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An Exploratory Study Of The Relationship Between Communication Apprehension And Personal Construct Theory In The Context Of A Public Speaking Fundamentals Course, Linda Wilkins

Student Work

Many psychologists, philosophers, and educators agree that individual self-concepts develop, in large part, through perceptions gained from communicative transactions. If the nature of the transaction changes, perceptions can change, and self-concept can be altered. Self-concept combines with many influences including cultural heritage, environment, and past experiences to form the basis of an individual’s unique communicative and behavior patterns.

The Evolution Of The "Schlemiel" Hero In The Works Of Woody Allen, Marilyn Konigsberg

Student Work

The genesis of this paper is a twenty-year tracking of Woody Allen’s career born out of my fascination with a five-foot-five, one-hundred-twenty-five-pound, red-headed, Jewish, intellectual comic. He was searching for his identity in the 1960’s, when being ethnic and neurotic was not only fashionable but mandatory. My interest was heightened in those early days after seeing him preform as a stand-up comic at the Bitter End in New York and learning that he changed him name from Konigsberg to Allen while I changed my name to Konigsberg.

The Linguistic Representation: A Measurement Of Progress., Jacqueline Graham Marymee

Student Work

Sandler and Grinder (1975) suggest that humans, when they speak, make a series of choices about the form they use to communicate their experience. Their experience of the world (a representation) is communicated in a "complete linguistic representation of their experience"--the Deep Structure (Bandler & Grinder, 1975, p. 35). The Surface Structure is the result of making the series of choices which Sandler and Grinder (1975) describe as 11 a sentence or sequence of words which we recognize as a well-formed group of words in our language" (p. 35). Thus, we have a Meta-representation--a representation (Surface Structure) of the full …

Fantasy Theme Analysis Of Ms Magazine: 1972-1984, Stephanie S. Clark

Student Work

“The personal is political” was a popular slogan of the Women’s Liberation Movement during the 1960s, because it encapsulated the feminist ideology. Women became aware, through the sharing of personal experiences, that individual problems were common to all women as a result of women’s inferior status in society. Consciousness-raising sessions helped to bolster women’s self-confidence and enabled women to form a bond of sisterhood. The feminist ideology stressed the importance of collective action to gain equality in all spheres of society.

An Analysis Of The Role Of The Public Information Officer In State And Local Government With An Indepth Analysis Of The Public Information Officer In Nebraska And Iowa Government Offices., Gene Marie Tracey Hallinan

Student Work

Political leaders have long been aware that their success or failure depends directly on the mood of the voting populace. Thus, it was natural for these political leaders to employ public relations practitioners to not only deter­ mine the mood of the citizenry, but in some cases to help improve it. But in 1913, because of the broad criticism of 19 propaganda" in government, "publicity agents" were prohibited from being employed anywhere in any of the executive agencies unless authorized by Congress. The result of this act was the evasive hiring of publicity experts under such titles as "Director of …

Ratings Of Source Credibility In Relation To Level Of Vocal Variety, Sex Of The Source, And Sex Of The Receiver., Kathy Davies Taylor

Student Work

Pitch, rate, volume, and intensity express and evoke meaning and emotion that a verbal message cannot communicate by itself. The question arises, however, as to how much variety within the voice is desirable for the source of the message to appear most credible today in the United States. How much does the level of vocal variety affect source credibility? Does limited variability in paralinguistic cues significantly damage the perceived credibility of the source? Is it possible to have too much vocal variety in the delivery of a message?

An Exploratory Study Of Adolescents' Communicative A Ttitudes, Perceptions Of Behavior, And Life Change Events As Potential Factors In Development Of Essential Hypertension, Susan Heath Falvo

Student Work

In the past 50 years, social scientists and medical researchers have explored many aspects of human behavior and the psyche which appeared related to various physical disorders. This endeavor evolved into a discipline known as "psychosomatic medicine." Methodologies and perspectives within this discipline have varied widely over the years and many studies have yielded Inconclusive findings (Lipowski, 1977; Lazarus, 1980). However, a review of the psychosomatic literature reveals a t least one common dimension: the nature of one's face-to-face transactions is vitally linked to one's physical well-being.

