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Southern Speech Communication Journal Volume 52, 1987 - Issue 3
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Original Articles

Comforting conversations: The effects of strategy type on evaluations of messages and message producers

Wendy Samter David Ross Fellow and doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907
,
Brant R. Burleson Associate Professor of Communication, Purdue
&
Lori Basden Murphy Undergraduate Dean's Scholar majoring in Communication, Purdue
Pages 263-284 | Published online: 01 Apr 2009
 
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Abstract

Two studies assessing outcomes associated with the use of comforting strategies are reported. Study 1 examined how a message variable, individual‐difference variables, and contextual variables influenced evaluations of both comforting messages and the sources of these messages. Participants (N = 410) read one of eighteen different fictional conversations in which one person attempted to comfort a friend who was experiencing emotional distress. Evaluations of both messages and message sources were found to differ significantly as a function of the sophistication of the strategies employed by the source. In addition, female sources were more positively evaluated than male sources. Study 2 found that evaluations of comforting messages varied as a direct, linear function of message sophistication.

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