Mediator communicative competence

In this paper we report on a research program investigating a model of mediator communicative competence in a divorce mediation context. The theory holds that more successful mediators quickly define specific role relationships during mediation through the use of distance, coherence and structuring mediation strategies, and they use these strategies at times that encourage constructive, and discourage destructive, interaction patterns. Data from sessions of actual divorce mediations (in ten of which agreement was reached and in ten of which no agreement was reached) indicated that structuring and reframing strategies and tactics discriminated most between the two conditions, particularly in response to disputant bolstering and integrating negotiation strategies.     

Listening Competence in Initial Interactions II: Applying Trait Centrality to Discover the Relative Placement of Listening Competence Among Implicit Competency Theories

This article explores the relative placement of listening competence within other implicit theories used to form judgments of interlocutor competence. Two studies explore the relations among communicative competence, social skills, and listening competence and various attributes that are purportedly implied by each. Study 1 reveals that very few attributes are uniquely related to any one implicit theory. Study 2 demonstrates that listening competence is located subordinately to communicative competence. The discussion focuses on what these studies add to the competency literature and how future research can continue to explore implicit competency theories.     

Implicit theories of communicative competence: The semantics of social behavior

Observers evaluating the competence of communicators use both observed behaviors and traits inferred from these behaviors in their evaluation. In order to understand the process by which these evaluations are made, the manner in which the beliefs about trait/behavior relationships that underlie this process must be understood. Based on analysis of judgments of prototypical “communicators” of different skill levels and of actual people, trait/behavior relationships are, with one exception, similar across competence level and communicative situation.     

The role of cognitive competence in the art museum experience

The gap between the potential for works of art in museums to offer unique experiences, and the actual outcomes of visitor encounters, highlights the importance of the cultural competence of museum visitors. However, when applied to museum visiting, cultural competence should be primarily treated as perceptual and cognitive—one needs to exercise the perceptual activities that works of art require in order for a museum visit to register as some form of satisfying experience. The main part of the paper is devoted to discussion of some aspects of the perceptual basis of cultural competence required for perception of works of art—the problem of attention, the misplaced dichotomy of ‘museum viewing’ versus ‘everyday perception’, and the problem of defining the current cognitive style. It is argued that one of the greatest challenges to the museological profession is the problem of how to engage the complex issues of perception, vision and subjective experience more properly in the museological discourse, so that they can be reflected in theories of presentation and interpretation.     

图书馆核心能力及其培育

核心能力是图书馆得以生存和发展的基础.文章对图书馆核心能力的各种概念及特征进行了辨析,得出图书馆核心能力是通过对资源、技能、过程的有机协调与整合形成的独具服务竞争力的论断,并进而对图书馆核心能力的培育原则和培育途径进行了探讨.     

Self‐report as an approach to measuring communication competence

Approaches to measurement of communication competence are reviewed. The self‐report approach to measurement of communication competence is examined. It is concluded that self‐reports have little validity as indicants of competent communicative performances but may serve as useful measures of self‐perceptions which may function as precursors of communicative choices. The Self‐Perceived Communication Competence scale is suggested as a measure which can he used for such purposes.     

Assessing communication competence in the primary care medical interview

The purpose of this paper is to present preliminary results of a language‐based coding system to analyze physician‐patient communication. This system is grounded in the framework of Cegala and Waldron's (1992) context‐based model of communication competence which reflects the sequential development of talk as primary to definitions of competence. Given a review of the model and identification of information exchange and relational development as the primary tasks in the medical interview, two research questions were advanced to test a coding scheme. Based on the notion that aligning one's utterances to meet self‐ and other‐goals relates to communication competence, the coding scheme was developed to include message content, function, and uptake. Frequency results showed that 32 physician‐patient dyads produced 10, 958 coded utterances. Physicians and patients contributed relatively equal numbers of units. The frequencies of each category and exploratory sequential patterns relating to competence are summarized along with a discussion of the limitations of the analytical system. Overall, the code system provided new information on content, uptake, and sequential patterns of information exchange previously unavailable from published coding scheme results. Yet, the present scheme needs to be refined to produce output that more readily identifies competent and less competent interactions. These results and issues are placed in the context of an ongoing, larger research program on communication competence in the primary care interview.     

