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This research focuses on developing and providing validation for Empathic Expressions Scale (EES). Three studies were conducted using different samples: (1) a qualitative study that uncovered empat...

Past research has been inconsistent in identifying the number and type of conflict styles individuals perceive themselves to use. Many typologies of conflict styles are built on the premise that level of cooperation versus competition, as well as directness versus indirectness, underlie various conflict styles. Grounded in a communication perspective, the present study uses dyadic data from 256 romantic couples to examine how self‐reported tendencies to use each of six conflict styles—collaborating, compromising, competitive fighting, yielding, avoiding, and indirect fighting—associate with how (un)cooperative and (in)direct partners generally perceive actors to be during conflict, as well as how relationally satisfied both members of the dyad are. The associations that emerged suggest each of the six styles has a unique profile, that a comprehensive typology of conflict styles should include indirect fighting as well as a more neutral avoiding style, and that compromising is a weak form of collaborating that is lower in cooperativeness and directness.

Communication researchers have embraced the idea that jealous communication is more important to satisfaction than jealousy experience, yet this has rarely been tested. The present study used dyadic data from dating couples to demonstrate that destructive communication mediates the association between jealousy experience and relational satisfaction, whereas other forms of jealous communication (constructive, avoidant, and rival-focused) do not. For constructive communicative responses, there were direct effects between communication and relational satisfaction, such that women's reported use of constructive communication was positively associated with both their own and their partner's relational satisfaction. For rival-focused responses, there were direct effects between jealousy experience and surveillance, rival derogation, and rival contacts. Jealousy experience was also positively associated with signs of possession, but only for women. When men reported using signs of possession, they also tended to...

The present study investigates people’s perceived likelihood of experiencing negative emotion in response to a potentially jealousy-inducing Facebook wall post that was ostensibly sent by a rival. Facebook messages were varied so that participants (n = 821) viewed a message containing text only or text plus either an attractive or unattractive photo of the sender, a winking face emoticon, words in all capitals, or triple exclamation points. Participants were then asked to indicate the degree of negative emotion they would feel if they saw this message on their romantic partner’s Facebook wall. The addition of wink-face emoticons and physical attractiveness cues in a Facebook wall post contributed to differences in likely experienced emotion. Participants also reported a greater likelihood of experiencing negative emotion if they were high in preoccupied attachment and low in dismissive attachment. Finally, women reported being more likely to experience negative interpersonal affect in response to the Facebook post than did men. Implications for the role nonverbal cues play in computer-mediated contexts, such as Facebook, are discussed.

This study addressed two main questions. First, are the traits of argumentativeness, verbal aggressiveness, avoidance, and verbal benevolence reflected in conflict styles such that they are perceived by others? Second, how do these traits predict the five conflict styles in the dual concern model? These questions were tested using dyadic data from a simulated downsizing activity. Results showed that participants perceived their partners differently depending on the traits their partners endorsed. For example, people who reported being avoidant or verbally aggressive were less likely to be perceived as using the compromising style. Overall, the results suggested that the four traits investigated in this study are likely to be associated with observable behavior. Findings also demonstrated that these traits help differentiate the five conflict styles in more nuanced ways than predicted by the dual concern model. Finally, the results supported the idea that conflict styles are not only shaped by one's own traits but also by the traits of others and the interaction between two people's traits.

This chapter focuses on some ways that couples can better cope with jealous thoughts and emotions, as well as how to communicate about jealousy more effectively. Jealousy can also occur in various forms in close relationships. J. L. Bevan and W. Samter identified six common types of jealousy. These include romantic jealousy, friend jealousy, family jealousy, activity jealousy, power jealousy and intimacy jealousy. Sometimes jealous individuals become overwhelmed with questions about the rival relationship. When this happens, rumination can become a problem. Jealous rumination occurs when unwanted and, often, intense thoughts and feelings about the security of one's relationship repeatedly invade a person's mind. There are four general categories of communicative responses to jealousy: destructive communication, constructive communication, avoidant communication, and rival-focused communication. Determining which of these forms of communication jealous individuals use and then teaching them effective communication strategies should be a highly effective intervention.

