Group Decision Making and Perceived Decision Success: The Role of Communication Medium.

The authors investigated the role of communication medium on the relationship between team member perceptions and decision success. Seventy-three 3-person groups participated in a consensus intellective task either face-to-face (FTF) or via computer-mediated communication (CMC). The participants also assessed their group's decision success and team member competencies. CMC group members' success perceptions significantly predicted their group's performance, but FTF group members' perceptions did not. Furthermore, only CMC group members' judgments regarding their group's problem-solving ability significantly predicted their decision success. Last, judgments of decision success mediated the relationship between perceptions of members' problem-solving ability and decision success only for CMC group members. Implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Not on my shift

In screening for breast cancer, the discovery of screening positive cases can be carried out either with screening mammographic examination, with breast physical examination, or with breast self-examination. The screening positive cases should be examined with diagnostic mammographic examination. In BSE-screening, one-way communication about BSE does not influence health behaviour like e.g. monthly BSE-performance, followed by self-referral to a physician if breasts change from normal. Aimed at behavioural change, two-way communication strategies are needed in comprehensive program designs. The finnish Mama Program Screening is based on delivery of the message with two-way communication and the use of specially designed Mama-calenders for follow-up of the health behaviour of the participants during the continuous program. In a cohort, exposed to the Mama Program, compliance with BSE increased from 2% to 55% monthly performance. Two percent self-referred to the diagnostic mammographic examinations arranged within public health care facilities. In a 14 years follow-up of the complying women, 20% more breast cancers were detected than expected and mortality from breast cancer was 29% less than expected in all age groups. The Mama Program Screening has been implemented in public health care in Finland on a voluntary basis as an easy and inexpensive basic screening for women in all ages. It can be implemented in different PHC and private health care systems.     

Verbal and nonverbal communication of facilitative conditions.

Studied 1 verbal and 5 nonverbal cues in a multichannel communication paradigm to assess their effect on the communication of the facilitative conditions of empathy, respect, and genuineness. 15 trained counselors and 15 clients rated 32 videotaped interactions between counselor and client, each interaction portraying a different combination of verbal message, trunk lean, eye contact, vocal intonation, and facial expression. Results of empathy, respect, and genuineness ratings reveal that (a) nonverbal cues in the paradigm accounted for significantly greater message variance than did the verbal message; (b) counselors and clients differed significantly in their perceptions of the cues, and these differences (reflected in interactions) depended heavily upon the presence or absence of the remaining cues; (c) previously unstudied cues of vocal intonation and facial expression with these dependent variables proved to be significant contributors to the final judgments of facilitative conditions; and (d) the process of decoding the level of facilitative conditions is a factorially complex process which cannot be understood by factorially simple studies. Results are further discussed with respect to the role of nonverbal communication in the counseling process. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

As generations speak.

Generational dialogue refers to both shifts in relatedness between generations as well as how the otherness of predecessors and successors are negotiated internally. At various points in the life cycle, the need for generational dialogue is rekindled. As a new place within the generational cycle is inhabited, the individual contends with a novel version of the self and the influences that other generations, both older and younger, exert. Since each new generation's place needs to be claimed and not simply conferred, clashes within and between subjectivities are inevitable. Doubts about the self give rise to a “sorting out” process of which generational dialogue is a part. Clinical examples illustrate the unconscious search for generational dialogue and how it might be engendered or thwarted in analytic work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Withholding inputs in team contexts: Member composition, interaction processes, evaluation structure, and social loafing.

Social loafing was observed as a naturally occurring process in project teams of students working together for 3-4 months. The authors assessed the contributions that member composition (i.e., relational dissimilarity and knowledge, skills, and abilities; KSAs), perceptions of the team's interaction processes (i.e., dispensability and the fairness of the decision-making procedures), and the team's evaluation structure (i.e., identifiability) make toward understanding loafing behavior. Identifiability moderated the impact of dispensability on loafing but not the impact of fairness on loafing. Perceptions of fairness were negatively related to the extent that participants loafed within their team. Specific aspects of relational dissimilarity were positively associated with perceptions of dispensability and negatively associated with perceptions of fairness, whereas KSAs were negatively associated with perceptions of dispensability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of justice in team member satisfaction with the leader and attachment to the team.

This study examined the effects of team decision accuracy, team member decision influence, leader consideration behaviors, and justice perceptions on staff members' satisfaction with the leader and attachment to the team in hierarchical decision-making teams. The authors proposed that staff members' justice perceptions would mediate the relationship between (a) team decision accuracy, (b) the amount of influence a staff member has in the team leader's decision, and (c) the leader's consideration behaviors and staff attachment to the team and satisfaction with the leader. The results of an experiment involving 128 participants in a total of 64 teams, who made recommendations to a confederate acting as the team leader, generally support the proposed model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What works best: Objective statistics or a personal testimonial? An assessment of the persuasive effects of different types of message evidence on risk perception.