The Mis/recognition of Enron Executives' Competence as Cultural and Social Capital

This case study examines Enron's top executives' activities through Bourdieu's notion of misrecognized competence or “capital.” Top executives' practices were misrecognized as valuable and legitimate competencies against the backdrop of the company's changing new-economy context. Most approaches to intellectual, social, and cultural capital assume their automatic value. In contrast, this essay shows that the perceived value of executives' practices was the result of Enron's context and executives' communicative efforts to position their own contributions as the most important. As outsiders scrutinized the company, however, executives' activities were exposed as self-serving and primary contributors to Enron's troubles.     

Facing corrections in the workplace: The influence of perceived face threat on the consequences of managerial reproaches

The purpose of this study was to determine whether workplace reproaches differ in their level of perceived face threat and to examine the relationship between perceived face threat and a variety of outcomes. One hundred and four full‐time employees completed a survey asking them to describe in detail a time they were reproached by a manager. The survey included scales measuring perceived face threat, interactional fairness, anger, communicative competence, and satisfaction with the outcome of the incident. As predicted, we found that reproaches differ from each other in degree of perceived face threat. In addition, perceived face threat was negatively correlated with interactional fairness, communicative competence, and satisfaction with the outcome of the incident, and positively correlated with anger.     

Actor goal achievement and sensitivity to partner as critical factors in understanding interpersonal communication competence and conflict strategies

Communication scholars have long argued that achieving one's personal goals with others constitutes an important element of interpersonal communication competence. Moreover, sensitivity to the partner's goals has been implicated in various lines of research related to competence. Despite the presumed status of goal achievement and sensitivity to the partner's goals, models do not develop the relationships between these constructs and how actors are assessed in terms of competence criteria. This paper attempts to repair this oversight by advancing and testing hypotheses that connect assessments of competence to actor's goal achievement and sensitivity to the partner's goals. Using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) (Kashy & Kenny, 1999), both actor and partner assessments of the actor's sensitivity and conflict strategies were analyzed. Results reveal that sensitivity to the partner's goals was a strong predictor of competence assessments and that actor goal achievement was a moderate predictor of competence assessments. In short, support was found for the explicit inclusion of goal achievement and goal sensitivity in models of interpersonal communication competence.     

学术期刊核心竞争力概念解析

将核心竞争力概念引入学术期刊领域,阐述学术期刊核心竞争力的内涵、外延特征,并在此基础上对学术期刊核心竞争力概念予以界定。     

Cultural Competence and Institutional Contradictions: The Hydropower Referendum

This study explores a corporate campaign to pass a referendum to enable the development of a hydropower plant in a small Swedish community. In the changing institutional context that grounds this case, the organization needed to develop communicative practices that embodied “cultural competence,” a set of processes identified as critical for the legitimacy and success of business organizations in the emerging global/intersectoral environment. Findings suggest that the MNC's communication strategy captured important components of cultural competence. However, institutional contradictions impeded enactment of the strategy and resulted in delegitimizing paradoxical communication. The results indicate that organizational awareness of institutional change and culturally competent strategy are insufficient without special attention to contradictions and resultant communicative paradoxes embodied within a particular institutional context. The importance of a reflective communication approach that engages contradictions and tensions in the surrounding micro–macro institutional contexts is underscored.     

Family Interactions and Disordered Eating Attitudes: The Mediating Roles of Social Competence and Psychological Distress

This research explored the role of family interactions on young adult females' disordered eating attitudes as mediated by both social competence and psychological distress. Assessment of the family interaction variables included the perspectives of multiple family members: a young adult female, a mother, and a sibling. Results generally supported the proposed model such that family interaction patterns, namely family-expressed emotion, were associated with low social competence, low social competence was associated with psychological distress, and psychological distress was associated with disordered eating attitudes. Practical applications of these results are discussed, as implications of this study draw attention to corrosive family communication patterns and inadequate social competence as key factors related to disordered eating attitudes.     

