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Title: Assessing the Impact of Website Domain on End-User Evaluations of Web Page Aesthetics Using an Immediate Aesthetic Perception Technique.
Creator: Doddington, Forrest Alan, Adams, Jonathan, Cortese, Juliann, Heald, Gary, School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This study investigated the 'immediate aesthetic impression' method of quantifying the perception of attractiveness of several website designs. This study replicates and expands an existing line of research that investigates a method of measuring end-user's "first impression" evaluations of web page attractiveness. Emphasis is placed on evaluating the potential influence of website domain on end-user perception of website visual aesthetics. A snowball technique was used to contact and enroll...
Show moreThis study investigated the 'immediate aesthetic impression' method of quantifying the perception of attractiveness of several website designs. This study replicates and expands an existing line of research that investigates a method of measuring end-user's "first impression" evaluations of web page attractiveness. Emphasis is placed on evaluating the potential influence of website domain on end-user perception of website visual aesthetics. A snowball technique was used to contact and enroll 184 participants. The participants were asked to evaluate 24 website screen images that represented four website domain categories (commerce, entertainment, government, and religious/non-profit). The results suggest that web domain can be, but is not always, a factor in the perception of website aesthetics. Comparing the average attractiveness rating between an experimental and a control group, websites in the Government domain showed a higher average attractiveness rating from the participants who were aware of the web domain they were viewing. The results also confirm prior findings and show that aesthetic perceptions are formed very quickly and held largely consistent upon repeated exposure to the same website screen image. Response latency continues to show promise as an inherent, objective confirmatory variable, with some limitations on proper experimental design when gathering latency data. This study provides further evidence supporting the repeatability and generalizability of the 'immediate aesthetic perception' measurement method and new findings about the relationship between web domain and perceived website aesthetics.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0435
Format: Thesis

Title: Effects of an Emergent Literacy Intervention for Children with Language Impairments from Low Income Environments.
Creator: Ziolkowski, Robyn Alane, Goldstein, Howard, Al Otaiba, Stephanie Dent, Torgesen, Joseph, Scott-Trautman, Lisa, School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: National Research Council statistics indicate that 40% to 75% of preschoolers with early language impairment develop later reading difficulties (RD). Children exhibiting decreased language abilities need ample opportunities to acquire the early foundations of literacy before entrance into formal education. This study explored the feasibility and effectiveness of an explicit phonological and print awareness intervention embedded within repeated (i.e., three times per week) shared book reading...
Show moreNational Research Council statistics indicate that 40% to 75% of preschoolers with early language impairment develop later reading difficulties (RD). Children exhibiting decreased language abilities need ample opportunities to acquire the early foundations of literacy before entrance into formal education. This study explored the feasibility and effectiveness of an explicit phonological and print awareness intervention embedded within repeated (i.e., three times per week) shared book reading with preschool children from low income backgrounds with and without language impairments. A multiple baseline design across behaviors demonstrate that embedded phonological awareness practice was related to changes in emergent literacy skills in preschool children at risk for RD. Specifically, rhyme intervention resulted in improvements in weekly rhyme production and rhyme identification tasks. Initial sound intervention resulted in improvements in alliteration and initial sound fluency tasks. Replications were demonstrated within and across all 23 participants (10 considered at risk and 13 considered high risk). Additionally, this study examined novel word-learning abilities in the same cohort of preschool children at risk for RD. Children with and without language impairments demonstrated the ability to learn novel words after incidental exposure. Words exposure was carefully controlled to contrast one vs four exposures during repeated shared book reading without adult highlighting or discussion. An alternating treatments design indicated there were no differences in the amount of words learned when exposed one-time vs. four-times per reading. In addition, an examination of the levels and degrees of word learning based on book-specific receptive, expressive, and decontextualized vocabulary assessments revealed significant pre-post differences in word learning on all measures. Children with language impairments demonstrated the ability to learn novel words incidentally after three repeated shared book readings, but children with higher language abilities learned more words. Gains on standardized measures of receptive and expressive vocabulary were also demonstrated. Findings confirm that embedding an explicit phonological and print awareness intervention into the context of repeated storybook reading results in gains in emergent literacy skills for children at risk for RD. Further, children with and without language impairments can increase their level of vocabulary knowledge by simply listening to stories containing novel words even with relatively few exposures.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0482
Format: Thesis

