The New Blog

This new blog will replace/consolidate/combine "The Interpersonal Communication Blog," "The Human Communication Blog," and "The Public Speaking Blog". The reason for this is that so many of the posts apply to more than one course and text. Also, since many people teach more than one of these courses, it seemed logical to combine the blogs into this one general and hopefully super blog!

In Sports, Red Is Winning Color, Study Says

Update the discussion of color (TICB, 202-203, Messages, 127-128) by adding the results of this study by British anthropologists who found that athletes who wore read clothing won more often than you'd expect by chance.
In Sports, Red Is Winning Color, Study Says

Update on photo

The caption with the photo from The Graduate in TICB (p. 147)points out the awkwardness that may lead to indirectness--Benjamin calls the woman he's having sex with (who is also the mother of the woman he loves) "Mrs. Robinson". Notice that in Desperate Housewives the teenage gardner, John, does the same thing and calls the woman who employs him but with whom he's also having sex, not Gabrielle, but "Mrs. Solis." Though no photo appears in Messages, the example works with the discussion of directness.

How to Make Body Odor Smell Pleasant, in a Word

Here's an interesting study on the influence of labels on smell perception. It would work well with the discussion of smell (in Messages, 134-135, in TICB, 205-206) or with the discussion of intensional orientation (in Messages, 107, in TICB, 155-158).
How to Make Body Odor Smell Pleasant, in a Word

Main Page - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Just in case you're not familiar with this encyclopedia--it contains amazing coverage of communication-related topics--and is well worth a close look.
Main Page - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Couple's Therapy

An article in today’s New York Times (Styles, pp. 1-2) reporting that both gay and straight cohabitating couples are going to couple’s therapy in increasing numbers to resolve their problems before taking the next step, made me realize that as teachers and writers in interpersonal communication we actually say very little about couple’s therapy. Beyond the general comment that some relationships may profit from counseling, we fail to discuss the role of therapy in interpersonal relationships— the kinds of therapy available, what therapy can and cannot accomplish, when to seek therapy, the research evidence on the efficacy of the different types of therapy, and a host of other questions that seem relevant and integral to interpersonal relationships. What to do?

New Book on Relationships

Marriage, A History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage by Stephanie Coontz (Viking) was reviewed in Sunday's New York Times--it looks like it may be a valuable addition to the literature and should provide lots of cross cultural examples of relationships.

SPE 1023 - Interpersonal Comm. Syllabus

Here's a syllabus using Messages.
SPE 1023 - Interpersonal Comm. Syllabus

Fundamentals Of Speech

Here you'll find hot links to syllabi using Essentials of Human Communication and The Interpersonal Communication Book.
Fundamentals Of Speech

COM 110 Syllabus page one

Here's an interesting syllabus using TICB I spotted on the web.
COM 110 Syllabus page one

China's Websites and Blogs

The news that China is further tightening restrictions on Internet communication (especially on websites and blogs) raises the issues of free speech and the limitations that might be imposed on it. Should all speech be free or should exceptions be made for hate speech, for speech that would incite terrorism, for speech that would teach others how to build bombs or create viruses? How should we distinguish between speech that should be free and speech that should not be (if any speech should not be free)?

Grades and Self-Disclosure

In light of the recent publication of John Kerry's grades--not significantly different from Bush's--it occurred to me that this might be a good question to talk about in connection with self-disclosure and the public's right to information about political candidates. Does the public have a right to demand that political candidates reveal their college grades much as they're currently required to reveal their tax returns? It's interesting to speculate on the influence this would have on voting.

ICC Myth and Reality

A great example to illustrate the difference between what people believe and the actual reality (in connection with cultural understanding, attitudes, and beliefs) appeared in today's New York Times editorial. According to a poll cited, most Americans believe that 24 percent of the US budget goes to aid poor countries. The actual figure? According to the New York Times, it's less than one quarter of one percent.

RIP Anne Bancroft

The death of Anne Bancroft reminds me of The Miracle Worker and what a great film it is to use to study nonverbal communication and the importance of language. It's sure to make the rounds of cable and network this week or next.

Argumentative and Aggressive Communication

Recently reviewed a manuscript for a new Sage book by Andrew Rancer and Ted Avtgis--Argumentative and Aggressive Communication. Watch out for its publication, probably early 2006; it's excellent. It synthesizes the enormous body of research on these communication dimensions and would be helpful reading for covering this topic in your conflict or language sections.

Links

You'll notice that on the right of the screen there's a list of links. These links will direct you to specific websites. "The DeVito Domain" (the publisher named it) is the main website for my books. Links are also provided for The Interpersonal Communication Book, Messages, and Research Navigator (an extensive database of research and popular articles in a wide variety of fields). I'll add more links in the future.

Welcome to the Blog

Welcome to The Interpersonal Communication Blog. I'm learning about blogs as I do this and I'll probably make a lot of mistakes and violate blog culture in various ways. Hopefully, not in very serious ways.
Ideally, I'd like this blog to provide a forum for uses of The Interpersonal Communication Book and Messages but really for anyone interested in interpersonal communication (and especially in the teaching of interpersonal communication)--a place where you can voice your ideas; a place to share insights that will benefit others; a place to learn and a place to teach. And a lot more. Most important I hope this blog will prove useful in the classroom.
My intention is to post items that I think instructors and students will find interesting and useful. And of course I welcome your comments. My aim right now is to post at least once a week but when I have nothing to say, I'll say nothing.