Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Series

Articles 1 - 8 of 8

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Topical Analysis Of Nuclear Experts' Perceptions Of Publics, Nuclear Energy, And Sustainable Futures, Hannah K. Patenaude, Emma Frances Bloomfield Feb 2022

Topical Analysis Of Nuclear Experts' Perceptions Of Publics, Nuclear Energy, And Sustainable Futures, Hannah K. Patenaude, Emma Frances Bloomfield

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Nuclear energy experts consider commercial power from fission to be a strong contender to help mitigate the increasing effects of climate change, in part due to its low-to-no carbon emissions. Nevertheless, nuclear energy’s history, including meltdowns such as Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima, and dumping in sacred Indigenous land such as Yucca Mountain, raises important concerns in public deliberation over nuclear power. These communicative dynamics are crucial to study because they inform larger conversations in communication scholarship about the role of experts in scientific controversies and the complicated nature of public trust in and engagement with science. Thus, this …

Go to article

Climate Communication And Storytelling, Emma F. Bloomfield, Chris Manktelow Aug 2021

Climate Communication And Storytelling, Emma F. Bloomfield, Chris Manktelow

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

As part of its Assessment Reports (ARs), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) publishes Summaries for Policymakers (SPMs) that review key findings on climate science and climate change’s potential impacts. We argue that the IPCC could create more engaging SPMs by incorporating narrative features. This project evaluates AR5’s SPM for narrative opportunities, which are elements that could be narratively restructured or strengthened. Storytelling does not compromise the goals of the IPCC but rather helps public audiences understand and relate to the information. We encourage the adoption of storytelling elements to increase public understanding of and engagement with climate science.

Go to article

Communication Outside Of The Home Through Social Media During Covid-19, Natalie Pennington Jul 2021

Communication Outside Of The Home Through Social Media During Covid-19, Natalie Pennington

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

This study explored, through quantitative and qualitative survey analysis (N = 307), the role of communication through social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected in April 2020 to understand how individuals engaged with their network through social media and the subsequent relationship with subjective well-being, conceptualized as loneliness, life satisfaction, and positive and negative affect. Results identified that passive social media use contributed to greater loneliness and a decrease in life satisfaction. Some active use of social media contributed to an increase in positive affect. However, other active uses increased feelings of loneliness. Results also spoke to …

Go to article

Disaster Resilience As Communication Practice: Remembering And Forgetting Lessons From Past Disasters Through Practices That Prepare For The Next One, Rebecca M. Rice, Jody L. S. Jahn Dec 2019

Disaster Resilience As Communication Practice: Remembering And Forgetting Lessons From Past Disasters Through Practices That Prepare For The Next One, Rebecca M. Rice, Jody L. S. Jahn

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Communities learn important lessons about their vulnerabilities from disasters. A crucial aspect of resilience is how communities apply past lessons to prepare for future events. We use a practice lens to examine how communities remember and forget lessons through everyday communication surrounding their preparedness activities. We analyze two cases of disaster preparedness in one community. The first site, a local Office of Emergency Management, adapted national policies to the community while also keeping local disaster lessons in mind (i.e. remembering lessons). The second site represented an intractable conflict between the U.S. Forest Service and a community group that inhibited the …

Go to article

Explaining How College-Aged Individuals Provide Information To Friends Experiencing Romantic Relational Uncertainty, Tara G. Mcmanus, Yuliya Yurashevich, Courtney Mcdaniel Jul 2019

Explaining How College-Aged Individuals Provide Information To Friends Experiencing Romantic Relational Uncertainty, Tara G. Mcmanus, Yuliya Yurashevich, Courtney Mcdaniel

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

College-aged individuals report having difficulty deciding what and how much information to provide to friends, yet they often turn to one another for information when experiencing relational uncertainty in a romantic relationship. Given the central role friendships have in college-aged individuals’ lives, identifying ways to decrease the difficulty of providing information is necessary. By framing friends’ relational uncertainty conversations as an information management process, the information-provider’s cognitions and emotions are highlighted as factors likely influencing the information provided to friends requesting it to manage their relational uncertainty. In an online survey (N = 367), participants recalled their most recent conversation …

Go to article

The Circulation Of Climate Change Denial Online: Rhetorical And Networking Strategies On Facebook, Emma Frances Bloomfield, Denise Tillery Dec 2018

The Circulation Of Climate Change Denial Online: Rhetorical And Networking Strategies On Facebook, Emma Frances Bloomfield, Denise Tillery

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

This study uses a topical, rhetorical approach to analyze how climate change denial circulates online through the 25 most popular posts on the Watts Up With That and the Global Warming Policy Forum Facebook pages. These groups adopt the appearance of credibility through reposting and hyperlinking, thus establishing a supportive, networked space among other skeptical sites, while distancing readers from original sources of scientific information. Visitors use a variety of rhetorical strategies to echo posts’ main themes and to discredit alternative viewpoints. Differences between the topoi and rhetorical strategies of WUWT and the GWPF show that the climate change denial …

Go to article

Is Civility Contagious? Examining The Impact Of Modeling In Online Political Discussions, Soo-Hye Han, Leann Brazeal, Natalie Pennington Aug 2018

Is Civility Contagious? Examining The Impact Of Modeling In Online Political Discussions, Soo-Hye Han, Leann Brazeal, Natalie Pennington

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

This study examines a way to promote civility in online political discussions through modeling discursive cues. An online experiment (N = 321) was conducted to investigate the impact of civil and uncivil discursive cues on participants’ mode of discussion. Results show that participants who were exposed to civil cues were more likely to engage in civil discourse themselves, stay on-topic, and offer additional perspectives in their comments. We also found that metacommunication (i.e., talking about the tone of discussion) engendered more metacommunication. This study illustrates the impact of modeling discursive cues and illuminates the possibility that participants in online discussion …

Go to article

Analyzing Warrants And Worldviews In The Rhetoric Of Donald Trump And Hillary Clinton: Burke And Argumentation In The 2016 Presidential Election, Emma Frances Bloomfield, Gabriela Tscholl Jun 2018

Analyzing Warrants And Worldviews In The Rhetoric Of Donald Trump And Hillary Clinton: Burke And Argumentation In The 2016 Presidential Election, Emma Frances Bloomfield, Gabriela Tscholl

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Combining a dramatistic analysis with the Toulmin model productively contributes to a rhetorical understanding of the 2016 presidential election and locates Burke as an integral component of political communication criticism. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton's rhetoric differed not only on policy arguments, but also on their rhetorical vision for America. Trump's campaign arguments privileged the agent and thus invoked identification with an idealist worldview, while Clinton's rhetoric privileged agency and thus invoked identification with a pragmatic one. Warrants and worldviews are interconnected parts of campaign rhetoric that contribute to both persuasion and identification.

Go to article