Laura K. Guerrero

Arizona State University | ASU · Hugh Downs School of Human Communication

Empathic expressions refer to various ways in which one com-municates empathy. This includes verbal and nonverbal expres-sions of empathy in responses to positive and negative events. The present study provides an evaluation of empathic expressions in the context of friendship in order to find out which empathic expression(s) are considered the mos...

This research focuses on developing and providing validation for Empathic Expressions Scale (EES). Three studies were conducted using different samples: (1) a qualitative study that uncovered empathic responses, (2) a quantitative study using exploratory factor analysis to determine subscales for the EES and then test for convergent with empathy qu...

Past research has been inconsistent in identifying the number and type of conflict styles individuals perceive themselves to use. Many typologies of conflict styles are built on the premise that level of cooperation versus competition, as well as directness versus indirectness, underlie various conflict styles. Grounded in a communication perspecti...

Drawing significantly on both classic and contemporary research, Nonverbal Communication speaks to today's students with modern examples that illustrate nonverbal communication in their lived experiences. This new edition, authored by three of the foremost scholars in nonverbal communication, builds on the approach pioneered by Burgoon, Buller and...

Paralanguage, or vocalics, is the study of how people use the human voice to communicate meaning. After reviewing foundational research that identifies various aspects of paralanguage, this entry looks at qualities that make voices attractive, affectionate, flirtatious, emotional, powerful, and credible. Patterns of vocal accommodation are also dis...

Proxemics, which is the study of space as communication, covers a wide range of topics, including personal space, territory, crowding, and conversational distance. Privacy and environmental features are also central to proxemics. After reviewing ideas from three books that helped launch the study of proxemics, this entry focuses on general findings...

Kinesics is the study of body movement. This entry discusses some of the early work that provided a foundation for the study of kinesics, along with contemporary work that examines how kinesic behaviors express emotion and send relational messages related to intimacy and dominance in interpersonal interaction.

Nonverbal communication helps people accomplish several interpersonal goals, such as: forming first impressions, developing and maintaining relationships, communicating dominance, and expressing emotions. This chapter examines research on these topics, including work on the what-is-beautiful-is-good hypothesis, thin slice impressions, positive invo...

The present study investigates people's perceived likelihood of experiencing negative emotion in response to a potentially jealousy-inducing Facebook wall post that was ostensibly sent by a rival. Facebook messages were varied so that participants (n = 821) viewed a message containing text only or text plus either an attractive or unattractive phot...

This study addressed two main questions. First, are the traits of argumentativeness, verbal aggressiveness, avoidance, and verbal benevolence reflected in conflict styles such that they are perceived by others? Second, how do these traits predict the five conflict styles in the dual concern model? These questions were tested using dyadic data from...

Communication researchers have embraced the idea that jealous communication is more important to satisfaction than jealousy experience, yet this has rarely been tested. The present study used dyadic data from dating couples to demonstrate that destructive communication mediates the association between jealousy experience and relational satisfaction...

First-year college students are challenged to develop and maintain new friendship networks. This study, informed by an exchange perspective, tests a conceptual model that specifies how relational maintenance, friendship quality, and perceived availability of network resources are associated in newly formed friendship networks. Results from structur...

Dyadic data were used to examine associations between attachment, relational satisfaction, and perceptions of conflict style in adult child–parent relationships. Several actor effects emerged; secure attachment was associated with more collaborating and compromising, dismissive attachment was associated with less collaborating and more indirect fig...

Two studies are utilized to test a revised version of Guerrero, Andersen, Eloy, Spitzberg, and Jorgensen's (199525. Guerrero , L. K. , Andersen , P. A. , Jorgensen , P. F. , Spitzberg , B. H. and Eloy , S. V. 1995. Coping with the green-eyed monster: Conceptualizing and measuring communicative responses to romantic jealousy. Western Journal of...

This study examines the associations between attachment, caregiving, and health outcomes (perceptions of somatic and depressive symptoms) in a sample of 194 parents who have a child with mental illness. Securely attached parents reported using more comforting behavior and tactile communication with their children with mental illness. Parents with a...