One medical researcher who described the relationship between human Interaction and physiological processes …

A Quantitative Analysis Of Readership Of Inserts In The Omaha World-Herald, Sharan L. Wilson

Student Work

According to the Newspaper Advertising Bureau, preprinted inserts are versatile, flexible, effective and growing faster than any part of the newspaper. More advertisers than ever before are using inserts because they can tailor them to specific advertising needs and objectives. Preprints offer an unlimited variety of sizes, shapes and formats and provide the drama and impact of controlled color reproduction in what is essentially a black and white medium. Inserts are also delivered as part of the paid for and wanted newspaper. Thus, advertising inserts which appear in such a friendly environment share in this image and have at least …

A Survey Of Literature Study Of The Development Of The Affirmative Case Components Between The 1950'S And The 1970'S, Mary Lou Klipfel

Student Work

Douglas Ehninger wrote that “debate is what we say it is.” The structure of the activity has mirrored the needs of the times. But what is it today? And is it different than yesterday, or twenty years ago? To answer these questions, it is necessary to examine briefly the development of competitive debating. Between 1748-1895 debate assumed that formats of the Latin Syllogistic Disputation, the Memorized Forensic Ara, and the Literary and Debating Societies. From 1895 until the 1930’s debating was articulated through triangular leagues and forum debates. In the 1930’s the tournament forms of the status quo was initiated.

Performance Consequences Of Encoding Belief-Incongruent Editorials, Leanna Skarnulis

Student Work

Performance and message consequences of encoding belief incongruent editorials were examined in this study. Twenty-six students enrolled in News Editing completed a student option survey, containing scales for both direction and intensity of belief. Approximately two weeks later they were asked to write editorials on two propositions determined to be strongly-held beliefs. Each subject was required to write one editorial congruent with personal belief and one belief-incongruent editorial. Subjects were assigned at random so that 14 did the belief-congruent encoding first and 12 did the belief-incongruent first. The research hypotheses -- that when encoding belief-incongruent editorial subjects would make more …

Relationships Between High School Forensic Experience And College Percentages In Pi Kappa Delta, Pat Garrighan

Student Work

Debate coaches and debaters often find themselves trying to answer the question: “who makes the better debater, an individual who was a former high school debater or one who began debating at the college level?” The writer has heard coaches express opinions on both sides of the issue as if they were facts. The purpose of this study was to seek an empirical answer to the question. This research should be of value to college coaches of interest in both college and high school debaters.

The Effects Of Prejudicial Pre-Trial Publicity On Perceived Defendant Character And Guilt, James M. Leu

Student Work

The “Free Press v. Fair Trial” issue is the one in need of research, yet few students examining its effects have been forthcoming. Those studies that have been made have not adequately isolated the variables in the pre-trial publicity to permit meaningful conclusions. The present study was directed at exploring the effects of prejudicial pre-trial publicity on the defendant’s perceived character and guilt. Sixty-nine undergraduate students were assigned to one of four conditions, receiving either prejudicial or non-prejudicial pre-trial publicity either one or thirty days before they were asked to rule on the defendant’s guilt. A synopsis of evidence was …

A Study Of The Effect Of Preoperative Communication Between Operating Room Nurses And Patients Having Total Hip Replacement Surgery, Barba J. Edwards

Student Work

Communication and interpersonal relations are two vital elements of the nursing process. The basic unit of nursing consists of two persons, the patient and the nurse; in this interpersonal relationship the individuals bring their past experiences and expectations to the present situation and attempt to find ways to communicate their thoughts and feelings.

