Why Users Share the News: A Theory of Reasoned Action-Based Study on the Antecedents of News-Sharing Behavior

Social media have become an integral part of online news use, affecting how individuals find, consume, and share news. By applying the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), this study investigates the effects of motives, attitude, and intention on news-sharing behavior among German social media users (n = 333). Findings show that news-sharing attitude and subjective norms have a positive effect on news-sharing intention, which in turn has a positive effect on actual news-sharing behavior. Taken together, we see that a new media behavior in the early phases of its societal diffusion—like social media news sharing in Germany in 2015—can mainly be explained by a rational choice logic and is rooted in the motives of socializing and information seeking. This finding thus reflects the double nature of social media as a means for both information retrieval and social grooming.     

Identity Gaps of Contemporary U.S. Immigrants: Acknowledging Divergent Communicative Experiences

Through the lens of the communication theory of identity (e.g., Hecht, Collier, &; Ribeau, 1993 Hecht , M. L. , Collier , M. J. , &; Ribeau , S. A. ( 1993 ). African American communication: Ethnic identity and cultural interpretation . Newbury Park , CA : Sage . [Google Scholar]), this study examines how immigrants living in the United States negotiate multiple dimensions of their identities. A thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with 17 immigrants from 16 countries explores what identity gaps exist for immigrants in the contemporary United States. Findings suggest that several identity gaps permeate immigrants' lived experience, including personal-enacted, personal-relational, enacted-relational, communal-relational, personal-communal, and enacted-communal gaps. Specific attention is paid to how these gaps are expressed differently by different immigrants.     

An Exploration of the Relationship Between Intercultural Communication Competence and Bilingualism

Research in intercultural communication competence (ICC) has flourished in the past several decades, arguably due to its relevance in an increasingly multicultural world. In fact the pervasive pragmatic relevance of effective and appropriate engagement with cultural diversity has spurred intercultural or cultural “competence” research in a variety of disciplines. While some scholars question the very concept of ICC as a Western formulation, researchers’ interest in studying the phenomenon of authentic, positive connection between individuals from different cultures is indisputable.     

The Relationship Between Family Communication Patterns and Child Vaccination Intentions

This study examined the role of family communication patterns in assessing the intentions of individuals to vaccinate their children. Using the theory of planned behavior, we constructed a path model whereby family communication patterns led to perceptions regarding vaccinations and finally to the intentions. The model showed excellent fit, with both communication and conformity orientations inversely related to vaccination beliefs. There were also significant inverse indirect effects between the two orientations and vaccination intentions. The family communication patterns interacted to predict both vaccination control and perceived norms outside the family. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

The Effect of Anticipated Future Interaction and Initial Impression Valence on Relational Communication in Computer-Mediated Interaction

This study applies the critical paradigm of “rhetorical enterprise” to the case of nineteenth‐century British reform efforts, particularly the organization and the “gospel” of the Birmingham Political Union, and concludes that cases of rhetorical enterprise challenge critics to account for the enterprising consistency of tactics and creed regardless of the relatively inconsistent factors of men andevents.     

The Island of Love/The Island of Conflict: Hospitality and Hostility of Turkish Cypriot Identity and Citizenship in North Cyprus

This paper deals with the hospitality and hostility of Turkish Cypriot identity in North Cyprus in its various configurations today. It contends that we become who we are by extending hospitality to different and differing representations of who we are like a name or a land, all the while being unable to reduce this differential relationship to a self-identical ipseity. This differential relationship is the origin of identity and not a singularly self-sufficient subjectivity inherited from a past history and culture. Using the alibi of an inheritance cannot hide our complicity in the production of that history and culture anew in the present. This shift in perspective opens “Turkish Cypriot identity” to its future becoming, hopefully to a future beyond ethnocentrism, towards a form of solidarity different from the border politics of a paternal hospitality like that of nation states.     

被经验的中介和被中介的经验——从传播理论教材的译介看传播学在中国

本文以国外传播理论教材的译介作为视角,考察了欧美传播理论话语在中国的诠释和变异,研究了西方客观经验主义的大众传播理论如何被潜移默化地等同于传播学的过程,同时以《传播理论导引:分析与应用》为例,对我国目前传播学的教学与研究中存在的一些问题进行了探讨,提出应该进一步开阔视野、注重研究范式、重新思考传播理论的教学与应用。     

紧急状态下跨文化传播的焦虑及其消解

跨文化传播的焦虑常常表现为文化身份焦虑,其原因可从“自我不一致”理论、归因理论以及认知失调理论中得到解释。要摆脱焦虑,必须回到文化的主体间性上来建构文化身份,使之处于动态的过程之中。     

试论政治传播学的比较研究——从70年代以来政治传播学的发展说起

美国的政治传播模式在世界范围内的推广使政治传播实践逐渐趋同,这种趋势在全球化的当今更加得到强化。在这样的背景下,本文从梳理20世纪70年代以来政治传播学的重要拓展说起,着重强调了比较研究视角对政治传播学研究的重要价值,呼吁学界对比较研究给予更多的关注和重视,并相应指出了比较研究可能存在的局限。     

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.     