Title: Health Communication Campaigns: Targeting Adolescents with Clusters of Health-Compromising Behaviors.
Creator: Esquibel, Monica Adriann, Heald, Gary R., McDowell, Stephen D., Mayo, John K., School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Historically the preventable risks affecting morbidity and mortality among adolescents and young adults have largely been thought of as independent behaviors. However, a growing body of evidence has shown that many of these adolescent risk behaviors are often interrelated. Traditionally public health communication campaigns and audience segmentation strategies have been designed to address "individual" unhealthy lifestyles and behaviors among youth in the United States. In recent years,...
Show moreHistorically the preventable risks affecting morbidity and mortality among adolescents and young adults have largely been thought of as independent behaviors. However, a growing body of evidence has shown that many of these adolescent risk behaviors are often interrelated. Traditionally public health communication campaigns and audience segmentation strategies have been designed to address "individual" unhealthy lifestyles and behaviors among youth in the United States. In recent years, public health researchers have recommended that campaigns should be identifying clusters of behaviors for intervention. This shift requires health campaign professionals to alter communication audience segmentation strategies in order to identify the characteristics of individuals who exhibit combinations of unhealthy lifestyle and risky behaviors. This study is a secondary analysis examining the co-occurrence of health risk behaviors among adolescents with the objective of developing profiles that can be used in segmentation strategies to help target youth audiences in communication campaigns. Building on previous research, this study focused on seven adolescent health-compromising behaviors simultaneously. This study identified four meaningful clusters of risky behaviors and health- compromising lifestyles. Three of these clusters contain adolescents reporting above average co-occurring risks. Furthermore, this study used demographic, BMI scores, self-perceptions, and leisure activity measures to profile and predict membership in the four cluster groups. The results of this study identified a few common re-occurring patterns. Similar to previous research, the findings show that the majority of adolescents in grades 9-12 have low-risk profiles while the highest risk group had the lowest number of adolescents. Gender was found to be an inconsistent measure of membership in the risk profiles. Age predicted group membership in one of the clusters. Race/ethnicity variously predicted membership in the three risk profiles. Number of days missed due to perceived threats predicted membership in two profiles. Health perception predicted membership in all three profiles. The results of this study support the stance that prevention/intervention efforts can justifiably and meaningfully focus on multiple risk behaviors simultaneously. Differences among the risk profiles are important to note and should be highlighted in prevention/intervention efforts.
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Date Issued: 2008
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0509
Format: Thesis

Title: Over the Edge and into the Abyss: The Communication of Organizational Identity in an Outlaw Motorcycle Club.
Creator: Dulaney, William Lee, Young, Marilyn J., Grindal, Bruce, Heald, Gary R., Grise, Philip J., School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The present study is an ethnographic analysis of the communication of organizational identity in an outlaw motorcycle club. Two goals direct the present study. The first is to present a brief history of outlaw motorcycle clubs that extends current research back nearly 50 years prior to the current published record. In so doing, the study clarifies the origins of the term "outlaw" as it relates to motorcycle clubs. The second and major goal of the study is to explore how an outlaw motorcycle...
Show moreThe present study is an ethnographic analysis of the communication of organizational identity in an outlaw motorcycle club. Two goals direct the present study. The first is to present a brief history of outlaw motorcycle clubs that extends current research back nearly 50 years prior to the current published record. In so doing, the study clarifies the origins of the term "outlaw" as it relates to motorcycle clubs. The second and major goal of the study is to explore how an outlaw motorcycle club establishes and communicates an organizational identity. To this end, the study offers an emic (insider) understanding from the perspective of 28 members of a Tallahassee, Florida-based chapter of an international outlaw motorcycle club. A dearth of scholarly research exists addressing outlaw motorcycle clubs. The current historical record can be seen as incomplete due to the lack of understanding of how the motorcycle first diffused as a mode of transportation and then as a locus of organization. Likewise, current cultural research is limited to etic (outsider) understandings, perhaps due to the difficulty in gaining entrée to closed or secret societies. Participant observations were conducted from May through June 2004 across the United States, with the majority of data originating from the Southeast United States in general, and the northern Florida Panhandle in particular. Historical research involved examining archives of the American Motorcyclist Association; print media dating back to 1901; life histories of long-time outlaw motorcycle club members; and organizational records of the outlaw motorcycle club observed during the study. Using primarily Turnerian (1967) analysis of organizational symbols and rituals, the study examines the various acculturation processes involved in a novice becoming a member of an outlaw motorcycle club. Systems thinking frames the interpretation of how these symbols are then used by motorcycle clubs to create a system.
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Date Issued: 2006
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0642
Format: Thesis