First-year college students are challenged to develop and maintain new friendship networks. This study, informed by an exchange perspective, tests a conceptual model that specifies how relational maintenance, friendship quality, and perceived availability of network resources are associated in newly formed friendship networks. Results from structural equation modeling suggest that, for casual friendships, the association between maintenance and the perceived availability of resources is mediated by the quality of one's casual friendship network. For close friendship networks, reported maintenance behavior was both directly and indirectly associated with the perceived availability of resources. There were also differences between close and casual friendship networks, with students reporting more maintenance behavior in close friendships, and with different behaviors associated with maintenance in close friendship networks than casual friendship networks.

Two studies are utilized to test a revised version of Guerrero, Andersen, Eloy, Spitzberg, and Jorgensen's (1995) communicative responses to jealousy (CRJ) scale and examine how measures from the CRJ associate with relational satisfaction. Study 1 uses exploratory factor analysis to identify a preliminary factor structure. Study 2 uses confirmatory factor analysis to determine whether this factor structure holds across a second sample, as well as structural equation modeling to test hypotheses regarding the associations between communicative responses to jealousy and relational satisfaction. These studies suggest that there are 11 specific communicative responses to jealousy that fall under four superordinate categories: (a) destructive communication, which consists of negative communication, counter-jealousy induction, and violence; (b) constructive communication, which includes integrative communication and compensatory restoration; (c) avoidance, which comprises silence and denial; and (d) rival-focuse...

In the present study we examined how expectancy violations theory (EVT) and the investment model (IM) work together to predict forgiveness and forgiving communication. Participants completed questionnaires before and following a relational transgression. Victims reported more forgiveness if they previously rated their relationship as high in quality, made greater relational investments, and perceived the transgression as less negative. Motivation to retaliate was associated with less investment and the perception that the partner had inflicted hurt intentionally. Distinct profiles of EVT and IM variables were related to each form of forgiving communication — nonverbal displays, explicit forgiveness, conditional forgiveness, discussion, and minimization — suggesting that an expectancy— investment theoretical framework is useful in predicting reactions to transgressions

First-time freshmen completed communication skills questionnaires at the beginning of a fall semester. Approximately 6 weeks later they completed another questionnaire regarding friendship formation strategies and the perceived availability of resources from their new social network. Results suggest that different profiles of communication skills predicted how much freshmen reported using group involvement, online social networking, disclosure, responsiveness, and invitations as friendship formation strategies. Communication skills and friendship formation strategies were also associated with the perceived availability of social, personal, and instrumental resources. Implications for freshmen's social integration into a new university environment are discussed.

This study investigated associations among one partner's relational satisfaction and the other partner's style of attachment and emotional communication. Findings from a questionnaire study involving 581 couples showed that participants reported more relational satisfaction when their partners scored high in security and low in dismissiveness and preoccupation. These associations between one's relational satisfaction and the partner's attachment style were partially mediated by how the partner reported communicating emotions. Specifically, participants were less satisfied in relationships with preoccupied partners who reported expressing anger using destructive communication. Participants were less satisfied with dismissive partners who reported using detached emotional communication. Finally, participants were more satisfied with secure partners who reported using prosocial emotional communication. These findings suggest that the often-cited relationship between attachment and relational satisfaction is ...

This study examines how expressions of anger, guilt, and sadness are related to (in)equity and marital satisfaction. Data from 92 couples demonstrated that being overbenefited was positively associated with guilt, whereas being underbenefited was positively associated with anger. For wives, being underbenefited was also positively associated with sadness. Results also revealed that (i) people who perceived equity reported using more constructive, prosocial emotional expressions, (ii) underbenefited people reported using more destructive, antisocial emotional expression, and (iii) overbenefited people reported using both prosocial and antisocial emotional expressions. Both husbands and wives reported higher levels of marital satisfaction when they perceived themselves to be treated equitably or to be overbenefited as compared to underbenefited. Results also suggested that angry feelings and aggressive expressions of anger mediated the relation between underbenefiting inequity and martial satisfaction, and that the way people express anger mediated the relationship between anger and marital satisfaction.

A short-term longitudinal study tested predictions from Rusbult's (1983) investment model. In phase one, individuals in dating relationships rated the quality of their alternatives, as well as their levels of satisfaction, investment, and commitment. In phase two, those who had experienced a relational transgression (sexual infidelity, deception, or third-party dating/flirting) since completing the first questionnaire recalled the communication they had used about a week or two after finding out about their partner's transgression. In phase one, the bases of dependence—satisfaction, investment, and quality of alternatives—predicted commitment. These bases of dependence also predicted communication in phase two. Contrary to some previous work, commitment did not mediate the association between the bases of dependence and communication. Instead, results suggested that the components comprising commitment are directly associated with communication following relational transgressions.

