The Influence of Emotional Contagion on Student Perceptions of Instructor Rapport,Emotional Support,Emotion Work,Valence, and Cognitive Learning

This study examined how emotional contagion may influence student perceptions of rapport with the instructor, emotional support received in the classroom, emotional work performed, and perceived cognitive learning. Participants revealed that emotional contagion was positively related to perceptions of rapport with instructors but unrelated to emotional support from instructors, emotional work performed in the classroom, and valence. Students who were high in emotional contagion reported significantly more rapport, emotional support, and positive valence. When controlling for emotional contagion, only classroom valence predicted students’ perceptions of cognitive learning.     

Surprise,Hurt, and Anger as Emotional Responses to Expectancy Violations Following Feedback Messages

ABSTRACT

Using expectancy violations theory, this study examined how the communication of unexpected feedback messages evoke emotional responses. A convenience sample (N = 309) reported instances of unexpected feedback within the last month. Results showed that receipt of the feedback message types were considered moderate-to-high violations. Violation expectedness and valence were negatively associated with the emotional responses, but violation importance was positively associated with the emotional responses. Finally, hurt and anger (but not surprise) were positively linked to perceptions of relational damage between the message sender and receiver. Taken together, our study demonstrates that expectancy violations are connected to emotions and relational outcomes.     

Social norms and expectancy violation theories: assessing the effectiveness of health communication campaigns

College students' processing of alcohol, smoking, and exercise social norms messages, and related effects on judgments, attitudes toward one's own behaviors, and attitudes toward undergraduates' behaviors were examined using social norms marketing and Expectancy Violation Theory (EVT) (N=393). Receiving statistical social norms messages led to an expectancy violation of the perceived social norm (i.e., a discrepancy between the expected and actual statistic conveyed with a message). Consistent with Boster et al. (), the effect of the message discrepancy on attitudes was mediated by judgments. In accordance with social norms, when participants were provided with a statistic, the majority moved their judgments (but not their attitudes) toward the provided statistic, a result only consistent with EVT in the case of positive violations. The results have multiple implications: (1) social norms messages may work to change judgments, but do not result in consistent attitude change; (2) the process of judgment change functions similarly across message topics, as well as message types (i.e., attitudinal versus behavioral); (3) judgment change does not appear to be the main cause for attitude change upon receipt of a social norms message; and (4) a message‐based expectancy violation does not function in the same way as a violated behavioral expectation.     

The Effect of Interruptions and Dyad Gender Combination on Perceptions of Interpersonal Dominance

The argument put forth in this study is that interruptions and dyad gender combinations will have an effect on perceptions of interpersonal dominance. Participants were asked to listen to a series of recorded dialogues with six intentionally embedded intrusive interruptions. After each pair of interruptions, participants completed a survey measuring their perception of the interrupter's interpersonal dominance. Analyses showed that the accrual of interruptions results in a curvilinear increase in perceptions of dominance. Female interrupters in a female/female dyad were consistently perceived as the most dominant and male interrupters in a male/female dyad were consistently perceived as the least dominant.     

When norms are violated: imagined interactions as processing and coping mechanisms

Relying on the fundamental assumption of violation theories that norm violations stimulate receiver thought processes, we explored receivers' symbolic cognitive processes in response to particular types of norm violations. Specifically, we reasoned that imagined interactions serve as a processing mechanism whereby individuals review the behavior of another, identify the type of norm violation, and make decisions about how to respond-all within their efforts to cope with deviations from norms. Utilizing the classroom context, we examined how teacher norm violations, operationalized as teacher misbehaviors, provoke students' imagined interaction activity. Results revealed that imagined interactions were used in respect to all three types of violations profiled and that participants were significantly more likely to engage in imagined interactions than to interact with or confront norm violators. The results are discussed in terms of implications for extending violation theories to include context-based goal attainment and power differentials between interactants.     

Effects of Instructor Speech Rate on Student Affective Learning,Recall, and Perceptions of Nonverbal Immediacy,Credibility, and Clarity

Although research indicates that speech rate affects perceptions of speaker credibility as well as persuasiveness and information recall, research has failed to address how instructor speech rate affects student perceptions and learning. This study randomly assigned basic communication course students to one of three speech rate conditions (slow, moderate, fast), using a videotaped lesson by an instructor. Findings revealed significant differences for credibility, affective leaning, and nonverbal immediacy, but did not reveal significant differences for recall or clarity. Implications for instructional practice and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Using Relevant Humor to Moderate Inappropriate Conversations: Maintaining Student Communication Satisfaction in the Classroom

This study assessed students’ (N=195) perceptions of instructors’ relevant humor and inappropriate conversations in the classroom and used expectancy violation theory (EVT) as a lens to position instructor relevant humor as a moderator between instructors’ inappropriate conversations and student communication satisfaction. Results showed a positive association between students’ perceptions of instructors’ use of relevant humor and student communication satisfaction, and in contrast, a negative relationship between perceptions of instructors’ inappropriate conversations and student communication satisfaction. Consistent with the tenets of EVT, results also indicated that instructors who use relevant humor in the classroom may overcome students’ negative perceptions of inappropriate conversations and maintain student communication satisfaction.     

