Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Relationships Between Rejected And Accepted Romantic Initiation Behaviors On Social Media: Self-Esteem And Depressive Feelings In Face-To-Face Interactions, Katie Walker

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

Snap, write, upload; smile, tag, post. These are the sequence of actions that have become prevalent amongst social media users. Now, more than ever, such platforms have enabled users to connect with each other, share information, and even initiate romantic relationships. Most social media are designed to stimulate positive interactions among users, for example via “likes” and “favorites,” (Valkenburg, Koutamanis, & Vossen, 2017). However, with this sense of empowerment through a screen also comes the possibility of becoming negatively affected by the interpersonal responses that one receives on social media. Romantic Initiation Behaviors (RIBs) occur anytime one reaches out to …

Call To Action: Climate Change Is Calling, Elizabeth Maccoy, Timothy Good, Sarah Fischbach Phd

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

The sustainability movement found in

many popular companies (i.e. Patagonia, Toms Shoes, Rareform) promotes helping the changing climate as part of their marketing strategy. Our research begins to uncover the benefits of these movements that shape student’s thinking towards sustainability. This study aims to evaluate sustainability on the campus of Pepperdine University from the students’ point-of-view after participating in a sustainability project in marketing classes. A convenience non-probability sample of 75 participants engaged in the quantitative Qualtrics online survey. Our results reveal that Pepperdine students who participated in the marketing campaign consider sustainability important, have positive attitudes toward the environment …

Undemocratic And Liable, Noel Kildiszew

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

The tragedy of World War II left the world in rubble. In 1945, a continent once controlled by fascist and communist dictators found itself in the process of rehabilitation not only of cities but also of government systems. With Hitler and Mussolini literally out of the equation, the world could seemingly recover peacefully. However, seventy-four years later in 2019, similar problems are beginning to rise out of the ashes of WWII. Under the presidency of Donald Trump, the United States government is beginning to align itself with fascist ideology. Traditionally, fascism creates social and government systems that support a centralized …

Male Gender Expression Conflict Between Baby Boomers And Millennials, Annelise Green, Caroline Mcclelland

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

Ellen Degeneres cheerfully identifies herself as a Baby Boomer to her TV show audience, explaining that her generation was so-named because after World War II their parents said “We lived through the war, let’s make whoopee!” (Degeneres, 2016). Ellen then quips that “For you Millennials, making whoopee is like Netflix and Chill... But they were married,” (Degeneres, 2016). Here, Ellen has identified one of the key differences between two generations. Inasmuch as a person can be influenced by their parents, friends, or education, generations (or cohorts) can be impacted through the societal context surrounding their time of birth. Differences within …

Thank You

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

Thank you for reading Volume 7 of the Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research.

$16.7 Million To Save One Reputation: How Starbucks Responded Amidst A Racial Sensitivity Crisis, Monica Avila, Hannah Parkin, Sabrina Galoostian

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

In April of 2016, two black men were sitting in a Starbucks store (Gayle, 2018) when an employee claimed they had to leave since they had not made a purchase. The two men refused to leave the store, which prompted the Starbucks barista to call the Philadelphia Police, claiming that the two men were trespassing. A viral video showed the two men being arrested and caused a public out roar. After the public started several protests at multiple Starbucks locations, the chain decided to take serious action and closed over 8,000 stores for a day to run a racial bias …

Table Of Contents And Editors' Notes, Emma Johnson, Kayla Elwy

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

Table of Contents and Editors' Notes

Pepperdine Journal Of Communication Research Volume 7 // April 2019

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research Volume 7 // April 2019

Rhetorical Theory In The Age Of Social Media In Dear Evan Hansen, Katherine Quick

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

Broadway hit musical, Dear Evan Hansen, has revolutionized the culture of theater, as the show discusses many issues facing society such as loneliness and anxiety as caused by the increasing use of social media. This musical creates a space to talk about important issues that often go unsung. In the song, “Waving Through a Window”, the main character Evan details many of his anxieties and worries, as he desires to fit in at school and navigate the world around him. This paper argues that the writers of Dear Evan Hansen effectively argue that today’s society is one in which teenagers …

Charter Schools At An Impasse: Evaluating America’S Charter School System, Katie Pope

Featured Research

Through an analysis of resources from the State Departments of Education and state education codes, I argue that levels of state regulation of charter schools differ in California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, and New York. Specifically, I demonstrate that this regulation can be classified as low, moderate, or high, depending on the language of the state’s educational legislation. I also analyze the racial diversity of each state’s charter school and public school sectors, using race as a proxy for income levels. This data is used to assess the educational outcomes of the different sectors. It is evident that charter schools are …