We conducted two studies to test the utility of a new strategy for recruiting couples experiencing intimate partner violence. This new strategy, Targeted Neighborhood Sampling, involves utilizing police reports of family fight calls to target particular areas within a city for recruitment efforts. Study I compared the efficacy of using this method to recruit a random versus a convenience sample. Results demonstrated that Targeted Neighborhood Sampling was most effective when recruiting a convenience sample of participants who responded to flyers left at their residences. Study II used a convenience sample and replicated the findings from Study I. Across the two studies, 40.4% of those who called after receiving a flyer experienced male-to-female partner violence within the past year. In addition, we combined data across studies and correlated types of violence the couples experienced with variables commonly associated with abuse. Psychological aggression, physical assault, and injury were all positively associated with reports of demand-withdrawal and mutual avoidance during conflict, as well as depression and symptoms of post traumatic disorder syndrome. Sexual coercion was associated with drug abuse. These results demonstrate the utility and validity of Targeted Neighborhood Sampling.

The present study uses expectancy violations theory to investigate hurtful events, relational quality, and communication in dating relationships. Participants ( N = 263) described a hurtful behavior performed by their dating partner and recalled their reaction to that behavior. When respondents evaluated the hurtful event as a highly negative expectancy violation and judged their partner as unrewarding, they were more likely to report breaking up, being less satisfied and committed, and using destructive rather than constructive communication. Individuals who were deeply hurt reported being slightly less likely to break up, more likely to be satisfied and committed, and more likely to use both constructive and destructive communication. Finally, victims who perceived their partners’ actions as intentional were more likely to report using destructive communicative responses.

Simon and Baxter (1993) demonstrated that secure individuals report using more assurances and romance to maintain their romantic relationships than do dismissive individuals. The present study extends Simon and Baxter's work by investigating a wider range of prosocial maintenance behaviors as well as two key dimensions underlying attachment style—anxiety and avoidance. Results from 189 couples who completed questionnaires showed that secure individuals reported using more assurances, romantic affection, and openness than did dismissive individuals. Fearful avoidant men also reported relatively low levels of prosocial maintenance behaviors, and preoccupied men and women reported relatively high levels of assurances, openness, and comfort/support. Respondents also reported using certain prosocial behaviors less when they had a preoccupied partner. In terms of attachment-style dimensions, respondents reported using less assurances when they were avoidant and their partner was anxious. One's own level of avoi...

Data from 263 individuals who had been hurt by something a dating partner said or did offered support for the interpersonal forgiveness model—forgiveness associated positively with integrative communication and negatively with de-escalation and distributive communication. When hurt individuals believed the partner had sincerely apologized they were more likely to grant forgiveness and report using the direct strategies of integrative and distributive communication, and less likely to report using de-escalation and loyalty. Among the various hurtful events investigated, breaking up with the partner and being sexually unfaithful were reportedly the least forgivable offenses. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2003 meeting of the International Communication Association, San Diego, CA. Data for this study were taken from the first author's dissertation, which was directed by the second author. The authors thank the other members of the dissertation committee, Dan Canary and F. Scott Christo...

This study investigates whether perceptions of maintenance behavior in cross‐sex friendships vary as a function of romantic intent, biological sex, and uncertainty. Individuals recalled the maintenance behaviors they had used over the past month in a cross‐sex friendship characterized by one of the following situations: mutual romance (i.e., both partners want the friendship to turn romantic), strictly platonic (i.e., neither partner wants the friendship to turn romantic), desires romance (i.e., the individual wants romance but fears the friend does not), or rejects romance (i.e., the individual does not want romance but thinks the friend does). Individuals in the mutual romance situation generally reported the most maintenance behavior. Those in the rejects romance and strictly platonic situations reported less routine contact and activity, less flirtation, and more talk about outside romance. Individuals in the rejects romance and mutual romance situations reported the most relationship talk. Sex differ...

