Lynne Kelly

• University of Hartford

Participants (N = 312) in romantic relationships completed an online survey to determine common integrated phone activities, motivations for integrating phones into time together, and whether phone integration is associated with relationship satisfaction. The most frequent activities included showing social media posts, photos, and videos; showing...

The goals of the two studies were to identify common communicative responses to co-present mobile phone usage and conversational partners’ reactions to that communication, and to determine whether individuals perceive their communicative responses as effective. Study 1 identified common participant responses and partner (i.e., phone user) reactions...

Social media has become ubiquitous and multifaceted. In this complex digital landscape, individuals are confronted with platform options, response expectations, anticipated audiences, and norms for posting on social media. In this study, college student participants (N = 300) were asked about their fear of negative evaluation (FNE), comfort levels...

The study examined friends’ phubbing (i.e., the act of snubbing a relational partner by using a cell phone in his/her presence), through the lens of politeness theory. Quantitative and qualitative data from 404 participants revealed that, although most accepted the behavior and did not view it as a face-threatening act (FTA), others perceived it as...

Individuals report that text messages produce a lot of miscommunication when compared to phone calls or face-to-face interactions (Johnson, Bostwick, & Anderson, 2016). However, to date, scholars have not investigated the content of text messages perceived as miscommunication or reasons people believe that they experience miscommunication via texts...

Using relational dialectics theory as the organizing framework, this study examined helicopter parenting and cell-phone contact among college students (N = 529). Participants had more cell-phone conflict, engaged in more avoidance, and had more rules about cell-phone contact with high- compared to low- and, in some cases, moderate-helicopter mother...

Politeness theory (Brown & Levinson, 1987) provided the framework for analyzing focus-group transcripts in which college students discussed their perceptions of cell-phone use by friends while in one another’s presence and their responses to friends’ usage. Findings revealed that this context is inherently face threatening in terms of both positive...

This study investigated how 225 adults perceived and responded to expectations of attentiveness and availability via cell phones when with romantic partners. Phone behaviors were generally expected, neutral, and typical but more negative when participants expected partner attention. Behaviors were more unexpected and negative if in public than at h...

Focus groups were conducted with 51 college students to examine how participants engaged in meaning making about the presence and use of cell phones with non-present others while in the context of dating and spending time with romantic partners. Grounded in relational dialectics theory, qualitative analysis revealed two sets of competing discourses...

Cell phones are essential in maintaining ties with romantic partners but they can also detract from quality time we spend with them. The purpose of this study was to examine expectations that romantic partners have of cell phone usage during time spent together and how they manage violations of expectations. Using Expectancy Violation Theory (EVT;...

Frequent cell phone contact between emerging adults in college and parents raises the question of how they manage access and maintain control over cell phone use and how it affects their relationships. Emerging adults in college (N = 207) completed measures of relational satisfaction and closeness, cell phone satisfaction, and cell phone rules for...

This study examined the influence and relationships of the Big Five personality variables of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability (neuroticism), and openness to experience on communication reticence and fear of negative evaluation (FNE). Undergraduates from (N = 336) basic communication or psychology courses completed...

Relational aggression is a set of direct (e.g., name-calling) or indirect (e.g., spreading rumors) behaviors designed to harm a target's social relationships and status. Interviews conducted with 30 college women revealed that relationally aggressive episodes involved small groups of women, took on common forms, included key content issues, occurre...

Relational aggression involves manipulating others' social standing and reputation through communication behaviors that include gossiping, spreading rumors, name-calling, cruel teasing, and ostracizing. Using accounting as the theoretical framework, researchers analyzed transcripts from interviews with 30 college women to understand how they accoun...

Speculation that social networking sites (SNSs) breed narcissism has produced research with mixed results (e.g., Bergman, Fearrington, Davenport, & Bergman, 20113. Bergman , S. M. , Fearrington , M. E. , Davenport , S. W. , & Bergman , J. Z. ( 2011 ). Millennials, narcissism, and social networking: What narcissists do on social networking sites...

Cell phones play an important role in romantic relationships, although they can be a source of uncertainty and conflict in relationships. Although cell phones help relational partners stay connected, expectations that partners will always be available and accessible to one another may decrease the quality of their relationships. Developing and foll...

A focus group study was conducted to investigate the uses and rationale for texting among college students in the United States. Six focus groups responded to five main questions about uses, likes, complications, and other key issues. Results indicated that students were strategic in their channel choices and viewed texting simultaneously as making...

