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The study of soc'ization has lacked a consistent methodology that would permit comparisons. More general & widely applicable measuring techniques are needed if the process of soc'ization is to be fully & appropriately investigated. This paper presents a set of indices with a similarity of factors, measuring various aspects of cognitive change as part of the soc'ization process. The suggested indices constitute a set of related measures, all stemming from one set of ratings. The fact that the measures are intimately related to one another has added the advantage of locating & assessing specific aspects of a given soc'ization situation. The indices offered are not an absolute measure of soc'ization as such. They are relative indices with the focus on comparing diff groups, or the same group at diff times, or diff sets of concepts within a group, etc. They are least applicable to investigations of the soc'ization of a single group to a single role, & most useful in studies of diff groups at diff stages of the soc'ization process. These measures were specifically developed to deal with multiple comparisons of groups. It is emphasized that the indices are limited to the cognitive realm & to connotative rather than denotative meanings. Modified HA.

The authors describe an effort to isolate and identify one or more key message attribute clusters which relate to the judgment of sensationalism, as the latter is indexed by their Sendex technique. Their aim is to find a good objective measure for the study of sensationalistic journalism.

What happens when a writer is given information which attacks his beliefs and thus puts him under stress? This research study shows it takes him longer to write his message, he makes more grammatical and spelling errors, he performs more editing, and the message is less readable.

This department is devoted to shorter articles and notes on research in the communications field, either completed or in progress. Readers are invited to submit reports on investigative studies which might prove useful to other students because of content, method, or implications for further research.

Definitions and analyses of what is sensational have varied markedly. Using an empirical approach, the authors (1) identified dimensions of the judgment of "sensationalism" and (2) developed a semantic differential index of the sensationalism of messages. They describe their "Sendex" technique and its use.

What do sports writers mean when they say one team "gouged," "whumped" or "whipped' another? Do certain verbs indicate the amount of point-spread between two teams? The authors found sports writers communicate fairly accurately with each other and with regular sports readers, but not strangers.

An earlier study by the senior author showed that headlines have a significant effect upon the interpretation of newspaper stories. An experiment with newscast "leads" produced similar results. Dr. Tannenbaum is director of research in television at Michigan State; Mrs. Kerrick is a research assistant at Illinois.