Attitude similarity,relational history,and attraction: The mediating effects of kinesic and vocal behaviors

Perhaps the most well‐known finding in the study of interpersonal relations is that attitude similarity leads to attraction. Recent research has found that the similarity‐attraction effect is diminished after informal social interaction. The mediating effects of verbal and nonverbal behaviors in attenuating or strengthening the effects of similarity on attraction have not themselves been studied. The present experiment tests the similarity‐attraction relationship in a conversational setting while investigating the effects of kinesic and vocal behaviors as mediators. Forty dyads, with similar and different attitudes who were newly acquainted or well known to one another, participated in 30 minute, non‐directed conversations. Their conversations were videotaped and coded for several vocal and kinesic indicators of involvement. After taping, subjects filled out attraction and satisfaction measures. Analyses revealed that attitude similarity affected attraction and satisfaction, even after an intervening interaction. Attitude similarity affected posture and orientation as well as similarity in gaze and adaptors; relationship stage affected vocalizations and discrepancies between partners’ speech rate and posture behaviors. Finally, it was found that senders’ smiling, speech rate, and postural orientation explained variance in partner attraction and satisfaction beyond that due to initial attitude similarity‐dissimilarity; certain measures of behavioral similarity accounted for attraction and satisfaction outcomes, reducing the effects of attitude similarity.     

Dimensions of source credibility: A test for reproducibility

This study investigated the variability of scales representing four factors of source credibility and the overall factor structure of subjects’ perceptions of and attributions to a message source. The results confirmed the hypotheses that (1) scales representing factors of source credibility will change over time, and (2) the factor structure (the number of significant factors and the amount of variance accounted for by the factors) would also change over time. The authors suggest that if the view is accepted that communication is an ongoing dynamic process, then an individual's experiences in the communication setting and the variables affecting perceptions of the process will be expected to change continually.     

A bibliography of rhetoric and public address for the year 1963

Multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine the relationship of six predictor variables to immediate comprehension and delayed retention of a lecture. Listening comprehension ability and extrinsic motivation accounted for a statistically significant proportion of the variance in immediate lecture comprehension scores; and initial information, aroused interest, and intrinsic interest were found to be the best predictors of ‘delayed retention of the materials. However, intrinsic interest was inversely related to delayed retention. The data suggested that although persons with high initial information and low intrinsic interest did not comprehend the lecture any better than others, they retained more of what they heard. Thus the variables which most influence lecture comprehension may not significantly influence the delayed retention of what was heard.     

Effects of emotion and product involvement on the experience of repeated commercial viewing

The intensity of the viewing experience people have while watching television was expected to enhance recall of commercials and also to render commercials less vulnerable to negative attitude change over multiple exposures. The effects of two variables, commercial induced emotion and product involvement, were tested in an experiment where people watched one hour of programming and embedded commercials on four consecutive days. Testing occurred after the fourth session; ads were repeated from two to 12 times during this time period. Broadly stated, findings indicate that emotional appeals and product involvement have favorable effects on brand name recall, attitudes, and purchase intention. Results are discussed with regard to their managerial and social implications.     

Tongue movements and vowel quality

Factor analyses were made of instructor ratings of 442 freshman speeches. Each speech was rated on 11 scales. It was found that only 3 factors, rather than 11, were actually being discriminated among by the'raters. These were an analysis‐content factor, a delivery factor, and a language factor. It was also demonstrated that the variance not attributable to one of these three factors could be accounted for in terms of rating unreliability.     

Effects of a speech training program upon semantic compatibility

The relationship between one's attitude toward self‐disclosure in interaction and the complexity of his system of dimensions for construing the behavior and character of others was examined within a cognitive‐developmental framework in which development was hypothesized to be a function of the range and intensity of one's social experiences. Significant correlations involving three indices of construct usage reflecting the differentiation and integration of the motivational constructs in a perceiver's cognitive system suggest that it is one's motivational constructs which are elaborated through self‐disclosing interactions and which, in turn, allow for the formation of the kind of subjectivity satisfying impressions that favorably orient one toward the mutual disclosure of self‐attributions.     

