{"title":"The Effects of Language Features and Accents on the Arousal of Psychological Reactance and Communication Outcomes","authors":"Doris E. Acheme, Chris Anderson, Claude H. Miller","doi":"10.1177/00936502241229883","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502241229883","url":null,"abstract":"Guided by psychological reactance theory, we examined the effects of language features on arousing reactance and communication outcomes. Results of a 2 (controllingness; high/low) × 2 (concreteness; concrete/abstract) × 2 (restoration postscript; present/absent) × 3 (accent; Standard American English [SAE]/Indian [non-SAE]/text-based message) between-subjects design ( N = 1,099, studies 1 and 2), revealed high-controlling language increased freedom threat, was perceived as more explicit than low-controlling language. Concrete language was perceived as more demanding of attention, fair, and producing lesser freedom threat than abstract language. Furthermore, restoration postscripts reduced freedom threat and message explicitness, including differences in restoration postscripts for the non-SAE relative to the SAE accent. Compared to the non-SAE accent, the SAE accent was perceived as more fluent and less difficult to understand, yet elicited more anger, more negative cognitions, and was perceived as less competent (Study 2). The implications are discussed vis-à-vis social influence and intergroup communication.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139792611","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Effects of Language Features and Accents on the Arousal of Psychological Reactance and Communication Outcomes","authors":"Doris E. Acheme, Chris Anderson, Claude H. Miller","doi":"10.1177/00936502241229883","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502241229883","url":null,"abstract":"Guided by psychological reactance theory, we examined the effects of language features on arousing reactance and communication outcomes. Results of a 2 (controllingness; high/low) × 2 (concreteness; concrete/abstract) × 2 (restoration postscript; present/absent) × 3 (accent; Standard American English [SAE]/Indian [non-SAE]/text-based message) between-subjects design ( N = 1,099, studies 1 and 2), revealed high-controlling language increased freedom threat, was perceived as more explicit than low-controlling language. Concrete language was perceived as more demanding of attention, fair, and producing lesser freedom threat than abstract language. Furthermore, restoration postscripts reduced freedom threat and message explicitness, including differences in restoration postscripts for the non-SAE relative to the SAE accent. Compared to the non-SAE accent, the SAE accent was perceived as more fluent and less difficult to understand, yet elicited more anger, more negative cognitions, and was perceived as less competent (Study 2). The implications are discussed vis-à-vis social influence and intergroup communication.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2024-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139852167","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kim Andersen, Adam Shehata, Morten Skovsgaard, J. Strömbäck
{"title":"Selective News Avoidance: Consistency and Temporality","authors":"Kim Andersen, Adam Shehata, Morten Skovsgaard, J. Strömbäck","doi":"10.1177/00936502231221689","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502231221689","url":null,"abstract":"Can news avoidance be considered a stable personal “trait,” adhering to a specific group of consistent news avoiders, or is it rather a volatile “state” reflecting temporal variations in audience practices? Based on a five-wave panel survey collected in Sweden during the coronavirus pandemic, we show that selective avoidance of news about the pandemic varies both between persons, representing consistency, and within persons, representing temporality. Drawing on the information utility model, we additionally show that both dimensions are related to audience preferences, specifically news interest, news media trust, and societal concerns. These results illustrate that the practice of selective news avoidance is not restricted to a specific group of people with limited news use but also represents a more fluid audience behavior of adjusting news consumption patterns in response to individual and contextual changes. However, as the correlates of the two dimensions are similar, the results stress the polarizing potential of news avoidance in democracy.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2024-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139595617","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"When a Chatbot Disappoints You: Expectancy Violation in Human-Chatbot Interaction in a Social Support Context","authors":"M. Rheu, Yue (Nancy) Dai, Jingbo Meng, Wei Peng","doi":"10.1177/00936502231221669","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502231221669","url":null,"abstract":"Although users’ expectations of a chatbot’s performance could greatly shape their interaction experience, they have been underexplored in the context of social support where chatbots are gaining popularity. A 2 × 2 experiment created expectancy violation and confirmation conditions by matching or mismatching a chatbot’s expertise label (expert vs. non-expert) and its interactional contingency (contingent vs. generic feedback to users). Contingent feedback from chatbots was found to have positive effects on participants’ evaluation of the bot and their perceived emotional validation, regardless of the bot’s expertise label. When providing generic feedback to participants, a bot received worse evaluation and induced less emotional validation on participants when it was labeled as an expert, rather than a non-expert, highlighting the detrimental effect of negative expectancy violation than negative expectancy confirmation in interactions with a social support chatbot. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2024-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139598398","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Robin Stryker, Bethany A. Conway, Shawn Bauldry, Vasundhara Kaul
{"title":"Emotional Markers of Disrespect: A Fourth Dimension of Perceived Political Incivility?","authors":"Robin Stryker, Bethany A. Conway, Shawn Bauldry, Vasundhara Kaul","doi":"10.1177/00936502231221926","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502231221926","url":null,"abstract":"Research has investigated emotional responses to perceived political incivility but not whether aspects of emotionality may be perceived as uncivil. When politicians display or evoke anger, they may increase democratic participation; however, because manifesting or evoking some negative emotions suggests disrespect—a central component of extant conceptualizations of political incivility—displaying anger and evoking fear and anger may be perceived as aspects of incivility. We test this using confirmatory factor analysis on a national sample of over 2,000 Americans. We find an overarching construct of perceived political incivility including not only three previously identified dimensions but also a fourth dimension reflecting negative emotions including fear and anger. Despite heterogeneity in perceived incivility, about 70% or more of respondents view behaviors including trolling and intentionally evoking anger and fear as mostly or very uncivil.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2024-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139598284","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
