Peter A. Andersen

Principles of communication and emotion in social interaction

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses that the origins, development, experience, and deployment of emotions are inherently communicative. The chapter outlines six general principles and related theoretical concepts including the ideas that social interaction is the primary elicitor of most emotions and that emotions are expressed through interpersonal communication. The first two principles focus on two forces that influence how and when emotion is communicated: evolution and socialization. The forces of biological evolution and cultural socialization are not mutually exclusive; rather, they combine and interact to produce emotional communication. The chapter also discusses how evolution and socialization affect emotional communication, by examining the evolution of emotional communication as a socially adaptive phenomenon. Hard-wired neural links exist between emotions and their expression, particularly their nonverbal expression. The social functions of emotions have provided a particularly powerful evolutionary advantage. Emotions permit individuals to adapt successfully to a vast array of social demands and opportunities. The primary function of emotions and their expression is to minimize rejection by other humans.

Romantic jealousy and relational satisfaction: A look at the impact of jealousy experience and expression

This study investigated the combined effects jealousy experience and expression have on relational satisfaction. A sample of 346 individuals currently involved in dating or marital relationships completed questionnaires. Results indicated that: (1) cognitive jealousy is a more potent predictor of relational satisfaction than emotional jealousy, (2) individuals who use integrative communication and/or expression of negative affect to communicate jealousy, while refraining from using distributive communication and/or active distancing, are most likely to be satisfied with their relationships, and (3) jealousy expression accounts for significantly more variance in relational satisfaction than jealousy experience alone.

The development and nature of the construct touch avoidance

Development of two touch-avoidance measures via factor analysis are reported. Touch avoidance is a nonverbal communication predisposition that consists of two dimensions, same-sex touch avoidance and opposite-sex touch avoidance. The results are replicated across two distinct samples with consistent reliability of measurement. Touch avoidance is then related to communication apprehension, self-disclosure, self-esteem, and a series of cultural role variables. The cultural role variables seem to have the greatest relationship with the two measures of touch avoidance. A program for future research on touch avoidance is also discussed.

The diffusion of environmental sustainability innovations in North American hotels and ski resorts

This study examines the diffusion of environmental sustainability innovations in North American hotels and ski resorts. It seeks to understand what sustainability innovations are being adopted and the variables affecting the rate of adoption. An electronic survey was distributed to 49 medium/large hotels and ski resorts. Rogers’ diffusion of innovations theory was utilized to hypothesize that a hotel/resort managers perceptions of sustainability would correlate with the adoption of the innovations. Over 4000 published studies have used diffusion of innovations theory to examine the innovation in mass media, public health, sociology, communication and agriculture. Results from this study revealed that the perceived simplicity of sustainability innovations and high levels of opinion leadership of hotels/resorts were most strongly associated with the adoption of sustainability innovations. The perceived relative advantage of sustainability innovations and the general innovativeness of the hotels/resorts also correlated to some extent with the adoption of innovations leading to increased sustainability. Sustainability communication must emphasize simplicity and ease of adopting sustainability innovations to increase the rate of adoption. The findings provide useful theoretical knowledge and advice for change agents, opinion leaders and suppliers in the resort industry on how to further diffuse sustainability in the sector.

Jealousy experience and expression in romantic relationships

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews numerous factors that affect the experience and expression of romantic jealousy. Biology, culture, personality, relationships, situations, and strategic (partner-initiated) maneuversprovide a foundation for the study of romantic jealousy. These six factors work together to influence the type and intensity of affective responses, the extent of jealous cognition, and ultimately, the ways that members of the romantic triangle communicate about jealousy. Jealous affect and cognition influence one another, and often determine how one communicates about jealousy. Sometimes, communicative responses to jealousy are automatic responses to arousal or to intense emotions. There are six communicative functions related to jealousy: (1) preserving self-esteem, (2) maintaining the primary relationship, (3) reducing uncertainty about the primary relationship, (4) reducing uncertainty about the rival relationship,(5) restoring relational equity, and (6) reassessing the primary relationship. All of these functions have been shown to correspond with particular types of communicative responses to jealousy, such as negative affect expression, integrative communication, distributive communication, active distancing, surveillance behavior, and compensatory restoration.

