Interpersonal Communication Research Research Articles

The Chaffee principle: the most likely effect of communication … is further communication

ABSTRACT Steven Chaffee stated that ‘the most likely “effect” of communication…is further communication' (p. 72). The present study asks to what extent this offering, referred to as ‘The Chaffee Principle,’ is realized in extant communication research. A manual content analysis of two top-tier communication journals (N = 2,040) offers an assessment of empirical attention to a variety of communicative acts in mass, interpersonal, and mediated-interpersonal communication research, as well as across subfields, contexts, methods, and time. The analysis finds that communication-to-communication effect sizes (r = .28) largely surpass those found in more dominant areas, and yet receive relatively scant attention in the communication literature. A call is made for a more systematic study of The Chaffee Principle to advance communication research.

Polyamory and Christianity: Navigating Identity Gaps and Hegemonic Discourses

ABSTRACT The purpose of the present study was to understand the identity negotiation of Christians who practice polyamory. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eighteen polyamorous Christians. The data was then qualitatively analyzed using the communication theory of identity. The findings indicated that identity gaps in the personal, relational, and communal frames were produced by mononormative discourses of Christian identity. Participants navigated these identity gaps by redefining the boundaries of Christian identity and utilizing various strategies to maintain, strengthen, and assert these redefined boundaries. This study contributes to critical interpersonal and family communication research by applying CTI to polyamorous Christians, supporting and extending research on identity gap navigation, and focusing on processes of hegemony and resistance in identity gap navigation.

Setting the Agenda: Poetic Inquiry as Critical Family Communication Methodology

ABSTRACT I use the erasure poems in the poetry chapbook, “Bringing Up Baby,” as Critical Interpersonal and Family Communication (CIFC) research to critique white middle-class notions of mothering and motherhood. Poetic inquiry is a form of Arts-Based Research (ABR) methodology that offers Critical Family Communication (CFC) researchers a way to highlight the aesthetics of personal experience, focus on embodiment and participatory measures, and use artistic forms to meld scientific and humanistic understandings of relationships. I argue that poetic inquiry as CFC methodology adds to family communication studies and offers a research and practice agenda using poetic inquiry as (a) everyday theorizing, (b) critique of traditional understandings of family relating and relationships, and (c) an evocative, embodied form that positions author reflexivity and engages dialectics. I provide suggestions for incorporating poetic inquiry into CFC research.

Applying Hierarchical Mapping Techniques to the Study of Interpersonal Communication: Descriptive Features of the Social Network

Social networks remain a relatively understudied topic in the field of interpersonal communication. As such, the hierarchical mapping technique (HMT) can help shed light on the levels of closeness that people share with their network members. For interpersonal, organizational, and family communication researchers, this gap is tremendously important, as uncovering trends in relationship closeness is pivotal to understanding the individuals/roles/relationships that bear the most weight in a person’s life. The present study utilized HMT to explore which type(s) of relationships people believe are closest to them, as well as which people are mildly close and also rather distant. Results demonstrated that most people consider their parents, siblings, children, best friends, and roommates as first-tier network members. Common second-tier relationships included cousins, aunts/uncles, friends, and non-biological siblings. Common third-tier relationships included patrons, acquaintances, neighbors, and idols. Moreover, there were statistical similarities across a variety of network relationships, indicating that there is substantial variance in the sorts of relationships that people typically consider close, interpersonal, and distant. Results are discussed in terms of both theoretical and methodological significance.

Pengaruh Komunikasi Interpersonal dan Kompetensi terhadap Prestasi Kerja Guru pada Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan Negeri 1 (SMKN 1) Pasir Penyu Kabupaten Indragiri Hulu

Work performance is the result of carrying out the work achieved by an employee in carrying out the tasks assigned to him. The work performance of teachers at the Pasir Turtle State 1 Vocational High School, Indragiri Hulu Regency is suspected to have not been maximized. The purpose of the study was to analyze the effect of Interpersonal Communication and Competence on the work performance of teachers at the State Vocational High School 1 Pasir Turtle, Indragiri Hulu Regency. This type of research is quantitative. The method used to analyze the data is quantitative method, namely path analysis, correlation coefficient and determination, F test and t test. The results of Interpersonal Communication research affect teacher work performance and competence affect teacher work performance at the State Vocational High School 1 Pasir Turtle, Indragiri Hulu Regency. Optimal teacher interpersonal communication can make it easier for teachers to carry out their duties, both individual work and work that requires teamwork. Competence is a basic characteristic possessed by a person that has a direct effect on, or can predict, excellent work performance.

