Situational Variations in Message Design Logic: The Roles
of Power and Communication Mode
• Participants
• Mary Ann Murphy, PhD
• S. J. Min, PhD
• Communication Studies, NYC
Purpose
This study examined how verbal message production is
impacted by the power bases embedded in a regulative
communicative situation and the method of communication
impacted the character and quality of the message produced
by the speaker in the situation. We approached our work
from the perspective of Message Design Logic, a theory of
communication that argues that verbal messages are
generated by one of three theories of what messages can
accomplish: expressive, conventional, and rhetorical.
Specific Research Aims
• 120 subjects were presented with a communicative
situation that involved regulating the errant behavior of
another.
• The dependent variable in the situation was message
design logic.
• The independent variables were the power base of the
message producer and the mode of communication.
• The relationship between the target and the speaker
was manipulated to be either symmetrical or
asymmetrical: half of the students were assigned a role
of legitimate authority in the situation and half of the
subjects were assigned the role of equal standing.
• The mode of communication was either face-to-face or
through texting.
