Margaret L. McLaughlin

Perceptions of compliance‐gaining situations: A dimensional analysis

A multidimensional scaling investigation indicated that two situational dimensions (Intimacy and Resistance/Unfriendly) were replicated across samples of persuasive situations randomly drawn from a population of situations. Four other dimensions (Personal Benefits, Consequences, Dominance and Rights) were identified. Cluster analysis confirmed the interpretation of the dimensional solutions. A six‐factor structure of situation perception was proposed and verified in a factor analytic study.

A multidimensional scaling of three sets of compliance‐gaining strategies

This article employed cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling techniques to develop a working typology of relevant compliance‐gaining message strategies. Subjects constructed and sorted strategies they reported to use in three compliance‐gaining situations. The resultant typology included “direct‐rational,” “manipulation,” “exchange” and “threat” strategies. A category of “expertise claims” strategies emerged in the solutions for a negotiating situation. Some of the obtained categories supported strategies used in Clark (1979) and Fitzpatrick and Winke (1979), providing independent support for the existence of some aspects of their taxonomies. It was concluded that future research on identifying factors influencing strategy preference strive to incorporate more relevant forms of strategy choices.

A multidimensional scaling analysis of the “ideal interpersonal communication instructor”

This study investigated the perceived personality and behavioral correlates of the “Ideal Interpersonal Communication Instructor.” A procedure was devised in which the concept “Ideal Interpersonal Communication Instructor” was judged against a series of stimulus items representing personality traits and integrative/dominative/hybrid teacher behaviors. Data generated from the administration of this procedure were submitted to nonmetric, multidimensional scaling analysis. Results indicated that there was a two‐dimensional structure underlying the subjects judgments.

Recovering the structure of credibility judgments: An alternative to factor analysis

This paper proposes and illustrates the application of a non‐metric multidimensional scaling approach to recovering the structure of judgments of communicator credibility: solutions are proposed to certain recurrent problems in the application of factor analysis to such research.

A scale for the measurement of teachers’ affective communication

Student evaluation measures developed in recent years reflect a growing recognition of the relationship between teacher effectiveness and the affective components of the teachers classroom communication. This paper reports the development of a fourteen‐item Index of Teachers’ Affective Communication (ITAC) which was designed to avoid the shortcomings associated with currently available measurement strategies.

Figurativeness as an independent variable in communication research

Data derived from a sorting task and multidimensional scaling analysis support the hypothesis that decoders do perceive a figurative/literal dimension in language. Likewise the data support the hypothesis that multidimensional scaling will yield information concerning the semantic intensity of terms relative to their distance from the subject of the metaphor.

Impression formation in triads

Three linear and two non‐compensatory models of impression formation in the small group were compared for predictive power. When groups evaluated persons with affectively consistent attributed personality traits, the group impression was most accurately predicted from a simple averaging of each members initial impression. Group impressions of persons with affectively incongruent personality profiles were best predicted by a weighted averaging model, with weights derived from individual members proportion of total utterances in task control areas.

Juror perceptions of participants in criminal proceedings

(1979). Juror perceptions of participants in criminal proceedings. Journal of Applied Communication Research: Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 91-102.