Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Aung San Suu Kyi & The Speech At Shwedagon Pagoda, Ella Michael

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

No abstract provided.

The Rhetoric Of Pope Francis: Leadership Profile, Elizabeth Kresse

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

No abstract provided.

The Theotokos: A Model Of Unwavering Ethical Commitment, Emmeline F. Ross

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

No abstract provided.

Child Brokering: A Literature Review And Discussion, Nelly D. Figueroa-Herrera

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

No abstract provided.

Gender Inequality And Export Diversification In Afghanistan: A Critical Literature Review, Kolea Suehiro

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

No abstract provided.

How A Luxury Clothing Brand’S Country Of Origin Impacts Consumer Desirability And Status Perception: A Literature Review, Julia Wysocki

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

No abstract provided.

How Does Language In Emails Impact How Recipients Respond?, Ellya Asatryan

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

No abstract provided.

A Study On The Communication Of Religion In A Christian-University Context, Jessica Furrow

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

No abstract provided.

Ai-Generated Versus Human-Generated: Creative Content In Advertising, Elizabeth Burrow

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

No abstract provided.

The 'Other' In European Colonial Rhetoric: Race, Modernity, And The Legacy Of Imperialism", Mateo E. Roldan

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

No abstract provided.

The Priming Effect Of Music On Political Alignment, Katherine Hailey, Blue Brasher, Brandon Kim

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note, Elizabeth Kresse

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

No abstract provided.

Pepperdine Journal Of Communication Research Volume 15, Issues 1-3, Elizabeth Kresse

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

No abstract provided.

The Business Of Domesticity: Homemaker Influencer Content And The Depoliticization Of Women's Gender Roles, Kathryn Andronowitz

Undergraduate Fellows' Research

Social media platforms have seen a rise in content created by female influencers who display their domestic and family lives, from “homefluencers” and “mommy bloggers” to media sensationalized “tradwives.” Among these content creators, “homemaker” influencers curate and present their lifestyles in ways that reflect and question broader discourses on gender roles, women’s labor, and traditionalism. This study analyzes the content of ten self-identified “homemaker” influencers on Instagram to understand how they construct and maintain a self-brand amidst adjacent online communities like crunchy and far-right networks, and in a wider neoliberal, postfeminist cultural context. This paper explores how Instagram’s platform features …

Advertising To Children: A Content Analysis Of Ryan's World, Cora Denny

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Ryan’s World is a children's toy review YouTube channel with over 36 million followers and features kid YouTuber Ryan Kaji. A qualitative content analysis of the YouTube channel Ryan’s World was conducted to observe the rhetorical strategies the videos employ to sell Ryan’s World products, as well as how those strategies compare to traditional advertising. An analysis of twelve videos resulted in dominant themes of increasing brand familiarity and product performance of Ryan’s World products. These were accomplished through the use of traditional advertising rhetorical strategies such as product placement, special effects, appeals, and more. The study shows that the …

To What Extent Is Social Media A Tool For Political Mobilization?, Bridget Westrum

Political Science Theses and Capstones

This study looks at the potential impacts of social media advocacy on mobilizing the pubic. Drawing from the Pew Research Center’s 2018 American Trends Panel, I look at Americans’ views of technology, political involvement, and their perceptions of social media and online engagement. I found that younger respondents view social media as more important to their political engagements. I find a significant relationship between census region and perceived importance of social media on issue involvement, as well. Respondents from the southern United States who consider themselves to be "very liberal" report a greater influence of social media on their involvement …

"Social Media Is Imperfect, But It's The Best We Have": Understanding And Addressing Sexual Health Information Seeking Challenges Among Young Adults, Alexander N. Vera

MUSC Conference Presentations

Objective:

Young adults in South Carolina face increasing challenges when seeking accurate sexual health information due to limitations in traditional and authoritative sexual health education and healthcare access. This paper investigates the future of libraries and health science librarians by exploring how young adults use social media platforms to seek sexual health information. It identifies the primary barriers young adults face and investigates opportunities for developing innovative digital health literacy resources.

