Communication Commons^™

Grounded In Reality: An Exploration Of Acceptance In Relational Conflict, Audrey Johansen

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Acceptance work encompasses “the processes that allow us to be fully grounded in reality” (Canfield, 2023). It allows individuals to embrace what truly is, both the good and the bad. It enables them to be at peace with what they can’t control, so that they can put their energy into changing what is within their power.

This project explores how acceptance work connects with other aspects of conflict process, including grieving, emotional regulation, and other concepts. Research was conducted by studying materials on communication and conflict processes, and by applying the materials to the author’s life. The author explores how …

Shifting The Paradigm With Wednesday Addams: Why Nuanced, Intersectional Portrayals Of Autistic People Matter, Camille Alyse Bassett

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

For decades, Autistic people have been portrayed in the media through dehumanizing stereotypes such as the robot, the superhuman savant, and the empty shell. Through these stereotypes, Autistic people are construed as non-human, above-human, and sub-human but never as human beings with complexity, authenticity, and dignity. In addition to being stereotypical, depictions of Autistic people have historically featured white and male characters, a longstanding pattern that erases Autistic women and people of color, among others. In 2022, however, Netflix’s spinoff series of The Addams Family, Wednesday, brought to the screen one of the very first autistic-coded …

A Sentiment And Content Analysis Of Facebook Posts Regarding Wild Horse Management, Libbie G. Anderson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study was to better understand public sentiment and current conversations on Facebook regarding wild horse management practices, including adoption, roundups, and contraception, in the timeframe between the June 2021 BLM Wild Horse Advisory Board meeting and January 31, 2022. Social media monitoring and quantitative content analysis were used to examine the Facebook posts of four organizations communicating about the wild horse controversy. The research questions guiding this study included: (1) How many total mentions of “fertility control,” “contraception,” “roundup,” “gather,” “adoption,” and “management” as they pertained to wild horses occurred across Facebook from June 1, 2021 …

Get Out, Hiroki Tanaka: Asian-American Characters In Black Films And Black Activism, Naomi Yoko Ward

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship Asian-Americans have with black Americans in order to determine how Asian Americans navigate their role in American racial discourse. Additionally, this study considers the causes and effects of Asian-American participation in movements like Black Lives Matter (BLM). This topic is explored through the analysis of Asian-American characters in black stories told through four films: Fruitvale Station, Get Out, The Hate U Give, and Sorry to Bother You. To narrow the scope of this research, I placed focus on characters in works that have been published since 2013, when the …

Talking Stories: An Analysis Of Haolewood's Attempts To Tell Hawai'i'S Stories Through Movie Trailers, Pono R. Suganuma

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This study investigated how Native Hawaiians and Hawai'i are represented by the media, specifically in movies and their accompanying trailers. Thirty movie trailers from movies released between 1939 and 2016 were analyzed. These movies represented the various movie genres of romantic comedy, thriller, war, animation, drama, historical, and more. The aim of the study was to compile evidence of various themes such as stereotyping, white-washing and language pronunciation within movie trailers in order to validate or extend conceptually the theoretical framework or theory about the lack of accurate representation of Native Hawaiians. This is a feasibility study that could help …

Domestic Violence In Mass Media: An Analysis Of Messages, Images, & Meanings In Motion Pictures, Renee Liana Delcambre

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The overarching goal of this research was to discover the framing strategies employed within depictions of domestic abuse and/or violence through mass media outlets and what potential impact that can have on the audience, particularly in assigning meaning to the topic. Specifically, this research analyzed the choices made in how domestic abuse/violence is framed within four popular motion pictures and the subsequent messages and meanings communicated. Findings from this qualitative analysis reveal common depictions of fictional victims being young, beautiful, naïve, and fully responsible for ending the abuse. In contrast, fictional abusers are depicted as young, handsome, wealthy and/or in …