This study investigates cell phones in perceptions of autonomy and connection within the romantic relationships of college students. Self-report measures of rules for cell phone use, cell phone conflicts and their management, and perceptions of autonomy vs. connection were administered. Results revealed the use of cell phones was a source of autono...

This study examined the relationship between reticence (Keaten & Kelly, 200016. Keaten , J. A. , & Kelly , L. ( 2000 ). Reticence: An affirmation and revision . Communication Education , 49 , 165 – 177 . [Taylor & Francis Online]View all references) and instant messaging (IM), including affect for IM, usage of IM, and self-perceived competence us...

This cross-cultural investigation examines the relationship between fear of negative evaluation, affect for communication channels (i.e., email versus face-to-face), and self-reports of communication competence. Participants from both Japan (N = 296) and the United States (N = 325) responded to three scales: Fear of Negative Evaluation (Leary, M. R...

Demographic research has documented the ubiquitous use of computer-mediated communication (CMC). Researchers in this area have also explored various factors associated with CMC, including uses, gratifications, motives, and needs. This investigation examines the relationships among affect for communication channels (i.e., e-mail versus face-to-face)...

This study investigated the relationship between family communication patterns, emotional intelligence and reticence. Participants (N = 296) responded to three measures: (a) the Revised Communication Patterns Scale (Ritchie & Fitzpatrick, 199038. Ritchie , L. D. , & Fitzpatrick , M. A. ( 1990 ). Family communication patterns: Measuring intrapersona...

As computers have increasingly provided new channels of communication, scholars have taken an interest in computer-mediated communication (CMC) in general and the impact of personality traits and other antecedents of preference for face-to-face or computer channels. Research is hampered, however, by the lack of standardized measures of CMC-related...

This study examined the role of perceptions of family environment and family communication as mediators of the effects of parental alcoholism on the self-esteem of adult children of alcoholics. Participants (N = 227) completed self-reports of parental alcoholism, family environment, family communication patterns (FCP), and self-esteem. Results indi...

In spite of the potential of e-mail to enhance facultyÁ/student interaction, there is a limited amount of actual research on instructional uses of e-mail, and even less research on e-mail exchange between faculty and students. The purpose of the present study was to examine faculty-initiated e-mail with students, their perceptions of students' moti...

Research indicates that individuals with elevated levels of public speaking anxiety report significantly different mental representations of the public speaking context, when compared to individuals with lower levels of anxiety. To examine the effect of the differences in mental representations, narratives for three public speaking contexts were de...

This study examined the relationship between reticence and preferences for channels of communication with faculty. Undergraduate students completed measures of reticence, comfort level about using various communication channels, and usage preferences for those channels when interacting with instructors. Results indicated that students’ level of ret...

Research has supported the effectiveness of the Pennsylvania State University Reticence Program, designed to help reticent communicators (Keaten, Kelly & Begnal, 1995; Keaten, Kelly, & Finch, 2000; Kelly & Keaten, 1992). However, most studies of the effectiveness of the program have tested the program as a whole. The present study investigated stud...

The primary goal of this investigation was to explore the relationship between family communication patterns and reticence. Students of the Penn State University Reticence Program were asked to complete the Revised Family Communication Patterns instrument (Ritchie & Fitzpatrick, 1990). Results revealed that reticent individuals reported a significa...

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether reticent and non‐reticent college students differed in their use of e‐mail, motives for employing e‐mail, and preferred channel of communication with faculty. Results indicated that, although reticent and non‐reticent students did not differ in their frequency of using e‐mail to communicate with...

In 1965, with the publication of “The Problem of Reticence,” Gerald M. Phillips introduced the reticence construct to the field of speech communication. Over the next three decades, Phillips wrote about the nature of reticence, dramatically changing his initial view of the essence of the problem (Phillips, 1977) and then tinkering with his theory i...

In his conceptualization of reticence, Phillips (1968, 1977, 1984, 1986, 1991) included a cognitive component. Specifically, he argued that reticent individuals subscribe to a set of beliefs that contribute to their communication difficulties. A study by Kelly, Keaten and Finch (1996) found some support for the notion that reticents hold these beli...

Recent advances in neuropsychology have led scholars to investigate the relationship between biological predisposition and communication anxiety. Growing evidence suggests that an individual's predisposition to experience anxiety when communicating is linked to biologically‐based personality factors (i.e., neuroticism and introversion). In fact, Be...

The study reported here was designed to test the assumption that individual differences in preference for experiences that provide physiological arousal predict differences in communication apprehension. Participants (N=113) completed Zuckerman's (1979) Sensation‐Seeking Scale V (SSS V), McCroskey's (1982) Personal Report of Communication Apprehens...

