Communication Studies Dissertations and Theses
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THE BACKSTORY: THE POWER OF PAST LIVED EXPERIENCES AND COMMUNICATION WITHIN INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
(University of Kansas, 2019-12-31)ABSTRACT Research on the public’s stigmatizing attitudes toward individuals with alcohol- and substance-use disorders is well-documented, but researchers are increasingly focused on how those public attitudes are constructed ... -
Making Mandingo: Racial Archetypes, Pornography, and Black Male Subjectivity
(University of Kansas, 2019-12-31)Mandingo is a reference to a longstanding myth in American culture, that black men have an unquenchable desire for white woman. I will argue that Mandingo is an example of a racial archetype. Racial archetypes are specific ... -
Delayed Childbearing, Relational Influences, and Workplace Outcomes
(University of Kansas, 2019-12-31)Guided by the Circumplex Model of Family Functioning (Olson, Sprenkle, & Russell, 1979), this study examined women’s perceptions of their decision to delay childbearing as well as perceptions of personal fulfillment through ... -
The Tea Party Movement and Entelechy: an Inductive Study of Tea Party Rhetoric
(University of Kansas, 2019-12-31)On February 19, 2009, CNBC journalist Rick Santelli’s fiery outburst against the Obama Administration on national television gave the Tea Party Movement (TPM) its namesake. Soon after rallies were organized across the U.S. ... -
Navigating Ambiguous Negativity: A Case Study of Twitch.tv Live Chats
(University of Kansas, 2019-12-31)The popular gaming-oriented platform Twitch.tv, which offers video game fans an online space to interact by sharing and viewing gameplay and participating in live chats, is faced with the problem of online negativity ... -
Hispanic/Latino(a) Immigrant Acculturation and U.S. American Native English Speakers’ Intergroup Perceptions and Attitudes: Accommodation, Social Attraction, and Anxiety
(University of Kansas, 2019-08-31)Guided by communication accommodation theory (CAT; Giles, 1970, 2016) and the acculturation framework (Berry, 1980, 2011), this study used a 3 (social attributions: positive, negative, neutral) x 4 (accommodation/acculturation ... -
Gazing at the Golden Age: The Role of Perspective in Counter-Memorial Display
(University of Kansas, 2019-08-31)How does the traveling museum exhibition 1001 Inventions design memories of the Golden Age of Islam to counter Islamophobia in the modern world? The Golden Age of Islam occurred centuries ago but is still a potent rhetorical ... -
Group Membership, Content Valence, and Stereotype Agreement: Testing the Effects of Jokes and Asian Stereotypes
(University of Kansas, 2019-12-31)Guided by the theories of social identity (Tajfel & Turner, 1979; Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Re- icher, Wetherell, 1987) and intergroup contact (Allport, 1954; McIntyre, Paolini, Hewstone, 2016; Pettigrew, 1998; Pettigrew & ... -
Critical moments in the German resistance movement: A dramatistic analysis
(University of Kansas, 1975-05-31) -
The effects of human relations training on WASPS (White's Attitudes and Self-concept Perceptions)
(University of Kansas, 1973-05-31)This study attempts to analyze the effects of human relations training on self-concept and attitudes of whites toward others with whom they interact. Two aspects of human relations training are reviewed in order to provide ... -
Juror perceptions of witness credibility as a function of linguistic and nonverbal power
(University of Kansas, 1992-05-31)While the effects of linguistic power on witness credibility in the courtroom as well as preliminary studies of the effects of nonverbal power on witness credibility have been studied, no research has focussed on manipulations ... -
Fighting for a Cause: How Conflict Can Produce Interdependence
(University of Kansas, 2019-05-31)Interdependence theory (Kelley & Thibaut, 1978) illustrates the impact of partners’ behaviors as relational outcomes are dependent on such behavior. This thesis project aimed to contribute to interdependence theory by ... -
Baseball, Rituals, and the American Dream: An Analysis of the Boston Red Sox’s Response to the Boston Marathon Bombing
(University of Kansas, 2019-05-31)In April 2013, the Tsarnaev brothers placed two homemade bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. This attack created a need for healing the city’s spirit and the Boston Red Sox played an essential role in the ... -
PROMOTING SEXUAL PURITY IN A CALL-OUT CULTURE ERA: ONE PURITY MOVEMENT LEADER’S STRATEGIES IN NAVIGATING CRITIQUES OF THE #METOO/#CHURCHTOO MOVEMENTS
(University of Kansas, 2019-05-31)While a sizable body of research has examined the impact of purity movement rhetoric on its target audience (e.g., Bearman & Brückner, 2001; Brückner & Bearman, 2005; DeRogatis, 2015; di Mauro & Joffe, 2009; Diefendorf, ... -
THE RHETORIC OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN PROFESSIONAL SPORTS: GENDER, RACE, AND WHITE HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY
(University of Kansas, 2019-05-31)Violence, specifically gendered violence, has seemingly become commonplace in professional sports. In recent years, sports and news media have navigated a storm of violence allegations. For example, Larry Nassar, former ... -
The rhetoric of United States Marine Corps enlisted recruitment: a historical study and analysis of the persuasive approach utilized
(University of Kansas, 1974-05-31)This thesis concerns itself with the rhetorical approach utilized by the United States Marine Corps to persuade men to enlist voluntarily. This thesis is a historical tracing of the rhetorical approach used by the Marine ... -
Anime Fandom in Convergence Culture: A Uses and Gratification Approach to Chinese Fan Producers
(University of Kansas, 2018-05-31)In the current media environment known as media convergence, technology has provided fans multiple tools and platforms through which to create and publish their fan works online as well as to draw on fan works and connect ... -
Cultural variables that affect communication in business encounters between Southern Africans and Americans
(University of Kansas, 1994-05-31)The primary purpose of this study was to determine cultural variables that affect communication encounters between Southern African and American entrepreneurs. Cultural variables, as cited by Dodd (1977), include attitudes, ... -
International Students’ Acculturation and Attitudes Toward Americans as a Function of Communication and Relational Solidarity with their Most Frequent American Contact
(University of Kansas, 2018-08-31)The current study was guided by the theoretical frameworks of Intergroup Contact Theory (Pettigrew, 1998), Acculturation (Berry, 1997), and the Common Ingroup Identity Model (Gaertner & Dovidio, 2000). Using the PROCESS ... -
Government is the problem: Symbolic trajectories of the contemporary conservative movement
(University of Kansas, 2018-08-31)The rightward shift of the contemporary conservative movement represents one of the most significant developments in American culture and politics over the last forty years. While numerous studies in rhetoric have tackled ...