bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Integrative Negotiation Strategies
Authors: Tutzauer Frank
Published: December 2015

In contrast to traditional win–lose bargaining, win–win bargaining—orintegrative bargaining—is a negotiation type in which the bargainers attempt to arrange settlements of high joint benefit. Integrative bargaining can be distinguished from traditional negotiation in terms of the structure of the situation, the behaviors of the bargainers, and the cognitive frameworks of the negotiators. The flexible rigidity hypothesis and the dual concern model explain the types of goals and behaviors the bargainers must have to be successful in integrative bargaining. A number of integrative negotiation strategies can be employed that help attain agreements of high joint benefit. These include logrolling, simultaneous issue consideration, information exchange, heuristic trial and error, and bridging. The stereotypical view of bargaining or negotiation (this entry will treat the termsbargainingandnegotiationas synonyms) is of two parties glaring at each other across the table, each scheming to force the other to make concessions, so as to make as much for oneself as possible to the detriment of the opponent. Although descriptive of many real‐life situations, negotiation scholars have long realized that the stereotype is often wrong; many times it is possible to integrate the needs of both parties, fashioning agreements that benefit both parties rather than one at the expense of the other. Suchintegrative bargaining, along with the strategies that negotiators use to attain integrative agreements, is thus an active area of scholarly inquiry.
Parent‐Infant Communication
Authors: Haslett Beth Bonniwell , Samter Wendy
Published: December 2015

During infancy, major developments occur in mastering nonverbal and verbal means of communication. In addition, important cognitive and psychological processes are also developing, such as selfhood and security. These developmental processes are all interrelated, with cognitive and perceptual capacities enabling the development of increasingly coordinated, complex systems of communication. Interaction with adults shapes and refines these communicative skills, while simultaneously encouraging the development of a secure sense of selfhood and safety in a predictable, supportive environment. A critical aspect of infant communication is the development of social relationships with others, most notably significant adult caretakers. These feelings of attachment form the basis for social relationships and development over the life span and are fundamental to an infant's trust in others and a sense of security.
Planning Theory
Authors: Berger Charles R.
Published: December 2015

Planning theory postulates that individuals’ actions and discourse are activated by goals and guided by knowledge structures called plans. Plans are hierarchically organized mental representations of action sequences that eventuate in goal achievement. Goals serve an activation function while plans guide actions toward goals. Plans not only guide actions, they also are implicated in the process of understanding others’ actions and discourse. Observations of others’ actions are understood by reference to the goals that individuals typically pursue in social situations and the plans they use to achieve them. Planning theory focuses on the message production processes rather than message processing and comprehension. Planning theory's fundamental constructs and processes are explicated and the role plan effectiveness and performance skills play in the successful attainment of goals is discussed. Planning theory's implications for improving social interaction performance are considered as well as potential limitations of the theory.
Forms of Affectionate Communication
Authors: Morman Mark T.
Published: December 2015

Scholars from a wide range of disciplines have long regarded the desire for love, affirmation, and appreciation as an essential human need. Affectionate communication is associated with a wide range of benefits and advantages for those expressing and receiving messages of affection within their personal relationships. This essay describes the positive and negative outcomes related to the expression of various forms of affectionate communication, provides a brief overview of the Affectionate Communication Index, a survey measure designed to assess affectionate communication, and ends with a short discussion of Floyd's Affection Exchange Theory.
Dual‐Process Theory of Supportive Message Outcomes
Authors: Bodie Graham D. , Jones Andrew C.
Published: December 2015

The dual‐process theory of supportive message outcomes applies the general logic of the dual‐process framework to the processing and outcomes of varied forms of support, including advice, everyday emotional support, and grief management. This theory explains that supportive messages work as a joint function of the content of those messages and how they are processed by recipients. Drawing on social cognitive theory, theories of emotion, and theories specifying characteristics of quality supportive communication as well as the larger dual process framework developed in the field of psychology, this theory provides an empirically sound basis for prescribing types of supportive strategies. Most work to date has focused on testing key theoretical tenants and establishing the theory is a viable framework for organizing prior findings indicating variation in the effects supportive messages.
Supervisor–Subordinate Communication
Authors: Myers Karen K.
Published: December 2015

Effective supervisor–subordinate communication is foundational for member productivity and satisfaction as well as the success and long‐term viability of organizations. Supervisor–subordinate interaction serves many functions including information distribution, goal setting, employee development, task coordination, and relationship and commitment building. Research has focused on supervisor characteristics, qualities of the supervisor–subordinate relationship, communication processes and outcomes. Negotiations between supervisors and subordinates also influence role characteristics, role performance, work–life balance, and worker–supervisor satisfaction.
Predicted Outcome Value Theory
Authors: Sunnafrank Michael
Published: December 2015

