Jeannette L Maré

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• Floyd, K., Zenzola, N., Carter, S. N., Marcucci, A., Zhao, Y., Woo, N. T., Custer, B. E., Dinsmore, D. R., Duncan, K. L., & Maré, J. (2025). Communication behaviors that facilitate the detection of loneliness. Communication Monographs. doi:10.1080/03637751.2025.2535974
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  The evolutionary theory of loneliness (ETL) posits that loneliness poses significant risks to morbidity and mortality. When individuals are lonely, both their physical and psychological safety may rely, in part, on the ability of conspecifics to detect their loneliness so they can offer protective and corrective actions. Building on ETL, we propose that loneliness is detectable at greater-than-chance levels via communicative behaviors, signaling that individuals are struggling to meet their needs for connection. In the present experiment, 853 observers evaluated self-presentation messages from high- and low-loneliness speakers. We hypothesized that observers can detect speakers’ loneliness at greater-than-chance levels and that nonverbal safety behaviors and verbal relational references mediate the association between a speaker’s loneliness and the detection of that loneliness. Speakers’ speaking rate, use of relational terms and use of personal pronouns significantly mediated the association between the speakers’ loneliness and observers’ perceptions of the speakers’ loneliness. These findings demonstrate ETL’s claim that lonely individuals signal their loneliness socially, perhaps as a means of eliciting support.
• Floyd, K., Woo, N., Custer, B., Dinsmore, D., Duncan, K., & Maré, J. (2022). Examining the Social Signaling and Person Perception Functions of Loneliness. OBM Neurobiology, 6(Issue 2). doi:10.21926/obm.neurobiol.2202119
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  Loneliness is a common condition that poses substantial risks to morbidity and mortality. Cacioppo and Cacioppo’s [1] evolutionary theory of loneliness (ETL) provides that loneliness serves a social signaling function and also manifests in hypervigilance to threat, which we propose can influence person perception. In this experiment, 480 observers evaluated videotaped self-presentation messages from speakers who scored either high or low on a measure of loneliness. On the basis of ETL, we hypothesized that observers can distinguish between lonely and non-lonely speakers to a greater-than-chance degree and that observers’ own loneliness negatively influences their perceptions of speakers. Both predictions received support, and we identify both theoretic and potential clinical implications of these findings.
• Floyd, K., Morman, M. T., Maré, J., & Holmes, E. (2021). How Americans communicate affection: findings from a representative national sample. Communication Quarterly, 69(Issue 4). doi:10.1080/01463373.2021.1951794
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  Humans are highly social beings who need intimate relationships to thrive and survive. Integral to human physical and emotional wellness is the need for affection. A substantial body of evidence has found that expressing and receiving affection with significant others is associated with a multitude of positive health outcomes. The primary goal of the current study was to create a generalizable typology of affectionate behaviors embedded within close relationships and experienced within the daily lives of U.S. American adults from across the country. The study identified 13 discrete forms of daily affectionate communication. Implications for such a typology of daily affection within the United States are discussed.
• Winkler, J. L., Mare, J., Blois, M. D., Carvajal, S. C., & Walsh, M. E. (2017). Kind discipline: Developing a conceptual model of a promising school discipline approach.. Evaluation and program planning, 62, 15-24. doi:10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2017.02.002
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  This formative evaluation develops a novel conceptual model for a discipline approach fostering intrinsic motivation and positive relationships in schools. We used concept mapping to elicit and integrate perspectives on kind discipline from teachers, administrators, and other school staff. Three core themes describing kind discipline emerged from 11 identified clusters: (1) proactively developing a positive school climate, (2) responding to conflict with empathy, accountability, and skill, and (3) supporting staff skills in understanding and sharing expectations. We mapped the identified components of kind discipline onto a social ecological model and found that kind discipline encompasses all levels of that model including the individual, relational, environmental/structural, and even community levels. This contrasts with the dominant individual-behavioral discipline approaches that focus on fewer levels and may not lead to sustained student and staff motivation. The findings illustrate the importance of setting and communicating clear expectations and the need for them to be collaboratively developed. Products of the analysis and synthesis reported here are operationalized materials for teachers grounded in a "be kind" culture code for classrooms.