Effects of cognitive complexity and emotional upset on processing supportive messages: Two tests of a dual-process theory of supportive communication outcomes

Human Communication Research

Volumn 37, Issue 3, 2011, Pages 350-376

  Bodie, Graham D ^a   Burleson, Brant R ^b   Holmstrom, Amanda J ^c   Mccullough, Jennifer D ^d   Rack, Jessica J ^e   Hanasono, Lisa K ^f   Rosier, Jennifer G ^g  

^a LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b PURDUE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^c MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^d SAGINAW VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^e UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI   (United States)

^f BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^g JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 79958196754     PISSN: 03603989     EISSN: 14682958     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.2011.01405.x     Document Type: Article

References (80)

1. Applegate, J. L. (1980). Adaptive communication in educational contexts: A study of teachers' communicative strategies. Communication Education, 29, 158-170.
2. Balk, D. E. (1997). Death, bereavement, and college students: A descriptive analysis. Mortality, 2, 207-220.
3. Balk, D. E. (2001). College student bereavement, scholarship, and the university: A call for university engagement. Death Studies, 25, 67-84.
4. Barbee, A. P., & Cunningham, M. R. (1995). An experimental approach to social support communications: Interactive coping in close relationships. Communication Yearbook, 18, 381-413.
5. Bodie, G. D., & Burleson, B. R. (2008). Explaining variations in the effects of supportive messages: A dual-process framework. Communication Yearbook, 32, 354-398.
6. Bodie, G. D., Burleson, B. R., Holmstrom, A. J., Hanasono, L. K., Rack, J. J., Mincy, J. R., et al. (2011). Explaining the impact of attachment style on evaluations of supportive messages: A dual-process approach. Communication Research, 38, 228-247.
7. Booth-Butterfield, S., & Welbourne, J. (2002). The elaboration likelihood model: Its impact on persuasion theory and research. In J. P. Dillard & M. Pfau (Eds.), The persuasion handbook: Developments in theory and research (pp. 155-174). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
8. Burleson, B. R. (1982). The development of comforting communication skills in childhood and adolescence. Child Development, 53, 1578-1588.
9. Burleson, B. R. (1983). Social cognition, empathic motivation, and adults' comforting strategies. Human Communication Research, 10, 295-304.
10. Burleson, B. R. (1984a). Age, social-cognitive development, and the use of comforting strategies. Communication Monographs, 51, 140-153.
11. Burleson, B. R. (1984b). Comforting communication. In H. E. Sypher & J. L. Applegate (Eds.), Communication by children and adults: Social cognitive and strategic processes (pp. 63-104). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
12. Burleson, B. R. (1994). Comforting messages: Features, functions, and outcomes. In J. A. Daly & J. M. Wiemann (Eds.), Strategic interpersonal communication (pp. 135-161). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
13. Burleson, B. R. (2003). Emotional support skills. In J. O. Greene & B. R. Burleson (Eds.), Handbook of communication and social interaction skills (pp. 551-594). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
14. Burleson, B. R. (2008). What counts as effective emotional support? Explorations of individual and situational differences. In M. T. Motley (Ed.), Studies in applied interpersonal communication (pp. 207-227). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
15. Burleson, B. R. (2009). Understanding the outcomes of supportive communication: A dual-process approach. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 26, 21-38.
16. Burleson, B. R. (2010). Explaining recipient responses to supportive messages: Development and tests of a dual-process theory. In S. W. Smith & S. R. Wilson (Eds.), New directions in interpersonal communication (pp. 159-179). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
17. Burleson, B. R., & Caplan, S. E. (1998). Cognitive complexity. In J. C. McCroskey, J. A. Daly, M. M. Martin, & M. J. Beatty (Eds.), Communication and personality: Trait perspectives (pp. 230-286). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
