Communication Apprehension and Imagined Interactions
James M Honeycutt
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Abstract
Communication apprehension (CA) is associated with fear of anticipated communication. Yet, imagined interactions (IIs) can help reduce fear of communication in which individuals use mental imagery before and after to prepare and review communication. A series of regression analyses in which characteristics of IIs were the independent variables was used to predict overall CA, as well as in four different contexts. The regression analysis indicated that CA could be predicted by the II characteristic of discrepancy across multiple contexts. The II catharsis function was predictive in one context. Results are discussed in terms of cognitive modification as a therapeutic technique for treating CA.
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THE EFFECTS OF COMMUNICATION APPREHENSION ON NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR
A recent report from the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare estimates that about 4,752,000 (somewhat over ten percent) of the 44,389,000 young people in public elementary and secondary schools are handicapped. 1 These figures include young people who are speech impaired, learning disabled, mentally retarded, emotionally disturbed, hard of hearing, deaf, crippled, partially sighted, or blind. As significant as these totals are, there is reason to believe that a major category of handicapped young people was overlooked, one that probably includes more people than all of the other categories combined. These are the young people suffering from the handicap of communication apprehension. The fact that the HEW figures do not include communication apprehension should not come as a surprise. Relatively little attention has been paid to the problem even by professionals in the field of human communication, and even less by teachers and administrators in the public schools. Evidence is accumulating, however, that not only is a very large percentage of the population affected by this handicap, but also that communication apprehension may impinge on aspects of these individuals' lives in ways that would not normally be immediately recognized. The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of communication apprehension, the probable extent of the problem, and how the problem may affect people's lives in ways not previously considered.
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ED243157 - The Personal Report of Communication Apprehension: Predictive Validity and Behavioral Correlates.
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Imagined Interaction as an Element of Social Cognition
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