First-time freshmen completed communication skills questionnaires at the beginning of a fall semester. Approximately 6 weeks later they completed another questionnaire regarding friendship formation strategies and the perceived availability of resources from their new social network. Results suggest that different profiles of communication skills p...

In the present study we examined how expectancy violations theory (EVT) and the investment model (IM) work together to predict forgiveness and forgiving communication. Participants completed questionnaires before and following a relational transgression. Victims reported more forgiveness if they previously rated their relationship as high in qualit...

Students from six countries—Australia, Japan, Mexico, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United States—recalled the extent to which their best or worst professors used various forms of communication that have been associated with effective teaching. Across cultures, best professors were perceived to employ more nonverbal expressiveness, relaxed movement, in-c...

Nonverbal communication theories of interaction adaptation Among the quintessential features that characterize intelligent life forms is the ability of species' mates to coordinate and adapt communication to one another. The question of how humans accomplish this, and under what conditions, has attracted theoretical and empirical attention from sch...

This study investigated associations among one partner's relational satisfaction and the other partner's style of attachment and emotional communication. Findings from a questionnaire study involving 581 couples showed that participants reported more relational satisfaction when their partners scored high in security and low in dismissiveness and p...

The present study examined how the traits of argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness are associated with perceptions of communication competence and conflict styles during a simulated downsizing activity. Participants were placed into dyads and asked to determine which two out of four employees they should terminate, with each participant being...

This study examines how expressions of anger, guilt, and sadness are related to (in)equity and marital satisfaction. Data from 92 couples demonstrated that being overbenefited was positively associated with guilt, whereas being underbenefited was positively associated with anger. For wives, being underbenefited was also positively associated with s...

A short-term longitudinal study tested predictions from Rusbult's (198331. Rusbult , C. E. ( 1983 ). A longitudinal test of the investment model: The development (and deterioration) of satisfaction and commitment in heterosexual involvements . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 45 , 101 – 117 . [CrossRef], [Web of Science ®]View all ref...

We conducted two studies to test the utility of a new strategy for recruiting couples experiencing intimate partner violence. This new strategy, Targeted Neighborhood Sampling, involves utilizing police reports of family fight calls to target particular areas within a city for recruitment efforts. Study I compared the efficacy of using this method...

Touch “is the core of sentience, the foundation for communication with the world around us, and probably the single sense that is as old as life itself.” Indeed, touch is “the most intimate of senses” [1]

The present study uses expectancy violations theory to investigate hurtful events, relational quality, and communication in dating relationships. Participants (N = 263) described a hurtful behavior performed by their dating partner and recalled their reaction to that behavior. When respondents evaluated the hurtful event as a highly negative expect...

Simon and Baxter (199349. Simon , E. P. & Baxter , L. A. ( 1993 ). Attachment-style differences in relationship maintenance strategies . Western Journal of Communication , 57 , 416 – 430 . [CSA] [Taylor & Francis Online]View all references) demonstrated that secure individuals report using more assurances and romance to maintain their romantic rela...

Data from 263 individuals who had been hurt by something a dating partner said or did offered support for the interpersonal forgiveness model—forgiveness associated positively with integrative communication and negatively with de-escalation and distributive communication. When hurt individuals believed the partner had sincerely apologized they were...

Nonverbal Communication in Close Relationships provides a synthesis of research on nonverbal communication as it applies to interpersonal interaction, focusing on the close relationships of friends, family, and romantic partners. Authors Laura K. Guerrero and Kory Floyd support the premise that nonverbal communication is a product of biology, socia...

This study investigates whether perceptions of maintenance behavior in cross-sex friend-ships vary as a function of romantic intent, biological sex, and uncertainty. Individuals recalled the maintenance behaviors they had used over the past month in a cross-sex friend-ship characterized by one of the following situations: mutual romance (i.e., both...

A recent set of studies demonstrated that people evaluate their own and their partner's social skills differently as a function of attachment style. The present study extends this work by examining attachment-style differences in four conversational skills*/expres-siveness, composure, other-orientation, and interaction management*/as rated by obser...

Two independently conducted studies investigate the relations between jealousy-related emotions and communicative responses. In Study 1, participants provided open-ended accounts of specific jealousy episodes, from which descriptions of jealous communication were coded. Study 2 examined whether people tend to experience jealousy-related emotion and...

