Review of Communication Research

Do women and men use language differently in spoken face-to-face interaction? A scoping review.

2020-03-24T13:59:27+00:00

Although the question whether women and men speak differently is a topic of hot debate, an overview of the extent to which empirical studies provide robust support for a relationship between sex/gender and language is lacking. The aim of the current scoping review was therefore to synthesize recent studies from various theoretical perspectives on the relationship between sex/gender and language use in spoken face-to-face dyadic interactions. Fifteen empirical studies were systematically selected for review, and were discussed according to four different theoretical perspectives and associated methodologies. More than thirty relevant linguistic variables were identified, e.g., interruptions and intensifiers. Overall, few robust differences between women and men in the use of linguistic variables were observed across contexts, although women seem to be more engaged in supportive turn-taking than men. Importantly, gender identity salience, institutionalized roles, and social and contextual factors such as setting and conversational goal, seem to play a key role in the relationship between speaker’s sex/gender and language used in spoken interaction.

Monitoring, Creeping, or Surveillance? A Synthesis of Online Social Information Seeking Concepts

2020-07-01T14:38:45+00:00

Affordances of Internet sites and Internet-based applications make personal information about romantic partners, friends, family members, and strangers easy to obtain. People use various techniques to find information about others, capitalizing on online affordances by using search engines to find relevant websites and databases; scouring the target’s social media or social networking site presence; accessing information about the target via their links or network association with others on social media; or asking questions or crowdsourcing information through online channels. Researchers have coined an assortment of terms to describe online social information seeking behaviors, such as interpersonal electronic surveillance, social surveillance, monitoring, patient-targeted Googling, cybervetting, websleuthing, human flesh search, lateral surveillance, Facebook surveillance, and Facebook stalking. Although considerable research has examined these behaviors, there has been little effort to clarify the concepts themselves. As a result, the literature is currently full of inconsistent and overlapping conceptualizations. To synthesize these concepts for future research, this review examines 73 online social information seeking concepts extracted from 186 articles. Specifically, the concepts are reviewed in light of their scope; the information seeker or target of information seeking (e.g., romantic partners, parents, children, employees, criminals); motives for information seeking (e.g., uncertainty, threat, curiosity); and the intensity of the behavior. Recommendations are provided for future research, such as employing clear conceptualizations and incorporating affordances. Finally, we offer a decision tree that researchers can use to help select appropriate terms to use in their work moving forward.

Self-Presentation in Social Media: Review and Research Opportunities

2020-09-08T16:57:04+00:00

This paper reviews existing research on self-presentation in social media in order to inform future research. Social media offer seemingly limitless opportunities for strategic self-presentation. The composition of an impression manager’s audience from one platform to the next varies across social media platforms, impacting and often complicating the attainment of self-presentation goals in the midst of context collapse. Social media users can employ a variety of strategies in an attempt to reach their goals and successfully influence how others perceive them. Although we have learned much from this body of literature, a more comprehensive theory of self-presentation in the hypermedia age is needed to further advance this area of research. Recommended variables to consider in online self-presentation include individual variables, culture/group membership, motivations, channel-specific variables, self-presentation content generated by self and others, as well as effectiveness of self-presentation.