Interpersonal and Small Group Communication Commons^™

Imagined Interactions As A Link To Political Talk, Megan Lambertz

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

According to the imagined interaction theory (IIT), IIs are the cognitive processes where individuals indirectly experience past or future interactions through the process of imagination (Honeycutt, 2003). Retroactive IIs occur after a conversation takes place, whereas proactive IIs occur when individuals imagine a conversation before the interaction (Honeycutt, 2010). The current study examined individuals‟ imagined interactions (IIs) regarding conversations about politics with family members. Participants completed an online survey where they recorded retroactive and proactive IIs, and completed a set of measures regarding their family and political affiliation. Both proactive and retroactive IIs fell into eleven categories for content. Proactive …

A Mixed Methods Exploration Of Principal Communication And School Climate, Reece Oswalt

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Mixed methods triangulation research design was used in order to explore the relationship between principal communication and school climate. The Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire for Elementary Schools (OCDQ-RE) and interview protocols on principal communication were administered to principals and teachers at three elementary schools each having between 700-1000 students in an urban school district consisting of approximately 300,000 students. Each school had between 80-100% Free and Reduced Lunch (FRL), was designated Adequate according to No Child Left Behind Act (2001) as published in the 2009-2010 School Accountability Reports, and had a principal that had been assigned to that school for …

Exploring Dialectics In Grandparent Grief: Communication With Family And Friends Following The Death Of A Grandchild, Ashley Nicole Duchow-Moore

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

A relational dialectics perspective was adopted for this study in order to better understand the tensions and contradictions bereaved grandparents experience following the death of a grandchild. The interviews of eleven grandmothers and five grandfathers were analyzed using a qualitative/interpretive method, leading to implications regarding the nature of grandparent grief. Grandparents experienced tensions in their own grief and in their multiple roles within the family structure after a grandchild died. Grandparents expressed contradictions in their role as a stable supporter versus griever, as well as balancing the need for protection and privacy. Grandparents negotiated these tensions through conscious communicative choices …

A Change Of Heart: A Phenomenographic Study Of Conversation, Marjorie Kay Meckes Conner

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study investigated the use of a school-level leadership model intended to explore the institutionalization of principal-teacher conversations as a tool in leading and learning. An elementary principal and two teachers at five elementary schools were selected for the study. Over an eight-week time, the principal and each teacher held a series of at least four conversations. The investigator interviewed each of the fifteen participants prior to any conversations, at the mid-point of the conversations and at the conclusion of all conversations. The purposes of this exploratory study were to document participant perceptions of the usefulness and importance of principal-teacher …

Factors Of Adoption: Initiating Relationships Using Online Dating Sites, Rachel Lee Toyer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The present study used the Diffusion of Innovations Model to explore the circumstances that lead graduate and professional students enrolled at the a university in southern Nevada to adopt online dating services with the intent of initiating a serious commitment with a potential partner. The diffusion model was used to frame online dating as a process that people go through in acquiring knowledge about the service, forming an opinion about it, testing the service, and finally adopting the service into their daily life. Factors such as time afforded to relationships, apprehension in social situations, safety, and opinions of online dating …

Gatekeeping In A Tv News Editorial Conference: Shift Of Force, Other Media, Personal Experience And Pack Mentality, Kyril Daniel Plaskon

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study uses Gatekeeping Theory and Conversational Analysis to describe how four factors influence news gatekeepers in a small group at one TV station. The four factors include shifting forces, other media, personal experience and pack mentality. They were identified through conversational analysis of pilot data and the research questions are supported in the literature as common influences in news gatekeeping. This study describes how those four elements occur during group conversation.

Analysis of the recorded data collected in five editorial conferences describes how the four factors are expressed by the gatekeepers as they consider events that may become news. …

Cultural Brokering And Bicultural Identity: An Exploratory Study, Jorida Cila, Richard Lalonde, Zohrah Haqanee

Western Migration Conference Series

Abstract: Cultural brokering refers to a process where individuals mediate between two parties that are experiencing some type of cultural misunderstanding. Our exploratory study indicates that cultural brokering is a diverse experience that spans the boundaries of one’s family and includes various norms, values and traditions.

Imagined Interactions As A Link To Political Talk, Megan Lambertz

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

The current study examined individuals' imagined interactions (IIs) regarding conversations about politics with family members. Researchers wanted to know the content and forms of IIs about politics with a family member and if participants of different family types differered on their use of II functions and II characteristics.

Staying Genuine And Creating Connections: Networking And Involvement For Introverts, Kiyomi D. Deards

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Presentations

Introversion, often thought of as a negative attribute, can be a tool to build strong personal connections. How can introverts create and maintain professional networks without feeling fake or insincere? How can introverts balance solitude with interpersonal interactions? What are myths about introverts and how can we combat them?

How New Librarians Used Branding And Outreach To Create Communities Of Practice, Kiyomi D. Deards

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Presentations

Want to get involved and make a difference? Come learn how one librarian got involved and used branding and outreach to promote and increase membership in their professional service organization, and developed their personal community of practice. Find out how you can get involved professionally. Learn how you can define and promote a unique brand for a professional group or yourself, and see how getting involved can exponentially increase your professional network while serving others.

