Toward a Theoretical Account of Goal Characteristics in Micro-Level Message Features

Abstract

Our model of goal-driven message production highlights the impact of activated knowledge stores on micro-level message features. We argue that focal center and message embellishment are products of the cognitive processes recruited for strategic action and are implicated in five goal characteristics. To examine our model, we had dating couples (N = 106) engage in a conversation about a hypothetical problematic event, during which one member of the dyad acted according to an assigned role. Accounts of goals were solicited before and after the conversation. The results of this study provide support for several of the proposed associations between goal characteristics and message features. Implications of the current results for our model and future message production research are discussed.

Keywords:

• Goals
• Message Production
• Grammatical Encoding
• Message Features

Notes

Jennifer A. Samp is Assistant Professor at the University of Georgia. Denise Haunani Solomon is Professor at the Pennsylvania State University. The authors are grateful to James Dillard, Linda Henzl, Kathleen Callahan, Melissa Gensler, Annie Schmitt, and two anonymous reviewers for their assistance with this project. The data reported here were collected as part of the first author's doctoral dissertation under the direction of the second author at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Correspondence to: Jennifer A. Samp, Department of Speech Communication, University of Georgia, Terrell Hall, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA. Tel: [phone];. Email: [email protected]

[1] The use of hypothetical scenarios is not without controversy; while some scholars note that hypothetical scenarios may not approximate responses to actual events (e.g., Poole & McPhee, 1994), others argue that responses to such scenarios typically reflect true-life actions (Klein & Kunda, 1994). We preferred hypothetical scenarios to participant-recalled events in order to capture the pivotal point at which individuals are confronted with managing their behavior.

[2] While stimulated cued-recall techniques such as this allow for respondents to recount their communicative intentions at various points in a conversation (Waldron & Cegala, 1992), retrospective evaluations of one's intentions may not capture the subtleties in judgment that would be produced “on line” (Soman, 2003). Further, retrospective judgments may be colored by the perceived outcome of a conversation, or by those moments that were the most salient (Pryor, Kott, & Bovee, 1984). Nonetheless, we deemed this manner of capturing turn-by-turn perceptions of goal importance to be the most effective method by which to capture assessments of goals without interrupting the natural flow of interaction.

[3] A one-way ANOVA indicated that the assigned conversation condition and offenders' ratings were significantly associated, F(2, \hspace{0.167em} 103) = 48.17, p < .0001, {\rm \eta ^{2} = .48.} Post-hoc Bonferroni analyses indicated that offenders whose partners were assigned to the accept condition rated their partners as significantly less rejecting (M = 1.69, SD = 0.74) than those offenders who had partners assigned to the reject condition (M=3.30, SD = 1.14).

[4] In analyses of variables that were entered as a block, the test of the block is reported, but only the significant associations for the individual variables are reported. Interactions among the variables in relevant analyses were also examined.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Denise Haunani Solomon

Jennifer A. Samp is Assistant Professor at the University of Georgia. Denise Haunani Solomon is Professor at the Pennsylvania State University. The authors are grateful to James Dillard, Linda Henzl, Kathleen Callahan, Melissa Gensler, Annie Schmitt, and two anonymous reviewers for their assistance with this project. The data reported here were collected as part of the first author's doctoral dissertation under the direction of the second author at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Correspondence to: Jennifer A. Samp, Department of Speech Communication, University of Georgia, Terrell Hall, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA. Tel: [phone];. Email: [email protected]