Assigned Articles

Question 1

Houston

Answer 1

RQ: Why do black women find interactions with white women unsatisfying?

• Findings:
  1) Both races changed the way they talked when speaking to each other.
  2) Both had their own ideas of how the other race communicates
• Study ended with suggestions to white women to make interactions less tense
• They were told not to say “I didn’t notice you were black” or “I know what it’s like to be black”
• Black women are bistlystic: can speak many language varieties

Question 2

Hall & Baym

Answer 2

RQ: Examine how phones affect relational expectation and overdependence and relational satisfaction

• Looked at dependence and entrapment
• Methods: online survey
• entrapment: guit to respond to contact predicted dissatisfaction
• Findings: increased use of phones increased expectation of other party in relationships, and the more interdependent the relationship was.
• Mobile maintenance expectations predicted dependence and overdependence.
• Overdependence through entrapment reduces satisfaction.
• Contradictory feelings: people who talked to friends had higher reports of negative and positive feelings about their friends

Question 3

Brashears

Answer 3

• Purpose: identify turning points in gay/lesbian families that started communication about family identity
• Method: interview of lesbian couples, gays usually don’t have kids.
• Findings: It is important to communicate that family makeup is different and what the difference means
• Results: Everyday experiences instill strong sense of family identity.
• There were no huge turning points

Question 4

Guerrero & Anderson

Answer 4

• Purpose: wanted to see if there were differences in ways males and females engage in touch
• Method: observation & follow up question
• Findings: definite gender difference in touch communication
• Men initiate touch more in new relationships, women in long term relationships.
• Partners match touch behavior in serious dating relationships
• Matching immediacy cues increases as relationship develops
• Sex differences in touch may be a cultural fact

Question 5

Bodie

Answer 5

• Active/Empathetic Listening
  RQ1: How are supportive and
  unsupportive listeners described?
  RQ2: How do descriptions of
  (un)supportive listeners compare to
  descriptions of (un)supportive
  people?
• First study was to measure a scale which measured things like attentiveness, perceptiveness, responsiveness
• Results: AEL scale has three dimensions: sensing, processing, and responding
• Concept of AEL is related to the ability to remain involved in a conversation.

Question 6

Aritz & Walker

Answer 6

• Are there differences in participation and contribution patterns of hetero/homo groups?
• Americans used latching to change subject, while Asians used it for support
• No major cultural difference in contribution
• Asians talked less in both kinds of groups.
• Individualism vs. collectivism.

Question 7

Ferrara & Levine

Answer 7

• Using the investment model, they tested the influence of betrayal on relational stability and satisfaction
• Results: study didn’t find connection between severity of betrayal and CLalt versus reality.
• Severity of betrayal did affect levels of satisfaction within the relationship
  As predicted, levels of investment were strongly related to levels of commitment.
• High levels of commitment were associated with the use of verbal repair strategies by the betrayer, which proved to aid relational conflict.
• No research supported that CLat or relational satisfaction were related to commitment.
• Investment size, CLat, and positive feelings for the partner did affect commitment.

Question 8

Jones et. al

Answer 8

• Focus: To understand if digital divides
  in terms of gender and race on college
  campuses still exist.
  • Research Questions:
  – How does race and gender make a difference in Internet use among US college students?
  – How are male and female college students
  and students of different races using the
  Internet?
  – How might the differences cited here inform
  conceptions of digital divide(s)?

Results:
- Females use internet more for communication and more likely to be confused by computers.
- Male students spend more time online than females.
- Males more likely to think Internet detracts from social life
- Internet use is increasing most with black, non-hispanic, and hispanic college students (wtf)
- Hispanics use internet to talk to classmates online.
- Implications: We must begin to
examine how different groups use
ICTs in order to understand the
changing digital landscape

Question 9

Toma & Hancock

Answer 9

– H1: The less physically attractive
one is the more deception will be
used in presenting themselves
– H2: They also predicted that this
would be more severe for women than
for men.
– H3: Attractive online daters would
include personal photographs more
frequently.
– RQ: Will less attractive daters
enhance their social status more
than attractive daters? 

Results:
- Less attractive daters posted self-enhancing
photographs and enhanced
their attractiveness in verbal
descriptions
• Less attractive daters posted their
social status
• More attractive daters displayed
attractiveness through posting
multiple images
• Less attractive daters use the
flexibility of the medium to overcome
attractiveness