A rules‐based study of television's role in the construction of social reality

A qualitative analysis of one couple's conversational uses of mediated content is presented. Observations spanned a two‐year period. Data were categorized according to usage type and then examined from Lull's (1981) rules persective.     

A Social Cognitive Theory Approach to the Effects of Mediated Intergroup Contact on Intergroup Attitudes

This research applies a social cognitive theory perspective to the study of mediated intergroup contact. It was hypothesized that exposure to positive intergroup contact on television would be associated with more positive intergroup attitudes. Some support for this hypothesis was found for exposure to gay-straight and Black-White interactions. It was also hypothesized that identification with a character belonging to the viewer's ingroup and perceived typicality of a character from an outgroup would be associated with more positive intergroup attitudes. Some support for these hypotheses emerged with regard to associations between exposure to televised gay-straight interactions and homophobic attitudes.     

A Content Analysis of Social Groups in Prime-Time Spanish-Language Television

The popularity of Spanish-language television in the United States has been increasing rapidly, yet little is known about the images viewers are likely to encounter when exposed to this content. As such, the present study investigates the representation of men and women in the 2004 prime-time, Spanish-language television season. Social identity theory provides a framework for understanding the potential influence of exposure to these depictions. Most notably, wealthy women were characterized as the slimmest, most provocatively dressed, and most submissive characters on Spanish-language television, whereas wealthy men were the heaviest, most conservatively dressed, and most dominant figures in prime time.     

Lying and deception detection in television families

This study explores the use of lying and lie‐detection among television families in situation comedies. The findings indicate that (a) lying was prevalent on these television shows; (b) lies to spare others were told most frequently; (c) the majority of lies went undetected; (d) the husband/father character told the most lies; (e) children were the most honest characters in situation comedies and (f) peripheral characters were the recipients of many lies. Two conclusions were drawn from these findings. First, this study gives insight into the content of family communication as presented on television. Secondly', the study suggests television families mirror real families with respect to family structure and the ability to detect deception.     

A cross‐cultural test of the association between temperament and communication apprehension

The research reported in his study was a cross‐cultural test of the communibiological model of communication apprehension as temperamental expression. The study was designed to replicate the findings reported by Beatty, McCroskey, and Heisel (1998) in the U.S. and Japan. In this study participants from Japan and the U.S. completed measures of communication apprehension, neurotitism, and extroversion. The results indicated that, for both Japanese and U.S. college students, scores on the measure of communication apprehension were significantly correlated with measures of neuroticism and extroversion. Multiple regression analyses indicated that both neuroticism and extroversion predicted unique variance in communication in both cultures and that the multiple correlations for the two cultures did not differ significantly. It was concluded that the replication was successful and that temperament scores are substantially predictive of communication apprehension across the cultures tested.     

Sophomores speaking: An exploratory study of student research practices

This article describes an exploratory study of the research behaviors of sophomore students at a small liberal arts college. In light of the transitional nature of the sophomore year and the limited data available on the research practices of sophomores, the authors sought to better understand the following: Students’ topic selection, help-seeking behavior, types of sources consulted, source selection criteria, research challenges, and changes in information-seeking behavior from the first year to the sophomore year. This article describes findings from a survey and in-depth interviews, and it offers recommendations for further research.