Testing a screening procedure in the treatments for communication apprehension

This study tested whether a screening procedure was effective in the treatments for communication apprehension (CA). Accordingly, individuals who were identified as having cognitive, affective, and behavioral source of CA were exposed to Visualization (cognitive). Systematic Desensitization (affective). Skills Training (behavioral), and Multiple treatment (combination of the three). Results indicated that exposing people to the matching intervention was slightly more effective in reducing CA than exposing them to other treatments.     

Trait anxiety,experience, and the public speaking state responses of Finnish university students

This study focuses on the public speaking state responses among 47 Finnish subjects. Cognitive, behavioral, and physiological components of stale‐responses were investigated in relation to speakers’ trait communication anxiety and amount of previous experience speaking in public. Trait communication anxiety was found to correlate significantly with the cognitive aspect of state response, whereas amount of previous experience was found to be reflected in subjects’ heart rates. Characteristics of the Finnish speech culture and educational system are discussed when interpreting the results.     

Two empirical tests of a videotape designed to reduce public speaking anxiety

These studies were designed to determine: 1) if a videotape could be used to help people cope with public speaking anxiety; 2) how this videotape compared with other interventions; 3) whether the video could be used on a self‐help basis; and 4) whether the video would be effective over time. These issues were addressed in two separate studies. These studies indicated that the videotape reduced self‐reported levels of trait CA, state CA, and negative thinking. The first study linked the videotape to reduced rigidity while the second linked the videotape to reduced agitation. The second study also found trait CA to be reduced over time. Meta‐analysis was used to compare these data with other interventions. That analysis revealed this videotape was generally more effective than other interventions in reducing trait CA in study one. The videotape was found to reduce state CA and negative thinking more than other interventions in study two. These and other results are discussed at the conclusion of these studies.     

Vowel quality before and after an operation for an occluded nasal passage

Anxiety experienced while in a public speaking situation (speech anxiety) is discussed within the framework of Trait‐State Anxiety Theory. Speech anxiety may be considered a dispositional variable designed to measure individual differences in speech anxiety proneness (Speech A‐Trait) or a measure of anxiety experienced during a particular speech (Speech A‐State). Physiological and behavioral measures of speech anxiety are typically viewed as A‐State measures. Self‐report indices may be considered either state or trait anxiety measures depending on the context in which the measures were obtained. The development of a scale to measure both Speech A‐State and Speech A‐Trait, including initial normative, reliability, and validity data, is reported.     

Table of contents for volume 17

The present study considers the relationships between communication apprehension (CA), personality type, represented by the Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) (Myers, 1987), and final grades in a basic public speaking course. The results indicated that trait and context CA are significantly correlated with extraversion and in introversion personality types. In addition, CA in the public speaking context is correlated with the sensing and intuition personality types. Multiple regression showed that while trait CA does not contribute to course grade or grade‐point average, thinking and feeling personality types do contribute significant unique variance to final grade in a public speaking course. Keywords: Communication apprehension, speech anxiety, personality, grades, college students, learning preference.     

News and notes

A set of audio‐taped systematic desensitization sessions for outside‐of‐class use was developed to reduce student's speech anxiety with minimum allocation of staff time. This automated treatment was as effective as treatment by therapists in reducing scores on McCroskey's PRCA.     

情感负荷视角下协作检索中用户消极情绪感知及其影响因素研究

[目的/意义]通过考察协作检索中用户的消极情绪感知及其相关影响因素,为干预和调节用户消极情绪、提升协作检索效果提供参考和借鉴。[研究设计/方法]基于情感负荷理论,借助Coagmento系统,招募52名用户,2人一组,协作完成3项旅游策划任务,从任务难度、时间压力、协作分工、检索结果与协作成果等因素考察其与用户消极情绪感知的关系。[结论/发现]在任务难度感知方面,任务难度与用户的焦虑、沮丧、愤怒情绪呈现显著正相关;在时间压力方面,任务完成时间超出用户预期时,消极情绪会上升;在协作分工方面,承担更多检索任务的组员比承担更多文档编辑的组员感知更多的消极情绪;在检索结果与协作成果方面,用户满意度越高,消极情绪越低。[创新/价值]将情感负荷理论应用于协作检索情境,揭示了用户四种典型消极情绪的特点,并从检索情境的自动感知与预测、界面的人性化交互设计等方面对检索系统提出了改进建议,以更好地提供情感支持。     

Disposition versus situation: Neurocommunlcology and the influence of trait apprehension versus situational factors on state public speaking anxiety

Research indicates that individuals with elevated levels of public speaking anxiety report significantly different mental representations of the public speaking context, when compared to individuals with lower levels of anxiety. To examine the effect of the differences in mental representations, narratives for three public speaking contexts were developed. Results indicated that disposition (i.e., trait apprehension) was a better predictor of state anxiety when giving an impromptu speech. Situational factors (i.e., importance, skills, impression), however, were better predictors of state anxiety when either giving a speech to a 5^th grade class or giving a speech to friends.     

