Michael J. Schneider

The impact of relational consequences and intimacy on the selection of interpersonal persuasion tactics: A reanalysis

This study investigated the effects of situational variables on the likelihood of use of four types of compliance‐gaining strategies: justification, exchange, manipulation and personal rejection. Subjects rated the strategies on the probability that they would actually use them to gain compliance in each of four situations that varied systematically in intimacy and relational consequences. Both situational variables were found to he significant predictors of strategy preference. Message strategy selection was concluded to be based upon an assessment of the relative risk associated with the implementation of a given strategy and on the basis of the relative importance of three communicative goals: (1) whether strategy implementation would lead to successful compliance; (2) whether strategy implementation would result in relational harm; and, (3) whether strategy implementation would result in poor management of the agents image. Recommendations for future research were noted.

Verbal and nonverbal indices of the communicative performance and acculturation of Chinese immigrants

Abstract This paper develops a theoretical framework for examining the acculturation process of immigrants. Focusing on communication variables, it suggests five levels of analysis for assessing acculturation as a continuous rather than dichotomous variable: the speech act level, ritualistic communication, strategic communication, the organization of conversational discourse, and verbal information processing. Examples from research on Chinese communication are utilized to illustrate important differences between Chinese and Americans at each level of analysis. The use of this perspective offers the twofold promise of improving our understanding of “acculturation processes” in general as well as our understanding of the particular everyday communicative actions of immigrant groups. Research on Chinese communication patterns using this perspective will increase our knowledge of Chinese and American interrelations, in addition to providing insight aimed at developing better indices of acculturation of Chinese in the United States.

Perception of the communicative performance of Americans and Chinese in intercultural dyads

Abstract This study explores basic processes of intercultural perception by testing the stereotyping hypothesis in intercultural relations against the individual judgment hypothesis. Videotapes of nine inter cultural (American/Chinese) hetero-sexual initial interactions were produced and interactants were rated by American subjects on six dimensions of communicative performance: linguistic skill. apprehension, dominance, helpfulness, attractiveness, and expertness. Results of the study support the individual judgment hypothesis. Implacations of the research for cross-cultural training are discussed.

Correlates of the Interpretation of Televised Drama: A Study of Young Children's Abilities.

One important recent trend in mass communication research and development studies is the focus on childrens abilities to comprehend emotions and actions portrayed through televised drama. This study explored the social correlates of the interpretive abilities of young children in the assessment of televised narratives. In this study forty‐four pre‐school children viewed preconstructed videotapes and responded to interpretive tests. Their parents responded to a questionnaire concerning the childs background and experience with media. A number of hypotheses were tested concerning the correlates of childrens comprehension skills. Though most were not confirmed, the study did demonstrate important correlations concerning the amount of TV viewing by parents and childrens TV comprehension‐‐the correlations were negative, indicating that the more parents viewed TV, the worse their children performed on comprehension tests.