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.     

Interactivity in online chat: Conversational cues and visual cues in the service recovery process

Use of both verbal and nonverbal cues in computer-mediated communication can influence customers’ perceptions and their behavioral intentions. Drawing on the compensation effect theory, this study investigates how verbal and nonverbal cues used by customer service agents during online service recovery processes affect customers’ perceptions of service chat agents’ warmth and competence and their willingness to cooperate with a service agent to complete the service recovery process. A 2 (message interactivity cues: high vs. low) × 2 (visual cues: high vs. low) between-subjects experimental design is utilized to identify the main and interaction effects of verbal and visual nonverbal cues used in online communications on customers attitudes and behaviors. Results show that use of verbal cues leads to higher perception of a chat agent’s competence, but lower perception of a chat agent’s warmth while use of visual nonverbal cues results in higher warmth perceptions but lower competence perceptions. The interaction effect of verbal and visual nonverbal cues indicates that visual nonverbal cues have a compensatory effect on message interactivity and vice versa, such that customer-perceived warmth and competence are prone to trade-offs between verbal cues and visual nonverbal cues. Furthermore, perceived warmth and competence mediate the indirect effects of verbal and nonverbal cues on customers’ cooperation intentions. Theoretical and practical implications of use of verbal and nonverbal cues during online communications in service recovery processes are discussed.     

交际故障与人际语境认知失调

造成交际障碍的原因是多种多样的,而人际语境认知失调是其重要原因之一。在言语交际过程中,人际语境认知失调突出地表现在交际者对自我的认知失调、对交际对象的认知失调、对人际关系和角色关系的认知失调。正是因为这些人际语境认知偏差影响了言语交际的顺利进行,使话语表达和理解困难重重,难以实现交际目的和交际预期。     

Self‐Perceptions of communication effectiveness: An exploratory study

With increasing evidence of non‐maximal communication skills, an investigation of variables that could impact the inclination of students to continue development was undertaken. This study initiates exploration of student perceptions of communication effectiveness relative to self peers and people‐in‐general. Results indicate that most students perceive themselves to he very effective communicators and perceive others to be less effective. A reverse pattern was evidenced by high apprehensive students. The challenge for communication education is discussed. Potential action paths are elaborated.     

框架转换与幽默言语意义的识解

幽默言语是人类日常话语中经常出现的一种语言交际形式。Fillmore的框架理论提出百科知识和生活经验同语言知识紧密联系,它们共同促使对意义的理解。本文试以框架理论中的框架转换为视角,探讨幽默言语解读过程中如何通过框架转换来识解言语中的幽默效果。     

Parental verbal affection and verbal aggression in childhood differentially influence psychiatric symptoms and wellbeing in young adulthood

Previous research has shown that exposure to parental verbal aggression is common and associated with increased levels of depression, anxiety, dissociation, and drug use. A key question that has not been addressed is whether verbal affection from the same or opposite parent can attenuate the effects of verbal aggression. This cross-sectional study examined the effects of parental verbal aggression and affection during childhood on measures of psychopathology and wellbeing in a community sample of 2,518 individuals (18–25 years). Data were analyzed for moderating influences using mixed effect models and for direct and indirect effects using structural equation models. The moderation analysis suggested that high levels of exposure to verbal affection did not mitigate the effects of verbal aggression from the same parent, and high levels of verbal affection from another parent did not generally result in a significant attenuation of the effects of verbal aggression. Structural equation models showed that verbal aggression was predominantly associated with effects on psychiatric symptoms scores, whereas verbal affection was primarily associated with effects on measures of wellbeing. These findings highlight the relatively independent effects of verbal aggression and verbal affection and suggest that the latter may be particularly important in establishing a foundation for emotional and physical wellbeing. These findings also suggest that ridicule, disdain, and humiliation cannot be easily counteracted by praise and warmth from the same or another parent.     

Executive function and verbal self-regulation in childhood: Developmental linkages between partially internalized private speech and cognitive flexibility

Recent studies have noted that executive function and the use of self-regulatory private speech are related in childhood, and proposed that the critical leap that occurs in the development of executive function between the ages of three and six years may be due to the onset of language-based self-regulatory functions at this age. This research explored the relationship between executive function and private speech in a cross-sectional study of 81 children between four and seven years of age. The children performed an executive function task, the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS), and children's use of private speech was observed during a categorization task. The results indicated that, after controlling for children's age, gender, verbal abilities, and fluid reasoning, children's use of partially internalized private speech during the categorization task was significantly related to the number of phases successfully passed on the DCCS task, which required them to switch between card sorting rules. Children who used more partially internalized private speech were more likely to pass the most challenging phase of the DCCS task that assesses the ability to flexibly use different sorting rules according to a higher-order rule. We discuss the role of verbal mediation in the development of cognitive flexibility and its implications for the design of intervention programs for children who possess deficits of executive function.     

Rhetorical vision of equality: Analysis of the rhetoric of the southern black press during reconstruction

The present study examines the rhetorical vision of equality by southern black journalists during Reconstruction. Their vision illuminates key areas of needs, themes, heroes or villains which are shared by most blacks who believed equal rights essential for full participation in a society reluctant to share them. The black press, then, puts forth a vision significantly different from ones developed in most southern papers, and advances one more atuned with the changing views of blacks during Reconstruction.     

Trends in speech

Proposed to meet the often voiced objection that speech courses graded on a contract system stress only the quantity of work and exclude any quality controls, this plan establishes groups of tasks requiring different levels of cognative functioning by the students and assigns final letter grades for satisfactory completion of the corresponding levels.     

A Review and Meta-Analysis of Person-Centered Messages and Social Support Outcomes

Person-centered messages are a form of social support that has been theoretically and empirically linked to a variety of outcomes. Scholars would benefit by recognizing the influence of person-centered messages across a number of studies in the absence of statistical artifacts. This article reports a meta-analysis testing the association between person-centered messages and social support outcomes across 23 studies. Our results demonstrate a positive linear association between person-centeredness and actual effectiveness, and an even stronger linear relationship between person-centeredness and perceived effectiveness. The association between person-centeredness and support outcomes was attenuated in confederate-based methodologies. Moreover, the data suggest that scholars need to more precisely conceptualize and empirically assess the differences between the nine levels of the person-centered hierarchy.