Objective: In an experimental online study we compared the effects of different types of persuasive evidence in promoting the acceptance of a personal health risk. Design: 118 men who have sex with men (MSM) at-risk for infection with the hepatitis B virus (HBV) were recruited via a range of websites and randomly assigned to one of 4 conditions (2 experimental and 2 control): narrative evidence (i.e., a personal account), statistical evidence (i.e., abstract prevalence data), mere assertion of increased risk, and no risk information. Main Outcome Measures: Narrative evidence was expected to be more effective than statistical evidence in increasing MSM's perceived risk of infection with HBV and intention to obtain vaccination. Results and Conclusion: As predicted, perceptions of personal risk and intention to obtain vaccination against HBV were highest after presentation of narrative evidence, and risk perception mediated the effect of type of message evidence on intention. We propose that narrative evidence effectively promotes a sense of personal risk because it is less affected by defensive message processing resulting from the threat to important self-beliefs that seems inherent in health risk communication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The free-rider problem in intergroup conflicts over step-level and continuous public goods.

Free riding is a paramount consideration in intergroup conflicts because the benefits associated with such conflicts are public goods with respect to the members of a competing group. To study the free-rider problem and its effects on conflict resolution, (1) intergroup conflicts are modeled as team games; (2) a new team game that models intergroup conflicts over continuous public goods is introduced and is contrasted with a recently developed game that simulates intergroup conflicts over step-level public goods; and (3) 2 experiments that compared the effects of communication in the 2 team games are reported. Exp 1 shows that within-group discussion is highly effective in solving the intragroup dilemma in the step-level game but much less effective in the continuous game. In contrast, Exp 2 shows that between-group communication is highly effective in solving the intergroup conflict in the continuous game but considerably less effective in the step-level game. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How self-affirmation reduces defensive processing of threatening health information: Evidence at the implicit level.

Objective: Self-affirmation reduces defensive responses to threatening health information, but little is known about the cognitive processes instigated by self-affirmation. This study tested whether self-affirmation increases responsiveness to threatening health information at the implicit level. Design: In an experimental study (N = 84), the authors presented high- (coffee drinkers) and low-relevance (noncoffee drinkers) participants with threatening health information linking caffeine consumption to health problems. Prior to reading this information, the authors manipulated self-affirmation. Main Outcome Measures: Participants completed an unobtrusive lexical decision task to measure the accessibility of threat-related cognitions and reported their perceptions of message quality and intentions to take precautions. Results: Among high-relevance participants, self-affirmation increased the accessibility of threat-related cognitions, increased perceptions of message quality, and promoted adaptive behavioral intentions. Conclusion: The findings suggest that self-affirmation can increase implicit responsiveness to threatening health information among a target audience, that is, people for whom the health information is highly relevant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of culturally specific cessation messages on theoretical antecedents of behavior among low-income african american smokers.

Previous research has highlighted the importance of cultural relevance in health risk communications, including tobacco interventions. However, few studies have examined the active components of smoking cessation messages targeting low-income African American smokers. This study tested the influence of message content and culturally specific framing in a sample of adult smokers. In a 2 × 2 factorial experiment, 243 African American smokers (M = 19 cigarettes/day) recruited from the community (55% women; mean age = 43 years) were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: culturally specific smoking messages, standard smoking messages, culturally specific exercise/weight messages, or standard exercise/weight messages. The primary outcome measures were theoretical antecedents to behavior change, including risk perceptions (general, personal, and culturally specific), readiness to quit smoking, and smoking-related knowledge. The results showed that the smoking messages produced greater culturally specific risk perceptions, readiness to quit smoking, and smoking-related knowledge. The culturally specific messages produced greater personal risk perceptions and intentions to quit. Culturally specific risk perceptions were most affected by culturally specific smoking messages. Findings support the roles of message content and culturally specific framing in the efficacy of brief written interventions for smoking cessation in this population. Future research is needed to examine the influence of these constructs on behavior change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stepping up to the challenge: A critical examination of face-to-face and computer-mediated team decision making.