Determinants of repeat viewing to prime‐time public television programming

This study explores the relationship between several structural level variables and repeat viewing of prime‐time public television programming. A strong positive correlation was found between audience ratings and repeat viewing. Analyses of variance were performed on repeat viewing using program scheduling, presence/absence of continuing dramatic story line, and household cable status, and significant effects for repeat viewing occurred for all. A regression model utilizing these variables accounted for a moderate degree of variance in repeat viewing.     

The impact of interaction expectancies on the relationship between attitude dissimilarity and interpersonal attraction

This study examined factors that were predicted to be related to the effect that attitude dissimilarity has on interpersonal attraction in the first few minutes of an initial interaction. In this study, 114 participants engaged in dyadic interactions with same‐sex partners that varied in attitude similarity. Prior to and after interacting with one another, participants rated their partner's personal character and whether they believed that a future interaction would be a positive one. These data revealed that the perceived quality of future interactions significantly improved over time and character attributions partially improved. The global predictions made in this study were framed and supported as an expectancy violation explanation.     

Père René Rapin's eloquence des belles‐lettres

This study employed factor‐analytic techniques in two separate experiments to determine the dimensions of message interpretation when different opinions on black‐white relationships were expressed. People in five cities responded to messages varying in perceived racial militancy. The results yielded a factor structure with three strong and pure dimensions accounting for 68 percent of the variance. Suggestions for the use of these scales in a variety of situations were offered.     

Graduate theses an index of graduate work in speech,XXV

This study contends that conclusions regarding persuasive effects derived from much contemporary research are based upon questionable assumptions concerning the nature of attitude. It is proposed that attitudinal content cannot be adequately measured by a single score expressing a most acceptable position but must also include latitudes of acceptance, rejection, and noncommitment. Using Sherif's notions of ego‐involvement as a theoretic base, predictions were derived concerning persuasive effects exhibited by highly involved subjects on their latitudes of acceptance, rejection, and noncommitment relative to changes on their most acceptable position. Results supported the proposed reconceptualization of an expanded notion of persuasive effect. Implications for a theory of persuasion are discussed.     

Narrative Persuasion 2.0: Transportation in Participatory Websites

This research applies narrative persuasion theory to participatory websites. Specifically, the study examines the joint effect of online review structure (narrative/nonnarrative) and source attributes (expert/nonexpert) on attitude strength (attitude certainty and intensity). Results demonstrate that source attributes moderate the relationship between transportation and attitude intensity but not attitude certainty. These findings advance transportation theory by illuminating that readers glean source attributes on participatory websites, and these attributes modify transportation effects. The findings offer implications for participatory websites and design features that may facilitate or hinder readers in their quest to make decisions based on the reviews they read.     

Understanding Emotion from a Superordinate Dimensional Perspective: A Productive Way Forward for Communication Processes and Effects Studies

Subjects differing in interpersonal construct differentiation completed both an attitude measure and a behavioral intentions measure (in which subjects’ behavioral intentions in each of nine attitude‐relevant interpersonal situations were assessed) toward a subject‐selected target person. While the overall correlation between attitude and the behavioral intentions index was high (r = .85,), low‐differentiation subjects displayed significantly greater attitude‐behavioral intentions consistency (r = .95,) than did high‐differentiation subjects (r = .75). Correspondingly low differentiation subjects exhibited significantly less variability in the evaluative direction of their behavioral intentions than did high‐differentiation subjects (construct differentiation and variance in individuals’ behavioral intentions were correlated, r = .37). The results are interpreted as suggesting that within a given domain, persons with developmentally less advanced cognitive systems place greater reliance on evaluative consistency principles in organizing their beliefs and behaviors and hence are more likely to exhibit attitude‐behavior consistency than are persons with more developed systems.     

Making the Cyrillic OPAC a Reality

SUMMARY

The steps leading to the development of a Cyrillic OPAC at Queens Borough Public Library are presented by the authors. Issues covered include Cyrillic character display, font requirements, searching strategies, web browser interface development, authority and subject control, promotion, and publicity. The importance of librarian and customer involvement and training are discussed.     