18. Burleson, B. R., & Goldsmith, D. J. (1998). How the comforting process works: Alleviating emotional distress through conversationally induced reappraisals. In P. A. Andersen & L. K. Guerrero (Eds.), Handbook of communication and emotion: Research, theory, applications, and contexts (pp. 245-280). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
19. Burleson, B. R., Holmstrom, A. J., & Gilstrap, C. M. (2005). "Guys can't say that to guys": Four experiments assessing the normative motivation account for deficiencies in the emotional support provided by men. Communication Monographs, 72, 468-501.
20. Burleson, B. R., & MacGeorge, E. L. (2002). Supportive communication. In M. L. Knapp & J. A. Daly (Eds.), Handbook of interpersonal communication (3rd ed., pp. 374-424). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
21. Burleson, B. R., & Samter, W. (1985a). Consistencies in theoretical and naive evaluations of comforting messages. Communication Monographs, 52, 103-123.
22. Burleson, B. R., & Samter, W. (1985b). Individual differences in the perception of comforting messages: An exploratory investigation. Central States Speech Journal, 36, 39-50.
23. Burleson, B. R., Samter, W., Jones, S. M., Kunkel, A. W., Holmstrom, A. J., Mortenson, S. T., et al. (2005). Which comforting messages really work best? A different perspective on Lemieux and Tighe's "receiver perspective." Communication Research Reports, 22, 87-100.
24. Burleson, B. R., & Waltman, M. S. (1988). Cognitive complexity: Using the Role Category Questionnaire measure. In C. H. Tardy (Ed.), A handbook for the study of human communication: Methods and instruments for observing, measuring, and assessing communication processes (pp. 1-35). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
25. Chaiken, S. (1980). Heuristic versus systematic information processing and the use of source versus message cues in persuasion. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 39, 752-766.
26. Chaiken, S., & Trope, Y. (Eds.). (1999). Dual-process theories in social psychology. New York: Guilford.
27. Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S. G., & Aiken, L. S. (2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
28. Coopman, S. Z. (1997). Personal constructs and communication in interpersonal and organizational contexts. In G. Neimeyer & R. Neimeyer (Eds.), Advances in personal construct psychology (Vol. 4, pp. 101-147). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
29. Crockett, W. H. (1965). Cognitive complexity and impression formation. In B. A. Maher (Ed.), Progress in experimental personality research (Vol. 2, pp. 47-90). New York: Academic Press.
30. Cunningham, M. R., & Barbee, A. P. (2000). Social support. In C. Hendrick & S. S. Hendrick (Eds.), Close relationships: A sourcebook (pp. 272-285). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
31. Cutrona, C. E., & Cole, V. (2000). Optimizing support in the natural network. In S. Cohen, L. G. Underwood, & B. H. Gottlieb (Eds.), Social support measurement and intervention: A guide for health and social scientists (pp. 278-308). New York: Oxford University Press.
32. Cutrona, C. E., & Russell, D. W. (1990). Types of social support and specific stress: Toward a theory of optimal matching. In B. R. Sarason, I. G. Sarason, & G. R. Pierce (Eds.), Social support: An interactional view (pp. 319-366). New York: Wiley.
33. DeLongis, A., Coyne, J. C., Dakof, G., Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1982). Relation of daily hassles, uplifts, and major life events to health status. Health Psychology, 1, 119-136.
34. Dunkel-Schetter, C., Blasband, D., Feinstein, L., & Herbert, T. (1992). Elements of supportive interactions: When are attempts to help effective? In S. Spacapan & S. Oskamp (Eds.), Helping and being helped: Naturalistic studies (pp. 83-114). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
35. Eckenrode, J. (1984). Impact of chronic and acute stressors on daily reports of mood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 907-918.
36. Feng, B., & MacGeorge, E. L. (2010). The influences of message and source factors on advice outcomes. Communication Research, 37, 553-575.
37. Fiske, S. T., & Taylor, S. E. (2007). Social cognition: From brains to culture. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
38. Goldsmith, D. J. (2004). Communicating social support. New York: Cambridge University Press.
39. Gottlieb, B. H. (1994). Social support. In A. L. Weber & J. H. Harvey (Eds.), Perspectives on close relationships (pp. 307-324). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