The stepladder technique was designed to improve team decision making by staggering members' entry into a discussion (S. G. Rogelberg, J. L. Bames-Farrell, & C. A. Lowe, 1992). After examining the real and perceived influence exerted by members joining the discussion at different stepladder stages, the authors compared the technique's effects on face-to-face versus computer-mediated teamwork. They also tested the impact of electronic communication on members' perceptions of their collaborative processes. Results did not support the hypothesis that stepladder members joining the discussion early in the procedure enjoy disproportionate amounts of perceived influence, yet a prediction concerning the stepladder technique's incongruent effects across different communication media was partially upheld. As expected, face-to-face participants felt more influential and satisfied than their computer-mediated counterparts, regardless of decision technique. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fear, anger, fruits, and veggies: Interactive effects of emotion and message framing on health behavior.

Objective: Message framing is a theoretically grounded health communication strategy designed to motivate action by emphasizing either the benefits of engaging in a particular behavior (gains) or the costs of failing to engage in the behavior (losses). This study investigated whether the effectiveness of a framed message depends on the emotional state of the message recipient. We examined effects of fear versus anger, emotions that frequently occur within the context of health decision-making. Methods: Undergraduate students (N = 133) were randomly assigned to complete a fear or anger induction task after which they read a gain- or loss-framed pamphlet promoting fruit and vegetable consumption. Fruit and vegetable intake (servings per day) subsequently was assessed over the following 2 weeks. Results: As predicted, a significant frame by emotion interaction was observed, such that participants in the fear condition reported eating more servings of fruits and vegetables after exposure to a loss-framed message than to a gain-framed message. In contrast, participants in the anger condition reported eating (marginally) more servings of fruits and vegetables after exposure to a gain-framed message than to a loss-framed message. Greater increases in fruit and vegetable intake from baseline to follow-up were observed when the message frame was matched to the participant's emotional state. Conclusion: The effectiveness of framed health communications depends on the message recipient's current emotional state. Affective factors that are incidental to the behavior recommended in a health communication can affect the relative success of gain- and loss-framed appeals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual communication in the age of AIDS: the construction of risk and trust among young adults

Sexually transmitted diseases are extremely prevalent among youth, and it is only by understanding the processes involved in negotiating sexual relationships that effective prevention and intervention programs can be designed. This study explores sexual communication among young adults, how gender and sexual orientation influence negotiation for safer sex, the strategies employed for risk reduction, and the barrier to safer sex. It assumes sexual behavior as a communicative form, both reflective and reflexive, subject to interpretation, and created interactively within and between sexual partners. Data from in-depth interviews with 30 undergraduates at the University of California, Berkeley were triangulated with questionnaires (n = 159), secondary sources and informal interviews with university officials. Participants were representative of arts and science students, ethnically diverse and of varying sexual orientations. Interviews focused on the normative influences of family, school and friends regarding sexuality; and how relationships and sex were negotiated. They investigated how strategies for risk reduction, attitudes about HIV and testing, and contraceptive practices were managed differently by gender and sexual orientation and what the barriers to safer sex were in various situations. Interviews focused on the normative influences of family, school and friends regarding sexuality; how relationships were negotiated, and how trust and risk were constructed within relationships; how strategies for risk reduction, attitudes about HIV and testing, and contraceptive practices were managed differently be gender and sexual orientation; and what the barriers were to safer sex. Friends, the social culture at university, and the interaction of the two with the developmental tasks characteristic of the period between adolescence and adulthood were more important influences than parents or high school sex education classes in how sexual relationships were managed. How and whether friends talked about sex and practiced safe sex were strong normative influences in predicting safer sex among individuals. Negotiating for safer sex contains elements of impression management, requires assertiveness and takes constant effort, even among those who have made the most progress in incorporating it. Practicing safer sex involves a complicated process of sexual negotiation, requiring a degree of open communication about sexual desire and intent that is not widely available in this culture, and still less among young people. Risk and thus how sex is negotiated is assessed differently by gender, and varies further according to the degree of intimacy in the relationship or the sex act being contemplated. How sex is negotiated depends on the construction of risk and trust which differ by the type of relationship or sexual encounter being contemplated.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Evidence that self-affirmation reduces alcohol consumption: Randomized exploratory trial with a new, brief means of self-affirming.