The Waxing and Waning of Relational Intimacy: Touch as a Function of Relational Stage, Gender and Touch Avoidance:

Scholars have paid increasing attention to the role of non-verbal communication within intimate relationships. Reportedly, immediate behaviors such as touch escalate opposite-sex relationships by promoting increased intimacy and psychological closeness. This study examined the effects of relational stage, gender and touch avoidance on unobtrusively coded public touch behavior. An ANOVA indicated that relational stage was curvilinearly related to public interpersonal touch such that the level of touch was higher in intermediate stage of relationships than in either initial or stable stages. Gender had no effect on touch. Instead, a high correlation was found between the amount of touch used by males and the amount of touch used by their female partners. Touch avoidance was found to be linearly related to the amount of touch displayed, with low touch avoiders touching the most and high touch avoiders touching the least. There was a strong additive effect for touch avoidance, with all three touch avoidance groups following a curvilinear pattern for relational stage. x2 tests found that touch increased primarily in the hand and waist areas during the intermediate stage. Implications for the study of reciprocity, immediacy, intimacy and stage theory are discussed.

Testing the risk compensation hypothesis for safety helmets in alpine skiing and snowboarding

Objective: The prevalence of helmet use by alpine skiers and snowboarders was estimated and self-reports on risk taking were assessed to test for potential risk compensation when using helmets in these sports. Setting: Skiers and snowboarders were observed and interviewed at 34 resorts in the western United States and Canada. Subjects: Respondents were 1779 adult skiers and snowboarders in the 2003 ski season. Outcome measures: Observations of helmet use and questions about perceived speed and degree of challenge when not wearing a helmet (helmet wearers) or in previous ski seasons (non-helmet wearers). Results: Helmet wearers reported that they skied/snowboarded at slower speeds (OR = 0.64, p<0.05) and challenged themselves less (OR = 0.76, p<0.05) than non-helmet wearers. Adoption of safety helmets in 2003 (23%) continued to increase over 2002 (OR = 0.46, p<0.05) and 2001 (OR = 0.84, p<0.05). Conclusions: No evidence of risk compensation among helmet wearers was found. Decisions to wear helmets may be part of a risk reduction orientation. Helmet use continues to trend upwards but adoption may be slowing.

International Patterns of Interpersonal Tactile Communication: A Field Study

An awareness of how touch is employed in communicative interactions among peoples of different nations can be a critical requisite to effective inter-cultural communication. This study examined cross-sex, interpersonal, public touch to determine whether (1) the number of body areas touched varied between members of different societies; (2) the type of relationship between dyadic partners influenced tactile behavior; and (3) the amount of total body areas touched for each society correlated with latitude of origin. Variation in interpersonal touch as a function of nationality was confirmed. Results also confirmed that touch between dyads from an international sample was affected by type of relationship. Correspondence in the occurrence of tactile behavior among dyads from similar latitudes of origin was not confirmed. Findings call into question the designation of Northern European and U.S. cultures as non-contact.

The bright side of relational communication: Interpersonal warmth as a social emotion

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on one of the most common and most important emotions—interpersonal warmth. Interpersonal warmth is the pleasant, contented, intimate feeling that occurs during positive interactions with friends, family, colleagues, and romantic partners. Warmth can also be conceptualized as the pleasant emotional connection or attachment that one feels when communicating with loved ones. Similar feelings arise when one feels connected to nature. A cluster of constructs demonstrates that interpersonal warmth is both ubiquitous and important in ones emotional and relational lives. All of these constructs—intimacy, relational closeness, bondedness, attachment, and involvement—can be conceptualized as multicomponential constructs that include or are relevant to interpersonal warmth. Close relationships are affectively intense with positive emotions typically dominating. However, the majority of violent acts, including rapes and murders, occur in close relationships. The behavioral component of attachment focuses on the actions and communicative messages people use to keep them close to their partners or, conversely, to facilitate autonomy by placing physical distance between themselves and others.

Communication and emotion

Publisher Summary This chapter provides the basic emotion concepts and the popular approaches to studying emotion. The chapter begins by differentiating three related constructs—affect, emotion, and mood; and differentiates between emotional experience and expression. Three prominent approaches to emotion that are discussed in the social psychology are reviewed: the discrete emotions, dimensional, and prototype approaches. Affective valence is the most basic feature of emotion. Emotions are characterized by four components. The cognitive component refers to the interpretation of the emotion-eliciting event or stimuli, and any resultant changes in perceptions or beliefs. Action readiness concerns increases or decreases in ones desire to take action. The third component, feelings, references the valence of the emotion, including the pleasure/pain dimension. Finally, physiological change refers to increases or decreases in arousal level and physiological reactions such as sweaty palms and blushing. Emotions are typically characterized as having an object or identifiable stimulus event, such as joy after having a child or anger at being jilted. In contrast, moods are frequently described as more diffuse and nonspecific.