ABSTRACT
SINeE the publication of Miller, Boster, Roloff, and Seibold(1977), considerable attention has focused on discovering situa-tional influences on face-to-face persuasive messages (for example, Boster & Stiff, 1984; Clark, 1979; Cody & McLaughlin, 1980, 1985; Cody, McLaughlin, & Schneider, 1981; Cody, Woelfel, & Jordan, 1983; Hunter & Boster, 1978, 1979, 1981; McLaughlin, Cody, & Rosenstein, 1983; Roloff & Barnicott, 1978; Seibold, Cantrill, & Meyers, 1985; Sillars, 1980a, 1980b; Williams & Boster, 1981). Generally, the goal is to advance ecologically sound explanation and prediction of attempts at interpersonal influence. Further progress toward this goal, however, requires consideration of both methodological and theoretical issues raised by previous work in the area.