A recent set of studies demonstrated that people evaluate their own and their partner's social skills differently as a function of attachment style. The present study extends this work by examining attachment-style differences in four conversational skills—expressiveness, composure, other-orientation, and interaction management—as rated by observers. To test for attachment-style differences, romantic couples were videotaped as they discussed relational problems or conflict issues. Based on a pretest, one of the romantic partners was targeted as representative of the secure, dismissive, fearful avoidant, or preoccupied attachment style. Two dimensions related to attachment—anxiety and avoidance—were also investigated in regard to their relations with conversational skills. Results suggest that the behavioral profiles largely reflect attachment theoretical assumptions for secures, dismissives, and fearful avoidants, and to a lesser extent, preoccupieds.

Individuals in temporary task‐oriented dyads or groups must manage conflict competently if they hope to be successful in reaching their goals. Thus far, however, research on the associations between conflict styles and communication competence has focused on acquainted dyads, such as relational partners and coworkers, rather than unacquainted dyads assigned to work on tasks. The present study tests the applicability of the competence model of interpersonal conflict to temporary task‐oriented dyads. Dyads (N = 100) who had little or no relational history completed a simulated decision‐making task that involved choosing two out of four employees to lay off in response to a company's need to downsize. Results indicate people generally perceived the solution‐oriented strategy as appropriate and effective. Although people perceived their partners' use of the controlling strategy to be inappropriate, people rated themselves as more effective when they used the controlling strategy. People evaluated nonconfronta...

Two studies focused on attachment‐style differences in people's social skills. Study 1 had a sample of 237 students who completed questionnaires assessing their own attachment styles and social skills (based on Riggio's six dimensions of social skill). Study 2, which focused on partner‐reports, used data from 258 couples to determine whether people's perceptions of a partner's social skill would vary based on the partner's self‐reported attachment style. The results revealed attachment‐style differences in various social skills across self‐and partner‐reports; however, these differences were generally less robust for partner‐reports. Differences in self‐reported social skill were consistent with Bartholomew's two‐factor conceptualization of attachment. Dismissive and fearful individuals rated themselves as relatively antisocial and unexpressive, in line with their negative models of others; preoccupied and fearful individuals rated themselves as overly sensitive, in line with their negative models of self...

This study explores the combined influence of nonverbal immediacy and verbal person centeredness in the emotional support process. Three complementary models were tested in an experiment with 216 participants who disclosed an emotionally upsetting event to a confederate trained to display different levels of nonverbal immediacy and person centeredness. Participants subsequently completed a set of instruments measuring the perceived comforting quality of the confederate. Results suggested that nonverbal immediacy and person centeredness influence perceptions of what makes for good comforting. The data supported 2 of the advanced models but failed to provide support for a nonverbal primacy effect on perceived comforting quality.

This study examined observers' perceptions of nine different types of touch (including a "no touch" control condition) used in cross-sex relationships between coworkers. Results showed that face touch sends particularly strong relational and emotional messages. A soft touch in the cheek area of the face was seen as signaling more affection, attraction, flirtation, and love than the other types of touch. Face touch was also rated as the most inappropriate and sexually harassing of the nine types of touch examined. Arm around the waist was also rated as showing relatively high levels of attraction and flirtation, as well as inappropriateness and harassment. No touch and handshaking conveyed the most formality. Observers rated women as more affectionate, trusting, happy, and composed than men across the touch conditions. Men, however, were judged to be more attracted to their cross-sex partners than were women. These and other findings are discussed to shed light on the multiple interpretations of touch with...

Various theories of nonverbal adaptation feature behavioral valence (i.e., positive vs. negative behavior) and degree of behavioral change (e.g., very low vs. low intimacy) as critical elements affecting whether changes in nonverbal intimacy are met with reciprocity or compensation. The present study, which utilizes data from 100 romantic dyads, makes comparisons across five conditions: very low intimacy, low intimacy, very high intimacy, high intimacy, and a no change (control) condition. Repeated measures analyses of variance showed that targets in the two high intimacy conditions reciprocated their partners' intimacy change by appearing more nonverbally involved and pleasant and engaging in more verbal intimacy. Targets in the two low intimacy conditions also reciprocated by becoming less nonverbally pleasant and fluent as well as more verbally hostile. However, these targets also used verbal repair strategies, thereby showing some degree of compensation. Targets in the very low intimacy condition also...