40. Greenberg, L. S., Rice, L. N., & Elliott, R. (1993). Facilitating emotional change: The moment-by-moment process. New York: Guilford.
41. Hagedoorn, M., Kuijer, R. G., Buunk, B. P., DeJong, G. M., Wobbes, T., & Sanderman, R. (2000). Marital satisfaction in patients with cancer: Does support from intimate partners benefit those who need it most? Health Psychology, 19, 274-282.
42. Harris, W. C., Hancock, P. A., & Harris, S. C. (2005). Information processing changes following extended stress. Military Psychology, 17, 115-128.
43. Harvey, J. H., Barnes, M. K., Carlson, H. R., & Haig, J. (1995). Held captive by their memories: Managing grief in relationships. In S. Duck (Ed.), Confronting relationship challenges (pp. 211-233). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
44. Ingram, K. M., Betz, N. E., Mindes, E. J., Schmitt, M. M., & Smith, N. G. (2001). Unsupportive responses from others concerning a stressful life event: Development of the Unsupportive Social Interactions Inventory. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 20, 173-207.
45. Ingram, K. M., Jones, D. A., Fass, R. J., Neidig, J. L., & Song, Y. S. (1999). Social support and unsupportive social interactions: Their association with depression among people living with HIV. AIDS Care, 11, 313-330.
46. Jones, S. M., & Wirtz, J. (2006). How does the comforting process work?: An empirical test of an appraisal-based model of comforting. Human Communication Research, 32, 217-243.
47. Knight, K. H., Elfenbein, M. H., & Messina-Soares, J. A. (1998). College students' perceptions of helpful responses to bereaved persons: Effects of sex of bereaved persons and cause of death. Psychological Reports, 83, 627-636.
48. Kolich, M., & Wong-Reiger, D. (1999). Emotional stress and information processing ability in the context of accident causation. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 24, 591-602.
49. Lakey, B., & Cohen, S. (2000). Social support theory and measurement. In S. Cohen, L. G. Underwood, & B. H. Gottlieb (Eds.), Social support measurement and intervention (pp. 29-52). New York: Oxford University Press.
50. MacLeod, C. (1996). Anxiety and cognitive processes. In I. G. Sarason, G. R. Pierce, & B. R. Sarason (Eds.), Cognitive interference: Theories, methods, and findings (pp. 47-76). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
51. Marwit, G., & Carusa, S. (1998). Communicated support following loss: Examining the experiences of parental death and parental divorce in adolescence. Death Studies, 22, 237-255.
52. McGraw, K. O., & Wong, S. P. (1996). Forming inferences about some intraclass correlation coefficients. Psychological Methods, 1, 30-46.
53. Melham, N. M., Day, N., Shear, M. K., Day, R., Reynolds, C. F., & Brent, D. (2004). Predictors of complicated grief among adolescents exposed to a peer's suicide. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 9, 21-34.
54. Moskowitz, G. B., Skurnik, I., & Galinsky, A. D. (1999). The history of dual-process notions, and the future of preconscious control. In S. Chaiken & Y. Trope (Eds.), Dual-process theories in social psychology (pp. 12-36). New York: Guilford.
55. Murphy, M. C., & Archer, J. A. (1996). Stressors on the college campus: A comparison of 1985 and 1993. Journal of College Student Development, 37, 20-27.
56. O'Keefe, B. J., & McCornack, S. A. (1987). Message design logic and message goal structure: Effects on perceptions of message quality in regulative communication situations. Human Communication Research, 14, 68-92.
57. Pennebaker, J. W., Mayne, T. J., & Francis, M. E. (1997). Linguistic predictors of adaptive bereavement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 863-871.
58. Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986). Communication and persuasion: Central and peripheral routes to attitude change. New York: Springer.
59. Petty, R. E., Rucker, D. D., Bizer, G. Y., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2004). The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion. In J. S. Seiter & R. H. Gass (Eds.), Perspectives on persuasion, social influence, and compliance gaining (pp. 65-89). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
60. Petty, R. E., & Wegener, D. T. (1998). Attitude change: Multiple roles for persuasion variables. In D. Gilbert, S. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology (4th ed., pp. 323-390). New York: McGraw-Hill.
