A Measure of Weak-Tie/Strong-Tie Support Network Preference

This article reports two studies designed to develop and test a weak-tie/strong-tie support network preference scale. A theoretical framework for developing the measure and empirical tests of the underlying dimensions in two distinct populations is presented along with an assessment of the scale's validity and reliability, and hypotheses are tested regarding the support network preferences of the two populations. The application and utility of the four subscales comprising the W/STS is discussed along with the scale's implications for the study and advancement of applied research concerning social support networks.     

When Does Self-Affirmation Reduce Negative Responses to Antismoking Messages?

Previous research has shown that self-affirmation can reduce individuals’ defensive processing of threatening health messages. In this study, we examine two audience characteristics—smoking experience and trait reactance—that might regulate the effects of self-affirmation on negative message responses within the context of college smoking. Results of a controlled experiment indicate that self-affirmation worked to reduce negative message responses among smokers who were low in trait reactance. For smokers high in trait reactance and nonsmokers, the effect of self-affirmation was either unclear or went in a direction that led to even greater defensive processing.     

Persuasive Self-Efficacy: Dispositional and Situational Correlates

People vary in their self-efficacy as persuaders. After devising a brief measure of persuasive self-efficacy, we find that the construct correlates positively with a number of variables relevant to social interaction, including self-esteem, self-monitoring, extroversion, and openness to new experiences, and negatively with other variables, including communication apprehension and neuroticism. Social self-efficacy had a modest but significant relationship with persuasive self-efficacy. Drawing from research on contextual self-efficacy, we also examine some of the social situations where persuasive self-efficacy may matter and find that people vary in their self-efficacy as a persuader as a function of the context.     

A Multilevel Analysis of Antimarijuana Public Service Announcement Effectiveness

In public-health campaign research, 3 prominent theories of persuasion and media effects—elaboration likelihood model (ELM), activation model of information exposure (AMIE), and limited capacity model of motivated mediated message processing (LC4MP)—have been used to predict message effectiveness. Although conceptually overlapping, these theories suggest contradictory predictions about individual-level and message-level factors on persuasion outcomes. In this study, we contrast and test competing predictions of antidrug message effectiveness from 3 recent publications that draw on ELM, AMIE, and LC4MP. We use televised antimarijuana messages, young-adult samples, and a multilevel modeling approach. Significant interactions between individual- and message-level factors were found predicting message effectiveness as theory dictates; these results replicate some, but not all of the findings from the aforementioned publications.     

Research productivity in communication: An analysis, 1996‐2001

The study provides an analysis of those scholars who produced a substantial number of articles in 24 communication journals during the period, 1996‐2001. The purpose of the study was to update the information provided in previous studies. Using data similar to that previously found in the Index to Journals in Communication Studies, the authors found that during the period a number of new names has appeared. As a result, the authors develop a list of the top one percent (50) of those researchers, as well as providing data on the institutions which these scholars represent. The minimum number of articles necessary during the period to be included was nine.     

The impact of forms of strategic and non‐strategic voir dire questions on jury verdicts

This paper examined the effects of strategic voir dire questions on juror evaluations of trial participants. The influence of three types of voir dire questions was assessed on ratings of defendant guilt, defendant credibility, and defense attorney credibility. Using both a control group composed of non‐strategic questions and a control group with no voir dire questions, results indicated that the use of strategic voir dire questions influenced decisions and ratings of trial participants. In particular, questions asking jurors to disregard the defendant's unsavory past produced a main effect on perceptions of guilt. Among other effects additionally, the absence of any voir dire questions seemed to affect negatively perceptions of trial participants on the competence dimension. On both the ratings of defendant character and competence, an interaction emerged between the use of questions encouraging jurors to hold the prosecution to its burden of proof and questions urging jurors to overlook the defendant's unsavory background. Though use of the defendant background question enhanced credibility ratings when the burden of proof question was omitted, these effects were suppressed when both question types were used. In addition, a significant main effect revealed that competence was reduced when jurors were exposed to the question encouraging them to resist group pressure to convict. Furthermore, a three‐way interaction indicated that the highest ratings of defendant competence occurred when jurors were not asked any strategic questions except those urging them to overlook the defendant's unsavory background.     

Doctoral dissertations in speech: Work in progress, 1953

A comparative consideration of the Black in the United States with his counterpart in Britain led to the hypothesis that third generation West Indian immigrants in Britain would be vocally identical to local Whites from the same socioeconomic background. The hypothesis was confirmed, and in complete contrast to the American findings, working class Blacks in a British city were significantly misattributed as “Whites” 80% of the time. In addition, data collected on how people of different occupational levels are expected to speak showed that Blacks sounding “White” was far from an inconsistent cognition for many White subjects.