Impact Of Resident Assistants And Community On Student Grades, Kayla Arrington

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

On-campus student housing at any university has the opportunity to positively impact student experiences. This exploratory study looks at how frequency of interaction with the Resident Assistant (RA) and interaction with the residence hall community, sense of community, social self-efficacy, and academic self-concept correlate with academic success. This study is intended to show the effect the Resident Assistant has on students' academic and social experiences in apartment-style housing. Therefore, this study also looks at how variables are related to each other in order to give Resident Assistants a better understanding of their sphere of influence in a community. The relationships …

A Visually Determined Deutschland: Visual Rhetoric Analysis Of German Culture, Taylor Halversen

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Within the field of Communication Studies, researchers attempt to define culture and often explain it as shared meanings and values among a group of people. Another subsection of Communication Studies includes the study of how images communicate: the field of visual rhetoric. This paper combines concepts from intercultural communication and visual rhetoric in order to better understand German culture. By examining two culturally significant eras of German artwork through the lens of visual rhetoric analysis, this study seeks to better understand German culture and its values. By analyzing the visual communication of historically significant photographs, one can find common meanings …

An Examination Of Citizens United: Where We're Going And How We Got There, Stephanie M. Lewis

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission (2010) has been touted as both champion and destroyer of First Amendment free speech rights. It remains a controversial decision of which we are only beginning to see its true effects. The case brought rise to the Super PACs commonly denounced in the media and the vast amount of money that comes with them. We have seen negative and positive campaign ads that candidates for election don’t have to answer to. In order to truly understand these effects, I examined the Supreme Court’s decision to determine its line of reasoning as well as media …

Morphological Awareness Dynamic Assessment Task In Third Grade Children: A Feasibility Study, Katherine Pike

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether a) a morphological awareness dynamic assessment task is a sensitive instrument and reveals a range of performance in third grade children, and b) performance on a morphological awareness dynamic assessment task may be significantly improved with dynamic scaffolding.

Method: The participants included twenty-three typically developing third-grade children from an elementary school in the Intermountain West. The morphological awareness dynamic assessment task, adapted from Larsen and Nippold (2007), was administered to each child two times (Initial Trial 1 testing and a subsequent Trial 2 testing 3 days later). This task required …

Variability Of Cranial Nerve Assignment To Speech And Swallow Muscles, Kristina Morrey

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The object of this study was to examine and document anatomical variability of cranial nerve assignment for muscles of the speech and swallow mechanism. Through means of textbook review, the study’s first purpose was to identify which cranial nerves were attributed to the innervation for muscles associated with the speech and swallow mechanism. The second purpose was to examine if cranial nerve assignment, field of study, or geographic region explained differences in cranial nerve assignment to muscles of the head and neck.

Losing Face: Why More Media Literacy Education Is Needed In Utah's Public School Curriculum, Natalie Andrews, Brooke Nelson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Health programs in Utah's curriculum focus mainly on the after effects of media's influence--eating disorders, low self-esteem and other destructive teenage behavior--and no one puts the correct amount of blame on television or the advertisements that promote buying to be beautiful. However, studies have found a strong correlation in teens between media consumption and negative behaviors. Teens are, after all, a main target for over $30 million ad dollars every year. Utah has curriculum in place for media literacy, but it is scattered throughout multiple subjects and is never rightly treated as its own. Because of this, we propose protecting …

Selective Mutism: The Little Known Disorder That Causes Big Problems, April Meyer Vogt

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

For my senior thesis/project, I planned on delving into the subject of Selective Mutism (SM) and how it interferes in a child's education, and what treatments and evaluations are available to help treat and diagnose a child with SM. SM is a type of anxiety disorder that can occur when a child develops an acute fear of speaking. Treatment of a child with SM usually focuses on techniques to lower anxiety and increase self-esteem and confidence in communication and social settings. I focused my presentation towards treatment models and options, including, but not limited too: behavioral therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, …

Case Study Of Phonological Awareness And Narrative Intervention, Elizabeth Ann Degraffenried

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

My Senior Thesis was a year long case study. I provided Phonological Awareness Training and Narrative Intervention to a seven year old girl, S.C., diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy of a nondenerative type. S.C. has sever speech and physical impairments secondary to the Muscular Dystrophy. She also has visual perceptual deficits secondary to Duanes Syndrome (a disorder of visual convergence). Because of her disabilities, S.C. is unable to use speech or sign language as her primary means of communication and an Augmentative and Alternative communication device is required for communication purposes. S.C. currently uses a Dyna Vox 4000 to communicate. This …

Tightrope Walking: Finding The Balance Between The Military And The Media During Modern Wars, Marcie A. Young

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Access to information during national conflict is like walking a tightrope, and the military and the media are dependent on the tension to keep balance.

