Full metadata
Title
Effects of message planning on support message effectiveness, nonverbal behaviors, and supporter stress and anxiety
Description
Emotional support messages can benefit recipients; however, verbal and nonverbal aspects of these messages can vary in effectiveness, and the process of communicating support can be stressful to some supporters. One potential behavior that may yield more effective support messages for recipients while reducing anxiety and stress for supporters is message planning. Thus, planning theory is used to test whether planning influences message effectiveness, nonverbal delivery of messages, self-reported anxiety, and physiological stress markers. Additionally, an individual’s trait-level reticence and prior support experiences are predicted to moderate the effects of message planning. One hundred laboratory participants were assigned to either a planning condition or writing distraction task and completed a series of self-report and physiological measures before, during, and after recording an emotional support message to a friend who had hypothetically been diagnosed with a serious form of cancer. Subsequently, a sample of one hundred cancer patients viewed the laboratory participants’ videos to provide message effectiveness ratings and four trained coders provided data on nonverbal behaviors from these recorded messages. Findings showed planning leads to more effective messages; however, it also leads to supporters engaging in success bias and inflation bias. Planning also increased vocal fluency, but not other nonverbal behaviors. Likewise, planning attenuated heart rate reactivity, but not other physiological markers. In general, experience and reticence did not moderate these main effects. Theoretical, practical, clinical, pedagogical, and methodological implications are discussed.
Date Created
2018
Contributors
- Ray, Colter D (Author)
- Floyd, Kory W (Thesis advisor)
- Mongeau, Paul A. (Thesis advisor)
- Randall, Ashley K. (Committee member)
- Arizona State University (Publisher)
Topical Subject
Resource Type
Extent
x, 215 pages : illustrations
Language
eng
Copyright Statement
In Copyright
Primary Member of
Peer-reviewed
No
Open Access
No
Handle
https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.49276
Statement of Responsibility
by Colter D. Ray
Description Source
Viewed on January 7, 2019
Level of coding
full
Note
thesis
Partial requirement for: Ph.D., Arizona State University, 2018
bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 109-130)
Field of study: Communication
System Created
- 2018-06-01 08:08:58
System Modified
- 2021-08-26 09:47:01
- 3 years 2 months ago
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