The Cold War And The Discipline Of Negotiation, Bazil Cunningham

Global Tides

The Cold War period is perhaps one of the most tumultuous periods in modern history apart from the calamity of World War I and World War II. The juxtaposition of two world superpowers and the proliferation of nuclear arms resulted in extreme tension, uncertainty, and fear during the Cold War era. Although nuclear warfare was averted, experts all unanimously agree that the world barely escaped unscathed. This paper will provide detail surrounding the history of the Cold World Era, an in-depth discussion regarding the application of Negotiation theory to this conflict, and any conclusions that can be drawn. The synthesis …

Syrian Refugee Camps In Jordan: An Assessment, Athena-Rose Jennings

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Syrian Refugee Camps in Jordan: An Assessment explores how and why the Government of Jordan created camps to house its 670,000 Syrian refugees. Examining Jordan’s four Syrian refugee camps, Jennings considers to what extent their different operating models are effective and why. Metrics of camp effectiveness include degree and type of support from non-Government of Jordan humanitarian actors, the availability of education and medical care in the camps, and the degree to which camp residents themselves engage in the camp communities. She posits that using the camp model affords Jordan greater internal security, and influence over refugee matters internationally by …

Suicide And Neoliberalism: An Imminent Critique Of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Noël Ingram

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

In her paper, “Suicide and Neoliberalism: An Imminent Critique of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy,” Noël Ingram, following the tradition of scholars such as Philip Cushman and Mark E. Button, challenges the dominant discursive framework of suicide through an examination of one of the dominant psychological therapeutic frameworks used to understand and treat suicidal ideation, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Ingram argues that CBT assumes the site of disorder is situated in the atomized neoliberal subject whose failure to think and behave rationally has led to their suicide attempt. Further, Ingram discusses how the framework of CBT is influenced by inherent neoliberal assumptions with its …

The Implications Of Trauma On Immigrant Children's Well-Being, Tomas Martinez, Emilyn Ahmed, Blaze Cosko, Anna Ujvary, Morgan Proffitt

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

This paper examines the psychological trauma immigrant children experience at the border and the ways in which their mental health is negatively affected, as a result. During the process of migration, children are forced to deal with a wide range of stressors. Psychological trauma, such as border trauma, can lead to mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and cognitive issues (Brabant et al., 2016; Santiago et al., 2018; DeJonckheere, Vaugh, & Jacquez, 2017; East et al., 2018; Fortuna et al., 2016; Ramos et al., 2017). Additionally, countless immigrant children face trauma, such as racism, discrimination, and social …

The Fairness Of Fair Trade: An Analysis Of The Economics Of Fair Trade, Duke C. Schillaci, Julia R. Norgaard

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

In 2015, a study done by Cone Communications found that millennials are "universally more engaged in corporate social responsibility." In fact, 87% of millennials are willing to purchase a product with social or environmental benefits. Enter, the fair trade label. The fair trade label, which is attached to products which meet the previously mentioned consumer demands, has emerged over the last three decades. Products like organic produce, textiles, and natural commodities have entered into global retailers and supermarkets through these non-traditional distribution channels, supported by increased consumption as well as changing consumer preferences. In order to uncover the underlying economic …

Effect Of Locality Recognition On Aggressive Behavior In The Red Swamp Crayfish, Procambarus Clarkii, Brett K. Muramoto, Tyler Farley

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Climate change affects habitat globally, facilitating the expansion and rapid proliferation of invasive species which damage the newly invaded ecosystem. Intraspecific aggression among an invasive species is an important focus in ecological studies because it can contribute to their overall success as invaders. The crayfish species, Procambarus clarkii, inhabits freshwater streams in the Santa Monica Mountains (Los Angeles, CA) as an aggressive invasive predator. These invasive crayfish are well known for their highly aggressive interactions with conspecifics. It has been shown that body size, temperature, sex, and level of hunger influence their levels of aggression. However, there is a …

Traits And Trends Of Social Entrepreneurship/ Innovation Leaders, Heet Ghodasara, Juanie Walker

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

The purpose of this study was to examine qualifications, characteristics, successes and motivations among leading social entrepreneurs in not-for-profit or for-profit organizations. Based on an interview guide developed by Dr. Juanie Walker and Heet Ghodasara, Ghodasara conducted interviews with 20 leaders of social entrepreneurship/innovation strategically located in Washington, D.C. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts revealed traits of successful organizations and individuals supported by provocative quotes. Themes of successful organizations include system disruptions, mutual investment, broad network and founder obsolescence. Individual themes include traits such as self efficacy, humility, grit and perseverance as well as imperatives to Get Dirty but Clean …

