James T. Kitchens

A Psychological Pattern of Anxiety in Public Speaking.

In previous research, a physiological pattern of speech anxiety has been established for the periods before, during, and after delivering a public speech. However, no corresponding psychological pattern has been reported. Although strong correlations between psychological and physiological measures have not been found, it seemed reasonable to expect public speakers to exhibit a psychological pattern of speech anxiety similar to the physiological pattern. The results of this study support that hypothesis. The observed pattern is a monotonic function decreasing from the beginning of the speech through the post speech period.

The influence of sex differences in speech evaluation: Situational and media effects

Two studies test relationships drawn from the same theory of rating error behavior. One conclusion regarding sex effects appeared consistently in both studies. Both types of rating error seemed to be predominant among female raters. Rating errors due to the following effect appeared to be almost totally a characteristic of female raters, and female raters had significantly more trait errors than males on the trait of general effectiveness. These results tend to indicate that the sex of the rater is an important aspect to consider in analyzing rating results.

A critical analysis of NCPAC's strategies in key 1980 races: A third party negative campaign

This study analyzes the campaign strategies of NCPAC in key 1980 races. The distinguishing elements of the campaign were the third party, negative attacks, the use of extensive in‐kind contributions, and the reliance upon the classic “incumbent response” by the opposition. Important to the third party attack was the heavy reliance on repetition to create negative attitudes.

Challenge to the “rule of minimum effect”: A case study of the in man‐out man strategy

It is politically axiomatic that incumbents have an initial advantage over a challenger in an election campaign. The purpose of this study was to examine the assumptions of a strategy used to defeat incumbents, to develop a rationale for these assumptions from past communication research, and to explain how this rationale was used as a campaign strategy in the 1977 Fort Worth, Texas mayoral election. From this case study, needed areas of political communication research related to campaigns against incumbents are proposed.

Equipment malfunctions and attribution of causality.

The purpose of this study was to test whether individuals would be more likely to attribute the cause for the malfunction of a new piece of equipment as a manufacturing problem in the equipment or as an inability on their part to properly work with the equipment. The subjects were 600 residents of Florida, selected by a stratified random sample and interviewed in a statewide telephone survey. Subjects were more likely to attribute the cause to themselves rather than the machine. Overall, 71% attributed the cause to themselves, while only 24% said the machine was at fault. There was also an interaction effect in terms of income, with middle-income users more likely to blame the machine and upper-income users more likely to blame themselves. Further, there was also a significant relationship between attribution of cause and age, with older respondents being more likely to attribute cause to themselves. These results imply that attribution may differ when the potential object of attribution is a machine rather than another person.

Elements of participant satisfaction in dyads

The purpose of this study was to determine the relative influence of an individuals orientation toward himself and others by ascertaining his satisfaction with a dyadic communication experience. Subjects were randomly paired and given thirty minutes to engage in a dialogue with their partner about any topic they should choose. At the end of this period, subjects completed a satisfaction scale and wrote an essay about the experience. The essay was evaluated by content analysis. A linear regression and analyses of variance were computed for the data used. Results indicated that an individuals perception of others’ contributions to a dyadic communication was a significant factor in determining his satisfaction with that dialogue. It was also found that males employed more mutual‐oriented statements to describe their experience, while females employed more self‐oriented statements.

SEX AND INCOME AS FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH EXPOSURE TO JOKES ABOUT THE CLINTON-LEWINSKY CONTROVERSY '

This study examined the association of sex and income with reported frequency of hearing jokes about the Clinton-Lewinsky controversy. Subjects were 800 registered voters in Missouri, interviewed with a telephone survey in March, 1998. The results indicated that men reported hearing more jokes on the topic than women, and voters of higher income heard more jokes than those of middle or lower income.