethical questions concerning digital retouching of photographs and its impact on the credibility of photojournalism. Although photographs have been repaired, spliced or…

Continuing an inquiry into what variables explain audience trust in media, a study drew upon two theoretical areas in attitude research to propose a curvilinear relationship between attitude extremity and trust in media--namely that individuals who feel fairly neutral toward an issue and those who report strongly held attitudes see the media as…