Argues that the needs of the bereaved are rarely met. Describes communication characteristics of self-help groups and offers evidence for their effectiveness. Suggests directions for future research. (MS)

Surveys relevant literature, including Kohut, Rochlin, Kernberg, and others. Offers a theoretical formulation on the rhetorical implications of unhealthy narcissism, particularly misjudgments of audience and occasion and misshaped messages. (MS)

Presents friendly advice to potential authors and researchers on basic conceptual and operational mistakes commonly made in the most recent 100 manuscripts reviewed by the author. (MS)

Interviewed 61 managers of Fortune 500 companies who reported the following problems with administering performance appraisals: (1) multiple use of the form; (2) subjectivity and inflated ratings; and (3) difficulties in defining objectives and in disseminating the evaluation to employees. (PD)

Includes nine responses from college faculty to Daniel's article (EJ 285 194) on business communication. (PD)

Compared the linguistic complexity of juror instructions in the "federal standard instructions" and the "Texas pattern special issues." Found that the latter contained significantly fewer nominalizations, technical legal terms, and embeddings. Discusses implications of these findings on comprehension. (PD)

Presents six generalizations on using humor in public speaking. (PD)

"If communications research is now in ferment, that ferment can be attributed to its invasion by a broader set of multidisciplinary concerns and particularly to a reunion of the social sciences with the humanities." (Author)

This paper gives a brief overview of Jurgen Habermas's concept of communicative action, followed by an overview of an empirical study of patterns of communication between teachers and students in English post-compulsory education. The paper sketches the ideas of Habermas about the possibility of human interaction that is free from domination. It…

Business communication is different from other domains in that its contextual meaning requires previous metacognitive mediation of signs. The communicative process in business is aimed at accomplishing a specific outcome. Various forms of meaning come into play in business communication such as denotative, connotative, stylistic, affective,…

In two experiments, five-year-old children participated in a referential communication task to investigate (1) whether they were more likely to imitate the length rather than the quality of a speaker's utterances and (2) whether they would confuse length with quality, judging any long communication to be adequate. (Author/RH)

Argues that reliance upon verification procedures has inhibited theory building in communication. Advances four falsification procedures and presents examples from communication studies. Offers several implications these procedures have for empirical research in communication. (PD)

Discusses the nature and usefulness of talking to ourselves, silently or aloud. Poses questions for research and for education concerning this universal habit. (HTH)

Results of the study suggested that the four measurement instruments of communication problems are not capable of discriminating students with communication problems from students without. Concluded that what may be most important in distinguishing the two groups is whether or not persons perceive their uncomfortable feelings about communication…

Communication researchers have recently expressed concern with the lack of statistical power in their literature. Authors propose a method for increasing statistical power: the partitioning of the decision region in three parts. This procedure results in an unambiguous interpretation of nonsignificant results and leads to increased power. (PD)