Reports three studies suggesting that speech rate perception is influenced by vocal frequency and, to some extent, by intensity, and that these relationships are not materially altered by the speakers' gender. (JAD)

Investigates the role and impact of receiver involvement in product class, comparative message format, and receiver sex on the relative effectiveness of comparative advertising messages. Indicates that females and males respond uniquely to comparative advertising, revealing consistent patterns regarding both circumstances and approaches. (SR)

Focuses on whether women and men have different perceptions about when simultaneous talk becomes interruptive. Asks participants to judge whether 20 overlaps are interruptive when presented with a conflictive interview between a high-power female and a low-power male. Suggests that verbal aggressiveness is a better predictor of recognition of…

Describes and examines 150 tape-recorded compliment sequences. Reports that the course and outcome of compliments and compliment responses are affected by: (1) the way a compliment is worded; (2) the type of statement that precedes or follows the compliment; and (3) the status and sex of the compliment participants. (RAE)

Finds that women use more justifiers, intensifiers, and agreement, whereas men exhibit more vocalized pauses and also receive more vocalized pauses; conversations of mixed-sex dyads contain more overlaps and, marginally, more interruptions than conversations of same-sex dyads; but that interruptions and overlaps were not performed more frequently…

Finds that women embarrassed men at "coed" wedding and baby showers by teasing and causing them to look unpoised, and that men used avoidance, humor, remediation, and justification strategies. Adds a new strategy, compliance, to previous frameworks to explain males' reaction to embarrassment. Discusses the importance of context and…

Notes that the methodologies and findings of communication studies speak to a number of important concerns in feminist theory and research, and that feminist theory and research offer a great deal to communication studies. (FL)

Determines the effects of vocal cues on judgments of dominance in an interpersonal influence context. Indicates that mean amplitude and amplitude standard deviation were positively associated with dominance judgments, whereas speech rate was negatively associated with dominance judgments. Finds that mean fundamental frequency was positively…

Studies of listening in the past have almost consistently been of the observer type, where participants watch a videotape and/or listen to an audio tape as stimulus material. However, a more accurate measure of true listening ability can only be done in an interactive setting. A study measured relational listening (an individual's ability to…

This study investigated the contributions of fundamental frequency, formant spacing, and glottal waveform to talker identification. The first two experiments focused on the effect of glottal waveform in the perception of talker identity. Subjects in the first experiment, 30 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory psychology course,…

Several theories exist to explain the differences in the interruptive behavior of men and women. Early research suggested that men interrupt more than women, and this finding was attributed to the dominant/submissive relationship traditional in relationships among men and women. Later studies, however, found that either there were no significant…

Investigates how attributions of blame and control influenced evaluations by undergraduate students of comforting messages varying in level of person-centeredness. Finds messages low in person-centeredness were more appropriate with high-blame targets, whereas messages high in person-centeredness were more appropriate with low-blame targets;…

Links decoding ability to interpersonal cognitive complexity and to person-centered verbal adaptiveness. Finds females more likely than males to be higher in interpersonal cognitive complexity and person-centered verbal ability, and that the influence of sex washes out the relationship of nonverbal decoding ability and cognitive complexity with…

Investigates the relationship between the argumentativeness scale and judgments of its social desirability. Finds that when the variance in argumentativeness that can be attributed to social desirability is removed, the difference between the sexes diminishes. Analyzes sex differences in social desirability, and concludes that sex differences on…

Finds that highly satisfied couples engage in significantly more communication, particularly on certain topics (home life, sexual relationship, and vacations), than do less-satisfied couples. (SR)