Initial credibility, use and non-use of evidence, and language intensity manipulate belief formation and change. Evidence supports the hypothesis that if a group of subject is exposed to a communicator who carries impressive credentials, uses specific data, and phrases a message in intense, fear-producing terms, the subjects will respond with…

The Mass Communication and Society section of the proceedings contains the following selected 14 papers: "When No News Is Not Good News, Ignorance Is Not Bliss, and Your Mama May Not Have Told You: Female Adolescent Information Holding and Seeking about Sexually Transmitted Diseases" (Donna Rouner and Rebecca E. Lindsey);…

Describes a procedure that sensitizes counselors to cultural data in assessment and case conceptualization. The Multicultural Assessment Procedure (MAP) entails identifying cultural data through multiple methods of data collection, interpreting cultural data to formulate a working hypothesis, incorporating cultural data with other relevant…

This article considers the question of the authorship of digital texts and their use by learners and teachers in higher education. It draws on the work of Foucault, in particular how his concept of the "author function" is applied by Poster to the authorships of the digital age. From this theoretical basis, the article goes on to…

This document addresses how the employers and trainers involved in further education in Britain can foster common, everyday moral behavior such as honesty and reliability in the young people they prepare for employment. The first section states that a nation's moral health is as important as its economic and political health. Sections 2 and 3…

Relationships between mass-media coverage of international affairs and university-based expertise in international, language, and area studies are investigated. The report is presented in three major sections. Section I poses issues for debate: How important is media in informing the American public about world affairs? Does it really matter if…

Asserts that variance between a university's reputation as an institution and its commitment to research have a greater impact on political science department rankings than any internal factors within the department. Includes several tables showing statistical variables of department and university rankings. (MJP)

This study investigated the relationships among client adherence to Asian cultural values, counselor expression of cultural values, counselor ethnicity, and career counseling process with Asian American college students. Clients who had high adherence to Asian cultural values evaluated Asian American counselors as more empathic and credible than…

The quest for legitimacy is particularly acute for organizations that are in the initial stages of their lifecycles. Without recognition and acknowledgment of the "right to exist", new institutions may falter or fail because of lack of acceptance. Surmounting the barriers that block the road to legitimacy can be very difficult, but there…

Guidelines for administrator response to the mass media when one's organization is the focus of a news story are offered in this book. Practical suggestions are offered for the projection and enhancement of an organization's value in crisis and noncrisis situations. A common-sense communications approach is advocated regardless of organizational…

Data concerning school counselor credibility often emphasize shortcomings rather than achievements; counselors who support students' self-exploration may be evaluated less favorably than counselors who make decisions for the students. Two theoretical approaches to school counseling are the guidance of student personnel services approach and the…

Evaluation is an act of persuasion directed to a specific audience concerning the solution of a problem. The process of evaluation is prescribed by the nature of knowledge--which is generally complex, always uncertain (in varying degrees), and not always propositional--and by the nature of logic, which is always selective. In the process of…

To discover children's knowledge about computer operation and programing characteristics and its effect on children's perceptions of computer expertise, pre- and posttests were administered to 292 children from 5th, 7th and 9th grades. Children were randomly assigned to see a factual film on computers or to a film on another subject. It was…

The Mass Communication and Society Division of the proceedings contains the following 11 papers: "Evaluating the Credibility of Online Information: A Test of Source and Advertising Influence" (Jennifer Greer, Jane Baughman, Patricia Cunningham-Wong, Ethnie Groves, Catherine McCarthy, Megan Myers and Cindy Petterson); "Disruptive and…

While they demonstrate some ability to critically analyze the more obvious forms of deceptive weight-loss advertising, many girls do not recognize how advertising evokes emotional responses or how visual and narrative techniques are used to increase identification in weight-loss advertising. This study examined how girls aged 9-17 years…