Title: Representation of Female Athletes in Western and Romanian Media.
Creator: Dumitrescu, Anca, Wiese, Danielle, Dowell, Stephen Mc., Raney, Arthur, School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Most of the existing studies on female athletes' representation fall under the premise of longitudinal research and focus on how the representation of female athletes has evolved throughout the years. Further on, they explore how this development fits in the broader arena of societal political and cultural developments in the Western World. These studies tend to portray female athletes as occupying one of three roles: objects of male gaze, children or companions. While looking at the...
Show moreMost of the existing studies on female athletes' representation fall under the premise of longitudinal research and focus on how the representation of female athletes has evolved throughout the years. Further on, they explore how this development fits in the broader arena of societal political and cultural developments in the Western World. These studies tend to portray female athletes as occupying one of three roles: objects of male gaze, children or companions. While looking at the evolution of the representation of female athletes is a valuable research tool, analyzing the representation of female athletes from a multicultural perspective rather than a historical one can help place the representation of female athletes in an international context. This multicultural perspective can then offer a deeper understanding to the representation of female athletes around the world. In this study I performed a narrative analysis of the representation of female athletes in the Romanian newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor. I identified two prevalent character roles that female athletes come to play in Romanian sports narratives: sports heroines and marionettes. The existence of these two character types can be understood as representative for Romania's transitional state from a communist to a democratic country. When compared to the roles played by female athletes in Western media, these roles come to symbolize Romania's unique political and cultural existence: one where communist reminisces are mixed with capitalistic ideals and where consumerism fights a close battle with traditional values of family and companionship.
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Date Issued: 2006
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0641
Format: Thesis

Title: Political Ecology in Large-Format Films: Analyzing Environmental Representation & Audience Reception of Imax Nature Documentaries.
Creator: Smith, Jason Kemmitt, Opel, Andy, McDowell, Stephen, Steinberg, Phil, Nudd, Donna, School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: People's responses to environmental messages in IMAX nature documentaries Everest, Bears, and Aliens of the Deep were examined. Two processes were involved in their reactions that included media literacy and personal experience. Based upon respondents' levels of media literacy and personal experience with nature and wildlife, I suggest that people can come away with a new understanding of the natural world from the IMAX screen. Also, watching the films reinforces the two-step flow model of...
Show morePeople's responses to environmental messages in IMAX nature documentaries Everest, Bears, and Aliens of the Deep were examined. Two processes were involved in their reactions that included media literacy and personal experience. Based upon respondents' levels of media literacy and personal experience with nature and wildlife, I suggest that people can come away with a new understanding of the natural world from the IMAX screen. Also, watching the films reinforces the two-step flow model of communication. Discourses in the documentaries could potentially inspire viewers to have conversations with family and peers that stress broader problems that threaten the environment, such as the practices of pollution, waste treatment, energy consumption, over-development, and encroachment.
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Date Issued: 2007
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0354
Format: Thesis

Title: College Students' Willingness to Be Honest and Initiate Discussions with Healthcare Providers About Their Past Sexual Behaviors.
Creator: Smith, Scott Alan, Heald, Gary R., McCaleb, Thomas, Cortese, Juliann, Lustria, Mia Liza A., McDowell, Stephen, School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This dissertation discusses and evaluates various cognitive measures to predict college students' intentions to either initiate a discussion about sex or lie about past sexual behaviors to a primary healthcare provider. The following chapters explore stigma, concerns of providers' judgments, and shame, as well as variables of the Protection Motivation Theory. Results suggest that self-efficacy to initiate a discussion or lie to a provider about sex is the strongest independent predictor of...
Show moreThis dissertation discusses and evaluates various cognitive measures to predict college students' intentions to either initiate a discussion about sex or lie about past sexual behaviors to a primary healthcare provider. The following chapters explore stigma, concerns of providers' judgments, and shame, as well as variables of the Protection Motivation Theory. Results suggest that self-efficacy to initiate a discussion or lie to a provider about sex is the strongest independent predictor of college students' behavioral intentions. The dissertation concludes with the limitations to the study and an overview of the future research aimed at improving application of the Protection Motivation Theory to provider-patient communication about sex.
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Date Issued: 2011
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0366
Format: Thesis

