1997) The effect of communication, writing, and technology apprehension on likelihood to use new communication technologies, Communication Education, 46:1, 44-62, This study explores the role of computer anxiety, communication apprehension, and writing apprehension in predicting future use of new communication technologies. Past research has rarely examined these constructs as predictors of future use and has not considered the impact of writing and communication apprehension on text-based and phone-based technologies, which are used primarily for interaction. Survey results from 178 undergraduate students tend to support hypotheses about the relevance of computer anxiety and communication apprehension in predicting future technology use, but not those with regard to writing apprehension. Furthermore, past experience appears to be a strong predictor of future use; however, gender differences are rare. The implications of these findings for educational contexts are discussed.

Prior research on the effects of being kept in suspense about the outcome of a sports contest on spectators' enjoyment of the sporting event has yielded ambiguous findings, which the present investigation was designed to clarify. A high school football game was videotaped professionally. The tapes were edited, and play-by-play and color commentary was added, so as to create a suspenseful version and a nonsuspenseful version of the game. In addition to suspense, outcome of the game (favorable, unfavorable) and gender of the viewer (female, male) were predicted to affect enjoyment of the sportscast. Enjoyment of watching the sportscast was assessed in a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design. Viewing a more suspenseful version of the sportscast made the game more enjoyable, less boring, more exciting, and less dull. Moreover, under conditions of high suspense, viewers were more anxious about the outcome, cared more whether the liked team won, and liked the victorious team more than did viewers in the nonsuspenseful versions of the sportscast. In line with disposition theory and prior research, a favorable outcome for the desired team was more enjoyable than an unfavorable outcome, and men generally reported liking the sportscast more than did women.

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