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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Allure Of Isis: Examining The Underlying Mechanisms That Helped The Islamic State In Iraq And Syria, Alexander Luchsinger Jan 2017

The Allure Of Isis: Examining The Underlying Mechanisms That Helped The Islamic State In Iraq And Syria, Alexander Luchsinger

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the effects of exposure to media content related to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and its effect on support for the group. Using a survey of Muslim adults living in the United States (N = 396), this study sought to understand the influence of media exposure on identification, empathy and attitudes toward ISIS, and how they relate to behavioral intention to support the group. Using social cognitive theory as a theoretical framework, these relationships were assessed using mediation analyses to measure the relationships between variables. Findings indicate that identification, empathy, and attitudes are all …


Is That Online Review Fake News? How Sponsorship Disclosure Influences Reader Credibility, Mark W. Tatge Jan 2017

Is That Online Review Fake News? How Sponsorship Disclosure Influences Reader Credibility, Mark W. Tatge

Theses and Dissertations

In a randomized between-subjects design, participants (N =595) were assigned one of three online reviews containing disclosure statements (no disclosure, no sponsor, sponsored) denoting whether the author of an online review was paid by an advertiser or whether the review was independent of ad sponsorship. Hayes and Preacher’s bootstrapping procedure was used to test the indirect and direct effects of related to a hypothesized model examining the impact of review disclosure on perceived credibility and purchase intention. The impact of two covariates – involvement and media literacy – was assessed to see if these variables had a potential confounding impact …


International Twitter Comments About 2016 U.S. Presidential Candidates Trump And Clinton: Agenda-Building Analysis In The U.S., U.K., Brazil, Russia, India And China, Jane O’Boyle Jan 2017

International Twitter Comments About 2016 U.S. Presidential Candidates Trump And Clinton: Agenda-Building Analysis In The U.S., U.K., Brazil, Russia, India And China, Jane O’Boyle

Theses and Dissertations

Based on agenda-building theory, this study performs content analysis on 6,019 international Twitter comments about Trump and Clinton in the 10 days prior to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Even excluding bots and trolls, the preponderance of Twitter comments were positive about Trump and negative about Clinton, in the U.S., Russia, India and China. In the U.K. and Brazil, Twitter comments were largely negative about both candidates. Twitter sources and topics were also identified and explored to expand knowledge about the evolving role and effect of agenda-building in six nations, and around the world.


Framing Marijuana: A Study Of How Us Newspapers Frame Marijuana Legalization Stories And Framing Effects Of Marijuana Stories, Hwalbin Kim Jan 2017

Framing Marijuana: A Study Of How Us Newspapers Frame Marijuana Legalization Stories And Framing Effects Of Marijuana Stories, Hwalbin Kim

Theses and Dissertations

The current study was initially designed to look at how the issue of marijuana legalization was presented in U.S. newspapers and how news frames could influence the audiences’ attitudes or behavioral intentions. To investigate these questions, two different types of research methods were employed: content analysis and experiment. Using framing theory as a theoretical framework, this study found that marijuana legalization has been largely described as a legislation issue or a law enforcement issue, and medical benefit and medical risk were most frequently mentioned attributes to support and oppose marijuana legalization. Findings indicated that news frame could influence the public’s …