J. Fu, Dajung Woo, Katherine R. Cooper, Melanie Kwestel
{"title":"Navigating Multiple Identities for Positive Change Through Organizational Listening","authors":"J. Fu, Dajung Woo, Katherine R. Cooper, Melanie Kwestel","doi":"10.1177/00936502241227380","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502241227380","url":null,"abstract":"Organizational listening is critical in times of change, especially for organizations that must meet diverse stakeholder interests. Organizations’ views on who they are—whether they are altruistic or self-oriented entities—may shape organizational listening practices in meaningful ways. To explore the undertheorized topic of organizational listening, we conducted a mixed-method sequential explanatory study. Drawing on survey and interview data from 122 U.S. nonprofits, we found an organization’s utilitarian identity for economic value creation is only related to practical motivation to engage in listening, whereas a normative identity for social mission is related to listening motivation, information analysis, and information integration. In addition, we found that organizational listening fully mediates the relationship between organizational identity and organizational change potential and implementation, indicating positive change would most likely occur through soliciting and incorporating stakeholder inputs. These results contribute to theorizing organizational listening and suggest implications for navigating multiple identities in organizational change processes.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2024-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139605289","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
J. Crowley, Andrew C. High, Michael R. Kotowski, Dennis N. McCarty
{"title":"Conflicting Goals When Seeking Support for Mental Health Concerns: Testing a Stigma Support Activation Model","authors":"J. Crowley, Andrew C. High, Michael R. Kotowski, Dennis N. McCarty","doi":"10.1177/00936502231213129","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502231213129","url":null,"abstract":"A stigma support activation model (SSAM) describing how stigma influences support and impression management goals, which in turn shape support seeking message characteristics is proposed. The model was empirically tested with a national sample of people with mental health concerns ( N = 317), who completed an online survey about a recent time they sought support for their mental health. Results were generally consistent with the proposed model, suggesting a paradox of support seeking, where internalized stigma enhances both support and impression management goals, with perceived public stigma moderating the relationship between internalized stigma and support goals. These conflicting goals put constraints on the depth and emotional expressiveness of support seeking messages. Implications of these findings for theory on supportive communication and the management of stigmatized traits are discussed.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138592854","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Doris E. Acheme, Gretchen Montgomery, Ioana A. Cionea
{"title":"Racializing Accents: The Impact of Language and Racial Cues on Intergroup Communicative Outcomes","authors":"Doris E. Acheme, Gretchen Montgomery, Ioana A. Cionea","doi":"10.1177/00936502231215211","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502231215211","url":null,"abstract":"This study reports the results of an experiment ( N = 502) investigating how speakers are socially categorized based on accent (Standard American English [SAE] or Nigerian) and race (White or Black) separately and concurrently, as well as the intergroup outcomes of such categorizations as mediated by language attitudes (status, solidary, and dynamism). Findings revealed that SAE-accented speakers were evaluated more favorably than Nigerian-accented speakers on status. Status also mediated the relationship between accent and (a) symbolic threat and (b) social distance. Additionally, Black males were rated higher on solidarity and dynamism than White males. Finally, status mediated the combined effect of the speaker’s race and accent on symbolic threat, intergroup anxiety, and social distance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138601216","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Tuning Out (Political and Science) News? A Selective Exposure Study of the News Finds Me Perception","authors":"Chris Skurka, Mengqi Liao, Homero Gil de Zúñiga","doi":"10.1177/00936502231215528","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502231215528","url":null,"abstract":"Individuals harboring perceptions that the “news will find me” (NFM) tend to be less active consuming traditional media, preferring news online and on social media. NFM has also been linked with lower political knowledge and political participation over time. What remains to be seen, however, is whether high-NFM individuals are in fact less likely to expose themselves to news once they do encounter it online. This preregistered study fills this gap in the literature by unobtrusively logging selection behaviors while U.S. adults browsed a mock news website featuring various hard and soft news stories. Consistent with our hypothesizing, NFM was associated with greater exposure to soft news. Additionally, we examined whether genre-specific NFM beliefs would predict less exposure to those news genres. We found support for this hypothesis in the context of science news, but for political news, this relationship depended on the news stories presented.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138598301","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Strategies of Blaming on Social Media: An Experimental Study of Linguistic Framing and Retweetability","authors":"Sten Hansson, Matteo Fuoli, Ruth Page","doi":"10.1177/00936502231211363","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502231211363","url":null,"abstract":"This article introduces an original theoretical model for understanding how the linguistic framing of political protest messages influences how blame spreads in social media. Our model of blame retweetability posits that the way in which the basis and focus of blame are linguistically construed affects people’s perception of the strength of criticism in the message and its likelihood to be reposted. Two online experiments provide empirical support for the model. We find that attacks on a person’s character are perceived as more critical than blaming focused on the negative outcomes of their actions, and that negative judgements of social sanction have a greater impact than those of social esteem. The study also uncovers a “retweetability paradox”—in contrast to earlier studies, we find that blame messages that are perceived as more critical are not more likely to be reposted.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2023-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139237912","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}