Predicted outcome value theory proposes a rewards–costs analysis of interpersonal relationships focused exclusively on the motivating force and effects of outcome value forecasts for potential relational futures. Originally developed as a theory of initial interaction behavior and to provide an alternative interpretation of uncertainty reduction theory phenomena, the theory has since expanded to encompass interpersonal relationships across their life span.
Divorce
Authors: Afifi Tamara D.
Published: December 2015

Research indicates that divorce can have short‐term and long‐term effects on children. Research shows, however, that children vary greatly in how they respond to divorce. Some children fare better after a divorce if they are removed from a highly conflicted family environment. Other children fare worse after a divorce, especially if their parents fight more after the divorce or they never saw the divorce coming and/or their parents had a good relationship. Still other children do not appear to be affected much at all by their parents’ divorce. The impact of divorce on children is a complex question that depends upon a host of complex situational circumstances. The most important factor in determining how children respond to divorce is parental conflict. Research suggests that many of the long‐term effects of divorce dissipate if conflict between former spouses is kept at a minimum.
Imagined Interactions
Authors: Honeycutt James M. , Hatcher Laura C.
Published: December 2015

A major mechanism for analyzing interpersonal communication and social cognition is through the study of imagined interactions (IIs). They are frequently used in everyday life and serve a variety of functions including understanding, rehearsal, conflict management, relational maintenance, catharsis, and compensation. They are associated with personality, quality relationships, ability to argue, and mental health. Retroactive IIs are often portrayed in movies or television in the form of flashbacks. We review the attributes and functions of IIs. Subsequently, conflict linkage is discussed in which people ruminate about arguments in their mind. Indeed, there are cultural maxims that attest to the prevalence of intrapersonal conflict: for example, “I can forgive but not forget.” A study is presented revealing physiological indicators of intrapersonal communication in the form of heart‐rate variability while a couple is imagining a conversation discussing pleasing and displeasing issues in their relationship.
Virtual Communities
Authors: High Andrew C.
Published: December 2015

Virtual communities are 3D interactive worlds that users access through computers to immerse themselves in alternate, Internet‐based realities. Users create customized avatars and interact with others through public and private text‐ or voice‐based communication modalities. Some of these communities present fanciful lands wherein members complete exotic quests; others mirror normal life with particular alterations, such as the ability to fly. In any virtual community, thousands of people can simultaneously interact in the same locale. Virtual communities attempt to supplement or recreate aspects of interpersonal interaction, often by inserting nonverbal cues that are absent from other modes of computer‐mediated communication. Their realism and distinguishing features combined with their ability to host multiple types of interactions make virtual communities a novel context for engaging and studying interpersonal communication.
Doctor‐Patient Communication
Authors: Duggan Ashley Paige
Published: December 2015

Doctor–patient communication is shaped by relational dynamics similar to personal relationships, but with additional goals of diagnosing and treating a patient's presenting biomedical and illness concerns. In addition to building relationship and addressing illness concerns, doctor–patient communication is also shaped by a host of factors that together shape communication processes. Relational and task‐driven functions of provider–patient communication can work in concert, or they can become competing goals. Beyond these immediate functions, understanding the connection between doctor–patient communication and health outcomes is a cornerstone of health communication and medical research. The outcomes of doctor–patient communication are important because they impact adherence to the medical regimen, quality of life, and medical malpractice, in addition to predicting illness and health status changes.
Measurement Bias
Authors: Jensen Jakob D.
Published: December 2015

Developing valid and reliable measures is a central component of interpersonal communication research. Measurement research—also known as psychometrics—typically utilizes factor analytic or structural equation model techniques to assess issues of dimensionality and fit. Interest in psychometrics can be traced back to the early 20th century where testing of soldiers for World War I solidified the value of measurement research. In the aftermath of World War II—another military effort that utilized soldier testing—the study of interpersonal communication and continued interest in measurement provided the foundations of modern communication science. The historical foundations, current emphasis, and future directions of measurement research are outlined in this entry.
Paralanguage
Authors: Guerrero Laura K.
Published: December 2015

Paralanguage, or vocalics, is the study of how people use the human voice to communicate meaning. After reviewing foundational research that identifies various aspects of paralanguage, this entry looks at qualities that make voices attractive, affectionate, flirtatious, emotional, powerful, and credible. Patterns of vocal accommodation are also discussed.
Influence in the Classroom
Authors: Wright Courtney N.
Published: December 2015