A Descriptive Study Of Nonverbal Communication Between And Within The Professions Of Nursing And Medicine, Anne M. Fangman

Student Work

Due to the feminist movement, male-female communication has become a topic of increased interest, especially in the area of nonverbal communication. Julius Fast (1970) made 51 body language” a household phrase, for better or for worse. But the study of nonverbal behavior has.only recently become a serious subject of research. As Randall Harrison (l97l) put it, We have important problems to solve. In short, I see us on the threshold of an exciting era of research in nonverbal communication (p. 2).”

Trait Anxiety, Leadership And Group-Induced Decision Change, Chester D. Gaston

Student Work

The twelve item Choice Dilemmas Questionnaire (CDQ) developed by Kogan and Wallach (1964) has been used extensively for investigating individual and group decision-making processes. Each item presents a hypothetical life situation in which the central character must choose between two courses of action, one of which is more risky than the other but also more rewarding if successful. For each situation the Sis must select the lowest probability of success they would accept before recommending that the potentially more rewarding (and risky) alternative be chosen. After Ss have made their private individual choices, a group is formed and each item …

A Study Of Relationships Between Machiavellianism, Dogmatism And Perceived Persuasiveness Of Messages, Marilyn Henderson Ihle

Student Work

Psychologists and researchers in communication have shown much interest in personality variables such as Machiavellianism and dogmatism. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between these two traits and perceived persuasiveness of different message types. Four hundred and twenty-six students enrolled in Speech 101, Fundamentals of Speech Communication, at the University of Nebraska at Omaha were administered the Mach V scale and the Dogmatism Scale-Foxm E. They were also presented two hypothetical, news releases to read and to rate on persuasibility. One release was based cm authority and the other on reason.

The results of this study …

The Effects Of The Use Of Antithetical Statements On Attitude Change And Terminal Source Credibility Ratlings, Larry Newell Willis

Student Work

Style is the distinguishing factor which provides a speaker with a singular and unique identity (Carpenter & Seltzer, 1970). As such, the elements comprising "style” have been recognized and recommended by classical as well as contemporary rhetoricians. For example, Wilson and Arnold (1964, PP. 260-265) state that one such element of personal style is the broad category "figures of speech". These figures'of speech or stylistic devices are inclusive of but not limited to; parallel repetitions, inversions, and antitheses. Of these, antitheses are the focus of this empirical study.

Effects Of Relevant And Irrelevant Characteristics Of Leaders In A Communication Network, Janet Ann Scheetz

Student Work

The present study involved groups of four Ss participating in a communication network, problem-solving task. Groups were assigned to one of the two treatments involving an irrelevant leader characteristic, race, and one of two treatments involving a relevant leader characteristic, efficiency. Race was varied by informing some groups that their leader was White while the other groups were informed that their leader was Negro. Efficiency was defined by an efficiency index, which, through a script followed by a confederate leader, produced either a high or low degree of efficiency. Race of the leader had a non significant impact on all …

Concurrence With Persuasive Suggestion As A Function Of The Sex Of The Speaker, Sex Of The Listeners And The Form Of Persuasive Suggestion Used, John A.G. Klose

Student Work

Twelve groups of Ss participated in twelve different conditions to assess the relationship of concurrence to the sex of the speaker, sex of the listener and form of suggesttion used by a speaker. None of these independent variables was significantly related to the number of concurrent and nonconcurrent responses of Ss. However, nonconcurrent responses increased significantly for all groups of Ss with each suggestion in a series of four suggestions. This finding lends support to the theory of psychological reactance (Brehm, 1966).

The Relationship Of Locus Of Reinforcement To Change In Initial Perception Of Communicator Credibility And Type Of Decision Generated, Stephen Allan Brown

Student Work

Hovland, Janis, and Kelley (1953) distinguished between expertness and trustworthiness, two variables most relevant to communicator perception. They defined expertness as the extent to which a communicator is perceived to be a source of valid assertions and trustworthiness as the degree of confidence in the communicator's intent to communicate the assertions he considers most valid. They defined communicator credibility (degree of belief) as incorporating both expertness and trustworthiness but concluded that there was experimental confounding of both variables.