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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Impact Of Density: The Importance Of Nonlinearity And Selection On Flight And Fight Responses, Wendy C. Regoeczi Dec 2002

The Impact Of Density: The Importance Of Nonlinearity And Selection On Flight And Fight Responses, Wendy C. Regoeczi

Sociology & Criminology Faculty Publications

Unlike commonsense notions and the findings from animal research, the literature concerning the effects of density on human social behavior is paralyzed by contradictory findings. This article examines empirically two fundamental issues which could account for this and which are central to the density-crowding debate: (1) whether observed crowding effects are the result of causation or selection and (2)whether individuals are negatively affected by both low and high levels of density. Data from the Toronto Mental Health and Stress study are analyzed using structural equation modeling to investigate these questions. The results support the notion that the effects of density …


Making Friends To Last A Lifetime: An Ethnographic Study Of Parasocial Relationships And Soap Opera Characters, Emmalee Elizabeth Haight Pryor Jan 2002

Making Friends To Last A Lifetime: An Ethnographic Study Of Parasocial Relationships And Soap Opera Characters, Emmalee Elizabeth Haight Pryor

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to build theory about parasocial relationships and to examine what affect, if any, religion had on parasocial relationships. Using qualitative methods, the researcher watched the show three times with five women followed by an in-depth interview. The women chosen were LDS stay-at-home moms who had watched a soap opera for at least a year.
From this data came several surprising findings about religion and soap opera viewing. The women said they did not feel guilty about the content of the shows, rather the time required to watch. This guilt was alleviated by structuring their …