The role of relational interdependence,relationship thinking,and relational communication in three stages of romantic relationships

Relational interdependence, relationship thinking, and relational communication are theorized to distinguish among the stages of dating relationships. This study analyzes their comparative ability to distinguish dating relationship stages and suggests some of their related‐ness. Results indicate that relational interdependence (indexed in the perception of relationship alternatives, satisfaction, investment, and commitment) distinguishes among each stage of the dating relationships. Relationship thinking (measured in positive affect thinking and partner thinking) and relational communication (measured in trust and composure) also distinguish among relational stages, but differences in relational interdependence appear to predate and predicate the positive development of relationship thinking and relational communication.     

Social perception and message awareness as correlates of person‐centered regulative messages

This study reports the extent to which four social and message perception abilities predict the use of person‐centered messages in regulative influence situations: construct differentiation, number of prosocial influence goals, awareness of message effects, and positive outcome predictions. Undergraduate students completed several message tasks along with the Role Category Questionnaire to measure interpersonal cognitive complexity. Construct differentiation and the message analysis variables accounted for 45% of the variance in person‐centered regulative messages. Each of the message knowledge and goal variables was a significant predictor of person‐centered regulative messages. Person‐centered regulative messages were more likely to be produced by people with highly differentiated construct systems, people who had prosocial influence goals, and people who had knowledge of and confidence about the effects their messages would have on their message recipients.     

Don’t Quote me: Effects of Named,Quoted, and Partisan News Sources

ABSTRACT

Many news organizations have developed policies on the use of named and unnamed sources, including whether the latter can be directly quoted or paraphrased in news stories. In this experiment, we test how audience members respond to these policy dictates by measuring news credibility in a political story that manipulated whether the source was named, whether that source was directly quoted, and the source’s political connection to the story. We found that while each of these manipulations had little or no main effects, they combined to trigger a discernible change in credibility in the eyes of the audience.     

Characteristics of Articles Requested Through OCLC Interlibrary Loan

Abstract

As the number of periodical titles in electronic editions increase, and as libraries are faced with new restrictions for sharing articles from site-licensed periodical literature, copyright issues surface. Understanding the characteristics of articles users now request can facilitate discussion. This paper presents the attributes of articles sought through OCLC Interlibrary Loan. Nearly two-thirds of the requested articles were published within five years. Over 80% of the periodical source titles were sought five or fewer times a year.     

Promoting prime‐time programs in megasporting events

Analysis of 677 promos for prime‐time series carried within 1993 and 1994 sporting events on the major broadcast networks showed that most on‐air promotion had a modest impact on program shares and ratings: about one‐third of shares went up, over one‐half stayed flat, and less than 10% went down. A six‐part model incorporating lead‐in shares/rating, three structural factors, and two presentational factors collectively accounted for about one‐third of the variance in promoted prime‐time series’ shares and ratings.     

ETV's financial dilemma

Cagney and Lacey marks a change in the traditional law‐and‐order, police‐detective genre because character, rather than crime, activities are the dominant elements of the series. Character dramatization is achieved through five discourse patterns that interact in individual episodes and continue across episodes and seasons. The integration of discourse patterns results in a narrative that is serial in nature and cumulative in effect. This essay traces these discourse patterns and demonstrates how the series evolved into a hybrid program form that explored, in an innovative way, television's dramatic narrative potential.     

An analysis of attitudinal and normative variables as predictors of intentions and behavior

A questionnaire was developed to test the hypothesis that an individual's intention to perform a given behavior is a function of (a) his attitude toward performing that behavior and/or (b) his normative beliefs about what others think he should do, weighted by his motivation to comply with those others. It was also hypothesized that an individual's beliefs about the consequences of performing the behavior, weighted by his evaluation of those consequences, should be highly related to his attitude toward performing that behavior. Both hypotheses were supported. In addition, it was found that specificity of the attitude measure was a crucial mediator of the attitude‐intention relationship.