Television realism measures: The influence of program salience on global judgments

Five versions (four experimental and one control) of a questionnaire were randomly distributed to 190 participants as part of an experiment investigating whether judgments of global television realism are influence by the salience of program genre. Questionnaires contained items asking respondents how often they watch either 1) news programs, 2) reality‐based crime programs, 3) crime drama programs, or 4) day and evening soap operas, followed by perceived realism and demographic items.

Global measures of television realism were influenced by the viewing questions that preceded them, such that questions about more realistic programming prompted judgments that television programming in general is more realistic. Except for one condition, questions measuring the perceived realism of a specific genre, rather than television in general, were not influenced by the salience manipulation. These results call into question the utility of global television realism items.     

Beyond genre theory: The genesis of rhetorical action

In this essay, I contend that traditional genre theory has an important inherent limitation: It assumes that a single controlling characteristic (often, but not exclusively, situation) is responsible for (and explains) the production of a genre of rhetoric. In contrast, the theory of the Genesis of Rhetorical Action holds that four Burkean ratios—scene‐act, purpose‐act, rhetor‐act, and agency‐act—can be employed to explain how rhetorical discourse occurs (invention). After arguing that the theory of the Genesis of Rhetorical Action is a potentially powerful extension of genre theory on conceptual grounds (and noting that published genre studies reveal the limitations of this theory), I provide empirical evidence from the analysis of rhetorical discourse (research on the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse) to reinforce this argument. A new conception of genre theory is then advocated.     

When Online Meets Offline: The Effect of Modality Switching on Relational Communication

Collaborative partnerships developed via text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC) commonly shift interactions to alternative formats. Extant research indicates that shifting from one modality to another, or “modality switching,” can have profound positive and negative effects on relational outcomes. Drawing on social presence theory (Short, Williams, & Christie, 1976 Short, J., Williams, E. and Christie, B. 1976. The social psychology of telecommunications, London: Wiley.  [Google Scholar]) and social information processing theory (SIPT; Walther, 1992 Walther, J. B. 1992. Interpersonal effects in computer-mediated interaction: A relational perspective. Communication Research, 19: 52–89. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 1996 Walther, J. B. 1996. Computer-mediated communication: Impersonal, interpersonal, and hyperpersonal interaction. Communication Research, 23: 3–43. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), the present study examined the influence of meeting FtF after varying lengths of time interacting via CMC on relational communication. Consistent with predictions, remaining online yielded greater intimacy and social attraction than the other conditions in which FtF contact occurred. With respect to the CMC conditions, modality switching modestly enhanced relational outcomes in the “early” switching partnerships but more strongly dampened those of “late” switching ones.     

An investigation in measuring and improving listening ability of college freshmen 1

Previous research indicates that data yielded by the method of ordered alternatives are not suitable for univariate parametric analysis. As an alternative to the measurement of latitudes of rejection, acceptance, and noncommitment by frequencies of rejected, accepted, and unchecked stands on social issues, a scalar distance index is proposed. Under the scalar distance model, a ratio‐scaled map of the alternative stands is derived from multidimensional scale analysis. Latitude of rejection is defined as the absolute difference of the distance from the subject's own position to the rejected stand. A FORTRAN IV program, LATSCAL, is available to compute scalar distance measures of the three latitudes.     

The Creation of Defensiveness in Social Interaction II: A Model of Defensive Communication among Romantic Couples

This investigation extends the work of Stamp, Vangelisti, and Daly (1992 Stamp, G. H., Vangelisti, A. L. and Daly, J. A. 1992. The creation of defensiveness in social interaction. Communication Quarterly, 40: 177–190. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) and others by explicating the multifaceted process of defensive communication among romantic couples. Qualitative data were derived from self-reports about a distinct episode of defensive communication in individual interviews, as well as direct analysis of couples’ communication in joint interviews. The proposed theoretical model reflects a more comprehensive, holistic, and precise framework that accounts for the triggers, core episode, outcomes, and contexts of defensive communication. The detailed model, which draws attention to interactive and person-centered features of defensive communication, is illustrated through the narrative account of one couple. Eleven data-based postulates are offered to fuel and focus subsequent investigations.     

Swearing by Peers in the Work Setting: Expectancy Violation Valence,Perceptions of Message,and Perceptions of Speaker

Swearing is a frequent language form in a number of contexts, including the work setting. This investigation extends research on expectancy violations theory as an explanation for how people perceive swearing by examining violation valence. Study 1 concludes that violation valence is positively related to perceptions of message appropriateness and effectiveness and to perceptions of the speaker. Study 2 replicates these findings using a national sample. These results provide support for the role of expectancy violations in swearing and show that swearing is not always perceived as negative in work settings.