Charles R. Berger

Mindfulness and Interpersonal Communication

Many social problems can be traced to interpersonal communication difficulties,just as many proposed interventions to solve social ills also depend on effectiveinterpersonal communication. This article examines three potential relationshipsbetween states of mind and social interaction followed by illustrations fromresearch related to five exemplar social issues—developing effective programsfor solving workplace communication problems, training the public to detectscams and hoaxes, reducing stereotyping and cross-cultural misunderstanding,managing interpersonal conflict, and constructing effective public health cam-paigns. We conclude by considering the likely inhibiting and facilitating effects ofmindfulness-mindlessness on socially relevant transactions.That seemingly “mindless” communication occurs frequently comes as nosurprise to even the casual observer of human interaction. Illustrative of a remark-able capacity for humans to dissociate thought and talk are these nuggets minedfrom the world of work:

Studies in interpersonal epistemology: III. Anticipated interaction, self‐monitoring, and observational context selection

Multidimensional scaling analyses of information preferences of slide pictures of a target person in a wide variety of situations revealed two judgmental dimensions: social interaction and formality‐informality. Persons anticipating interaction with the target person in the slides and high self‐monitors manifested greater preferences for slides which showed the target person in informal contexts. Verbal access to judgmental dimensions was found to vary with both anticipated interaction and self‐monitoring.

Planning sources, planning difficulty and verbal fluency

This investigation examined the sources of knowledge that persons use to devise plans to reach social goals. Specific episodes, ensembles of episodes, hypothetical episodes, role models, instruction, and previous plans were identified as sources. Using a think‐aloud procedure, persons were asked to develop plans for reaching the goals of requesting a date, ingratiating ones self to a new roommate, persuading another person on an issue, and becoming a millionaire. Protocols generated by this procedure were analyzed for evidence of the six knowledge sources. Speech generated during the think‐aloud procedure was subjected to sound‐silence analysis. Generalized knowledge sources were more frequently used as a basis for planning for the more familiar goals. However, specific, vivid instances were the most prevalent source of knowledge for developing ingratiation plans. Pausal phenomena were found to be related to the difficulty of generating plans for goals. Findings were discussed in terms of current theory ...

Communication Failure and Plan Adaptation: If at First You Don't Succeed, Say It Louder and Slower.

The hierarchy hypothesis asserts that when persons initially fail to reach social goals but they continue to try to attain them, they will first alter such lower level elements of message plans as speech rate and vocal intensity rather than more abstract plan elements having to do with the organization and structure of message content. Support for this hypothesis was found in a study in which persons were thwarted in their attempts to provide geographic directions to others. Both the locus of communication failure (language‐based versus direction‐based) and the race of the persons receiving the directions were varied (Asian versus Caucasian). Directions given after being thwarted showed little evidence of changes in structure; although post‐thwarting directions manifested significantly less detail. By contrast, after being thwarted participants demonstrated significant increases in vocal intensity and decreases in speech rate (although, significant higher order interactions were observed for speech rate)....

The covering law perspective as a theoretical basis for the study of human communication

This paper considers various approaches to explanation by subsumption of particular cases under general laws, the alleged shortcomings of such covering law explanations, possible relationships between laws and rules, and several impediments to the development of covering law theories.

A Tale of Two Communication Modes When Rational and Experiential Processing Systems Encounter Statistical and Anecdotal Depictions of Threat

Cognitive-experiential self-theory proposes that individuals use two systems to process information, a highly conscious and analytical rational system and a preconscious, intuitive experiential system. These two systems operate in parallel and synchronistically but sometimes one may dominate the other. Findings from several experiments demonstrate that when information about threatening phenomena are presented in statistical or graphical form and require cognitive judgments, the rational system exerts primary influence in determining the nature of the judgment. Those who are skilled at and favor analytical thinking tend to minimize the seriousness of the threat. When exposed to emotionally evocative, anecdotal accounts of threatening events, both experientiality and rationality are related to the amount of apprehension individuals report. The experiential system may act to promote greater apprehension among highly rational individuals while at the same time dampen apprehension among low rationals.

Information seeking and plan elaboration: What do you need to know to know what to do?

Participants sought target and situation information either before or after devising plans to reach one of two social goals. Seeking information before planning produced more elaborate plans, as measured by their length, for one goal. For both goals, quantity and diversity of information sought and plan length were positively correlated but only for those who sought information before planning. Plan elaboration also was influenced by the type of information sought. The number of contingent actions included in plans was influenced neither by timing of information seeking nor by the amount of information sought; however, diversity of information seeking was positively related to the number of contingencies generated for one of the two goals. Findings are discussed in terms of theoretical notions derived from case‐based planning theory, and a tentative, two‐stage model of plan specification is proposed.

Communication and justice: Defendant attributes and their effects on the severity of his sentence

This study investigated the effects of a defendants physical attractiveness and his level of repentance on the magnitude of the sentence given him by a simulated jury. Previous research suggested that defendants with attractive physical appearances who displayed behaviors judged to be repentant by the jury would receive lighter sentences than would unattractive, nonrepentant defendants. This hypothesis was tested by manipulating the defendants physical attractiveness through different photographs. The defendants repentance level was varied by using different descriptions of his behavior during the trial. The physical attractiveness variable had no significant effect on the severity of the sentence given the defendant. However, highly repentant defendants were given significantly lighter sentences than were defendants with low repentance levels.

Speechlessness: Causal Attributions, Emotional Features and Social Consequences

Individuals recalled the most recent time they found themselves speechless during social interaction. In addition to characterizing a number of attributes of the event, Study 1 participants provide...Individuals recalled the most recent time they found themselves speechless during social interaction. In addition to characterizing a number of attributes of the event, Study 1 participants provided causal attributions for their speechlessness, the emotions they experienced before and after the event and the event’s social consequences. Speechlessness emanated from a variety of sources, including violated expectations, extreme emotional states, and lack of knowledge. Surprise was the primary precursor to speechlessness. Neither communication apprehension nor social anxiety was associated with causal attributions for speechlessness or the event’s duration. Study 2 contrasted speechlessness arising from involuntary and voluntary origins. Participants who attributed their speechlessness to strategic causes reported higher levels of guilt and embarrassment but less overall negative affect than those who attributed their speechlessness to less volitional causes. Speechlessness attributed to violated expectations and extreme emotions potentiated more negative relationship consequences than speechlessness attributed to strategic causes. Findings are discussed in terms of message production models and the social consequences of speechlessness.

Interpersonal Relationship Levels and Interpersonal Attraction

The present studies were designed to explore the factorial composition of sources of attraction and to see how the various dimensions of attractiveness varied across the relationship levels of formal role, acquaintance, friend, close friend, and lover. In the first phase of the study, persons indicated those attributes they found attractive in specific persons. In the second phase, persons indicated the extent to which persons with whom they had different types of relationships possessed the various attributes suggested by the first phase respondents. Three attractiveness dimensions emerged from the analyses: sociability, character, and supportiveness. Supportiveness discriminated best among the five relationship categories. These findings were discussed in terms of current theory and research in interpersonal communication and interpersonal attraction.