Research examining influence in the classroom seeks to understand how instructor–student interpersonal power dynamics manifest in communication and the strategies employed to obtain compliance and/or resist complying with another's influence attempts. Enhanced understanding of interpersonal power dynamics may provide the basis for improving student educational experiences and the quality of the student–instructor relationship. The research literature examining influence in the classroom primarily focuses on instructor power and influence, and student resistance; however, student influence in the classroom is receiving increased attention.
Negotiation Sequences
Authors: Olekalns Mara , Smith Philip L.
Published: December 2015

Negotiators’ communication patterns can be analyzed at several levels. Most often, researchers focus on the cumulative use of cooperative and competitive strategies to characterize the dominant strategic orientation of a negotiation. This perspective is complemented by analyses of strategy sequences, that is, how negotiators respond to opponents’ immediately preceding strategies. These sequences capture the moment‐to‐moment strategic decisions that negotiators make to direct the negotiation to specific goals. Sequences reflect the dynamic nature of negotiations, allowing better of understanding why negotiators sometimes fail to reach agreement and fail to identify all available resources. Two key findings emerge from this research. First, the same sequence may have different effects on outcomes depending on whether the dominant strategic approach is cooperative or competitive. Second, there is no single path to successful value creation: whether sequences play a central role in value creation depends on the broader strategic context within which negotiations take place.
Uncertainty and Anxiety in Intercultural Encounters
Authors: Neuliep James W.
Published: December 2015

Interacting with a stranger from a different culture typically involves more uncertainty than when interacting with a stranger from one's native culture. Uncertainty refers to the amount of predictability; that is, what is known about another person. With strangers, very little is known. During initial encounters with a stranger, uncertainty triggers anxiety. Uncertainty is cognitive; that is, what one knows, while anxiety is affective, that is how one feels. Uncertainty and anxiety are closely linked. When strangers first meet, their primary goal is to reduce uncertainty and increase predictability of their own and the other person's behavior. In order to accomplish this, they use specific communication strategies. How an individual reduces uncertainty varies across cultures.
Long‐Distance Relationships
Authors: Stafford Laura
Published: December 2015

Relationships are long‐distance when opportunities for communication are restricted due to geographic constraints. Long‐distance relationships are of interest to relational scholars given the implicit assumption that relationships without frequent face‐to‐face contact are not as “close” as those with such contact. They exist in opposition to norms for shared residences and/or proximity among romantic partners (especially married couples), family members, and close friends. Long‐distance relationships have been of increasing interest due to their often heavy reliance on new communication technologies. Despite the diversity of long‐distance relationship types, most research in the fields of communication and relational studies has focused on heterosexual long‐distance dating relationships, with the primary focus on the maintenance of the relationship. Some research on long‐distance family relationships considers the impact of separation on well‐being.
Parent–Adolescent Communication
Authors: Dailey René M.
Published: December 2015

Adolescence is a time of major development, and parents are influential in this process. Research has established the importance of a balance between individuation and connection regarding optimal adolescent development. Adolescents who maintain closeness or a connection with their parents while establishing their identity and autonomy fare better emotionally, cognitively, and socially. Parenting style is integral to this process; those whose parents are authoritative (i.e., show both warmth and control) report higher adjustment across a variety of domains. Adolescents also employ conflict and information management (e.g., decreased disclosure and increased topic avoidance) with their parents to establish their independence. Several psychological and communication theories (e.g., attachment theory, family communication patterns, systems theory, relational dialectics, communication privacy management) are used to understand the continuity and change in communication between parents and adolescents as adolescents make the transition to adulthood.
Interpersonal Communication Skill/Competence
Authors: Sabee Christina M.
Published: December 2015

Interpersonal communication skill/competence is a complex concept that broadly describes communication that is both effective and socially appropriate. However, many different theoretical approaches tend to define efficacy and appropriateness in different ways, thus this entry explores perspectives related to message processing (expectancy theories, attribution theory), message production (goal–plan–action and hierarchical theories), and social relationships (relational dialectics theory). Each perspective is explored for its contribution to the field of understanding interpersonal communication skills and competence.
Dual‐Processing Perspectives
Authors: Bodie Graham D. , Eldredge Judson
Published: December 2015

Dual‐process theories propose that human behavior (including communication) is the combined result of two qualitatively different processing mechanisms, one relatively fast, automatic, and associative, and the other relatively slow, controlled, and rule‐based. The dual‐processing perspective has had an overwhelming impact in the fields of cognitive and social psychology and neuroscience, and it has had equally important influence in the study of human communication. This entry traces the development of dual‐process theories from their domain specific beginnings in reasoning and persuasion, to the current search for a generalized dual‐systems model. Additionally, this entry discusses examples of how the dual‐processing perspective has diffused to communication specific literatures beyond persuasion, such as supportive communication and message production.
Convergence/Divergence
Authors: Soliz Jordan
Published: December 2015

