Replies to an article in "Human Communication Research" (v14, n4), "Item Desirability Effects in Compliance-Gaining Research: Seven Studies Documenting Artifacts" by Brant R. Burleson, Steven R. Wilson, Michael S. Waltman, Elizabeth M. Goering, Teresa K. Ely, and Bryan B. Whaley. (MS)

Explores whether response scale ambiguity determines the relative impact of persuasive arguments and social comparison processes. Describes two experiments which demonstrate that response scale ambiguity influences the interpretation of choice shift processes. (MM)

Examines compliance-gaining strategies among undergraduate students. Finds that friends comply more with requests than strangers and that their compliance is constant across message types. Notes that among strangers, the pregiving message produced more compliance than the direct request. (SR)

Indicates that undergraduate students' argumentativeness interacted to affect the number of arguments generated and the type of resolution reached: specifically, "high argumentatives" with "low argumentative" partners generated a significantly greater number of arguments, and were significantly more successful in gaining…

Investigates the effects of verbal aggressiveness and argumentativeness on two quantitative dimensions of compliance-gaining message use, persistence and diversity. Finds that, among college students, argumentativeness is positively related to strategic diversity, and that verbal aggressiveness and argumentativeness interact to effect persistence.…

Examines the ability of the theory of reasoned action to explain and predict adolescents' verbal (i.e., insulting) and physical (i.e., fighting) aggression, as well as behaviors that encourage aggression such as watching a fight or telling others about a fight that is going to happen. Reveals that attitudes and subjective norms predicted…

Hypothesizes that a positive self-feeling compliance-gaining message would be more effective in producing target compliance among undergraduate student subjects than would a direct-request message when the target felt guilty, but that the opposite relationship would hold when the target was not feeling guilty. Finds that the data are, in the main,…

Examines whether altruism messages are more likely to be effective in gaining compliance with an anti-social request. Finds no evidence of an effect of the norm of reciprocity; altruism message was more effective than a direct request message; and a large sex difference in a direction opposite to that reported in reviews of sex differences--males…

Presents an alternative perspective for understanding the ego-defensive model in which a message threatening to a salient aspect of self-concept, as opposed to a non-threatening message, initiates ego-defensiveness resulting in more negative message-related thoughts, discounting message content, and source derogation. Suggests a new way of…

Advances practices for designing, analyzing, and reporting communication research. Focuses on improving researchers' abilities to cumulate results across studies and improving the utility of the individual study. Concludes by summarizing the set of propositions advocated. (SG)

Argues that value-expressive attitudes and social-adjustive attitudes are based in a person's values. Indicates formation of these attitudes among the undergraduate student subjects depended more on the match between the value-content of the persuasive messages and the extent to which the message recipients hold those values than their level of…

Replies to the previous article's review of arguments against the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). Considers the effects-of-evidence-on-attitudes argument unconvincing and explains why. (NKA)

Examines the dimensionality of compliance-gaining message use (CGMU) ratings. Analyzes data from three studies, suggesting that the multidimensional solutions they present are spurious. Presents a unidimensional model which claims that CGMU is related nonlinearly to message choice. (JD)

Seeks conditions that improve group performance on "hidden profiles." Finds that, among undergraduate student groups, group information sharing and decision-making effectiveness were higher in small groups with a low percentage of shared information, and lower when groups either were large or shared a high percentage of information.…

Finds that power exerted a substantial impact on the messages persons used during a negotiation game; message behavior moderated the effect of power on outcomes, so that negotiators were differentially effective in any given power condition depending upon the messages employed; and participants' message behavior was often maximizing outcomes. (SR)