Teaching Communication Research Methods: Student Perceptions of Topic Difficulty,Topic Understanding,and Their Relationship with Math Anxiety

The undergraduate Communication Research Methods course is a foundational course offered by a majority of departments across the country. Despite its ubiquity and importance, the course is often seen as a difficult pedagogical experience for students and instructors alike. To more completely understand student learning in this course, this study examined relationships between perceptions of course topic understanding, course topic difficulty, and their relationship with students’ level of math anxiety. Results revealed that statistical topics emerged as the most difficult for students to learn. Significant and strong negative correlations were observed between perceived difficulty and understanding for each of the 19 course topics. Self-reported math anxiety was positively related to both perceived difficulty and understanding of the topics. Suggestions are offered to enhance course instruction.     

Aggregation,Clickbait and Their Effect on Perceptions of Journalistic Credibility and Quality

ABSTRACT

Many journalists and industry observers lament that aggregating news underneath sensational headlines will erode credibility and turn off readers. While some scholarly work has studied journalists’ perspectives of this practice, little has been done to understand what audiences think of aggregation and clickbait. This study uses published original and aggregated news articles as stimuli in two online experiments to test readers’ perceptions of news aggregation and clickbait. Aggregation itself has little effect on perceptions of credibility and quality; instead, writing proficiency is more closely linked to these perceptions. Results also suggest clickbait headlines may lower perceptions of credibility and quality.     

Reporting Risk: Perceptions of Fear and Risk from Health News Coverage

Using actual news coverage of an environmental risk, this experimental study examined whether providing unrelated risk comparisons and information about other sources of the same risk influenced readers' reactions to the coverage. The study suggests stories that provide information on other sources of a contaminant may do little to reduce risk perceptions; however, providing information about the magnitude of the risk at hand relative to other risks had several communication benefits. Both comparisons lead readers to feel more informed about the risk and, thus, better able to make decisions than those who did not see the comparisons. Media implications are discussed.     

Organizational Responses to Consumer Complaints: An Examination of Effective Remediation Tactics

Mistakes are common in business and can lead to negative repercussions for organizations. However, through the use of explanations, firms can diminish the negative consequences of their errors. The current study used a field stimulation to examine organizational explanations (excuses, justifications, and excuses) and their components (believable, appropriate, considerate, and responsible) to determine which factors make a difference in consumer satisfaction following organizational failures. Results, interpreted through the lens of expectancy violations theory, suggest that various components of explanations and the form of explanations used in remedial responses influence people's perceptions of organizations and organizational responses following complaints about failures.     

(Re)Viewing Reviews: Effects of Emotionality and Valence on Credibility Perceptions in Online Consumer Reviews

This study examines credibility perceptions in online consumer reviews. Specifically, this work investigates the effects of review emotionality (high vs. low), review valence (positive vs. negative), and individuals’ need for affect on source credibility and information credibility. In an online experiment, U.S. adults (N = 327) viewed a product review from Amazon.com varied across four experimental conditions. Results indicate that high-emotionality reviews are perceived as lower in source and information credibility compared to low-emotionality reviews. A moderated mediation model was tested with the source credibility dimensions as possible mediators of information credibility and need for affect as a moderator for the effects of review emotionality. The effects of emotionality on information credibility were significantly mediated by source trustworthiness, and this mediation was moderated by participants’ need for affect, with the credibility-hampering effects of emotionality found only among participants with low and moderate levels of need for affect.     

Sexual and Violent Imagery in Movie Previews: Effects on Viewers' Perceptions and Anticipated Enjoyment

Two experiments were conducted to explore the contributions of sexual and violent images contained in movie previews on viewers' anticipated perceptions and enjoyment of previewed films. In neither study were portrayals of sex or violence directly associated with greater anticipated enjoyment. However, both studies provided evidence that sexual and violent portrayals may indirectly enhance viewers' enjoyment via perceptions of heightened suspense (Study 1) or heightened humor (Study 2). These results are discussed in terms of viewers' responses to media images of sexuality and violence, and the importance of these portrayals in the marketing of motion pictures.     

