Comforting Apprehensive Communicators: The Effects of Reappraisal and Distraction on Cortisol Levels Among Students in a Public Speaking Class

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of interpersonal communication as a source of comforting on the physiological stress associated with giving an in-class speech. Cortisol was used as an objective measure of stress reactivity, and the effects of distracting or reappraisal messages were examined. Salivary cortisol was collected from 42 students enrolled in an introductory public speaking course, in five intervals. The final collection showed that participants in the distraction condition experienced significantly less stress than participants in the control condition. The discussion highlights the importance of understanding the trajectory of decay to detect the stress-reducing benefits of comforting communication.     

“Is this Ella Fitzgerald?”: My Reflections of James C. McCroskey

Editor’s Note: This essay reflects the final in our five-part set of essays on the career of Communication Research Reports founding editor, James C. McCroskey. In these previous essays, Levine and Park (2017) offered the opening essay in our series, with a professional and personal rememberance of a scholar deeply impactful on both of their careers. Hickson (2018) commented on McCroskey’s formal and informal mentorship styles, and how others might understand the critical importance of offering oneself to one’s peers. Park, Oh, and Ryu (2018) explained the unique impact of McCroskey’s research on communication scholarship in South Korea, and Frymier (2018) reminded us of McCroskey’s impact as a core scholar for instructional communication research. In this final essay, we reached out to current West Virginia University Department of Communication chair Matthew M. Martin for his thoughts. As McCroskey spent most of his career at WVU (including a 25-year stretch as the department chair, from 1972 to 1997), inviting the current chair of that department for a closing commentary seemed most fitting. We hope that these five essays serve as a memorial to a scholar whose career and influence extends far beyond his publication record.     

统觉:冯契哲学的重要范畴

冯契立足于马克思主义哲学,批判地继承了康德的“统觉”范畴。作为其哲学的一个重要范畴,他的“统觉”包括两个部分：所思的判断和能思的自证。文章从三个方面对冯契的“统觉”范畴进行了探究：统觉的内涵、康德与冯契“统觉”范畴的异同、冯契“统觉”范畴的内容。     

History of Targeted Family Verbal Aggression and Informational Reception Apprehension as Predictors of Anger-Coping Behaviors

This study examined anger-coping behaviors as a function of both history of targeted family verbal aggression in childhood and informational reception apprehension. Specifically, this article investigates the degree to which childhood experiences of direct verbal attacks from family members impact anger-coping responses and the moderating influence of informational reception apprehension. To examine this, 159 college-aged students completed measures assessing their history of targeted family verbal aggression, informational reception apprehension, and anger-coping behaviors. History of targeted family verbal aggression was associated with anger-in, anger-out, and anger-control, and these associations were moderated by listening anxiety and intellectual inflexibility.     

Religious Fundamentalism and Intercultural Communication: The Relationships Among Ethnocentrism,Intercultural Communication Apprehension,Religious Fundamentalism,Homonegativity, and Tolerance for Religious Disagreements

The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationships among ethnocentrism, intercultural communication apprehension, religious fundamentalism, homonegativity, and tolerance for religious disagreements. This study found a positive relationship between religious fundamentalism with ethnocentrism and homonegativity. The study further found a negative relationship between tolerance for religious disagreement with ethnocentrism and religious fundamentalism. Lastly, homonegativity, ethnocentrism, and tolerance for religious disagreement were shown to account for approximately 17.5% of the variance in an individual's intercultural communication apprehension. However, religious fundamentalism was not shown to be related to intercultural communication apprehension.     

The Effects of Self-Construal and Perceived Control on Argumentativeness and Communication Apprehension

This study investigates the relationships between self-construal, perceived control in communication interaction, and communication predispositions (e.g., argumentativeness and communication apprehension [CA]). The results indicate that the independent self-construal constitutes a significant predictor of perceived internal control in interaction, whereas the interdependent self-construal constitutes a significant predictor of perceived external (chance and powerful others) control in interaction. Moreover, the findings of this research indicate that perceived internal control constitutes a significant predictor of argumentativeness, whereas perceived external control is a significant predictor of CA. Contrary to expectations, the interdependent self-construal also constitutes a predictor of perceived internal control, which in turn constitutes a significant predictor of CA.     

How Perceived Situational Frequency and Situational Importance Affect Communication Apprehension: A Cross Cultural Analysis

This study assesses the relationship between communication apprehension (CA) and factors of perceived communication situational frequency and communication situational importance. The results reveal a trend demonstrating that the more often a person encounters and the more important a person feels about the particular communication, then the less CA the person experiences. Both American and Indian participants exhibited this trend, demonstrating a connection between culture and CA.     

The Relationships among Perceptions of Social Support,Intercultural Communication Apprehension (ICA), and Conflict Management Preferences in the Context of Cultural Adaptation

This study explores the relationships among perceptions of social support from family and friends, Intercultural Communication Apprehension (ICA) and intercultural conflict management preferences. Two hundred and ninety students, comprising primarily of international students, participated in the study. The results of the study revealed that, in regards to handling conflict with members of the host culture, increased perceptions of social support from family and friends lowered the level of ICA, and the decrease in the level of ICA led to increased preferences for the integrating and the compromising styles and decreased preferences for the avoiding and the dominating styles. Hence, the results of the study suggest that the influence of the perceptions of social support may extend beyond the mere alleviation of acculturative stress and psychological well-being and may have implications for the integration of immigrants and sojourners into the host culture.     

The ecology of academic risk: relationships between communication apprehension,verbal aggression,supportive communication,and students’ academic risk status

Contemporary research exploring at‐risk student populations has generally used the epidemiological model, the constructivist model, or the ecological model to explain processes involved in academic risk. This study applies communication constructs to the ecological model of academic risk, which proposes that academic risk is a function of individual, social, and cultural communication phenomena. A survey of 232 students found that (a) at‐risk students communicated more with friends about school than did regular‐admission students, (b) levels of communication apprehension differed depending on at‐risk status and sex, and (c) levels of verbal aggression differed depending on at‐risk status. These results are discussed in terms of theoretical and applied implications.     

Updating Relationships Between Communication Traits and Communication Competence

This study examined the degree to which six self-perceived communication traits are related to self-perceived communication competence (SPCC), both individually and collectively. The results indicate communication apprehension and shyness were strongly and inversely related to SPCC, whereas willingness to communicate was strongly and positively associated with SPCC. When examined collectively, several communication traits were found to predict SPCC.