October 27th, 2006 -- Dr. Charles Berger from the University of California, Davis, will be presenting a lecture titled "A Tale of Two Communication Modes: When Rational and Experiental Processing Systems Encounter Statistical and Anecdotal Depictions of Threat."
Charles R. Berger, Ph.D. , received his BS in Psychology from the Pennsylvania State University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Communication from Michigan State University. Dr. Berger has conducted a long-term research program focused on the role cognitive planning and social interaction processes play in the production of messages. In addition, he is concerned with the ways in which information about risk influences individuals judgments of their vulnerability to threatening phenomena and is well known for his pioneering work in uncertainty reduction theory. Professor Berger was co-author with Jim Bradac of the 1982 book Language and Social Knowledge: Uncertainty in Interpersonal Relations which was awarded the International Communication Association Fellows Book Award in 2002, an award which recognizes those books that have made a substantial contribution to the scholarship of the communication field and have stood the test of time. Dr. Berger has edited Human Communication Research and more recently Communication Research. He is a Fellow of the International Communication Association and he has served as President of the Association. Professor Berger has taught courses concerned with communication and cognitive processes at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.