Thomas Hart Benton's expunging speech an analysis of the immediate audience

Nonverbal expectancy violations theory holds that positive violations produce more favorable communication outcomes than conformity to expectations, while negative violations produce less favorable ones, and that reward characteristics of the communicator mediate the interpretation and evaluation of violations. The factors affecting expectancies and the consequences of violating them are reviewed and compared to other models (discrepancy‐arousal, arousal‐labeling, arousal‐valence, sequential functional) employing similar assumptions and mediating variables. An experiment extending the model domain to immediacy violations and to interactions with familiar as well as unfamiliar others had friend and stranger dyads (N=82) engage in discussions during which one member of each pair significantly increased immediacy, significantly reduced it, or conformed to normal levels. Nonimmedicacy violations produced lower credibility ratings than high immediacy or conformity to expectations for both friends and strangers. Nonimmediacy was interpreted as communicating detachment, nonintimacy, dissimilarity and more dominance than normal immediacy, while high immediacy expressed the most intimacy, similarity, involvement and dominance. Implications for the role of ambiguity in violations are discussed.     

The Anonymity Effect: The Influence of Anonymity on Perceptions of Sources and Information on Health Websites

The study reported here examined the influence of anonymous sources on health websites on the perceptions and attitudes of information seekers. It was hypothesized that, despite the warnings and guidelines established by health organizations, anonymous sources would be perceived to be as credible and influential as sources that were identified. The anonymity effect, drawn from the similarity principle in attribution theory, was forwarded as a theoretical mechanism to explain responses to anonymous sources. The results indicated that anonymous sources were generally perceived by participants to be as credible and influential as identified sources, although the anonymity effect explanation was not supported. The implications of these findings for information seekers and health practitioners are considered.     

The Anonymity Effect: The Influence of Anonymity on Perceptions of Sources and Information on Health Websites

The study reported here examined the influence of anonymous sources on health websites on the perceptions and attitudes of information seekers. It was hypothesized that, despite the warnings and guidelines established by health organizations, anonymous sources would be perceived to be as credible and influential as sources that were identified. The anonymity effect, drawn from the similarity principle in attribution theory, was forwarded as a theoretical mechanism to explain responses to anonymous sources. The results indicated that anonymous sources were generally perceived by participants to be as credible and influential as identified sources, although the anonymity effect explanation was not supported. The implications of these findings for information seekers and health practitioners are considered.     

基于儿童发展观的少儿图书馆馆员职业素质研究

[目的/意义] 少儿图书馆是儿童社会教育的重要机构,对少儿图书馆馆员素质研究有利于提升少儿图书馆服务质量,促进儿童发展。[方法/过程] 从儿童发展观的发展方式、发展目标、影响发展的关键因素出发,对馆员职业素质结构和内容进行分析。[结果/结论] 少儿图书馆馆员要能够以儿童身心发展规律为基础创设阅读环境,以促进儿童发展为目标设计阅读活动;需要在通识知识基础上具备学科专长,并通过阅读活动提升儿童学习品质;能够在阅读文本、阅读活动与社会生活间建立联系,具备与社会相关儿童教育机构进行合作的能力。     

论法律意识对图书馆杜绝侵权的作用

文章针对图书馆方出现侵权行为较为集中的著作权法、民法两方面,分别就相关法条对各种侵权行为进行具体分析,指出增强图书馆工作人员法律意识的重要性及有效途径。     

Connecting Interpersonal and Mass Communication: Science News Exposure,Perceived Ability to Understand Science,and Conversation

We present experimental data (n?=?667) supporting three hypotheses that link science news, perceptions about science, and talk with other people. Regular television news viewers were recruited from a midsize Designated Market Area using random digit dialing, and were randomly assigned to one of three science news exposure conditions. As hypothesized, science television news exposure appears to boost perceived ability to understand science. We also find that perceived ability to understand science, in turn, predicts conversations about science. We note connections to literature on the role of talk in mass communication effects and encourage future work in this vein.     

The relative impact of violation type and lie severity on judgments of message deceitfulness

This paper is part of a larger program of research assessing variables that underlie quantitative deceptiveness ratings. Several recent theoretical approaches, including Information Manipulation Theory (IMT), propose that deceptive messages are best understood as varying along two or more dimensions. At the same time, researchers have increasingly moved from dichotomous deception judgments to continuous deception ratings. This paper questions the validity of scaling degrees of deceptiveness along a single dimension, and argues that gradations in perceived deceptiveness reflect both the type of information manipulated and the severity of the consequences of the deception. This reasoning was tested with alxl experiment (N = 236) in which both the type of information manipulated and the severity of the consequences were systematically varied. As predicted, the results suggest that false messages (i.e., quality violations) are rated as more deceptive than lies of omission (i.e., quantity violations) when lie severity is low, but this difference diminishes as lie severity increases. In other words, false messages were rated as deceptive regardless of severity, but messages omitting information were rated as deceptive as false messages only when the consequences were serious. The implications for measuring deception are discussed.