Asexuality, Affect Aliens, and Digital Affect Cultures: Relationality with the Happy Objects of Sexual and Romantic Relationships

Asexuality and aromanticism remain understudied sites of research in interpersonal and family communication. Situated within Critical Interpersonal and Family Communication (CIFC), this study leverages affect theory to understand how asexual and aromantic people construct relationalities within a sex and romance saturated society. A critical thematic analysis of Instagram accounts run by asexual and aromantic people reveals how they create community based on their alien affect to the “happy objects” of sexual and romantic relationships. Results reveal how asexual alien affect is mobilized to critique allonormative happy objects, circulate community objects, and share alien affect with broader communities.

“Only Mother Is the Best in the World”: Maternal Guilt, Migrant Motherhood, and Changing Ideologies of Childrearing in China

ABSTRACT China’s childrearing culture has undergone dramatic transformations in recent decades, redefining ideals of childrearing in ways that relegate rural-to-urban migrant mothers to a marginalized position. This article explores the repercussions of changing childrearing ideologies in China on the subjectivities of rural migrant mothers through a critical inquiry into their expressions of maternal guilt. Based on interviews with 24 migrant mothers who voiced profound guilt for leaving their children behind, this study uncovers the intersectional oppressive power of three intertwined childrearing ideologies – traditional gender beliefs, the “left-behind children” discourse, and the urban middle-class parenting model. These ideologies, firmly grounded in but also articulated with institutionalized marginalization based on gender, hukou status, and class, frame migrant mothers’ childcare as aberrant and subject them to guilt and self-blame. Integrating Althusser’s concept of interpellation and the theory of intersectionality, this study contributes to the expanding literature of Critical Interpersonal and Family Communication (CIFC) research.

Theorizing disenfranchisement as a communicative process

ABSTRACT This essay lays initial groundwork for a theory of communicative disenfranchisement (TCD), which explores what occurs when individuals’ experiences, identities, and relationships are discredited (i.e., not treated as “real”) by others and how such talk disempowers them and alters their perceptions of future interactions. Five key assumptions of TCD advocate: (1) attending to power; (2) considering discursive and material conditions and their histories; (3) viewing communication as constitutive of reality; (4) adopting a process view; and (5) acknowledging interactions as having multiple meanings. This framework offers two central benefits: (a) aligning critical interpersonal and family communication scholarship with critical research occurring within other communication subfields; and (b) further spurring the critical reconsideration of traditional programs of interpersonal and family communication research. TCD is particularly useful for understanding the roles of power and discourse in communicative contestations as well as the outcomes of such talk.

Revisiting Attribution Theory: Toward a Critical Feminist Approach for Understanding Attributions of Blame

AbstractHeeding the necessary call for interpersonal communication research to be theorized and conducted from a more critical perspective, we employ feminist standpoint theory as a critical tool for reading attribution theory. Specifically, we examine social positionality as an essential aspect of the attribution process and identify how oppressive power structures (macro-level) and a critical consciousness of one’s social positionality (micro-level) impact interpersonal interactions (meso-level). Key components of our approach are visualized and applied to the context of sexual violence, and suggestions for additional interpersonal contexts to consider and ways to further the discussion are addressed. Overall, we maintain that taking a non-neutral, critical feminist approach to attribution theory enables us to consider how perspectives of marginalized groups are valuable sources of knowledge, interrogate how social positionality for those in power may impact attributions of blame, and recognize how groups in the margins have the agency to enact social change.

