Considers why deceivers (senders), coparticipants (targeted receivers), and observers arrive at discordant views of reality. Reviews recent research findings. Presents original data from a pilot investigation of deception strategies to illustrate ways in which senders may perpetrate deception and the extent to which receivers and observers…

Content analysis of 461 phone calls between complaining consumers and customer service representatives showed that both groups performed distinct communication roles; communication evolves from discussion of performance to attribution to equity issues; and communication is not standardized across service representatives. Implications for training…

Posits that most risk communication studies ignore the professional role and communication processes of technical experts. Focuses on one group of technical experts, industrial hygienists, with specific attention to the impact of cognitive involvement, uncertainty, and control on their communication. Indicates that hygienists who are employed in…

Presents a dialog between the two editors of this issue, discussing and debating why communication researchers should study the Internet, and how the topic can be conceptually constrained. (SR)

Tests whether individuals with different attachment styles vary in the degree to which they display intimacy and nonverbal involvement to their romantic partners. Provides preliminary behavioral validation of K. Bartholomew's four-category model of attachment. Interprets findings in light of the dimensions underlying attachment styles and the…

Determines whether relational patterns in design logics exist, enabling the identification and prediction of mixed-status relationships where social support is enhanced. Finds, among a voluntary sample of nurses, highest levels of relational support in relationships where the nurse-manager employs (but the staff nurse does not) a…

Explores a new concept, listening fidelity, and a procedure for measurement. Defines listening fidelity as the degree of congruence between the cognitions of a listener and the cognitions of a source following a communication event. Finds sufficient support for the concept of listening fidelity to be considered a meaningful variable that merits…

Describes theoretical connections among field theory, defensiveness, attributions, and taking conflict personally (TCP). Revises the original version of a multidimensional TCP scale, measuring six TCP subscales: direct personalization, persecution feelings, stress reaction, positive relational effects, negative relational effects, and like/dislike…

Confirms the value of uncertainty for understanding jealousy. Finds that subjects were more likely to experience and less likely to directly express jealousy at high, versus low, levels of relational state uncertainty. Highlights the importance of differentiating jealousy experience from expression, and corroborates recent evidence showing a…

Reveals four types of flirtation behavior: display, stereotyped, attentiveness, and conversational behaviors. Reveals that although both cross-sex platonic and romantically involved partners report using flirtation to varying degrees, how flirtatiousness is actually displayed and how it relates to evaluations of appropriateness and communication…

Examines persuasive effects of story and statistical evidence for different message topics--100 students read three story or statistical messages and completed posttest measures. Indicates that persuasiveness of evidence varied by message topic. Reveals that statistics were rated as more scientific and less personal than stories, but these…

Reports on results of an empirical study of users' communicative responses regarding intraorganizational-implemented innovations and other planned changes. States that a list of users' individual communicative responses was developed and analyzed by means of multidimensional scaling to reveal the conceptual structure underlying the responses.…

Surveys consumers about their perceptions of advertising styles that mimic news, documentary, and editorial formats and about its associations. Suggests that these "hybrid" styles triggered values and meaning generally associated with more realistic forms of communication, perhaps making realism an involving and positive marketing…

Investigates whether local media contribute to individuals' involvement in a community. Finds that the "community integration hypothesis," which holds that they do, may have been overestimated. Suggests that some media contribute more than others, and the relative contribution of each medium depends upon the individual's stage of…

Notes a link between sexual resistance and the violation of the resisted partner's expectations. Examines the resisted individual's perception of sexual resistance message directness and relational context in terms of violation valence, violation importance, and violation expectedness among a group of undergraduate students. Indicates that…