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- Title
When Friends Deflect Questions about Sensitive Information: Questioners’ Cognitive Complexity and Explanations for Friends’ Avoidance.
- Authors
Donovan-Kicken, Erin; McGlynn, Joseph; Damron, JaneC. H.
- Abstract
People dealing with stressful circumstances may deflect friends’ inquiries about the situation for a variety of reasons, which could have subsequent effects on relational dynamics. This study investigated the explanations that individuals formulated about hypothetical situations in which friends indicated a desire to avoid discussing a sensitive subject. A typology of explanations for avoidance messages was developed, which indicated that common attributions centered on beliefs that the friend was avoiding the conversation in order to support avoidant coping strategies. Cognitive complexity predicted certain explanations and also indirectly predicted subsequent intent to bring up the topic through explanation diversity.
- Subjects
INTERPERSONAL relations research; FRIENDSHIP; PERSONALITY questionnaires; QUESTIONNAIRES; PSYCHOLOGICAL typologies; AVOIDANCE (Psychology)
- Publication
Western Journal of Communication, 2012, Vol 76, Issue 2, p127
- ISSN
1057-0314
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1080/10570314.2011.653856