Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Trolling Twitter, Eric Vorst

Dissertations

Political polarization is a defining feature of the contemporary American political landscape. While there is little doubt that elite polarization levels have risen dramatically in recent decades, there is some debate over the existence of a corresponding rise in mass polarization. Recent scholarship on mass polarization has cited evidence related to citizens’ positions on public policy issues, party sorting, and geographic polarization; however, questions remain as to the nature and extent of mass polarization in online spaces. Specifically, more needs to be known regarding how expressions of elite polarization influence the formation of polarized communities within social media.

This dissertation …

Pragmatic Understanding Of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus) Use Of A Two-Way Communication System, Pepper Reid Hanna

Dissertations

Pragmatics focuses on how a communication system is used to achieve a communicative goal, the social context of the communication, and the organizational structure of communications (Horn & Ward, 2004; McLaughlin, 1998). There is evidence of pragmatics within animal communication systems. For example, context appears to be an important component in both signal production and a receiver’s response in vervet monkeys (Seyfarth et al. 1980).

MA Thesis: http://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/170/

The current study used an underwater keyboard to establish a two-way communication system between humans and dolphins. The purpose of this study was to determine if, under these conditions, dolphins displayed pragmatic …

Transforming Conflict: A Grounded Theory Study Of Six Behavior Domains Of Leaders In Five Different Fields, Scott A. Dick

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this grounded theory research consisting of five collective phenomenological studies was to generate a theory that explains how exemplar leaders from five different fields use six domains of conflict transformation behaviors to establish common ground and produce breakthrough results. The six domains of behavior are communication, collaboration, ethics, emotional intelligence, problem solving, and process. Methodology: The sample was composed of 75 exemplar leaders from five different professional fields and included an analysis of over 1,300 pages of interview transcripts as the main data source for the study. Findings: The results found that exemplar leaders establish, build, …