Methods:

This study employed a dual-method qualitative approach, utilizing 90-minute semi-structured interviews and digital walkthroughs with 20 young adults aged 18-25 from across South Carolina. The interviews explored participants' …

I Will Not Accept This Rose: "The Bachelor(Ette)," Gender Stereotypes, And Self Perception, Rylie Vann

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Reality television is a cornerstone of modern-day TV programming, and typically features some element of competition, a makeover, or finding love. The Bachelor began airing in 2002, and the franchise that was built off the initial season continues to be a big name in romantically themed reality television. However, the show employs a variety of tactics during filming and while editing that presents a heteronormative view of contestants. The extent of this influence was explored using a mixed-method approach. A content analysis of several episodes from The Bachelor and The Bachelorette was conducted in order to determine how many instances …

Banking On Black: Black Banking And Financial Institutions In Historic Westside, Las Vegas, Drewmel Darby

Undergraduate Research Symposium Podium Presentations

Guiding Questions and Topic Interest:

• What happened to the attempts to establish a black-owned bank on the Westside? Why did they fail?

• In what ways did the black community engage with financial institutions?

• How did black Las Vegans view their fiscal autonomy post-integration of Las Vegas in the 1960s?

• How does understanding the community’s history with banking better our understanding of it’s condition in the present?

Perception Of Emotions In Autism With Controlled Elicitation, Austin Gillespie, Rachel Dewald

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Recognizing emotions play a crucial role in effective communication.(1)

Previous research has rated autistic expression as awkward.(2)

These studies captured unnaturally elicited emotions by having participants imitate emotions from scripted prompts and pictures

Researcher Risks: A Typology For Qualitative Risks To Researchers In Communication Studies, Rebecca M. Rice, Kristie Mcallum

Communication Studies Faculty Research

Discussions of risk in qualitative research tend to focus on risks to research participants. However, qualitative researchers also face risks—or uncertainties with potential for harm—because they serve as the research instrument. Communication researchers are uniquely suited to problematize the meaning of risk and extend theory about what risk is by noting that risk is subjective and communicatively constructed, both in qualitative methods and in research contexts. We create a typology of five risk contexts that pose a danger to researchers: crisis, disruptive, vulnerable, emotionally risky, and ethically fraught contexts. For each context, we define the risk, propose representative examples, and …

Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover: Generational Diversity At Centracare, Theresa Reichert, Lora Gullette, Britney Winkelman

Nursing Posters

The American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) identifies key elements of a health work environment. Key elements to build belonging within a health work environment (HWE) include:

• Recognizing the value each person brings to the team
• Open, respectful, and effective communication
• Helping teams identify missing "F"s by valuing multiple perspectives
• Avoiding communication breakdowns
• Building departmental cultures where it is safe for employees to speak up with safety concerns
• Advancing collaboration and mutual respect, even during conflict.
• Strengthening employee fulfillment, retention and morale

At CentraCare, many different generations work together to care for patients and one another. Understanding generational strengths …

Hey Barbie! There's A Lot Of Kens On My Screen: A Qualitative Analysis Of Female Gender Inequality In Media Representation And How Society’S Responses To It Have Evolved, Ania Delaney Boutin

Honors College Theses

Since Dr. Jean Kilbourne called attention to the dehumanization of women in magazine ads in her series of lectures-turned-documentaries “Killing Us Softly” vol. 1-4, the treatment of women in media has received attention from researchers and documentarians alike. Kilbourne asked audiences to take the impact of negative depictions of women seriously, encouraging women into careers where they could shape the next generation’s media. Subsequent documentaries assessed Kilbourne’s research and expanded it to include political consequences, minority voices, and various systemic issues.

Using a summative content analysis approach, this research examines the content of six documentaries, spanning 1979 to 2018, to …

Newsletter, Wku Staff Senate

Staff Council

Newsletter created by WKU Staff Council to report on work accomplished.