Convergence and divergence are most recognizable as core behavioral tenets of communication accommodation theory. The theory originated to explore and account for how and why our speech changes in reference to a conversational partner and/or social contexts This can include modifications in accents, dialects, speech rate, slang and idioms, language, and other nonverbal behaviors.
Convergence
represents behavioral strategies in which a speaker modifies his or her communication to become more similar to the communication styles of others.
Divergence
, on the other hand, represents strategies in which a speaker modifies his or her communication to create or amplify difference with others.
Appraisal Theories of Emotion
Authors: Metts Sandra
Published: December 2015

Appraisal theories represent an approach to emotion experience focused on the subjective evaluations of affective arousal occurring within a particular circumstance. Appraisal dimensions include, for example, valence, intensity, goal obstruction, novelty, and significance. Prominent approaches to the appraisal process in the scholarly literature are represented in the categorical and process models. These models are summarized, and suggestions for applications of appraisal theories in interpersonal communication are offered.
Narratives and Social Interaction
Authors: Kellas Jody Koenig
Published: December 2015

Scholarship on narratives and social interaction encompasses a broad spectrum of theoretical, paradigmatic, methodological, and interdisciplinary approaches to understanding the ways people tell stories in the context of interpersonal communication. The study of narratives and social interaction, at its core, concerns how people construct, make sense of, and negotiate identity, relationships, and meaning. Across approaches, narrative coherence, tone, truth, co‐construction, and the functions of telling and listening to stories emerge as constructs central to understanding the communicative construction of narrative meaning.
Constructivism
Authors: Bodie Graham D. , Jones Susanne M.
Published: December 2015

Constructivism was initially proposed as a guiding theoretical framework in reaction to logical empiricism. Constructivism is an epistemological enterprise and assumes that knowledge is organized in personal constructs and arises as a function of individual interpretive processes, best understood as cognitive complexity. Constructivism has since evolved into a theory that captures functional communication competence or the ability to generate and process messages in ways that enable people to accomplish their social goals.
Identity Management
Authors: Miller Laura E.
Published: December 2015

Identity management involves the communication strategies individuals use to portray a positive image. A person's identity is formed largely through interactions with other people and through a continual process of creating and observing self‐image in diverse contexts and with varied interactional partners. Historical perspectives intersecting communication and identity, including research on identity management in relational and health contexts, illustrate the complexity of this phenomenon.
Time Series Analysis (
ARIMA
, Spectral Analysis)
Authors: VanLear C. Arthur
Published: December 2015

Time series analysis
(TSA) is a family of statistical analysis techniques that are used to analyze data consisting of a series of observations/measurements organized over time. There are two types of TSAs: time domain and frequency domain. ARIMA analysis is the most popular time domain analysis and Fourier/spectral analysis is the most popular frequency domain TSA. These two types of analyses are explained and examples of their use in interpersonal communication are given.
School Bullying
Authors: Matsunaga Masaki
Published: December 2015

School bullying is a specific form of social aggression characterized by intentional, repeated, and unilateral enactment of harm doing in school settings. Bullying takes various forms (i.e., physical, verbal, relational, and cyberbullying) and is associated with a number of negative outcomes, including emotional distress, physical/health issues, and social/relational problems. Research has identified factors that help predict the risk of bullying, effective preventative approaches, and the role of communication in victims’ coping processes.
Longitudinal Designs and Growth Modeling
Authors: Shen Lijiang
Published: December 2015

Longitudinal designs involve at least three waves of observations of the phenomenon under investigation. This entry discusses the types of longitudinal design, its advantages over cross‐sectional design, and primary reasons for selecting longitudinal design over cross‐sectional design. The property of longitudinal data is also discussed, followed by options for longitudinal data analyses and their interpretation.
Evolutionary Psychology
Authors: Warber Katie M.
Published: December 2015

Evolutionary psychology is an interdisciplinary field of study that dates back to Charles Darwin; growing out of his benchmark book,
On the Origin of Species
(1859). Those in the field seek to understand the evolution of the social mind by theorizing about and testing hypotheses related to various selection pressures that led to current evolved psychological mechanisms in humans. Evolutionary psychology has been used to explain interpersonal processes including survival, mating, verbal and nonverbal communication, cooperation, competition, and kinship. Current research in evolutionary psychology weaves together biological, psychological, social, and cultural explanations for attitudes and behaviors into one cohesive body of evidence for the explanation and prediction of human psychological dynamics, many of which are at the root of interpersonal and relational communication phenomena.
Attachment and Conflict in Adult Relationships
Authors: Greenwood Dara
Published: December 2015

