This paper provides a review and critique of research relevant to the role of relational communication in health care. Different areas of health communication research are identified and discussed. Limitations of past research to provide a useable integrated model of relational health communication processes are examined. An integrating perspective for health communication research concerning development of health communication competencies for both patients and providers is suggested.
(1988). Perspectives on legal interviewing and counseling. Southern Speech Communication Journal: Vol. 53, Relational Communication in Applied Contexts, pp. 360-384.
(1988). Whither applied interpersonal communication research: A practical perspective for practicing practitioners. Southern Speech Communication Journal: Vol. 53, Relational Communication in Applied Contexts, pp. 339-343.
The purpose of this essay is to elucidate Whately's philosophy of language and thereby counteract the conclusion that his treatment of Style in the Rhetoric is devoid of any theoretical underpinning. Special attention is given to Whately's observations on the relationship between language and thought, language and reality, and language and meaning. His comments on the necessity of language for thought, his nominalistic account of language's relation to reality, and his contextualist approach to meaning interact to substantiate the claim that his stylistic advice in the Rhetoric is anything but a casual or indifferent treatment of the subject.
The current study examines privacy within the marital context. Spouses (N=83) completed self‐report measures assessing their perceptions of privacy intrusive behaviors, behaviors they would select to restore privacy, and marital satisfaction. Overall, persons expect privacy violations from their spouses, although psychological and informational violations appear less appropriate. Less satisfied couples show a greater need to restore privacy after a privacy violation takes place. Implications for strategy selection are discussed.
The role of superior and subordinate relationships in successful organizational functioning has been a primary concern of communication researchers for decades. However, two important issues have been neglected in the past: (1) the dimensions of congruent communicative expectations in supervisor and subordinate relationships; and (2) the focus upon symbolic exchanges between supervisors and subordinates from a communicative perspective. This paper first addresses the dimensions of expectancy theory as it interfaces with human communicative behavior, and second, examines human expectancies from a communicative perspective. Finally, it proposes an expectancy model of human symbolic activity centering communicative expectancies with supervisor and subordinate relationships.
This essay examines the television advertising from the 1984 North Carolina senate race between Jesse Helms and James Hunt through Burke's representative anecdote. Following the metaphoric approach to anecdotal analysis, the authors review two groups of discourse in pursuit of their fundamental qualities. The evidence indicates that Helms’ use of the “Soap Opera” anecdote proved superior to Hunt's random, one‐shot, style of storytelling. This conclusion leads the authors to argue that thematic continuity is a fundamental ingredient of effective electronic storytelling.
The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between physicians’ self‐perceptions of their “typical” communicative style during medical interactions and the patients’ perception of the physicians’ communicative styles. Three dimensions of communicative style were studied: interpersonal involvement, communicative dominance, and expressiveness. The research participants were 25 physicians and 354 patients of a large, multifaceted medical clinic. There were three major findings of this study: (1) physicians’ self‐perceptions and patients’ perceptions of physicians’ communicative style differed significantly, (2) these perceptual differences were systematically related to the patients’ ages and education levels, and (3) physicians’ self‐perceptions of communication were unrelated to the patients’ satisfaction with medical care. Implications and limitations of this study were discussed.
Previous literature concerning the hero myth has not addressed how someone becomes a contemporary folk hero. This essay suggests that an answer can be found within the mythopoetic role of the media. The mediated “Chrysler drama” and subsequent popular proclamation of Lee Iacocca as a national folk hero is examined as a case study to determine the rhetorical strategies that present mediated actions and actors as “heroic.”
The news and editorial positions of CBS Evening News and The New York Times are frequently attacked by the Radical Right as having a consistently liberal bias in the presentation of public affairs information. This study examined the coverage of the 1984 national election in the local newscasts of a CBS affiliate owned by the New York Times Company and discovered a bias in both time of coverage and direction of favorability toward the Reagan‐Bush campaign—data contradicting other recent studies of network coverage of the campaign.
