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Westminster Communications Professor Writes Instructor's Manual

Posted on Wednesday, October 25, 2000

Dr. Cary W. Horvath, assistant professor of communication studies, recently finished an instructor's manual for the textbook, The Interpersonal Communication Book.

The manual, published by Longman of New York, consists of chapter outlines, applied activities and video suggestions for each of the 22 chapters of the textbook, as well as a test bank.

Horvath's paper, "Lazy Leisure: A Qualitative Investigation of the Relational Uses of Television in Marriage," is also scheduled for publication in the winter issue of Communication Quarterly, a peer review publication of the Eastern Communication Association.

Horvath and co-author, M. O. Finucane, conducted personal interviews with married couples to determine how spouses use television together, and what effect coviewing might have on their relationships. They found that couples consider coviewing to be an interactive activity, even when watching together in silence, and considered it a convenient recreation. Using television for relationship maintenance and solidarity emerged as the most pervasive reasons to coview.

In November, Horvath will present a paper, "Measuring Television Addiction," at the National Communication Association Convention in Seattle. The study explored two possible routes to television addiction: stimulant and depressant.

"Statistical analysis revealed that stimulant and depressant routes to television exist, but that the depressant route is the superior explanation for television addicts in this study," said Horvath. "I found that people, especially lonely males, with a low need for cognition who watch a great deal of television out of habit, to pass time, and to relax are most likely to be addicted to television."

At the convention, Horvath will also share her research on twins with several committees including Exploring the Promise and Problems of Biologically-Based Communication Research, and Further Exploration of the Promise and Problems of Biologicallly-Based Communication Research.

Horvath earned her undergraduate degree from Youngstown State University, and her master's and Ph.D. from Kent State University. She was chosen as "Who's Who Among Teachers," and has written and had published numerous articles regarding her research on various areas of communications.