ABSTRACT
Implicit in any discussion of inconsistent communication is a referent. In an inconsistent message, various components denote contradictory referents, whereas information provided by various components of a consistent message is redundant. Albert Mehrabian and M. Wiener and Mehrabian and S. R. Ferris investigated the combined effects of consistent or inconsistent verbal-vocal communications and consistent and inconsistent facial-vocal communications of attitude respectively. The definition of inconsistent negative messages in the study corresponds closely to the concept of sarcasm, but there does not seem to be a term in English that would correspond to instances of positive inconsistency. The inconsistent positive messages involved positive vocal and negative verbal components; the inconsistent negative messages involved negative vocal and positive verbal components. Mehrabian and Wiener and Mehrabian and Ferris investigated the combined effects of consistent or inconsistent verbal-vocal communications and consistent and inconsistent facial-vocal communications of attitude respectively. Both studies involved nine sets of communication stimuli.