Objective: To test the ability of a new, brief means of affirming the self (the “self-affirming implementation intention”) to decrease alcohol consumption against a standard means of self-affirmation (the self-affirming “kindness” questionnaire) and an active control condition; to test whether self-affirmation effects can be sustained beyond the experimental session; and to examine potential moderators of the effects. Method: Two hundred seventy-eight participants were randomly allocated to one of three conditions: control questionnaire, self-affirming questionnaire, and self-affirming implementation intention. All participants were exposed to a threatening health message, designed to inform them about the health risks associated with consuming alcohol. Main Outcome Measures: The main outcome measure was subsequent alcohol intake. Results: There were significant public health gains and statistically significant decreases (>1 unit/day) in alcohol consumption in the two experimental conditions but not in the control condition. At the end of the study, participants in the control condition were consuming 2.31 units of alcohol per day; people in the self-affirming questionnaire condition were consuming 1.52 units of alcohol per day; and people in the self-affirming implementation intention condition were consuming 1.53 units of alcohol per day. There were no significant differences between the self-affirming questionnaire and self-affirming implementation intention, and adherence did not moderate the effects. Self-affirmation also improved message processing, increased perceived threat, and led to lower message derogation. Conclusions: The findings support the efficacy of a new, brief self-affirmation manipulation to enhance the effectiveness of health risk information over time. Further research is needed to identify mediators of the effects of self-affirmation on health behavior change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Applying persuasion strategies to alter HIV-relevant thoughts and behavior.

Health communication strategies are at the core of both mass media campaigns and public health interventions conducted at the community level concerning the prevention of HIV/AIDS. They are often nested in complex contexts that prevent us from being able to identify the persuasive impact of a specific message. The authors attempt to account for an array of factors contributing to the persuasiveness of messages about HIV. The aim is to synthesize the psychological literature on persuasion and thus provide a conceptual framework for understanding message effects in HIV communications. This discussion concerns fear appeals, message framing, tailoring, cultural targeting, and additional factors pertaining to the message, source, and channel of the communication. Whenever possible, recommendations for further research are formulated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Delivery of sun-awareness message forces dermatologists to walk fine line

One of the CMA's smallest affiliated societies appears to be getting its message about sun awareness and skin cancer prevention across to the Canadian public. Dr. Jason Rivers, national director of the Canadian Dermatology Association's National Sun Awareness Program, credits the work of the association's membership and the interest of the media in helping to get the message across.     

Physician and patient communication training in primary care: Effects on participation and satisfaction.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 28(2) of Health Psychology (see record 2009-03297-015). There was a typographical error in the text on page 521, in the first sentence of the first full paragraph. The corrected sentence is provided in the erratum.] Objective: To assess the effects of a communication skills training program for physicians and patients. Design: A randomized experiment to improve physician communication skills was assessed 1 and 6 months after a training intervention; patient training to be active participants was assessed after 1 month. Across three primary medical care settings, 156 physicians treating 2,196 patients were randomly assigned to control group or one of three conditions (physician, patient, or both trained). Main Outcome Measures: Patient satisfaction and perceptions of choice, decision-making, information, and lifestyle counseling; physicians' satisfaction and stress; and global ratings of the communication process. Results: The following significant (p     

Structured and nonstructured human relations training.

Investigated participant perceptions following structured and nonstructured human relations training. The design included 3 structured and 3 nonstructured groups and 3 leader teams with each team conducting 1 group under each of the 2 formats. 21 male and 21 female graduate students were Ss. The Group Opinion Questionnaire was administered to participants at the 12th (final) session. Participants in structured groups reported greater ego involvement in their groups, more self-perceived personality change since joining the group, and greater group unity than did participants in nonstructured groups. Evidence suggests that greater leader experience is associated with more favorable participant perceptions. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The social context of reasoning: Conversational inference and rational judgment.

Social rules governing communication require the listener to go beyond the information given in a message, contrary to the assumption that rational people should operate only on the information explicitly given in judgment tasks. An attributional model of conversational inference is presented that shows how hearers' message interpretations are guided by their perceptions of the speaker. The model is then applied to the analysis of experiments on reasoning processes in cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, social psychology, and decision research. It is shown that the model can predict how experimental manipulations of relevant source and message attributes affect respondents' judgments. Failure to recognize the role of conversational assumptions in governing inference processes can lead rational responses to be misclassified as errors and their source misattributed to cognitive shortcomings in the decision maker. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Categorization and communication in the face of prejudice: When describing perceptions changes what is perceived.

In the face of prejudice against an ingroup, common ground for communication exists when people use similar social categories to understand the situation. Three studies tested the hypothesis that describing perceptions of prejudice can fundamentally change those perceptions because communicators account for the common ground in line with conversational norms. When women (Study 1), African Americans (Study 2), and Americans (Study 3) simply thought about suspected prejudice against their ingroup, categorization guided their perceptions: Participants assimilated their views of the prejudiced event toward the perceptions of ingroup members but contrasted away from the perceptions of outgroup members. Conversely, when participants described their perceptions, they contrasted away from the given category information and actually arrived at the opposite perceptions as those who merely thought about the prejudiced event. Study 3 identified an important qualification of these effects by showing that they were obtained only when participants could assume their audience was familiar with the common ground. Implications are discussed for understanding the role of communication in facilitating and inhibiting collective action about prejudice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)