James M. Honeycutt (born 1958) is an American academic who is currently a lecturer on the faculty of Organizational Behavior, Coaching, and Consulting at the UT-Dallas Naveen Jindal School of Management.[2] A Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies at Louisiana State University,[3][4] he is best known for his Theory of Imagined Interactions (IIs). [5][note 1] [6] IIs are a form of social cognition in which an individual imagines and therefore indirectly experiences themselves in anticipated and/or past communicative encounters[note 2] with others.[7] II theory appears in communication encyclopedias,[8][7][6][5] handbooks [9][10] and graduate[11][12] and undergraduate textbooks.[13][14] [note 3]

James M. Honeycutt
Honeycutt in 2014
Born1958 (age 65–66)
OccupationProfessor
Years active1986–present
Known forImagined Interaction Theory
TitleDistinguished Professor Emeritus
SpouseElizabeth Honeycutt
Academic background
EducationUT-Austin (B.S.)
Purdue University (M.S.)
Alma materUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (Ph.D.)
ThesisAn Examination of Information Processing in Initial Interaction through Linking Input, Structure, and Outcome: Effects of Preinteraction Expectancies on Interpersonal Attraction and Interaction Structure [1] (1988)
Doctoral advisorDean E. Hewes
Other advisorsRobert W. Norton, Master's Thesis
Robert Hopper, Undergraduate Thesis, UT-Austin
Academic work
DisciplineInterpersonal Communication
Sub-disciplineSocial Cognition
InstitutionsLouisiana State University
Main interestsImagined Interactions, Conflict-Linkage, Relational Communication, Biological Basis of Communication, Signaling Theory, Music Therapy
Notable worksHoneycutt, James M. (2003). Imagined Interactions: Daydreaming about Communication]. Hampton Press. ISBN 1-57273-414-0.
WebsiteLSU Faculty Website

Early life and education

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Honeycutt was born and raised in Dallas, Texas in 1956 to Frank and Arletha Honeycutt.[note 4][15] He attended Lloyd V. Berkner High School,[16] and graduated from UT-Austin in 1979, with a B.S. in interpersonal communication and a minor in social psychology. His honors thesis, advised by Robert Hooper, was "Matching of Interruptions, Talk Duration, Silence in Symmetrical and Complementary Dyads Based on Predispositions Toward Verbal Behavior".[17]

Honeycutt graduated in 1981 with an M.S. in interpersonal communication with a minor in statistics and research methods from Purdue University. His Master's thesis, chaired by Robert W. Norton, was "Relative Commitment of an Individual and the Discriminability of Communicator Styles Used in the Marital Relationship". He received his Ph.D. from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1987. His dissertation, "An Examination of Information Processing in Initial Interaction through Linking Input, Structure, and Outcome: Effects of Preinteraction Expectancies on Interpersonal Attraction and Interaction Structure", chaired by Dean E. Hewes, led tofive publications in peer-reviewed journals.[15]

Academic career and teaching

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Honeycutt was hired as an assistant professor at LSU in 1986, He received tenure and was promoted to associate professor in 1991, full professor in 2001, and received the honorific Distinguished Professor in 2012.[18] In 1998, he served briefly as a visiting professor at UCSB. He retired from LSU as distinguished professor emeritus in 2019, and returned to his hometown of Dallas, Texas where he is a lecturer at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Honeycutt founded the Matchbox Interaction Lab at LSU in 2007 where individuals, couples, and groups participating in research as subjects discuss topics which are usually promoted by researchers, who then leave the room. Researchers observe the interactions in the lab through one way glass, in addition to full audio and video recording capabilities.[19] If the research requires physiological data, the lab has the capability to record variables like heart rate and galvanic skin response. The name "Matchbox" was coined by students because when fiery conflict interactions occur between subjects based on the researchers' prompt, it's like the researcher lit a match that "sparked" the conflict.[19]

Research

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Honeycutt's original work focused on the conflict-linkage function of IIs, which explains why arguments are so persistent in interpersonal relationships. Individuals may ruminate about conflicts through recalling prior arguments while also imagining anticipated conflict in future interactions. Imagining conflict interactions not only keeps the argument fresh in the mind, but can cause physiological arousal and stress reactions.[10] Over time, II theory has expanded to encompass other functions and has been applied in multiple contexts.[7]

Honors

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He was honored as an Outstanding Scholar in Communication Theory by the Southern States Communication Association in 2013.[20] The National Communication Association's Social Cognition Division awarded his first book on Imagined Interactions [21] the Distinguished Book Award in 2006.

Major research publications

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Books

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Books edited

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  • Honeycutt, J. M. (2010) (ed.), Imagine that: Studies in imagined interaction . Cresskill, NJ: Hampton. [1]
  • Honeycutt, J. M., ed. (2019). Coping with trauma: Promoting mental health through imagery and imagined interactions York: Peter Lang.

