Shuangyue Zhang

Willingness to Help Following the Sichuan Earthquake Modeling the Effects of Media Involvement, Stress, Trust, and Relational Resources

Examining individuals’ TV and Internet involvement following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, this study demonstrates that involvement with disaster media renders positive and negative effects on viewers. Although TV involvement increases perceived stress, TV and Internet involvement predict perceived gains of social-relational resources (e.g., companionship and intimacy with friends and family) and social trust. Media involvement, in general, is also positively related to individuals’ willingness to help people in the affected areas, though this link was mediated by individuals’ perceived social-relational resource gain and social trust. This suggests that individuals’ willingness to help disaster victims is partly shaped by their relatively proximal and personal responses to the disaster coverage.

Forgiveness in the United States and China: Antecedents, Consequences, and Communication Style Comparisons

To better understand how culture influences the interpersonal forgiveness process, this study examined forgiveness communication in United States and Chinese relationships. Four key forgiveness antecedents—social harmony, empathy, apology, and blame—were examined as predictors of forgiveness communication. Social harmony, counter to predictions, positively predicted direct, rather than indirect, forgiveness in Chinese relationships. Empathy, expected to be a robust predictor of forgiveness communication across cultures, was not a good predictor in either. Instead, the best predictors of forgiveness communication were offender apology and, to a lesser extent, blame. In both cultures, apology positively predicted direct and conditional forgiveness and negatively predicted nonexpression, while blame positively predicted conditional forgiveness. In both cultures, moreover, direct forgiveness negatively, and nonexpression positively, predicted relational damage. These results suggest direct forgiveness is an important component of relational repair in individualistic and collectivistic contexts. Conditional forgiveness, though unrelated to relational damage, positively predicted ongoing negative affect in Chinese and United States relationships.

A Group Project on Communication and Intercultural Friendship

Objective: To provide students with an opportunity to understand how communication can help reduce stereotypes and foster intercultural friendship Course: Intercultural, Interpersonal

How Do You Like Your Forgiveness? Communication Style Preferences and Effects

Two studies examined forgiveness recipients’ evaluations of, and responses to, four styles of forgiveness-granting communication: engaging, deemphasizing, conditional, and suppressing. In the context of close friendships, Study 1 showed that whereas the engaging style was highly preferred, the suppressing and conditional styles were not. Content analysis suggested that the latter two styles are perceived as unclear, inauthentic, and/or in violation of norms. Study 2 suggested that engaging forgiveness is preferable because it effectively addresses personal and relational face needs and reduces uncertainty. Implications for the conceptualization of forgiveness-granting styles and the practical construction of forgiveness expressions are discussed.