Differences in anticipatory anxiety and adaptation rate as a function of affect management strategy

This study applies Eysenck's (1967) and Buck's (1984) psychophysiological theories of anxiety development to explain individual differences in anticipatory anxiety and rate of adaptation during public speaking. Sensitivity to anxiety creating stimuli predispose individuals to either an internalizing or externalizing affect management strategy. Because social conditioning and neurological processes combine to create anxiety, internalizing individuals are more responsive to punishment and are more likely to appraise an anxiety‐provoking situation as threatening than are externalizers. However, their overall conditionability permits internalizers to adapt to speaking situations more rapidly than their externalizing counterparts who are less susceptible to negative reinforcement. The findings are reviewed in light of various phobia reducing treatment strategies, such as flooding, systematic desensitization, and cognitive appraisal therapy.     

Anxiety,construct differentiation,and message production

Neuliep and Hazleton have reported a significant negative relationship between a general measure of trait anxiety and interpersonal construct differentiation. The study reported in this paper failed to find a significant relationship between a more specific measure of interpersonal trait anxiety and interpersonal construct differentiation, and also found no significant relationships between state anxiety and construct differentiation, or either interpersonal trait or state anxiety and the production of messages considered more or less competent by constructivist conceptions in an anxiety‐producing interpersonal context. The study did find a significant positive relationship between interpersonal construct differentiation and the production of such messages. These results are discussed with particular emphasis on the lack of conceptual relation between notions of anxiety and construct differentiation.     

信息行为研究中的情感负荷理论及应用研究综述

[目的/意义]通过对情感负荷理论的内涵、应用及相关研究发现的分析和总结,为国内同行进一步开展研究设计提供参考和借鉴。[方法/过程]通过文献调研与分析,追溯情感负荷理论提出的背景,对理论内涵进行阐述。并且,从理论形成之前、理论提出以及后续应用3个阶段对相关实证研究进行梳理,分析了该理论的形成发展过程,指出未来进一步研究方向。[结果/结论]情感负荷理论综合认知科学、情感神经科学、情感控制论和情感计算等多学科思想,从社会生物信息技术框架角度系统考察信息行为过程中的用户情感。情感负荷是一种消极的情绪,主要是刺激、焦虑、挫折、愤怒4种消极情绪随着时间压力而产生的一种不确定性。该理论被应用于虚拟图书馆、社交媒体等情境下对用户信息行为的研究。最后,指出未来研究方向。     

The Power of Positive Action: Exploring the Role of Participatory Behaviors Through the Lens of the Tripartite Model of Media Enjoyment

Offering an initial test of Nabi and Krcmar's tripartite model of media enjoyment, this study examines how affective, cognitive, and especially behavioral responses to a participatory reality TV program predict program enjoyment, viewing intention, and future program viewing. Responses to Fox's American Idol series suggest that affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses to the program are interrelated. Of particular interest, behavioral engagement (specifically positive or supportive actions) during the viewing experience enhances intention for subsequent program viewing. Viewing intention was also strongly predictive of future viewing behaviors. Implications for the tripartite model and considerations of affect, cognition, and behavior in examining audience gratifications beyond entertainment are addressed.     

Speech anxiety affects how people prepare speeches: A protocol analysis of the preparation processes of speakers

Why does public speaking anxiety lead people to present speeches of judged lower quality? Prior research suggests a number of variables that might detrimentally affect the performance of highly anxious speakers when they present speeches. But does speech anxiety affect only presentation behavior, or does it also affect the ways in which people prepare their speeches? Measures of public speaking anxiety, and most texts focusing on presentational speaking, assume that the anxiety's effect is limited to performance. In the current study we examine this notion. Using a number of variables drawn from a conceptual model of the speech preparation process, we first find that the way people go about preparing their speeches is meaningfully associated with the quality of their presentation. Second, we discover that public speaking anxiety is significantly related to how people prepare speeches. People with high levels of speech anxiety engage in a variety of preparation actions that may limit the effectiveness of their presentations. When the impact of speech anxiety is statistically removed from the preparation process, the relationship between preparation and speech quality is much smaller. In understanding how speech anxiety affects public presentations, it is critical to examine not only what happens during the speech but also how the speech is prepared.     