Most cited peer review articles

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Notes

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  1. ^ Full text available from author here.[5]
  2. ^ IIs are distinct from fantasy due to their focus on actual or plausible interactions
  3. ^ This undergraduate text uses simplified language. Ch.10 refers to "imagined conversations", citing Honeycutt's imagined interactions research (endnote 21). Ch.9 indicates "some research suggests that serial conflicts persist when people rehearse interactions in their minds prior to engaging in them," citing Honeycutt's II conflict-linkage research (endnote 6).[14]
  4. ^ See Dedication, p.vi., for parents' names.[15]

References

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  1. ^ Michael, Honeycutt (May 1987). An examination of information processing in initial interaction through linking input, structure and outcome: Effects of preinteraction expectancies on interpersonal attraction and interaction structure (Thesis). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
  2. ^ "UT-Dallas Faculty Page". obcc.utdallas.edu. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
  3. ^ "LSU Department of Communication Studies Faculty Biography". Retrieved February 9, 2021. from College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Lsu.edu
  4. ^ "UAH Department of Communication Arts welcomes Distinguished Speaker Dr. James M. Honeycutt". uah.edu. August 30, 2016. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  5. ^ a b c Honeycutt, J.M.; Hatcher, L. (2016). "Imagined Interactions". In Berger, C.; Roloff, M. (eds.). International Encyclopedia of Interpersonal Communication. Wiley. pp. 1–10. doi:10.1002/9781118540190.wbeic053. ISBN 978-1-118-30605-5.
  6. ^ a b Honeycutt, J.M. (2012). "Imagined Interactions". In Donsbach, W. (ed.). International Encyclopedia of Communication. Wiley. doi:10.1002/9781405186407.wbieci010.pub2. ISBN 978-1-4051-3199-5.
  7. ^ a b c Honeycutt, J.M.; McCann, R. (2017). "Imagined Interactions". In Nussbaum, J (ed.). Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.451. ISBN 978-0-19-022861-3.
  8. ^ Vickery, A.J (2017). "Imagined Interactions". In Allen, M. (ed.). The SAGE Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods. SAGE. pp. 684–687. doi:10.4135/9781483381411.n241. ISBN 978-1-4833-8142-8.
  9. ^ Floyd, K.; Affifi, T. (2011), "Biological and Physiological Perspectives on Interpersonal Communication", in Knapp, M.; Daly, J. (eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Interpersonal Communication (4th ed.), Sage, p. 791, ISBN 978-1-4129-7474-5
  10. ^ a b Honeycutt, J.M; Rasner, R. (2020). "Physiological Arousal while Ruminating about Conflict with a Quantum Application to Relational Observation". In Floyd, K.; Weber, R. (eds.). Handbook of Communication Science and Biology. Taylor and Francis. pp. 344–355. doi:10.4324/9781351235587-29. ISBN 978-1-351-23558-7. S2CID 218942909.
  11. ^ Honeycutt, James (2014), "Ch.11:Imagined Interactions", in Berger, C. (ed.), Interpersonal Communication, De Gruyter Mouton, p. 726, ISBN 978-3-11-027679-4
  12. ^ Honeycutt, J.H. (2014), "Chapter 6: Imagined Interaction Theory: Mental Representation of Interpersonal Communication", in Braithwaite, D.; Schrodt, P. (eds.), Engaging Theories in Interpersonal Communication: Multiple Perspectives, SAGE, p. 472, ISBN 978-1-4833-1013-8
  13. ^ Adler, R.; Proctor, R. (2017). Looking Out, Looking In (15th ed.). Cengage Learning. p. 156. ISBN 978-1-305-85565-6.
  14. ^ a b West, R.; Turner, L. (2019). interpersonal communication (4th ed.). SAGE. pp. ch9.268, ch10.307. ISBN 978-1-5443-3666-4.
  15. ^ a b c Honeycutt, J.M. (September 1988). "An Examination of Information Processing in Initial Interaction through Linking Input, Structure, and Outcome: Effects of Preinteraction Expectancies on Interpersonal Attraction and Interaction Structure". Dissertation Abstracts International. 49 (3): 321. hdl:2142/28594. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  16. ^ "James Honeycutt, About". linkedin.com. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  17. ^ "Curriculum Vitae". utdallas.academia.edu. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  18. ^ "Faculty Award History 2012". lsu.edu. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  19. ^ a b "Lab Conducts Studies in Communication". www.lsureveille.com. November 12, 2008. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
  20. ^ "Outstanding Scholar in Communication Theory; Past Winners". ssca.net. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  21. ^ Honeycutt, J.M. (December 20, 2002). Imagined Interactions: Daydreaming about Communication (1st ed.). Hampton Press. ISBN 1-57273-413-2.