ABSTRACT
Burleson and Samter (1990) developed a measure to assess the value people place on communication skills, particularly same-sex friends. The Communication Functions Questionnaire (CFQ) assesses the value placed on ten skills relevant in communication with others and features the management of feelings and the management of behavior. Skills that focus on the management of affect and emotion (i.e., feelings) include: comforting skills (assisting others when they are in need) and ego supportive skills (boosting another’s feelings about him-or herself). The skills that reflect managing activity and behaviors are: referential skills (sharing information in a clear and understandable fashion); conversational skills (talking with ease in casual settings); narrative skills (entertaining by telling jokes and stories); and persuasion (influencing others to change or alter their behavior). Two other skills, conflict management (solving problems effectively) and regulation (helping someone recover from a mistake and remedy the problem), are an indication of both the management of feelings and behaviors and reflect the need to protect the relationship and feelings and thoughts of others. Recent versions of the CFQ include two additional affectively oriented dimensions: expressiveness (the ability to express feelings in a manner accessible to others), and listening (the ability to comprehend the messages of others) (see Jones, 2005).