Watching TV Series with Horror Content: Audience Attributes,Motivations, Involvement and Enjoyment

This study is the first to explore the motivational, cognitive, affective, and personality factors that influence the enjoyment of and exposure to TV series with horror content. The most-watched TV series identified by 411 study participants were examined in the study. Results indicate that personality traits significantly predict cognitive and affective involvement with these programs and viewing motivations. Viewing motivations significantly influence viewers’ cognitive and affective involvement with these TV series as well as their viewing enjoyment and frequency. While positive affect and negative affect are significant predictors of viewing enjoyment, viewing enjoyment has a positive effect on viewing frequency.     

Positive portrayals of ‘living with HIV’ to reduce HIV stigma: do they work in reality?

ABSTRACT

The study explored how the combinations of living-with-HIV portrayals and HIV onset controllability portrayals influence HIV stigma because the two frame coexist in our communication environment. Results from an experiment with 443 college students in the United States indicated different combinations of the two frames might be helpful, ineffective, or harmful in reducing HIV stigma. The positive portrayal-low onset controllability combination might reduce HIV stigma, the negative portrayal-low onset controllability combination might be ineffective in reducing HIV stigma, and the positive portrayal-high onset controllability combination and the negative portrayal-high onset controllability combination might even increase HIV stigma. These results contextualize the effectiveness of positive portrayals of living with HIV when audiences may be exposed to multiple frames of messages about HIV stigma; they highlight the potential interactions between the two frames that may reduce the effectiveness of anti-stigma messages or may be used against the efforts to reduce HIV stigma.     

图书馆焦虑心理机制分析

文章介绍了图书馆焦虑研究的源起与发展沿革,并从人格冲突理论、认知理论、行为主义学习理论和状态——特质焦虑理论的视角对图书馆焦虑产生的心理机制进行剖析,以期对相关问题的研究提供一个新的视角。     

Nuances about the Role and Impact of Affect in Inoculation

This study examined the role and impact of affect in resistance. A three-phase experiment was conducted. The results indicated that inoculation treatments conferred resistance and exerted nuanced outcomes involving cognitive and affective responses to counterarguments and affect. The investigation also compared the effectiveness of cognitive, affective-positive, and affective-negative treatments. The results revealed that affective-negative messages were superior in eliciting threat, issue involvement, and cognitive counterarguing output and in enhancing the cognitive content of associative networks.     

The Attitude Base as a Moderator of the Effectiveness of Inoculation Strategy

This investigation introduced the attitude base (cognitive or affective) as a moderator in the resistance domain and effectively partitioned the role of affect from cognition by properly delineating its function. A three-phase experiment was conducted involving 290 participants. The results confirmed the role of the original elements in the process of resistance introduced by McGuire: threat and counterarguing output. Furthermore, the results indicated that inoculation messages were most effective when their content matched the attitude base. Cognitive inoculation messages generated greater resistance to counterattitudinal attacks when presented to individuals whose attitude base was primarily cognitive, rather than affective, in nature. The reverse was also found to be true as affective inoculation messages generated greater resistance to counterattitudinal attacks when presented to individuals whose attitude base was primarily affective, rather than cognitive, in nature.     

An Experimental Test of Stigma Communication Content with a Hypothetical Infectious Disease Alert

Recent interest in the role of communication in stigma creation, diffusion, and copying has inspired theorizing. This study presents the first empirical test of one model of stigma communication (Smith, 2007), with a hypothetical infectious disease alert. This study uses an experiment (N=333) to illustrate how changing several words and monitoring four cognitive and affective reactions and a personality trait becomes predictive of almost half (R ²=.49) of the variance in support for intervention policies, including removing and isolating infected persons, forcing treatment, and generating a publicly accessible map of infected persons. Message content and reactions also predicted perceptions of normative stigma beliefs toward infected persons (R ²=.26) and the likelihood of disseminating content of the alert to others (R ²=.15). Results generally support the model of stigma communication and indicate places for refinement.     

Graduate theses: An index of graduate work in speech,XXX

This study investigated why conversational participants view their partner more positively than do observers of the conversation. Two factors were hypothesized to account for the positivity bias of participants: self‐presentation concerns and cognitive load. Thirty dyads engaged in a brief conversation and participants subsequently evaluated each other. Observers, assigned to 1 of 4 conditions in a balanced 2x2 (high/low cognitive load by present/absent self‐presentation concerns) design, watched a videotape of one conversation and evaluated one of the conversational participants. Results indicate that cognitive load influenced social competence evaluations yet had minimal influence on affective evaluations. Self‐presentation concerns influenced all evaluations to be more positive; however, its strongest influence was on affective evaluations. Post‐interaction evaluations made by participants and observers were also compared to first impressions of a target (impressions formed after 2—4 seconds of exposure). Evaluations made by participants were significantly more positive than first impressions across all evaluations. Evaluations by observers in the no self‐presentation concerns/low cognitive load condition were more negative than first impressions, although this difference was significant only for the social competence judgments. Implications for theories of person perception and affect are discussed.