Individuals in temporary task-oriented dyads or groups must manage conflict com-petently if they hope to be successful in reaching their goals. Thus far, however, research on the associations between conflict styles and communication competence has focused on acquainted dyads, such as relational partners and coworkers, rather than unac-quainted dya...

Two studies focused on attachment‐style differences in people's social skills. Study 1 had a sample of 237 students who completed questionnaires assessing their own attachment styles and social skills (based on Riggio's six dimensions of social skill). Study 2, which focused on partner‐reports, used data from 258 couples to determine whether people...

This study explores the combined influence of nonverbal immediacy and verbal person centeredness in the emotional support process. Three complementary models were tested in an experiment with 216 participants who disclosed an emotionally upsetting event to a confederate trained to display different levels of nonverbal immediacy and person centeredn...

This study examined observers' perceptions of nine different types of touch (including a "no touch" control condition) used in cross-sex relationships between coworkers. Results showed that face touch sends particularly strong relational and emotional messages. A soft touch in the cheek area of the face was seen as signaling more affection, attract...

The competence model of conflict communication suggests that individuals who use various conflict styles will be perceived differently in terms of appropriateness and effectiveness. A simulated organizational decision-making task involving 100 randomly-paired dyads consisting of business students suggested that an integrative conflict style is gene...

Various theories of nonverbal adaptation feature behavioral valence (i.e., positive vs. negative behavior) and degree of behavioral change (e.g., very low vs. low intimacy) as critical elements affecting whether changes in nonverbal intimacy are met with reciprocity or compensation. The present study, which utilizes data from 100 romantic dyads, ma...

Communicative responses to jealousy fulfill critical functions within romantic relationships. They can help maintain one's relationship, preserve one's self‐esteem, reduce uncertainty about the primary relationship, reduce uncertainty about the rival relationship, re‐assess the relationship, and restore equity through retaliation. This study, which...

(from the preface) This book of selected readings is appropriate for undergraduates taking a 1st or 2nd course in nonverbal communication, and for beginning graduate students who would like to see a sampling of classic and contemporary work in the nonverbal area. The 1st part defines basic terms related to nonverbal communication, describes nonverb...

According to attachment theory, the attachment system is activated to manage thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that stem from potential separation and relational threat. Thus, jealousy provides an important situation in which to examine attachment-style differences. In the present study, 144 individuals currently involved in enduring romantic relat...

This study tests Bryson's dual motivation model of jealousy, which predicts that jealousy responses vary based on self‐esteem and relationship maintenance goals. A questionnaire study found limited support for the model. Individuals who were motivated to maintain self‐esteem reported more integrative communication, manipulation, and avoidance/denia...

This study provides a contrastive test of three immediacy-exchange theories: Burgeon's expectancy violations theory (EVT), Cappella and Greene's discrepancy-arousal theory (DAT), and Andersen's cognitive valence theory (CVT). EVT predicts that high immediacy, by rewarding communicators, leads to an orientation response and positive behavioral and a...

This study examines the extent to which members of same‐ and cross‐sex friendships avoid topics related to relationship issues, negative life experiences, dating experiences, sexual experiences, and outside friendships. Four reasons for topic avoidance are also explored: self‐protection, relationship protection, partner unresponsiveness, and social...

In this chapter, we present 6 principles relevant to emotional communication. Each of these principles suggests that communication is necessary to the process of emotional experience: Emotions evolved as communicative actions, emotional expression is shaped through socialization processes, the primary elicitor of most emotion is interpersonal commu...

This study investigates the relationship between nonverbal behavior and initial impressions of instructor competence and course content within the context of instructional videotapes used in distance education courses. Four 10‐minute segments of introductory lectures from videotaped distance education courses were shown to 8 undergraduate classes i...

The degree of consistency and change in communication across different dyadic partners is an important issue in theory on interpersonal interaction. Factors such as communicator sex and predispositions toward approach/avoidance are likely to contribute to consistency, whereas factors such as target sex, relationship type, intimacy and impression ma...