Re-reading Personal Influence in an age of social media

ABSTRACT This article explores the many parallels – but also discontinuities – between the interpersonal communication medium and research enterprise pursued by Elihu Katz and Paul Lazarsfeld in Personal Influence (1955) and the social media agenda and associated research enterprise of Facebook and Instagram. The essay begins with a discussion of ‘personal influence’ as the concept was first developed in the 1950s, outlining its historical context and initial limited application. It then shows how key ideas of Personal Influence can be seen as having been applied and embedded in the very fabric of social media itself. Yet Facebook represents a significant departure from both Katz and Lazarsfeld’s research agenda and from the market research and information regime of traditional media. Their audience research work of 1955 was avowedly public and transparent in its commitments. They were providing a market research product for advertising agencies, advertisers and media providers to re-purpose. In contrast, Facebook is private, proprietorial and opaque in its research provision. Facebook combines, under one roof, the roles of market research provider, media provider, and advertising agency. By prioritizing the collection and analysis of individual user profiles, Facebook has created a media enterprise that seamlessly integrates user-generated content, data collection, analysis, strategy, media provision and associated advertising machinery.

Extending the personal branding affordances typology to parasocial interaction with public figures on social media: Social presence and media multiplexity as mediators

The extent of a social media public figure's success often rests on their ability to establish a personal connection with audiences. Drawing from decades of prior research on parasocial interaction and a typology of personal branding affordances developed in our prior work, this study examined the extent to which a platform's perceived affordances might predict such parasocial interaction. Results supported this association and identified social presence and media multiplexity as independent mediators of it, consistent with prior work in interpersonal communication and technology research. Moreover, the pattern of findings validated audience involvement and locus of promotion as key dimensions delineating the personal branding affordances typology, with multiplatform participatory affordances fostering the most intimate perception of public figures by audiences (i.e., with heightened social presence, media multiplexity, and parasocial interaction).

Co-constructing uniqueness: An interpersonal process promoting dialogue

ABSTRACTIn this essay, we trace the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of dialogic interpersonal communication that facilitate the link between quality of communication and quality of life, and we highlight empirical research in interpersonal and family communication that draws inspiration from and/or reflects this approach. We re-introduce uniqueness as an important focus for interpersonal communication and emphasize the co-construction of uniqueness as a rare but decisive practice for enhancing interpersonal engagement. We begin by describing how we use the term “dialogue” and then conceptualize the co-construction of uniqueness as one of its most fundamental processes. We discuss the moral and ethical implications of making such claims and acknowledge the concept’s functional ambivalence. We then review contemporary research that exemplifies, draws inspiration from, and/or begins to approximate the process of collaboratively contacting each other as unique persons in dialogic moments that matter and present guidelines for practicing and studying the process of co-constructing uniqueness.

Computational communication research

The article advances a new way to think about computational research, in general, and computational communication research, in particular. Contrary to current definitions of “computational science,” which emphasizes its inductive nature, we define computational research as an incomplete inductive process, blending both theoretical and data‐driven methods of discovery. Communication theory needs to be driven by a clear concept of human needs and abilities, recovering and extending known theoretical insights from mass and interpersonal communication research. The definition we propose for computational communication research has a practical implication. Relying on theory, the definition demands to identify specific processes and domains within the field of computational communication research. The processes include communication production, behavior, and effects. The domains include collaboration, trust, and data storytelling and journalism, while the methods include content and network analyses. The article starts with a broad definition of the “computational” approach, using the Johari window. We continue with a typology of computational communication research, which blends reviews of foundational texts with summaries of leading research. In the conclusions, we discuss the strengths and identify new opportunities in the field of computational communication research.This article is categorized under: Fundamental Concepts of Data and Knowledge > Human Centricity and User Interaction Commercial, Legal, and Ethical Issues > Social Considerations Fundamental Concepts of Data and Knowledge > Big Data Mining

Eliciting a thousand words: A case for photo-elicitation in interpersonal communication research

The current paper argues photo-elicitation is a valuable and worthwhile method of analysis that ought to be utilized in interpersonal communication research. First, three approaches to photo-elicitation are detailed and discussed. Next, arguments as to why photo-elicitation is a viable methodological tool for the interpersonal communication discipline, interpersonal communication researchers, and participants is presented. Lastly, how photo-elicitation may be incorporated into interpersonal communication research via photo-elicitation procedures, data analysis, and the presentation of results is articulated.

