Charles H. Tardy

Language style on trial: Effects of “powerful” and “powerless” speech upon judgments of victims and villains

Two studies are reported. The first examined consequences of “powerful”; and “powerless”; speech styles on attribution of fault to a defendant and plaintiff in a hypothetical courtroom context. A powerless style included hedges, intensifiers, polite forms, hesitation forms, and deictic phrases; a powerful style omitted these while including short or one‐word replies. Results suggested that subjects attributed greater fault to the high‐power style, regardless of whether the speaker was the plaintiff or defendant. Also, female subjects saw the alleged act as more serious when the speaker exhibited the high‐power style in the role of defendant. The second study included a high‐ or low‐power version of the testimony of a second speaker. In this case, subjects read two messages, contrasting in role (defendant vs. plaintiff) and power (high vs. low). Results for seriousness and fault were not replicated. In this case, power of style had a strong effect on judgments of communicator “internality.”; Results of bot...

Reciprocal disclosures and language intensity: Attributional consequences

This study examined the personality attributions made of a second speaker when (1) he reciprocated or failed to reciprocate the intimacy level of a disclosure made by an initial speaker and when (2) he matched or failed to match the initial speakers level of language intensity. Results indicate that a speakers level of language intensity qualifies to some extent the positive judgments of reciprocated initimacy and the negative judgments of non‐reciprocated intimacy obtained in previous research. Other findings indicate that (1) high intimacy and high intensity result in attributions of high speaker internality and (2) a perceivers own tendency to disclose affects his or her judgments of high‐ and low‐intimacy messages which vary in language intensity.

Disclosing Self to Friends and Family: A Reexamination of Initial Questions.

This study reinvestigated questions raised by Sidney Jourard in the initial stages of research on self‐disclosure. Using new conceptualizations and measures, this study attempted to assess the viability of previous research conclusions. The study specifically investigated the effects of discloser sex, topic of disclosure, and the target of disclosure on five dimensions of reported self‐disclosure. With 104 undergraduate volunteers as subjects, 2 × 2 × 2 (sex by topic by target) analysis of variance and follow‐up tests revealed that disclosures to both parents were more positive but less honest, frequent, and intimate than to best same‐sex friend. Topic affected or interacted to affect three of the dimensions of disclosure while the sex variable interacted to affect only one. These results provide little support for the conclusions drawn by Jourard. Evidently, topic and target now function as constraints on the ways individuals reveal information about themselves.

Cardiovascular Responses during Speech: Does Social Support Mediate the Effects of Talking on Blood Pressure?'

Research by James J. Lynch and his colleagues demonstrates that as people speak, their blood pressure rises. Factors which accelerate or diminish this association include the social status of the listener, rate of speaking and resting blood pressure level. Another group of studies indicates that people high in social support are buffered from the negative health consequences of stressful life events. Is talking a stressor? Does social support mediate the effects of talking on blood pressure? Using procedures similar to those of Lynch, the study compared the cardiovascular responses of people high and low in perceived satisfaction with support provided by social contacts. Analysis of variance and simple correlations indicated that cardiovascular reactivity during both resting and talking states was negatively associated with social support.

Consequences of Language Intensity and Compliance-Gaining Strategies in an Initial Heterosexual Encounter

ABSTRACT The effects of high and low language intensity and “expert” and “ingratiating” compliance-gaining strategies, sex of communicator and sex of subjects on judgments of communicator effectiveness and style were investigated. Each subject read one of eight versions of a hypothetical initial encounter between a male and female and subsequently judged the effectiveness of strategies and intensity level along a number of dimensions. Results indicated that the ingratiating strategy was judged as relatively likely to produce compliance; this strategy was also directly associated with perceptions of communicator friendliness. The expert strategy was associated directly with judgments of contentiousness and when employed by a male using high-intensity language it produced a judgment of relatively low competence in the case of female subjects. Male-female judgmental differences and similarities are discussed, and the superiority of the ingratiating strategy in compliance-gaining is discussed in light of previous research on ingratiation.

Moderators of cardiovascular reactivity to speech: discourse production and group variations in blood pressure and pulse rate

To explain why speech produces cardiovascular reactivity, an experiment utilized speech tasks varying in self-disclosure and cognitive preparation and measured the blood pressure and pulse rate of African-American and Caucasian, men and women subjects. One hundred and fifty-six college students with a median age of 21 volunteered to participate. The extemporaneous speech task produced lower systolic blood pressure than the prepared speech task. Self-disclosive speech resulted in lower diastolic blood pressure than non-disclosive speech. Females showed higher pulse rate and men exhibited greater diastolic blood pressure while speaking. Results supported previous research suggesting that women are myocardiacal hyperreactors, while men are vascular hypperreactors and suggest that production processes moderate cardiovascular reactivity to speech.

Self‐disclosure and reciprocity in short‐and long‐term relationships: An experimental study of evaluational and attributional consequences

This study investigates the role of self‐disclosure and reciprocity in simulated interactions between friends and acquaintances. Subjects made evaluations and attributions of a second speaker when he reciprocated or failed to reciprocate intimacy levels of an acquaintance or a friend. Results indicate that evaluations of communicative competence are related to reciprocity, while evaluations of personality traits are not. Evaluations of predictability and attributions of trust are related to the speakers level of intimacy. Attributions of typical disclosure behavior are affected by both the relationship and the speakers level of intimacy. These results indicate that norms regulating self‐disclosure per se may be more salient than the general norm of reciprocity.

Social anxiety and cardiovascular responses to interpersonal communication

This study reports data on the relationship of heart rate and blood pressure to state and trait social anxiety. Findings support the prediction that high trait anxiety subjects evidence a correlation between physiological measures and social anxiety. Measures of heart rate in both resting and talking periods correlate with state anxiety among high trait anxiety subjects. By contrast, systolic blood pressure during the talking period correlates with social anxiety for all subjects. These results confirm predictions about the psychosomatics of speech anxiety and demonstrate the importance of studying blood pressure.

James J. Bradac As Teacher, Researcher, and Role Model

James J. Bradacs scholarship contributed significantly to several domains of communication research. However, Bradacs legacy to the field also includes a personal element. He influenced the lives of many students and colleagues during a career exceeding 30 years. This article recounts the impact he had on the authors in their roles as students, advisees, and research assistants from 1975 to 1980 when he served on the faculty in the Communication Research Division of the Department of Speech and Dramatic Art at the University of Iowa.