The Positive Impact Of Negative Feedback, Mark B. Richey

Theses and Dissertations

While feedback is an essential element of performance, there is little theory explaining the effects of negative feedback. Disagreement exists as to whether negative feedback is good or bad and this impacts its use. Fortunately, control theory provides scholars with an opportunity to better understand negative feedback and the conditions necessary to support its intended function. This study examined the relationship between negative feedback and task performance in a leadership development environment. This work asserts that performance is contingent on perceived feedback usefulness, such that the relationship is stronger when feedback usefulness is high and weaker when it is low. …

Find Oz And Lula Fundraising Event, Natalie Do, Rebecca Leong

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

Distance Education And Community Learning Networks Linked By A Library Of Culture, Joseph A. Santiago

Student Affairs Digital Community Development

Humans are relational beings with their modeled behavior as practical examples of cultural routines that they hear, see, read, and assemble on their own from communal pieces of information to answer the needs of their everyday lives (Bandura, & Jeffrey, 1973). Yet few researchers have looked at the differing synthesis of culture and generally assume that others share similar ideas/values that lead to particular events and worldviews (Lillard, p.5 1998). Informational and cultural contact zones can be created to support CLNs, universities, and individuals in a variety of roles to encourage their interactions so they might design, and challenge the …

Exploring Touch As A Positive Workplace Behavior, Bryan Fuller, Marcia J. Simmering, Laura E. Marler, Susie S. Cox, Rebecca J. Bennett, Robin A. Cheramie

Faculty Articles

Whereas most research has focused on the negative aspects of touch in the workplace (i.e. sexual harassment), this study focuses upon the positive use of touch. In an effort to explain individual differences in the use of workplace touch, three sequential studies are used to introduce the concepts of workplace touch self-efficacy and workplace touch initiation anxiety. In Study 1 we develop scales to assess the constructs. Study 2 provides an initial examination of the construct validity of the measures developed in Study 1. Results of Study 3 indicate that supervisor reports of touch self-efficacy and physiological touch anxiety are …

Common Ground Or Killing Quicksand?, David M. Richman

The University Dialogue

No abstract provided.

A Research Study Examining Forgiveness, Empathy, Commitment, Trust, And Relational Satisfaction Among Adult Friends After Relational Transgressions, L. Lori Poole

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research project examined how forgiveness was managed by adult friends after relational transgressions. It studied how the emotion of empathy promoted the act of forgiving and why the construct of commitment related to trust and relational satisfaction among friendship dyads. Isolating the specific emotion empathy in regards to forgiveness heightened the understanding of what emotional behaviors were used to maintain friendships once a relational transgression was experienced. Measuring and analyzing the interaction between commitment, trust, and relational satisfaction helped to determine how these constructs promoted forgiveness among adult friends.

Parented Emotion: A Study Of Adult-Children's Emotion Socialization And Family Communication Patterns, Joseph Grant Velasco

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using the General Theory of Family Communication Patterns (FCPT) and Emotion Regulation Theory (ERT) of Meta-emotion, Parenting, and Child Outcomes, this dissertation sought to investigate adults' emotion socialization in their family of origin through an examination of multiple family schemata. Furthermore, the interactions of parental meta-emotions, family communication patterns, and family communication environments were investigated. Two surveys were used in this study. First, 228 adult-children across two universities in the western United States responded to items retrospectively describing the family communication patterns and family communication environments within their home of origin during their adolescence. Additionally, adult-children described the meta-emotion philosophies …

The Calm In The Midst Of A Chaotic Life: Learning Personal Social Communication In A Media-Saturated World, Lavonne Michelle Renno

Theses Digitization Project

This project takes Theatre of the Oppressed and Theater Games to elementary age students in the High Desert, helping them work through emotional issues and developing responses that would enable them to resist the allure of gangs, which offer the pretense of security and a sense of belonging. The objective of the project is to help teach students to have positive interactions with each other and adults. A group of fifth and sixth grade under privileged low income students from the High Desert region was selected to participate in this after school program. The program was based on psychodrama and …

The Art Of Nursing: An Evaluation Of Congruence Of Nurse-Patient Perceptions Of The Healing Interaction, Gillian Yvonne Dargan-Doxzon

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study is to pilot a new tool that encompasses both patients' and nurses' perceptions of the nurse-patient interaction. This pairing of surveys will measure congruence of the perceptions between the nurse and the patient.

A Communication Approach To Understanding Rapid Responses To Others: The Importance Of Flexibility Across Goal Conditions, Betsy App

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Two studies evaluated the communication approach to rapid display responses (RDRs) to others by 1) examining the influence of specific communicative goals on RDRs and, 2) identifying the social outcomes associated with correspondence between communicative goals and responses. Both studies showed that people in general can change the magnitude of their most rapid responses according to communication goals to either respond or suppress responses. For some stimulus-response pairs, the ability to flexibly deploy RDRs to align with goals is associated with positive social outcomes for those who are socially active. In Study 1, individual differences among socially active first-year college …