Motivating Community Attendance: The Role Of Self-Determination Theory And Message Framing, With Moderating Effects Of Organizational Credibility And Community Attachment, April Batson-Bright

Communication (PhD) Dissertations

A two-part, mixed methods study explored the impacts of motivational messages on a parents’ intention for their family to attend a hypothetical community Snow Day event hosted by the local County parks and recreation division. Grounded in self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), message frame theory (Rothman & Salovey, 1997), community attachment theory (Kasarda & Janowitz, 1974), and organizational credibility the study examined these factors and their impacts on behavioral intention. In Study One, two focus groups assessed parents’ perceptions of credibility of a local government agency hosting the event, as well as perceptions of the flyer advertising the event. …

The Digital Incorporated Worker Narrative: A Mixed Methods Study Of Digital Capital, Work Selection, And Outcomes In The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Tracie King

Dissertations

Digital technology permeates society and industry, making digital-ready workers necessary for firms of all sizes as a firm seeks competitiveness in the market (Bergson-Shilcock et al., 2023; de Ruyter et al., 2018; Gorski et al., 2022; Karaboğa, 2023; Kim et al., 2017; Qureshi Zia, 2019). Firms seeking digital-ready workers face a complex digital divide that creates a worker shortage (Bergson-Shilcock et al., 2023; Karaboğa, 2023; Qureshi Zia, 2019). This study aims to describe workers' work selection, work experience, and outcomes in a complex digital society.

Most digital divide research focuses on the individuals excluded from owning, accessing, and having skills …

How To Sell A Gendered Fantasy, Matthew Salzano, Jess X. Alexander, Belinda B. Castiblanco, Brianna Chavez, Maura Conley, Chris Connor, Antoine Jones, Ryan Kani, Christopher Munde, Kyleigh Retzlaff, Steffi Santos, Gabriella Simpson, Amberlin Smith, Jenna Zaza

School of Communication and Journalism Faculty Publications

The media analysis essays in this collection are the result of an online graduate course at Stony Brook University’s Program in Writing and Rhetoric entitled “Intersectionality and Media.” Drawing upon methods and scholarship based primarily in rhetorical studies, the course aimed to prepare graduate students in a variety of disciplines to write, research, and communicate about issues related to media, identity, and the intersectionality of oppression—especially race, class, gender, and sexuality. How to Sell a Gendered Fantasy analyzes various media artifacts (spanning digital, film and tv, music, and games) and the fantasies about gender that they contain. Gendered fantasies work …

Public Comment: Using Critique-Like Mediating Artifacts To Democratize Discourse At City Council Meetings, Piper Schuerman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Are local governments designed for equitable citizen participation? While civic engagement aims to empower citizens and support representative governance, barriers to participation can hinder those outcomes. City council meetings, key venues for public input, pose specific challenges such as long durations, dense content, and intimidating formalities. These issues disproportionately affect Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012), who frequently report feeling underinformed or having limited time to engage. This thesis explores how city council meetings might use multimodal mediating artifacts, inspired by design critique practices, to make public discourse more accessible for Gen Z adults.

Grounded in activity theory and …

Illustrating Identity: Ethel Reed’S Art Posters And Women's Claims To Public Space In Fin-De-Siècle Boston, Miranda R. Knofczynski

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

Much scholarship has uncovered the history of women illustrators during the late nineteenth century. The rebuilding of these lost histories calls for research which theorizes women’s contributions to the burgeoning arts scene of the fin-de-siècle. This thesis will examine the posters Ethel Reed created for different companies during the height of the 1890s poster craze and discuss how she articulated women in public space in them. Reed’s art offers an aestheticized yet feminist visualization of women engaging in leisure activities such as exploring the city, reading, or attending the theatre. Many have described the women in her posters as merely …

Differentiated Instruction For Students With Special Needs: “How Can We Better Equip Students, School Systems, And Society For Differentiated Instruction For Students With Special Needs In Career And Technical Educational Environments?”, Mikala A. Highsmith

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Career and Technical Education (CTE) plays a vital role in preparing students for the demands of the modern workforce by providing essential knowledge, technical skills, and industry-recognized certifications. As the number of students with disabilities, including neurodivergent learners, continues to rise, CTE programs face increasing pressure to adopt innovative, inclusive educational practices. Integrating creative teaching strategies and leveraging technology are now critical tools in addressing diverse learning needs that promote effective classroom management and enhance student engagement. Moreover, CTE programs emphasize the development of professional competencies, workforce protocols, and transferable skills that strengthen students’ employability across industries. This paper examines …