This chapter reviews numerous factors that affect the experience and expression of romantic jealousy. Biology, culture, personality, relationships, situations, and strategic (partner-initiated) maneuversprovide a foundation for the study of romantic jealousy. These six factors work together to influence the type and intensity of affective responses...

This chapter provides the basic emotion concepts and the popular approaches to studying emotion. The chapter begins by differentiating three related constructs—affect, emotion, and mood; and differentiates between emotional experience and expression. Three prominent approaches to emotion that are discussed in the social psychology are reviewed: the...

This chapter focuses on one of the most common and most important emotions—interpersonal warmth. Interpersonal warmth is the pleasant, contented, intimate feeling that occurs during positive interactions with friends, family, colleagues, and romantic partners. Warmth can also be conceptualized as the pleasant emotional connection or attachment that...

This study tested the hypothesis that individuals with different attachment styles vary in the degree to which they display intimacy and nonverbal involvement to their romantic partners. Eighty dyads currently involved in enduring romantic relationships participated in an observational study, with one partner from each dyad representing one of Bart...

Interpersonal Deception Theory (IDT) proposes that among the strategies deceivers use to create credible messages is information management. Delineated here are five fundamental dimensions along which verbal content and style can be altered to manage information: (1) completeness (informational and conversational), (2) veridicality (actual and appa...

Attachment-theory principles suggest that those with different attachment styles will react to nonverbal involvement change in a manner consistent with their approach/avoidance orientations and mental working models of self and others. It was hypothesized that preoccupieds initially reciprocate increases in involvement, but compensate for decreases...

Communicative responses to jealousy perform critical functions in interpersonal relationships: They can reduce uncertainty, help maintain or repair relationships, and aid the jealous person in saving face and restoring self‐esteem. The three studies reported herein concentrate on conceptualizing and measuring communicative responses to jealousy tha...

Interpersonal Deception Theory (IDT) posits that socially skilled individuals are better able to project truthful demeanors and evade detection than are unskilled individuals. IDT also predicts that social skills benefit receivers, making them better able to detect deception. Past research by Riggio, Thcker, Throckmorton, and Widaman in 1987 (in tw...

This study extends topic avoidance research by investigating both child/parent and sibling relationships. Results indicated that: (1) Adolescents and young adults avoid discussing negative life experiences and dating experiences more with parents than siblings, and more with male targets; (2) adolescents and young adults avoid discussing sexual mat...

This study investigated the combined effects jealousy experience and expression have on relational satisfaction. A sample of 346 individuals currently involved in dating or marital relationships completed questionnaires. Results indicated that: (1) cognitive jealousy is a more potent predictor of relational satisfaction than emotional jealousy, (2)...

To better understand how avoidence functions within parent–child relationships, this chapter reports 2 studies / the 1st study, which uses a college age sample, focuses on differences in topic avoidance due to the gender composition of the parent–child pair (e.g., mother–daughter; father–son) / the 2nd study examines age differences in topic avoide...

Past research on deception success has focused on receiver judgments, ignoring deceiver perceptions, which may influence the ways deceivers choose to behave in interpersonal interactions. The present study investigated how several preinteractional and interactional factors affect both deceiver and observer perceptions of deception success. Preinter...

Most research on anger has focused on clinical intervention, psychological processes, and physiological effects rather than on how anger expression affects interpersonal relationships. This study investigates how four modes of expression (distributive‐aggression, integrative‐assertion, passive‐aggression, and nonassertive‐denial) are associated wit...

This study explores the similarity of touch behavior and touch attitudes among dating and married couples. Touch behavior showed a strong matching effect for seriously dating and married couples. Z-tests revealed that correlations between relational partners were significantly stronger for marrieds than for serious or casual daters. Results for att...

Maintenance strategies are conceptualized as vehicles by which romantic partners can change, as well as preserve, their relationships. A longitudinal approach is used to investigate the idea that daters' perceptions of proactive/constructive maintenance will affect four possible relational outcomes - escalation, stability, de-escalation and termina...

This study investigated the effects of an individual's marital type (Traditional, Independent, Separate) on marital satisfaction and jealousy. Three significant findings emerged. First, Traditionals were found to be more satisfied with their marriages than Independents or Separates. Second, marital satisfaction was found to be negatively correlated...