This study examined the effects of humor used by a group leader in terms of the target of the humor. The results indicated that the leader who used self‐disparaging humor was perceived as more effective at relieving tension and encouraging member participation, and appeared more willing to share opinions. The leader who used superior‐targeted humor received lower ratings on helpfulness to group communication and willingness to share opinions. The leader who used subordinate‐targeted humor received lower ratings on social attractiveness and as a tension reliever and summarizer of members' input. In some instances, the leader who used no humor received higher ratings.
The goal of the investigation was to compare high and low consensus discussions and to identify and describe patterns of communication which differentiated the two levels of agreement. The study differed from previous attempts to explicate consensus formation by employing a larger unit of analysis and by using a descriptive methodology which allowed the investigation to be grounded in systematic observation of group interaction. The analysis revealed interactional differences which included the variety of integration methods employed, the method and distribution of generating possible solutions to the problem, and the manner in which groups terminated episodes.
Mario Cuomo's 1984 keynote address received wide praise from the press and general public for its inspirational tone and powerful delivery. The central contention of this essay is that the significance of the speech extends beyond its immediate surface effects, to its value as a case study in rhetorical interaction. It is argued that the keynote setting presented both generic and immediate constraints, which Cuomo resolved through a rhetorical strategy rooted in metaphor as an argumentative technique.
This essay examines the act of requesting a sexual partner to practice safe sex as a compliance‐gaining scenario with unique characteristics. Situational factors related to the interaction and reasons for resistance to compliance are discussed. Using the Verbal Interaction Compliance‐Gaining Scheme as a framework, the authors speculate on the types of message strategies individuals might utilize.
Much of the research on advertising aimed at children has focused on the immaturity of the child as a consumer. This paper examines children's advertising on a different level by describing its content in terms of beneficial or “prosocial” examples. Socialization of children through television has been the subject of many studies of conventional television programs, but not advertising. The content analysis described in this paper indicates that commercials for products like “Barbie,” “Care Bears,” and “McDonald's,” are rich in examples of sharing, courtesy, and physical affection. Outside the ethical issues of persuasion and consumerism, this study is one of the first to evaluate children's commercials in terms of its socialization potential.
The relationships between staff members and residents is seen to be an important part of the effective operation of a nursing home. This essay argues that aspects of this relational link are expressed through the referents used by staff members with regard to residents. Chi‐square analyses of conversational data reveal that the socialization stages and hierarchical levels of staff members are related to the type of referents employed. Specifically, members at the encounter stage use dysfunctional referents to a greater extent than members at other levels. As members become socialized these referents fall more closely in line with organizational values. Further, administrators are more likely to use organizationally approved referents, the nursing staff is most likely to use relational referents, and nurse aides are most likely to employ dysfunctional referents.
This article examines the thinking of I. A. Richards concerning the relationship between communication and values. It is argued that Richards should not be viewed simply as a narrow positivist, but as an axiologically oriented theorist of rhetoric and communication. The analysis reveals how the concept of “choice” unites the elements within Richards's theory of value, and integrates his theory of value with his theory of communication. This axiological perspective on Richards is then applied to contemporary research on compliance‐gaining. As a result, compliance‐gaining is seen as a value‐laden, symbolic, communication process. A number of productive directions for future compliance‐gaining research are outlined.
“I would like to go to graduate school in communication. I was told by one of my management professors that although I have the GPA and GMAT scores to be admitted as a MBA student, my preoccupation with the pragmatics of business would be better satisfied with an MA in communication—they are much better organized and offer a more applied approach to organizational behavior.”
This article reviews scholarship on the interdependence of rhetoric and poetic language and proposes a performance as argument model for the oral interpretation of literature. The article places the model in the context of current work on the relationship of narrative to argument and suggests the benefits gained from adoption of the model for the generation of critical discourse from performance‐based knowledge.
