Impolite Behavior Research Articles

Im/polite reader responses on British online news sites

Impolite and aggressive behaviour of anonymous users appears to be an important feature of online newspaper comments. This paper identifies and investigates how impoliteness is utilized strategically by newspaper readers to attack the author of an article. Empirical data is drawn from “Have-your-say” sections of the Guardian Online, Times Online and Telegraph Online. Results illustrate that impolite moves frequently involve facethreats that question the journalists' authority, credibility and trustworthiness. In the main part of the paper a categorization scheme for different types of impolite moves is introduced and a working definition of impoliteness in the context of “Have-your-say” sections presented. After having sketched a number of fundamental methodological and theoretical challenges in impoliteness research, the paper also demonstrates how the communicative setting and medium influence the realization and interpretation of impolite behaviour in those forms of public debates. Given the challenge of identifying and conceptualizing impoliteness in general and more specifically in a computer-mediated environment, netiquette rules prove especially useful for norms of appropriateness. It is also argued that the strength of those face-threats may be boosted by the fact that they are uttered in front of a large audience and more specifically the journalist's readership.

Interacting with the Reader: Politeness in Engineering Research Article Discussions

The writer’s strategy to combine the exposition of factual information with personal judgement and interaction with the reader has been analysed in a number of studies (Hunston, 1994; Hyland, 1998a, 1998b; Latour and Woolgar, 1979; Skelton, 1997). Myers’ studies (1989, 1992) on the pragmatics of politeness in scientific articles analyse politeness strategies in regularities of scientific style that are usually explained in terms of conventions. In the context of scientific communication, the researcher performs two basic tasks: presenting a claim and contradicting former theories or beliefs. Both actions could be interpreted as impolite behaviours and constitute what Brown and Levinson (1987) call face threatening acts (FTAs). In this study we explore the presence of face-redressive politeness strategies in the discussion sections of engineering research articles. The data are drawn from a corpus of 46 discussion sections in the fields of computing, telecommunications, nanotechnology and robotics.

Communication abnormalities predict functional outcomes in chronic schizophrenia: Differential associations with social and adaptive functions

Communication abnormalities are hallmark features of schizophrenia. Despite the prevalence and persistence of these symptoms, little is known about their functional implications. In this study, we examined, in a sample of chronically institutionalized schizophrenia patients (N=317), whether two types of communication abnormalities (i.e., verbal underproductivity and disconnected speech) had differential relationships with social and adaptive outcomes. Baseline ratings of verbal underproductivity, disconnected speech, global cognitive performance, and clinical symptoms, were entered into stepwise regression analyses to examine their relationship with 2.5 year social and adaptive outcomes. At baseline, disconnected speech was significantly associated with socially impolite behavior, while verbal underproductivity was associated with social disengagement and impaired friendships. Both types of communication abnormalities were significantly associated with other types of social skills. Verbal underproductivity predicted follow-up social skills, social engagement, and friendships, accounting for more variance than. cognition or symptoms. In contrast to social outcomes, adaptive outcomes were predicted by baseline neurocognition and clinical symptoms, but not communication abnormalities. These findings provide evidence for specific relationships of communication disorder subtypes with diverse impairments in social functions. In this chronically institutionalized sample, communication disorder was a stronger predictor of social, but not adaptive, outcomes than neurocognition or clinical symptoms.

CREATING A VEIL OF SILENCE? POLITENESS AND MARITAL VIOLENCE IN THE ENGLISH HOUSEHOLD

This paper explores the impact of polite codes of manners within the home and in marriage. It focuses on marital violence as a manifestation of impolite behaviour, and argues that codes of politeness could offer benefits for wives faced with violent husbands. Instead of silencing discussion of marital violence, ideas about polite behaviour enabled women to define unacceptable male behaviour in marriage, and to find new ways of responding to violence. A case study of one marriage breakdown shows how within the culture of polite manners and sensibility, nervous illnesses became a powerful way for genteel women to signal violent or sexual abuse.

The playboy of the western world: The subversion of a traditional conception of Irishness?

Summary This paper aims to reveal some of the reasons why such a phenomenon as the Abbey Theatre turned out to be more than a chance dramatic failure in the recent history of Ireland. Many of the plays performed there frequently embodied an inversion of the most sacred values of a very restrictive ideological construct that would be known as the Irish nation by the political nationalists. John Millington Synge's linguistic representation of the Irish woman in a comedy like The Playboy of the Western World surprised the audience at every turn. The linguistically impolite behaviour of those female characters was impolitely answered by the so‐called “Playboy Riots”.

Physical attractiveness and assertiveness.

Summary Two studies were conducted to test the hypothesis that physically attractive American females are more assertive than physically unattractive females. Highly physically attractive and unattractive females were compared with regard to their response to impolite behavior on the part of the experimenter and in regard to the assertiveness dimension of Borgatta's Behavioral Self Rating Form. Physically attractive females were found in both studies to respond more quickly to correct the impoliteness of the experimenter. While there was no difference in the first study between females high as compared to low in physical attractiveness on the Borgatta measure of assertiveness, a trend emerged in the second study with physically attractive females evidencing greater assertiveness than their less physically attractive counterparts.

WOMEN'S PERCEPTIONS ABOUT QUALITY OF MATERNITY CARE AT TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL KARACHI, PAKISTAN

Background: Each day, around 800 women deaths occur worldwide from preventable causes related to childbirth and pregnancy. Pakistan is one of the countries with a high share of this burden. The Pakistan Demographic Health Survey 2006-7 estimates for maternal mortality ratio was 276 per 100,000. The study is aimed to establish women's perceptions about quality of maternity care in Tertiary care hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: A cross sectional mixed method study conducted including 100 post delivered women in the obstetrical ward at tertiary care Karachi, Pakistan. A pre-structured questionnaire was used to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. Participants were interviewed after taking the written consent. Both qualitative and quantitative findings were triangulated and analyzed as per objective. Results: Overall incidence of disrespect is 56.5%, more than 52.0% participants subjectively reported feeling humiliated. 40% percent of the respondents assumed the impolite behavior and rude facial expression of health professional during conversation. Most of the participants said about low quality of care, disrespectful and abusive care at labour room however some of them were optimistic about maternal care in the hospital. Conclusion: The study concluded that disrespect and physical abuse was common barrier to utilization of services that ultimately effecting on the quality at the tertiary health care facility.