Stereotype reduction through humor and accommodation during imagined communication with older adults

Ageism can generate conflict and harm well-being. Our paper integrates the Aging Stereotypes in Interaction model with intergroup contact theory to predict how communicative elements mediate the effect of intergenerational contact on warmth and competence stereotypes of older adults as a group. Students (N?=?288) were randomly assigned to imagine having a conversation with an older adult in one of six experimentally manipulated contact conditions: a competent/incompetent older woman, a sociable/unsociable older woman, or a moral/immoral older woman. Participants’ stereotypes of older adults were affected by the characteristics of their communication partner, and this effect was mediated by specific communication behaviors imagined by the participant for two of the three trait dimensions. For perceptions of competence, overaccommodation was the key mediator. For perceptions of sociability, the key mediator was humorous communication. These mediators represent an expansion in how we understand not just the outcomes of intergroup contact, but also the communicative mechanisms through which it occurs.     

Interpersonal communication motives and message design logic: exploring their interaction on perceptions of competence

Message design logic and interpersonal communication motives were conjointly studied to assess their interaction on receivers' perceptions of senders' competence. Two 8 (motive)×3 (message design logic) repeated measures ANOVAs indicated significant interaction effects for both effectiveness and appropriateness. Nevertheless, the effects of design logic and motive on perceptions of competence were not as expected for some situations. The results of the study fail to support past research suggesting that perceived effectiveness and appropriateness will be enhanced by using a more complex message design. In addition, no pattern emerged for the instrumental versus the ritualistic motivations in terms of the most competent message design.     

Autonomy and parent-child relationship satisfaction: the mediating role of communication competence

ABSTRACT

Research shows that autonomous individuals have greater psychological well-being and high-quality relationships. The present study, from a communication perspective, aimed to understand the dynamics between child autonomy, communication competence, and parent-child relationship satisfaction. Participants in this study were 169 parent-young adult child dyads. Results showed that autonomous children reported being more communicatively competent, and both themselves and their parents reported greater satisfaction. Further, mediation analyses showed that child autonomy was positively associated with children’s satisfaction with parents through their disclosure competence, and child autonomy was positively associated with parents’ satisfaction with children through child conflict management competence. Overall, the findings revealed that young adult child being autonomous was beneficial to both themselves and their parents.     

Shyness and self‐reported competence

This investigation examined levels of shyness on competence. Results indicated that shy individuals, as compared to not‐shy individuals, were less competent. Perceptual differences were found on articulation, social composure, social confirmation, social experience, wit, overall conversational performance, expressiveness, and interaction management. Based on findings, conclusions were drawn and future research suggestions were discussed.     

Predicting a Threshold of Perceived Facebook Post Success via Likes and Reactions: A Test of Explanatory Mechanisms

Individuals frequently engage in self-presentation via social media and can subsequently receive various simple communicative cues (paralinguistic digital affordances; PDAs) from which they may determine the success of their self-presentation, including Likes and Upvotes. Previous research has found these communicatively abstract one-click cues are interpreted idiosyncratically when received, but the quantity received matters to users in determining whether a post is “successful.” The present work probes explanatory mechanisms behind the use of PDA responses as a metric of self-presentational success, deriving hypotheses from social comparison theory, social penetration theory, and expectancy violations theory. Results from a survey (N = 255) reveal that social comparison and communicative reciprocity provide explanatory power regarding the threshold of Likes and Reactions to a Facebook post needed to consider a post successful.     

“To Ferguson,Love Palestine”: mediating life under occupation

In Ferguson, Missouri, Palestinian activists and black protesters created a transnational collective identity defined by what some scholars call a “community of feeling” following the murder of Michael Brown in August 2014. This paper focuses on the transnational politics of the Ferguson Movement through a textual analysis of digital media discourse and interviews with local community activists. Findings reveal that activists generated a transnational collective identity based on their shared experiences of oppression and resistance, which activists made visible across various digital platforms, including social media, blogs, and livestreaming. Informed by the literature on social movements, collective identity, and affect, the authors move beyond theoretical analyses that emphasize activists’ communicative practices as strategic; instead, this article underscores the affective linkages that led to the development of a transnational collective identity within the movement.     

The effectiveness of project-specific information competence instruction

A faculty member and a librarian collaborated on an information competence workshop designed to enhance the skills necessary to complete a specific class project. Twenty-five students participated in the workshop and reported their skill level and comfort with researching for information at three times: before the workshop, the class session after the workshop, and at the end of the semester when the project was due. Further aspects of information competence instruction and project-specific performance are discussed.