Adult attachment styles are relational schemas (or templates), derived from early childhood experiences, which color expectations, perceptions, and behavior in close relationships. The extent to which individuals experience anxiety about or avoidance of intimacy can impact how they perceive and respond to relationship conflict, which can powerfully predict relationship satisfaction and longevity. Both attachment anxiety and avoidance are associated with problematic conflict resolution strategies but in different ways and to different degrees. Whereas anxious adults may perceive benign or ambiguous behaviors as threatening, engage in more aggressive partner blaming, and experience lower levels of empathy, avoidant adults may withdraw from conflict, inhibiting open communication and compromise. Gender also emerges as a moderator between attachment style and conflict dynamics, although the patterns are not consistent across studies. New research areas focus on physiological underpinnings of attachment, and the role that new media (e.g., Facebook) plays in reproducing or exacerbating attachment dynamics.
Meta‐Analysis
Authors: Allen Mike , Kim Sang‐Yeon
Published: December 2015

Meta‐analysis is a set of procedures to synthesize existing quantitative data. The primary goal involves estimation of an average effect across investigations to reduce Type II (false negative) error and identify Type I (false positive) error. Also meta‐analysis estimates the variability within the observed findings and evaluates sources for that variability (random and systematic). Finally, meta‐analysis permits the possibility of testing and comparing various theoretical models across the entire set of data simultaneously.
Facial Expressions
Authors: Manusov Valerie
Published: December 2015

Facial cues are often the “first glimpse” we have of another person. They invite us to engage with the other (or not), they work hand in hand with what people say to one another in their conversations, and they display our emotions (or hide them) from each other. As such they are a ubiquitous—and somewhat controversial—interpersonal communication behavior. This entry reviews the nature, functions, skills of, and the academic disagreement tied to, our facial behavior.
Deception Detection Accuracy
Authors: Burgoon Judee K.
Published: December 2015

Deception detection accuracy concerns the ability of instruments or humans to distinguish truthful from deceptive communication. Accuracy is often described in terms of signal detection theory (hits, the percentage of actual deceptive utterances that are accurately classified as deceit; misses, the percentage of actual deception that is erroneously misclassified as truthful; false alarms, the percentage of truthful cases erroneously identified as deceptive; and true negatives, the percentage of truthful cases correctly identified as truthful). Whereas the polygraph achieves accuracy near 90% for specific‐incident diagnostic examinations, and other instruments return a mix of accuracies, human detection hovers near chance. Multiple meta‐analyses estimate that humans accurately classify truth 61% of the time and deception 47% of the time, for an overall average of 54% detection accuracy. False alarms are less frequent than misses due to a robust truth bias. Disputed is whether professionals are more accurate than novices or merely more confident and lie‐biased. Training appears to confer some advantage, but its effect depends on such factors as feedback, repeated sessions, computer aids, and training in telltale content, language, or nonverbal behaviors. Factors moderating detection accuracy include base rate, deceiver communication skills, availability of context, extent of exposure, and questioning strategies.
Problematic Events in Relationships
Authors: Samp Jennifer A.
Published: December 2015

Problematic events occur when an individual behaves uncharacteristically and perceives that a relational partner sees him or her less favorably because of the behavior. Conceptualized as a close relationship phenomenon most frequently occurring in friendships or romantic relationships, problematic events may be threatening to a person's sense of self as an individual and/or as a relational partner. To manage such perceived threats, problematic event offenders engage in strategic communication whereby they may pursue a variety of self, other, or relationally oriented goals during a subsequent discussion with a relationship partner. Such goals are revealed in what problematic event offenders say, but also how they structure messages as revealed in focal center and message embellishment.
Normative Model of Social Support
Authors: Goldsmith Daena J.
Published: December 2015

The Normative Model of Social Support explains why some messages or conversations are more successful than others at achieving the task, identity, and relational purposes in an interpersonal situation such as advice‐giving among friends or couples discussing healthful lifestyle changes. The model has been used to explore social support, information‐seeking, topic avoidance, and uncertainty management in health‐related contexts. It produces a rational model of how messages are interpreted and evaluated within a social group; this can provide a basis for context‐specific theorizing as well as practical intervention.
Impulse Control
Authors: DiPaola Ben , E. Roloff Michael
Published: December 2015

