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Sharing Good and Bad News with Friends and Strangers: Reasons for and Communication Behaviors Associated with the MUM Effect
- Authors
- Dibble, J.L.; Levine, T.R.
- Issue Date
- 2013
- Keywords
- Bad News; Face; Facework; Interpersonal Communication; MUM Effect; Negative Feedback
- Citation
- Communication Studies, v.64, no.4, pp.431 - 452
- Indexed
- SCOPUS
- Journal Title
- Communication Studies
- Volume
- 64
- Number
- 4
- Start Page
- 431
- End Page
- 452
- ISSN
- 1051-0974
- Abstract
- People are reluctant to share bad news. Reasons include self-presentation and sensitivity to receiver emotionality. An experiment investigated these reasons during interactions between friends and strangers. Females (N = 330, 165 dyads) gave good or bad news to a close friend or stranger. Time to response was recorded. The MUM effect replicated for both friends and strangers. No main effects for friend/stranger or interaction between friend/stranger and news valence were found. Data were more consistent with a self-presentation explanation. Behavioral data were also analyzed to explore communicative behavior that accompanies the sharing of good and bad news. Limitations and implications are discussed. © 2013 Copyright Central States Communication Association.
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