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Yes / Trait inferences occur routinely and rapidly during social interaction, sometimes based on scant or fleeting information. In this research, participants (perceivers) made inferences of targets' big‐five traits after briefly watching or listening to an unfamiliar target (a third party) performing various mundane activities (telling a scripted joke or answering questions about him/herself or reading aloud a paragraph of promotional material). Across three studies, when perceivers judged targets to be either low or high in one or more dimensions of the big‐five traits, they tended to be correct, but they did not tend to be correct when they judged targets as average. Such inferences seemed to vary in effectiveness across different trait dimensions and depending on whether the target's behaviour was presented either in a video with audio, a silent video, or just in an audio track—perceivers generally were less often correct when they judged targets as average in each of the big‐five traits across various information channels (videos with audio, silent videos, and audios). Study 3 replicated these findings in a different culture. We conclude with discussion of the scope and the adaptive value of this trait inferential ability.

The abundance of forgiveness research has advanced scientific knowledge of the construct. Its multifaceted nature, however, has created specialization and domain-dependent research (e.g., close-relationship vs. non-relationship forgiveness). The current paper argues that a comprehensive framework that could be applied across domains is needed. The general principles perspective (Higgins, 1990, 1999), which identifies mechanisms that explain both chronic and situational variance, was used as a framework for forgiveness, specifically the mechanisms of accessibility and need for closure. Two studies tested the principles, a two-part study (N = 244 and 78, respectively) and an online survey (N = 214). The two-part study tested chronic accessibility for forgiveness (Accessibility Study One) within the context of the religiosity-forgiveness relationship (an area that has previously produced complex and contradictory results) and both the chronic and situational influence of need for closure (Need for Closure Study). The online survey was designed to test both situational and chronic accessibility (Accessibility Study Two) by priming half of the participants with religious words. Students from a large, Mid-Atlantic university participated. For accessibility, it was proposed that religious individuals would have higher chronic accessibility for forgiveness, because of the emphasis religions place on it; similarly, it was proposed that increasing accessibility for religiosity would increase situational accessibility for forgiveness. Results supported a weak, positive relationship between religiosity and chronic accessibility for forgiveness; however, increased accessibility did not relate to likelihood to forgive future transgressions. For situational accessibility, the religious prime did not successfully influence accessibility for religiosity; thus, situational accessibility could not be tested. For need for closure, it was proposed that forgiveness requires some comfort with uncertainty in order to engage in the process. Therefore, chronic need for closure was expected to negatively relate to likelihood to forgive future transgressions. Results replicated this previously found relationship. For situational need for closure, manipulated through perceived time limitations, it was proposed that it would interact with chronic forgiveness to predict likelihood to forgive, because as need for closure increases so too does automaticity. Forgiveness is arguably an automatic response for someone high in chronic forgiveness. Results did not support the interaction effect. In general, the project supported the chronic influence of the principles but did not support the situational. The limitations of the current project necessitate further inquiry for clarification, though some conclusions are suggested. Results suggest that motivations may be more influential than cognitions in forgiveness, that forgiveness research may require more highly contextualized models, and thus that the potential advantages of a comprehensive framework will require more sophisticated theoretical and empirical work. / Ph. D.

The effectiveness of a treatment for communication apprehension (CA) was examined in this study. Trait and state anxiety were examined by using community college students enrolled in four sections of a required basic speech communication course. The sample size consisted of 81 students, ranging in ages 17-82. Each student was asked to complete a trait anxiety measure (Personal Report of Communication Apprehension-24) during the second class meeting (pre-test) and again on the last day of class (post-test). For the state anxiety measure, students were asked to complete the Speaker Anxiety (SA) Scale immediately after delivering an informative speech at the end of the semester. Two classes served as the treatment group, receiving a 15-minute combination anxiety reduction technique and two classes served as the control group, receiving no treatment. A significant interaction was found in physiological activation, an important direct manifestation of state anxiety commonly experienced as irregular heart beat, dry mouth, sweaty palms, and feelings of exhaustion. The findings showed that the students in the control group who spoke in the second week had higher anxieties than did the other students. A dividend of this investigation was the result that supported frequent anecdotal reports from past speech students; namely, that at the conclusion of the basic speech course, students in this study reported a reduction in trait anxiety. Of the other comparisons made, race and maternal encouragement were shown as major influences for the trait of communication apprehension. Future research should use larger samples of community college students and focus on state anxiety with trait anxiety as a monitor for stability. Treatments might also be expanded to weekly sessions during a major portion of one semester. / Ph. D.