Individuals sometimes communicate impulsively rather than in a planned and strategic fashion. Although impulsive behavior can reflect a genuine desire and result in immediate gratification, it can also have destructive outcomes. Consequently, researchers have been interested in how impulses can be controlled. This entry will examine the nature of impulse control perspective used to understand it and how impulse control is related to communication.
Attribution in Conflict
Authors: Sillars Alan , McLaren Rachel M.
Published: December 2015

Attributions are inferences about the underlying causes or motivations for human behavior. In conflict situations, attribution processes are involved when people assign blame, evaluate intentions behind offending behavior, or assess the likelihood that conflict can be managed cooperatively. There are many documented attribution biases that can exacerbate conflicts. Attribution biases affect the way people assign blame and responsibility for conflict, which has direct repercussions for communication. When people attribute conflict to the negative traits or intentional acts of others, they often communicate in a negative, verbally competitive, or ambiguous/avoidant manner. Biases also affect attributions for communicative intent and message reception. These biases can be mitigated by engaging in conflict reframing, increasing awareness and knowledge of attribution biases, and exerting control over attributions.
Hookups
Authors: Mongeau Paul A. , Wiedmaier Benjamin , Knight Kendra
Published: December 2015

Hookups represent casual sexual interactions (ranging from only kissing to intimate touching and penetrative intercourse) that occur outside committed, romantic, relationships. Hookups occur particularly frequently on US college campuses; they are, however, not limited to that context. Most college students have experienced at least one such interaction during their college years. Students perceive their peers as more comfortable with hookups than they are as individuals. The hookup label is elastic and allows for considerable variation in meanings. Although typically defined as occurring between strangers or brief acquaintances, in many cases hookups occur between friends and former (or potential) romantic partners. Hookups generate a variety of positive and negative outcomes, but appear to provide the former more than the latter. Finally, the college‐aged cohort (i.e., emerging adults) is likely drawn to hookups because the nonrelational sex appeals to their life goals of personal exploration and sexual experimentation.
Goal Understanding Theory
Authors: Palomares Nicholas A.
Published: December 2015

Goal understanding theory provides a cognitive explanation for how people understand someone's goal(s) in social interaction. The theory draws on the idea that diagnostic factors of conversation are cognitively associated with goals. Factors activate linked goals, which are potentially inferred during conversation depending on their relative level of accessibility. Through the goal inference restriction process, some goals gain more activation than others. People are more likely to infer (detect) highly accessible goals compared to less accessible goals. This entry details the roots of goal understanding theory, its explanatory mechanisms, and supportive research on how and why people infer certain goals in social interaction.
Caregiver Communication
Authors: Martin Summer C.
Published: December 2015

The term
caregiver communication
typically refers to the exchange of messages between a person who is ill, aged, or disabled and a family member who is providing unpaid aid to him or her. The majority of communication‐related research on caregiving examines spouses or adult children who are caring for their chronically ill partner or parent, respectively. Caregiving has been associated with significant costs (e.g., depression, stress) for the care provider—and, to a lesser extent, the care receiver—and communication can both contribute to and help protect against these detrimental effects. Therefore, the study of caregiver communication has widespread, important implications and provides valuable insight about relevant topics (e.g., caregiver tasks, caregiver burden, and the dilemmas inherent in attempting to balance multiple goals in caregiving interactions). Some research in this area has been influenced by, and helps inform, theoretical perspectives related to interpersonal communication.
Communication in Military Families
Authors: Knobloch Leanne K. , Wilson Steve R.
Published: December 2015

Because United States military families make substantial sacrifices in service to their country, they represent a distinctive and important domain for understanding the dynamics of interpersonal communication. Recent years has seen a surge in scholarly attention paid to the communication of US military families during a post‐9/11 era of war. One strand of research illuminates how the military context provides a unique backdrop for communication among military personnel, their romantic partners, and their children. Other lines of work describe the communication tasks facing military families during each stage of the deployment cycle. Several avenues for additional work are essential for scholars to tackle into the future.
Cross‐Sex Friendships
Authors: Weger Harry
Published: December 2015

Cross‐sex friendships represent a historical novelty embedded in a heteronormative cultural milieu. As social institutions integrate men and women, the opportunities for, and the occurrence of, cross‐sex friendships grow increasingly common. The emergence of opposite‐sex friendships as commonplace in the last half century presents challenges to both scholarly inquiry and practical maintenance of cross‐sex friendships. This entry presents conceptualizations of the term “cross‐sex friendship” and uses heterosexism as a frame for understanding both research in cross‐sex friendship and the challenges faced by cross‐sex friends in maintaining their relationship.
Understanding and Conflict
Authors: Sillars Alan , McLaren Rachel M.
Published: December 2015