61. Rack, J. J., Burleson, B. R., Bodie, G. D., Holmstrom, A. J., & Servaty-Seib, H. L. (2008). Bereaved adults' evaluations of grief management messages: Effects of message person centeredness, recipient individual differences, and contextual factors. Death Studies, 32, 399-427.
62. Range, L. M., Kovac, S. H., & Marion, M. S. (2000). Does writing about the bereavement lessen grief following sudden, unintentional death? Death Studies, 24, 115-134.
63. Range, L. M., Walston, A. S., & Pollard, P. M. (1992). Helpful and unhelpful comments after suicide, homicide, accident, or natural death. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 25, 25-31.
64. Samter, W. (1994). Unsupportive relationships: Deficiencies in the support-giving skills of the lonely person's friends. In B. R. Burleson, T. L. Albrecht, & I. G. Sarason (Eds.), The communication of social support: Messages, interactions, relationships, and community (pp. 195-214). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
65. Samter, W. (2003). Friendship interaction skills across the life span. In J. O. Greene & B. R. Burleson (Eds.), Handbook of communication and social interaction skills (pp. 637-684). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
66. Samter, W., Burleson, B. R., & Basden-Murphy, L. (1989). Behavioral complexity is in the eye of the beholder: Effects of cognitive complexity and message complexity on impressions of the source of comforting messages. Human Communication Research, 15, 612-629.
67. Sarason, B. R., Sarason, I. G., & Gurung, R. A. R. (1997). Close personal relationships and health outcomes: A key to the role of social support. In S. Duck (Ed.), Handbook of personal relationships (2nd ed., pp. 547-573). Chichester, UK: Wiley.
68. Servaty-Seib, H. L., & Burleson, B. R. (2007). Bereaved adolescents' evaluations of the helpfulness of support-intended statements: Associations with person centeredness and demographic, personality, and contextual factors. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 24, 207-223.
69. Servaty-Seib, H. L., & Hamilton, L. A. (2006). Educational performance and persistence of bereaved college students. Journal of College Student Development, 47, 225-234.
70. Servaty, H. L., & Hayslip, B. (2001). Adjustment to loss among adolescents. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 43, 311-330.
71. Shrout, P. E., & Fleiss, J. L. (1979). Intraclass correlations: Uses in assessing rater reliability. Psychological Bulletin, 86, 420-428.
72. Stroebe, M. S., & Schut, H. (2001). Meaning making in the dual process model of coping with bereavement. In R. A. Neimeyer (Ed.), Meaning reconstruction and the experience of loss (pp. 55-73). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
73. Stroebe, W., & Stroebe, M. (1996). The social psychology of social support. In E. T. Higgins & A. W. Kruglanski (Eds.), Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (pp. 597-621). New York: Guilford.
74. Stroebe, W., Stroebe, M., Abakoumkin, G., & Schut, H. (1996). The role of loneliness and social support in adjustment to loss: A test of attachment versus stress theory. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 70, 1241-1249.
75. Suitor, J. J., & Pillemer, K. (2000). When experience counts most: Effects of experiential similarity on men's and women's receipt of support during bereavement. Social Networks, 22, 299-312.
76. Thoits, P. A. (1986). Social support as coping assistance. Journal of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, 54, 416-423.
77. Todorov, A., Chaiken, S., & Henderson, M. D. (2002). The heuristic-systematic model of social information processing. In J. P. Dillard & M. Pfau (Eds.), The persuasion handbook: Developments in theory and practice (pp. 195-211). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
78. Wills, T. A., & Fegan, M. F. (2001). Social networks and social support. In A. Baum, T. A. Revenson, & J. E. Singer (Eds.), Handbook of health psychology (pp. 209-234). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
79. Wortman, C. B., & Silver, R. C. (1990). Successful mastery of bereavement and widowhood: A life-course perspective. In P. B. Baltes & M. M. Baltes (Eds.), Successful aging: Perspectives from the behavioral sciences (pp. 225-264). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
80. Zech, E., Rime, B., & Nils, F. (2004). Social sharing of emotion, emotional recovery, and interpersonal aspects. In P. Philippot & R. S. Feldman (Eds.), The regulation of emotion (pp. 157-185). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.