Richard L. Wiseman

Ethnic language maintenance among Chinese immigrant children in the United States

Abstract Based upon ethnolinguistic theory, this study examined the familial and peer influences on immigrant Chinese American children’s ethnic language maintenance. Children’s decisions to retain their ethnic language were hypothesized to be influenced by their parents’ attitude toward the maintenance of Chinese, parent–child cohesion, grandparent–child cohesion, peer influence on language behavior, and age of immigration. Of the 250 respondents, 131 were first-generation and 114 were second-generation immigrants to the United States. The results indicated that Chinese-speaking peer influence, followed by English-speaking peer influence, were the most important factors in Chinese American children’s ethnic language retention. Parent–child cohesion was an important mediating factor in the relationship between parent’s language attitude and the children’s ethnic language retention. In addition, age of immigration played an important role in Chinese American children’s ethnic language maintenance.

A model of properties of compliance‐gaining strategies

This paper intends to induce a set of properties that unify and distinguish compliancegaining strategies and to determine whether coders can reliably classify messages on the basis of the proposed properties. The first goal was accomplished by deriving codified strategies from open‐ended responses of subjects to persuasive situations. Properties that reflected differences in the strategies were induced. The second goal had three coders content‐analyze the original responses in terms of the derived properties. Measures of unitizing and coder reliability and content validity were assessed. In addition, information concerning representational validity was presented. The approach taken in this paper provides us with an assessment of the state of affairs found in a compliance‐gaining strategy.

Supervisory Behavior and Worker Satisfaction in the United States, Mexico, and Spain

The increasing economic interdependence of nations and cultures is reflected in grow ing international trade, multinational corporations, and other international business partnerships. There is a growing concern over whether United States business prac tices and management theories are appropriate for non-U.S. management theory explaining the relationship between worker satisfaction and supervisory behavior in two countries, namely, Spain and Mexico. Survey data were collected in the three countries and analyzed via confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis. The results provided favorable support for strong applicability of U.S. theory to Spain and partial applicability to Mexico. Survey data were collected in the three countries and analyzed via confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis. The results provided favorable support for strong applicability of U.S. theory to Spain and partial applicability to Mexico. The results and implications were discussed in light of Hofstedes power distance construct.

A test of anxiety/uncertainty management theory: The intercultural adaptation context

Anxiety/Uncertainty Management theory, as formulated by Gudykunst and Hammer (1987a), proposes that intercultural adaptation outcomes are based on the two mediating dimensions of uncertainty reduction and anxiety reduction and sixteen secondary variables that systematically influence uncertainty and anxiety reduction. In this paper, the sixteen variables originally identified are categorized into four “fundamental factors”; (interpersonal saliencies, intergroup saliencies, communication message exchange, and host contact conditions). The present study examines this revised Anxiety/Uncertainty Management (AUM) theory of intercultural adaptation. A total of 291 international students at two universities in the United States participated in the study. The study found overall fit of the revised AUM theory vis‐a‐vis the two mediating factors of uncertainty and anxiety reduction, the importance of interpersonal saliencies for uncertainty reduction, and the importance of host contact conditions for facilitating ...

Does teaching argumentation facilitate critical thinking

This research examined whether training in argumentation facilitated critical thinking by enhancing the ability to discern strong and weak arguments and whether such training increased the need for cognition, argumentativeness, perceived arguing effectiveness and decreased verbal aggressiveness. Participants included 299 experimental group members who were receiving instruction in argumentation and 58 comparison group members receiving instruction in introductory interpersonal communication. Respondents completed questionnaires in the first and last weeks of the term assessing their argument perception, perceived arguing effectiveness, argumentativeness, need for cognition and verbal aggressiveness. Results revealed that argument instruction enhanced the ability to discern weak example and causal arguments, increased perceived arguing effectiveness and decreased verbal aggressiveness. These results are discussed in terms of critical thinking and outcomes assessment for argumentation instruction.

Interrogative strategies and information exchange in computer‐mediated communication

The explosive growth of Internet and E‐mail use has provided exceptional opportunities for humans to mediate their communication and thus their relationships in new ways. This study reports on a content analysis of interrogative strategies used in E‐mail messages exchanged over six months between intergenerational sets of senior citizens and youngsters. A great deal of relationship development is facilitated by the use of questions which are a core aspect of uncertainty reduction processes. While Uncertainty Reduction Theory (URT) has been a predominant theoretical position for examining face‐to‐face initial interaction, its utility for examining communication in an asynchronous, computer‐mediated environment was only partially effective. Data analyses focused on politeness of questions, types of questions, and, temporal effects. Results suggest that the interrogative strategies we engage in to achieve interpersonal connectedness are sometimes different in computer‐mediated communication (CMC) and a new s...

Ethnic Comparison and Measurement of Argumentativeness, Verbal Aggressiveness, and Need for Cognition.

An analysis of three trait measures related to argumentation behavior—argumentativeness, verbal aggressiveness, and need for cognition—confirmed that all three measures represented separate constructs. Need for cognition was found to correlate positively with argumentativeness and negatively with verbal aggressiveness. These three measures, also, were investigated across three ethnic groups of Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and European Americans. Analyses revealed significant ethnic differences for verbal aggressiveness and need for cognition. The results are discussed with regard to teaching argumentation and critical thinking, and as a means for improving the understanding of ethnic and/or cultural differences which may influence argumentation behavior.

Culture and Status-Related Behavior: Japanese and American Perceptions of Interaction in Asymmetric Dyads

In examining the pattern of status-related behavior in the United States and Japan, the authors compared perceptions of verbal and nonverbal behaviors of lower and higher status people in asymmetric dyadic interaction using 105 behavioral scales. A similar gap was found between perceptions of behavior of lower and higher status people in both cultures, suggesting that this status-related behavior follows a fundamental pattern probably common across cultures. Nevertheless, culture appears to affect the magnitude at which status-related behavior is manifested. In Japan, a hierarchical, collectivist, tight, and high-context culture, the authors found perceptions of greater differences in the behavior of lower and higher status people than in the United States, a more egalitarian, individualist, and low-context culture. The sources and implications of this general pattern of status-related behavior and its cross-cultural differences are discussed.

A formal account of interpersonal compliance‐gaining

Attempts at compliance‐gaining involve a complex system of events in which the target must understand the intentions of the actor and certain conditions for influence. This paper provides a framework for describing the coordination of the target to the actors intention, develops a formal account of the properties or elements that comprise compliance‐gaining strategies, and shows how variant groups of strategies bring about different conditions for influence. A notation system based on symbolic logic portrays the distribution of properties among compliance‐gaining strategies. Properties combined in the logical system describe how contrastive features will be manifested for a particular strategy. Such an effort is a necessary prelude to discovering the generative mechanism of compliance‐gaining.