To say that people
understand
one another means that they accurately imagine the other's subjective experience (beliefs, intentions, emotions, etc.). Understanding poses greater challenges in conflict than in other social contexts. Misunderstanding can lead to conflict when people fail to recognize and adjust for beliefs and expectations that are important to others. Misunderstanding can aggravate conflict and inhibit productive communication when people misjudge and distort the other's perceptions and motives. Research suggests that misunderstanding is a widespread feature of relationship conflict and is not always improved by direct talk. Misunderstanding occurs due to motivated (goal‐directed) sensemaking, combined with inherent ambiguity and selectivity in communication. Incongruent interpretations of relational communication and mismatched conflict frames are two prevalent sources of misunderstanding. Although understanding does not have a consistent, overall association with relationship adjustment, increased understanding can promote constructive conflict by allowing people to see the other's behavior in more complex and less biased terms and by promoting awareness of commonalities.
Goal Understanding in Social Interaction
Authors: Palomares Nicholas A.
Published: December 2015

Goal understanding is as ubiquitous as social interaction. When people interact, they inevitably infer others’ goals. What a conversation partner is trying to do is typically understood by interlocutors via cognitive mechanisms that connect factors of a social interaction to goals. Goal understanding, or at least the rudimentary aspects of it, is likely an innate ability as a result of evolutionary processes. Goal understanding at times occurs unconsciously, whereas generating inferences can happen explicitly with much thought. People vary in the extent to which they infer others’ goals accurately, and this largely depends on their conversation partner's behavior and how situational features activate goals. Goal inferences are consequential for conversation in that they can lead to goal contagion and influence judgments of communication competence. This entry discusses goal understanding or the process by which a person gains insight into and infers another person's goal and associated aspects of this process.
Dual‐Earner Marriage
Authors: Medved Caryn E.
Published: December 2015

Dual‐earner couples are those in which both marital partners participate in paid employment. Empirical studies of dual‐career couple relationships explore interpersonal communication processes such as spousal role‐identity construction, work–family routines, and relational equity negotiation. Division of household labor and martial satisfaction are two relational outcomes frequently investigated in the lives of dual‐earner couples. Diverse dual‐earner couple experiences that are gaining scholarly attention also include commuter couples, copreneurs, and female breadwinner couples.
Self‐Construals and Social Interaction
Authors: Kim Min‐Sun
Published: December 2015

It has been proffered that independent and interdependent construals of self are one of the most prominent self‐schemata for distinguishing culture. Those with independent self‐construals see themselves as distinct, autonomous individuals with unique internal attributes, while those with interdependent self‐construals view themselves in the context of being woven inextricably within significant social relationships. Cultures and individuals can balance and develop each of these orientations in many different ways. Self‐construals are conducive in formulating views of the self‐concept that include the newer ideas of multiple or hybrid identities. Applied in social interaction, self‐construals seem to determine the degree of direct and indirect communication styles in various communication settings as well as the flexibility in various conversational strategy choices across different cultural settings.
Same‐Sex Friendships
Authors: Hall Jeffrey A.
Published: December 2015

Friendship is a nonobligatory relationship of choice. Four characteristics of same‐sex friends do not appear to differ by sex and show similarity across culture and age groups: propinquity, homophily, inclusion, and symmetrical reciprocity. Three characteristics that distinguish male same‐sex friendship from female same‐sex friendships are: greater value of instrumental or agentic characteristics in friends, the greater risk of low‐quality friendships, and increased homophobia. Three characteristics that distinguish female same‐sex friendships from males’ same‐sex friendships are: communion and self‐disclosure, greater effort and expectations from friends in general, and a greater risk of corumination. There is ongoing need to explore friendship from cross‐cultural and multigenerational developmental perspectives to account for both evolutionary and cultural influences.
Evolutionary Perspectives on Affectionate Communication
Authors: Floyd Kory
Published: December 2015

From the perspective of evolutionary psychology, the tendency to communicate affection is adaptive insofar as it contributes directly and indirectly to survival and reproductive success. This article explores this possibility by explaining the principles of evolution and evolutionary psychology and identifying three specific arenas in which survival and procreation are enhanced by affectionate communication.
Self‐Monitoring
Authors: Wright Courtney N.
Published: December 2015