In times of war, the military and the media fight a battle of their own - a battle revolving around the dichotomy of secrecy and information. The military, notorious for keeping secrets, and the media, notorious for finding and reporting those secrets, are naturally in opposition.

Online, On Trial: Pornography, The Constitution And The Communications Decency Act Of 1996, Brian E. Bowcut

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Cyberspace, in its present condition has a lot in common with the 19th Century West. It is vast, unmapped, culturally and legally ambiguous ... hard to get around in, and up for grabs. ...It is, of course, a perfect breeding ground for both outlaws and new ideas about liberty...1

So assesses Grateful Dead lyricist-turned-cyberguru John Perry Barlow the new frontier, that vast expanse of computer networks known as the Internet. Yet, in recent months, the law has come to this chaotic domain, where anything goes and nothing remains unsaid. With the passage of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA), …

Radd - Respect All, Don't Discriminate Grant Proposal, Heather Mason

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Diversity. Not only a politically correct term, but a reality in the world today. Diversity surrounds us through ethnicity, ability, gender and race. Through the advent of Congressional mandates, our country is beginning to recognize the value of a workforce and community infused with a variety of people. But, in order to give momentum to this sweeping movement, an attitude of acceptance must begin early. For it is during the formative years when self-esteems are formed, and it is during these years we begin formulating our perception of those who are different.

Negative Political Advertising, Negative News Coverage: A Connection?, Karrie Cook

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Although negative advertising and negative news coverage of candidates is not a new phenomenon there is a perception among the news media that the number of negative ads has increased in the past decade (1984-1992), especially in the past five years. This perception has led reporters to increase their coverage and scrutiny of such ads, while at the same time showing them repeatedly on news casts. There are many reasons given as to why the number of negative ads and negative election reports may have increased, including more consulting companies, changes in election process in the 1960s, independent political groups …

Facilitating Acceptance Of Alternative Communication Devices In Classrooms By Teachers, Tracie Empey

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

There exists a number of persons who lack adequate speech for communicative purposes. Many of the non-vocal children and adults from these populations have benefitted from the development of various alternative communication devices. The non-vocal individual is one whose speech does not provide a functional means of meeting communication needs. However, this does not necessarily mean that the non-vocal individual has no speech or vocalization at all, nor does it mean that the individual may not develop fully functional speech in the future. (Vanderheiden, 1975). The devices used with these people allow an increase in the abilities to meet various …

Valuing Diversity In Business, Kimberly Nalder

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The purpose of this project was to create, plan, and implement an original instructional module on the topic of valuing diversity in business. My areas of emphasis were gender, sex role issues, and communication.

My responsibilities included: coordination with the instructor in all stages of planning and implementation; researching appropriate learning models for such a course; identifying topics of greatest significance within diversity; preparing and presenting one complete day of instruction; adapting cases and worksheets for both the course introduction and the gender issues/ communication sections; conducting personal interviews with appropriate resource individuals; creating an original group project; arranging for …

The Mechanics Of Low Orbiting Satellites Implications In Communication, Lane Brostrom

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Low orbiting satellite communication networks will be competing with geosynchronous satellites for a share of the communications market. In world-wide communications that do not require immediate real time transmissions, low orbiting satellites are competitive with geosynchronous satellites because the system is reliable and low in cost.

Since satellites are a clear example of Newtonian laws, the distinct patterns they make in their orbiting process are predictable. Newton's law states that an object will remain in uniform motion unless acted upon by a force: a satellite remains in motion around the earth because there is no atmosphere to slow it down. …