Researchers and therapists have argued that forgiveness is essential to the process of relationship reconciliation. This project describes five types of forgiving communication reported by 187 adult members of romantic relationships. We labeled these forms of forgiving communication conditional, minimizing, discussion, nonverbal display, and explicit. As expected, forgivers recalled using more conditional and less minimizing types of communication when relational transgressions were severe. In addition, variations in reported forgiving communication were associated with relational outcomes. Partners who reported using conditional forms of communication also indicated that they experienced relationship deterioration after the forgiveness episode. In contrast, reported explicit and nonverbal forgiveness strategies were positively associated with relationship strengthening. The results are interpreted as further evidence that the role of communication behavior should be expanded in conceptual models of forgiveness and relationship reconciliation.
Many social problems can be traced to interpersonal communication difficulties, just as many proposed interventions to solve social ills also depend on effective interpersonal communication. This article examines three potential relationships between states of mind and social interaction followed by illustrations from research related to five exemplar social issues-developing effective programs for solving workplace communication problems, training the public to detect scams and hoaxes, reducing stereotyping and cross-cultural misunderstanding, managing interpersonal conflict, and constructing effective public health campaigns. We conclude by considering the likely inhibiting and facilitating effects of mindfulness-mindlessness on socially relevant transactions.That seemingly "mindless" communication occurs frequently comes as no surprise to even the casual observer of human interaction. Illustrative of a remarkable capacity for humans to dissociate thought and talk are these nuggets mined from the world of work: "We know that communication is a problem, but the company is not going to discuss it with the employees." (from a major provider of communications services) "As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday and employees will receive their cards in two weeks." (from a computer software corporation)
Therapists and theologians claim that the process of forgiveness is essential to the restoration of damaged relationships, but this possibility has received limited empirical attention. Furthermore, the role of an offender's communicative behavior in the forgiveness process remains understudied. This project first analyzed an inductively derived list of communication behaviors to develop a taxonomy of forgiveness-seeking approaches used by 186 romantic partners. These were interpreted with reference to facemanagement, uncertainty reduction, and rule-negotiation approaches to relationship recovery. Associations between the types of forgiveness-seeking communication and several different measures of post-transgression relationship change were examined. Results indicated that relationships recovered significantly when offending partners used behaviors labeled as explicit acknowledgment, nonverbal assurance, and compensation. Significant communicative effects remained after the effects of transgression severity were controlled. Results are interpreted as partially supportive of the assumption that forgiveness-seeking communication facilitates recovery from relational damage.
The effects of participantand observer perspectives on the quantity and quality of information recalled from conversations were examined. The observers were exposed to the conversation through videotape, audiotape, or transcript. No differences were found between participants and observers on measures of recall quantity. However, analysis of the composition of recall protocols indicated that participants reported more thematic and evaluative statements while observers produced more errors and elaborations. Observers of videotaped conversations also reported more descriptions and made more references to motiws. Instruction set was also found to influence subjects' recollections.tudies of conversational memory are based on two differing orientations. Some researchers have focused on measure-S ment of the quantity of content recalled from conversations.
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