Self‐monitoring is an influential social psychological construct that describes the use of social cues to regulate expressive and self‐presentational behavior. High self‐monitors are sensitive to these cues and adjust their behavior accordingly. Low self‐monitors rely instead on their internal dispositions and attitudes to guide their behavior. In moderation, self‐monitoring is useful to effectively navigating social interactions and norms for behavior. There are positive and negative implications for high and low self‐monitoring behavior. Research examining these consequences demonstrates that self‐monitoring is related to cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal processes across a variety of contexts.
Uncertainty Management in Health
Authors: Stone Anne M.
Published: December 2015

Uncertainty management is a prominent aspect of illness experiences. In particular, research has demonstrated that acknowledging different sources of uncertainty may lead to developing better management strategies both for the person coping with the illness and for his or her social network. Further, research has explicated the roles of information management and social support as important communicative aspects in the process of uncertainty management.
Uncertainty Reduction Theory
Authors: Knobloch Leanne K.
Published: December 2015

Uncertainty reduction theory (URT) seeks to explain how people think and behave during the initial stages of relationship development. URT is a seminal theory in the field of interpersonal communication for two reasons: It is one of the first frameworks to originate within the discipline, and it has spawned extensive ongoing scholarship on uncertainty within dyadic domains. URT delineates seven axioms, 21 theorems, and a variety of information‐seeking strategies to account for uncertainty processes within acquaintance. Scholars have employed the theory to illuminate interpersonal contexts as diverse as initial interaction, social exchange processes, individual differences in uncertainty, established relationships, computer‐mediated communication, dyadic communication within organizations, and intercultural communication. A synthesis of research on these topics points to strengths and weaknesses of the theory along with recommendations for future expansion.
Extramarital Affairs
Authors: Spitzberg Brian H.
Published: December 2015

Infidelity is a widely disapproved form of relational transgression, but also relatively common. Infidelity can involve sexual activity or more emotional forms of intimacy. The occurrence and discovery of infidelity are risk factors for communicable diseases, intimate partner violence, and relationship dissolution. There are various communicative aspects of infidelity, including the ways in which partners may signal and interpret one another's intent or actual transgression, and how the partners negotiate the effects of the transgression discovery or disclosure.
Sojourner Relationships
Authors: Kim Young Yun
Published: December 2015

Sojourners who leave home to live and work in an unfamiliar culture embark on the project of cross‐cultural adaptation, one that both challenges their cultural habits and presents opportunities for personal growth. The experience of stress, commonly known as culture shock, stimulates their adaptive efforts to cultivate host communication competence and to engage in the local social processes. The adaptation process is further facilitated by the similarity and compatibility of the sojourner's own ethnicity to the prevailing ethnicity of the local population, and by the openness, strength, and positivity of his or her personality. Through stress and adaptation experiences over time, sojourners are able to attain a desired level of functional fitness and psychological health with respect to the host environment, and to undergo a gradual and largely unconscious internal transformation from a monocultural identity to an increasingly intercultural identity.
Power and Conflict
Authors: Dunbar Norah E.
Published: December 2015

Conflict is the struggle over incompatible goals, scarce resources, and interference from others, which means interpersonal power is a determinant of how the conflict is enacted. Power is a result of dependence on others when attempting to achieve goals and determines the strategies that are employed in a conflict or whether conflict is avoided entirely. Power differentials can result in destructive conflict patterns such as violence or verbal aggressiveness and can also interfere with team performances.
Self‐Disclosure
Authors: Catona Danielle , Greene Kathryn
Published: December 2015

Self‐disclosure focuses on interactions between at least two people where one deliberately divulges something personal to the other. There are different dimensions of self‐disclosure, including both breadth (the variety of topics disclosed) and depth (the level of intimacy of disclosure). Disclosure is relevant in a variety of contexts including relationships (e.g., “I am falling in love with you” or “I don't like your uncle very much”) and health (e.g., “I have cancer” or “My family has a history of alcoholism”). Scholars have sought to develop theories and predictive models of self‐disclosure since the 1960s and continue more than 50 years later. Early models of self‐disclosure focused on predicting the outcomes of self‐disclosure. Recently developed information management models move beyond relationship characteristics to explain variation in intention to disclose and/or disclosure message features. Disclosure research continues to expand and provide insight into how relationships develop and how people cope with illness.
Social Identity Theories
Authors: Reid Scott A. , Robinson Becky
Published: December 2015

Social identity theory originated as a social psychological explanation for prejudice and discrimination. It has since expanded into a general social identity perspective that encompasses several mutually complementary theories. The most notable of these are social identity theory, communication accommodation theory, ethnolinguistic identity theory, and self‐categorization theory. This entry describes these theories, their history, and their importance for understanding interpersonal communication.