Loneliness In Students' Own Words, Stephanie Burris, Benjamin Sargent

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Loneliness has been shown to have detrimental effects to both physical and mental health. A 2017 survey of Pepperdine undergraduates found 69% of student felt lonely, compared to the national average of 64%. This study sought to understand loneliness through students' own words. Focus groups, divided by gender, were conducted and participants were asked to discuss their experiences of loneliness at Pepperdine. Additionally, participants were asked to create a list of words that come to mind to describe loneliness. Data from the focus groups were analyzed by identifying key themes and sub-themes and quotes from the participants were coded and …

Option Strangles: An Analysis Of Selling Equity Insurance, Clemens Kownatzki, Hisam Sabouni

Graziadio Working Paper Series

Our results suggest, selling SPY strangles are generally profitable across a variety of widths. However, the payoff profile of a short option strangle exposes the contract seller to a potential for unlimited losses. Our evidence on maximum drawdowns indicates that losses on some positions can be the equivalent of the profits gained on approximately forty prior positions. This payoff profile has given rise to the metaphor of selling option contracts as the equivalent of “picking up nickels in front of a steam roller.” The goal of our paper is to analyze the full return characteristics of option strangles and to …

Empty Discarded Pack Data And The Prevalence Of Illicit Trade In Cigarettes In California, James Prieger

School of Public Policy Working Papers

Illicit trade in tobacco products (ITTP) creates many harms including reduced tax revenues; damages to the economic interests of legitimate actors; funding for organized-crime and terrorist groups; negative effects of participation in illicit markets, such as violence and incarceration; and reduced effectiveness of smoking-reduction policies, leading to increased damage to health. To study the prevalence of tax avoidance and ITTP, we analyze a large, novel set of data from empty discarded pack (EDP) studies. In EDP studies, teams of researchers collect all cigarette packs discarded in publicly accessible spaces of selected neighborhoods. Packs are examined for the absence of local …

Naturalism And Its Inadvertent Defenders, Mark Bevir, Jason Blakely

All Faculty Open Access Publications

The interpretive turn in the social sciences, although much discussed, has effectively stalled and even begun to backslide. With the publication of Interpretive Social Science: An Anti-Naturalist Approach, we provide a systema- tic defense of interpretive inquiry intended to help reinvigorate this mode of study across the human sciences. This defense, unfortunately, needs to be deployed not only against social scientists who unwittingly adopt naturalistic philosophical assumptions, but against interpretivist fellow travelers such as Michel Foucault, who occasionally do the same thing; and even against interpretivists who assume that their philosophical position is secured by using only qualitative methods, and …

The Hermeneutics Of Policing: An Analysis Of Law And Order Technocracy, Jason Blakely

All Faculty Open Access Publications

Contemporary American policing practices are marked by increasingly top-down, racialized, militarized, and pseudo-scientific features. Social scientists have played a central role in creating this political situation: social-scientific advocates of “law and order,” far from providing a value-neutral description of social reality, appear instead to have contributed to the creation of a peculiarly modern form of power.

Nudging The Needle: Foreign Lobbies And U.S. Human Rights Ratings, Felicity Vabulas Dr.

All Faculty Open Access Publications

Newspapers print alarming headlines when foreign governments hire U.S.-based lobbyists to promote their interests in Washington D.C. But does foreign lobbying systematically affect U.S. foreign policy? We provide an analysis of the influence of foreign lobbying on one important component of U.S. foreign policy: the evaluation of human rights practices abroad. U.S. human rights ratings can have a large impact on American foreign policy. They affect foreign aid, sanctions, and trade. Thus, we expect that many countries seek to tilt State Department Country Reports on Human Rights in their favor through information they provide to U.S.-based lobbyists. Our statistical analysis …

Small Business Lending And Social Capital: Are Rural Relationships Different?, Robert Deyoung, Dennis Glennon, Peter J. Nigro, Kenneth Spong

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

We test whether rural versus urban location, and the amount of social capital present in those locations, influence the performance of Small Business Administration (SBA) 7(a) loans originated between 1984 and 2012. On average, we find that rural loans are about 11% less likely to default than urban loans, and that a standard deviation increase in social capital reduces default by about 5%. Surprisingly, these two effects are largely independent of each other, even though social capital is substantially higher in rural places than in urban places. Our findings advance the small business lending literature and offer insights for a …

Amplifying 'Whispered Interventions' Into Loud And Forceful Cries, Joelina Robinson Machera

Theses and Dissertations

An equitable educational environment includes the voices of the individuals and the power of their stories. For marginalized people, particularly women of color, surviving school means existing in oppressive environments which require the stealing of knowledge while struggling to obtain an education (Collins, 2002). It is imperative that institutions acknowledge the specific complexities women of color face in the academy (Crenshaw, 2017). This study is designed to make meaning of the journey of Black women doctoral students using counterstories and composite stories to capture and learn from their lived experiences. Through the (re)covery and (re)telling of the stories of Black …