Impacts of Social Media (Facebook) on Human Communication and Relationships: A View on Behavioral Change and Social Unity

The impact of social networking is varied from good to bad. Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (2012) have clearly categorized the pros and cons of social networking. Telegraph (2013) reports that four in five teenagers hide Internet activity from parents. Telegraph (2013) has also reported that getting pensioners online could solve elderly loneliness crisis. Baym et al. (2007) has stated that online relationships are of a low quality than offline relationships, where in an interpersonal communication research, closeness and intimacy are critical to a strong relationship. Kelly et al. (1983) refer closeness as strong, frequent, varied, and enduring relationships that have been revised and are encountered in Internet settings. Looking at the contradiction in an innovative interaction between classic community communication and social media, there is an unknown scent of the future struggling and challenging both human communication and relationships in the presence of digital culture. This research uses Diffusion of Innovation to study the wide and continuous spread of digital culture in human communication; and, Media Dependency in learning and structuring the cognitive, affective and behavioral effects of social media on each person uses the media in different ways. This research will be using online survey to gain opinions from a social network site as an update of views and reflection of self-awareness to all levels of people. Social media like Facebook (FB) is perceived a good tool of communication that it is able to bring closeness among the family members. The results show that social media like FB brings positive impact towards family members; it would help to build a better and harmonic society; and, relationships among family members and communication shall be improved and enhanced to the level of a united society. URL: http://ijkcdt.net/xml/12711/12711.pdf

The promise of contrapuntal and intersectional methods for advancing critical interpersonal and family communication research

ABSTRACTThis article argues that contrapuntal analysis and intersectional analysis are particularly germane for realizing the emergent critical turn in interpersonal and family communication studies. Contrapuntal analysis is apropos for examining the multiple discourses and intersectional analysis for examining the embodied vectors of difference at play in contemporary interpersonal and familial communicative life. I organize my discussion of the promise of contrapuntal and intersectional methods around the four shifts espoused in the Critical Interpersonal and Family Communication (CIFC) framework. The CIFC framework calls for attention to power, bidirectionality between private and public realms, critique/resistance/transformation of the status quo in the service of social-justice ends, and author reflexivity.

Vectors into the Future of Mass and Interpersonal Communication Research: Big Data, Social Media, and Computational Social Science.

Simultaneous developments in big data, social media, and computational social science have set the stage for how we think about and understand interpersonal and mass communication. This article explores some of the ways that these developments generate 4 hypothetical "vectors" - directions - into the next generation of communication research. These vectors include developments in network analysis, modeling interpersonal and social influence, recommendation systems, and the blurring of distinctions between interpersonal and mass audiences through narrowcasting and broadcasting. The methods and research in these arenas are occurring in areas outside the typical boundaries of the communication discipline but engage classic, substantive questions in mass and interpersonal communication.

Social Acceptance and Word of Mouth: How the Motive to Belong Leads to Divergent WOM with Strangers and Friends

Consumers are increasingly sharing product experiences with strangers and friends online. Despite the prevalence of word of mouth (WOM), little is known about how and why WOM differs based on whether people are talking to strangers or friends. The current article theorizes that one important motivation for WOM is social acceptance. To fulfill this motivation, people form and maintain existing relationships with others. Building on research in interpersonal relationships, we theorize that when communicating with strangers, people attempt to self-enhance to attract strangers into forming relationships with the self; when sharing with friends, on the other hand, people attempt to connect emotionally in order to maintain existing ties. A series of seven studies provide backing for this simple yet encompassing framework. Results of the current article provide insights into the motivations behind WOM, synthesize prior findings, and show that people systematically share different content with strangers versus friends. The current work makes theoretical contributions to research in interpersonal communication, social influence, and WOM, and holds practical implications for marketers interested in understanding consumer word of mouth.

Commitment in College Student Persistence

This investigation theoretically extended Tinto’s model of student persistence by drawing on interpersonal communication research to elaborate on the role of commitment in student persistence. College student departure literature was reviewed and critiqued concerning the conceptualization and measurement of commitment within the interactionalist model of student persistence. Rusbult’s investment model was used as an exploratory theoretical frame for understanding commitment between students and institutions. Self-report measures of commitment and investment model predictors for students in higher education were included. Support was found for hypotheses using the investment model as a frame for understanding how both students’ commitment and perceptions of their institution’s commitment are relevant in understanding persistence in the higher education setting.

Interpersonal communication research in instructional contexts: a dyadic approach

Interpersonal communication research in instructional contexts: a dyadic approach