Communication Research

In the current issue of Wired (May 2014) there�s a brief article on Menssana Research and their efforts to detect sickness from breath samples. According to their website, they do NOT provide diagnostic tests for disease but instead a breath test to tell you if you don�t need to get more tests. So, for example, in the case of a lung cancer test, if the breath test is negative, the person need not go for additional tests. If the test is positive, then additional testing (such as a chest CT) is needed.  We do something similar when we make judgments about someone having, say, an upset stomach from their bad breath. So, in The Nonverbal Communication Book the four functions of smell that I identify--to attract others, to aid taste, to aid memory, and to create an image�need to be increased to add: to detect illness and well-being.

Here is a study from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology that shows that partial confessions/apologies may actually increase the guilt a person experiences. The reason, it seems, is that guilt is created by the lying implicit in the partial confession and this is added to the guilt felt over the original transgression. It's unlikely that this will apply in all such situations and a full confession--depending on the situation--may actually increase the interpersonal problems. We see this on Maury and Jerry Springer and similar shows where a guest confesses to, say, a one-time affair but the lie detector reveals multiple affairs. The confessor may indeed experience added guilt for lying but this is likely to be minor compared to the interpersonal problems the couple now confronts. So, while partial confessions may create added guilt, this does not mean that we should advise total confession in all situations. This "added guilt" is just one additional factor th...

Here�s an interesting research study by Suzanne Shu and Kurt Carlson� Journal of Marketing , January 2014, 78, pp. 127-139--that argues that 3 claims is the optimal number for a persuasive presentation. They call it the �charm of three.�  When a speaker uses more than three, listeners may become skeptical. 

Here's a great example to remind students to organize and rehearse their speech and to keep their notes in order:  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/04/11/hhs-sebelius-botches-farewell-speech/

Take a look at this  Body Language  infographic. It was created by and sent to me by Brietta Mengel. Thank you, Brietta.  It should make for interesting discussions in interpersonal communication or in nonverbal communication, even with the old (and greatly misused) Mehrabian study. 

Here is a wonderful infographic,  What kind of smart are you? , sent to me by Bonnie Moore who asked me to post it. I'm happy to do so; thank you, Bonnie. These infographics are beautifully done; we need more of this type of thing in our textbooks.

Here is a wonderful  Infographic on gender differences , covering a wide variety of issues and sure to stir up controversy in any interpersonal communication class. This was sent to me by Rianna Stanley who asked me to consider posting it. It's my pleasure Rianna.

I wrote the following piece to put down some  initial  thoughts about what a textbook writer does and who a textbook writer is.  I'm sure many (writers and readers) will see things very differently and I'd love to hear from you. I emphasize again that this is a first attempt to define textbook writing and is really in need of much refinement. This article was published in Etc: A Review of General Semantics 70 (3) July, 2013, 282-287.    Textbooks are a fact of college life. They are, in fact, so interwoven into the college experience that you can hardly think of a college course without thinking of the textbook. And certainly one of the fi rst priorities of a college instructor is to select a textbook for the course. Given the importance of the textbook (and the textbook writer) to any and all college courses, it seems useful to identify what a textbook writer is and what a textbook writer does. Surprisingly, little has been written on the textbook  author...

Here are two additional exercises that may prove useful in the discussion of power and interpersonal communication.  As I mentioned in the previous exercises in power post, these topics are covered in depth in Chapter 12 of The Interpersonal Communication Book, but are covered in different ways in other texts as well. So, they may be useful in just about any interpersonal communication or human communication course. Credibility Select a YouTube video of a person giving a talk, leading a meeting, advertising a product, or otherwise attempting to inform or persuade others and analyze the person�s credibility or believability by completing the following table. Dimensions of Credibility Verbal and Nonverbal Messages of Credibility Does the person appear competent, knowledgeable, and expert? (no) 1     2     3     4    5     6     7 (yes, very) What specific...

Here are two exercises that may prove useful in discussing power and interpersonal communication.  These topics are covered in depth in Chapter 12 of The Interpersonal Communication Book, but are covered in different ways in other texts as well. So, they may be useful in just about any interpersonal communication or human communication course. They cover "resisting power" and "types of power." Resisting Power In each of the following situations, pressure is being put on you to do something you really don�t want to do�at least not right now. You need to resist this pressure but not damage the relationship. For each situation, identify 2, 3, or 4 possible choices, and then indicate which choice you�d take and why. 1.        Your dating partner is pressuring you to make a commitment about moving in together but you�re just not ready now though you�d like to keep it open as an option in the future. 2.        Your parents, who ...

Throughout the communication literature there is much research, theory, and discussion on small group leadership. There are even textbooks in group and team leadership. But, there�s little on conversational leadership. Who leads a simple social conversation? What makes a conversational leader? [By �conversational leader� I simply mean someone who controls and literally leads the conversation in the direction he or she desires.] What does a conversational member do that results in attaining leadership? Here are a few thoughts on conversations that are largely face-to-face, though with minor adjustments, they can easily apply to social networking conversations. 1.       The conversational leader chooses the topics of the conversation. Actually, the conversational leader not only chooses the topics but changes them. 2.       The conversational leader speaks differently�more loudly usually and in more varied and animated style. 3.  ...

Here is a wonderful infographic on mental disorders in children, sent to me by Katherine Rose--an area that is clearly relevant to communication but which we seldom address. http://www.topmastersineducation.com/forgotten-children/  

  Here�s an interesting study I found in the current issue of the Harvard Business Review (November 2013). It should prove useful in nonverbal communication but really in any course in which ethics, power, or environment are considered. In brief, the study explored the relationship between the size of one�s chair (which allows for body expansion or encourages contraction) and the tendency to engage in unethical behavior. For example, random selected participants were placed in large or small chairs. All the participants were purposely overpaid but 78% of those in expansive postures kept the extra overpayment while only 38% of those in contractive postures did. Well, there is much more to the study which you can read at http://www.andyjyap.com/#!reserach/cm8a -- the website of the lead author, Andy Yap. The HBR discussion, however, is also interesting because it�s a part of their feature, �Defend Your Research� and so there�s a brief 2-page interview with Yap in which he explains so...

  The current issue of Inc . (October 2013) has a wealth of information on public speaking, persuasion, and leadership that I think students will relate to easily. Among the articles are How to make people believe, How I conquered public speaking anxiety, The pose that�s worth 1,000 words (on rhetorical gestures), Rallying the troops (on motivation), Secrets of a great TED talk, Give the audience more of what it wants: less (on PechaKucha), Both simple and true (on storytelling), What kind of leader are you?

Kendall-Hunt has put up a website for my  The Nonverbal Communication Book.  ( www.KendallHunt.com/devito ).   The website has links to the Preface, the TOC, and a sample chapter--(click "Samples"). I chose the chapter on temporal communication--Time Messages. This sample chapter is open access and so students as well as instructors can use it. It's a really very different nonverbal communication textbook and that's why I wanted the chapter made available online. If anyone does use it in class or just looks at the chapter--as student or instructor, I'd sure appreciate hearing any reactions, negative as well as positive.