The purposes of this study were to examine levels of reported communication apprehension in Japanese elementary and secondary school students and to compare them to normative levels of apprehension in American children and adolescents. The Personal Report of Communication Fear (McCroskey, Andersen, Richmond, & Wheeless, 1981) was administered to 14...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between conflict styles and communication competence. The Conflict Management Message Style (CMMS) instrument (Ross & DeWine, 1988), which assesses three conflict orientations (self‐oriented, other‐oriented, and issue‐oriented), served as the operationalization of conflict style. Communi...

Currently there is no standardized, quantitative measure of the reticence construct created by Phillips (1965, 1984, 1986). Critics (e.g., Glaser, 1981) have argued that this has made it difficult to compare findings across studies of reticence as well as to establish the effectiveness of skills training programs such as the rhetoritherapy program...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of social activities to communication competence. It was proposed that social experience provides individuals with communication skills and confidence to interact effectively in social contexts. Participants (n = 213) completed measures of communication competence (CAS, Duran, 1983), and...

Although the Master Syllabus is no longer a standard feature of each issue, we are pleased to offer material in this area when the reviewers feel a manuscript has something special to offer our readers. As one of the reviewers noted, this manuscript presents an excellent example of a capstone course, something many institutions have recently implem...

This research began by taking measures of communication competence and then cross-referencing measures of communication competence with various linguistic discursive devices. The correlations between communicative competence in various discursive devices are discussed.

The primary goal of this investigation was to assess the effectiveness of the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) Reticence Program as a treatment for individuals with communication difficulties, such as communication apprehension, reticence, and shyness. Special sections of the basic speech communication course at PSU and regular public speaking s...

Recent research has considered a number of communication variables (e.g., communication competence and communication apprehension) in academic performance and college retention issues. This study extends this line of research by examining the influence of communication competence, roommate rapport, and loneliness on academic performance and student...

The present study examined the effectiveness of rhetoritherapy (Phillips, 1986) as a treatment for individuals with communication difficulties, such as communication apprehension, reticence, and shyness. Following Glaser's (1981) comments on problems in previous studies, the present study employed several standardized tests of social communication...

The purpose of this paper is provide a description of a skills training program for reticent communicators. The program was developed by Gerald M. Phillips in the mid 1960's, modified in 7970, and continues to operate at the Pennsylvania State University today. In addition, the program has been implemented at other universities to help reticent ind...

Previous research has found shy and not‐shy individuals differ in their self‐perceptions of their social skills (Clark & Arkowitz, 1975) and their social communication competence (Kelly & Duran, 1984). These studies do not provide information as to the specific dimensions of communication performance on which shy and not‐shy groups’ self‐perception...

The purpose of this study was to continue the investigation into the cognitive domain of communicative competence (Duran & Kelly, 1984; McCroskey, 1982; Spitzberg, 1983). The relationship between interaction involvement (Cegala, 1981) and communicative adaptability (Duran, 1983), a communicative competence construct, was studied. Canonical correlat...

Although previous research has found that perceived attractiveness (especially physical attractiveness) is associated with perceptions of communicative effectiveness (Brandt, 1979; Chaiken, 1979; Zakahi & Duran, 1984), research has not been conducted to determine whether communicative competence influences perceived task, social, and physical attra...

Investigated the cognitive domain of communicative competence. Cognitive complexity served as the conceptualization of cognitive competence. 57 male and 198 female primary and secondary teachers (mean age 31.7 yrs) completed a 2-peer description task and a communicative adaptability scale. Results indicate a significant difference between levels of...

I needed your book badly befor [sic] mom died, and so did she. But evil doings in the spiritual realm caused her to get killed first, and me nearly (because of psychology used on us telepathically and wrong foods pushed ontousl [sic]) My ex and his friends did it… God also revealed that all people can see visions of us. And when fearful or evil min...

Theorists claim that reticence, communication apprehension, unwillingness to communicate, and shyness are different problems, but the interrelationships among those constructs has not been systematically explored. The purpose of this paper is to examine theoretical assumptions underlying these four constructs regarding the nature of the problem, ho...

An attempt to validate four major measures of speech communication problems on a defined sample of students with observable, reportable speech communication problems was undertaken. Results of discriminant analysis when the scores on the four scales are entered into the analysis suggest that the scales are not capable of discriminating students wit...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Pennsylvania State University, 1982. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-131). Photocopy.