Title: Whose Interests Are Being Served?: A Political Economic Comparison of Network and Public News Transcripts Surrounding McConnell V. Federal Election Commission and Citizens United V. Federal Election Commission.
Creator: Smock, Shea Lynn, Proffitt, Jennifer, Arpan, Laura, Castillo, Jeanette, School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: "Ruthless, vindictive, venal, sneaky, ideological, intolerant, liar," are just some of the adjectives used to describe then-presidential hopeful, Senator Hillary Clinton, in the 2008 documentary, Hillary: The Movie. Cast members involved with the conservative non-profit organization, Citizens United, and in the film's production included Fox News contributor and conservative author Ann Coulter, syndicated columnist and host of The Kudlow Report on CNBC Lawrence Kudlow, and writer and...
Show more"Ruthless, vindictive, venal, sneaky, ideological, intolerant, liar," are just some of the adjectives used to describe then-presidential hopeful, Senator Hillary Clinton, in the 2008 documentary, Hillary: The Movie. Cast members involved with the conservative non-profit organization, Citizens United, and in the film's production included Fox News contributor and conservative author Ann Coulter, syndicated columnist and host of The Kudlow Report on CNBC Lawrence Kudlow, and writer and conservative political commentator Robert Novak. Under the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), films such as Hillary: The Movie, were outlawed the month before a primary election and two months before a general election. The BCRA was passed in hopes of decreasing the influence of special interests in elections. As such, Citizens United was prohibited from distributing the film in theaters and on pay-per-view by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). By November 2008, Citizens United filed a lawsuit against the FEC and lost in the United States District Court in the District of Columbia. It was ruled that the film was in violation of the BCRA because it was "susceptible of no other interpretation than to inform the electorate that Senator Clinton is unfit for office, that the United States would be a dangerous place in a President Hillary Clinton world, and that viewers should vote against her" (Rucker, 2010, ¶8). By January 21, 2010, the case had reached the Supreme Court, and Citizens United had won. As a result, corporations and unions were granted free reign to spend as much money as they wish to campaign for or against candidates at any point in an election. It is important to recognize that Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission was not the first challenge to the 2002 BCRA. Immediately following the bill's passage, Senator Mitch McConnell along with 80 other groups and individuals filed suit against the Federal Election Commission in McConnell v. Federal Election Commission. The Supreme Court voted in favor of the Federal Election Commission and the issue of electioneering communication was not brought to the Court again until the Citizens case. The change in policy is important to study as is the way the broadcast media covered it because broadcasters stand to make massive amounts of money by selling ads to corporations and unions that were previously outlawed from buying air time to influence elections (Mann, 2010). The now legal ads may have the ability to change the way citizens vote and the way elections turn out. This thesis uses a political economic approach to analyze network news and public broadcasting discourse surrounding the Supreme Court ruling Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission in 2010 and compares them with how the broadcast media covered McConnell v. Federal Election Commission in 2002, in order to find out how, or if, coverage differed. In McConnell, the BCRA was upheld, but in the Citizens United case, key parts of the BCRA were overturned. This thesis also explores the history of campaign finance law and what the current ruling might mean for the future of democratic elections. The ruling and the media coverage are evaluated by how they may be problematic in terms of theories regarding the public sphere, the normative role of the news media in a democracy, freedom of speech and campaign finance concerns.
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Date Issued: 2011
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0371
Format: Thesis

Title: Interpersonal Communication Dynamics Between African and Hispanic American Mothers and Daughters: College-Age Daughters' Reports of Their Mothers' Communication.
Creator: Alvarez, Wilfredo, Jordan-Jackson, Felecia, Young, Marilyn J., Houck, Davis W., School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This study is an examination of Black and Hispanic college-age women's self-reports of their perception of the communication with their mothers and how this communication influenced them. Most of the literature reported in the review analyzes the influence that parents have on their children based on the way they convey messages and interact with them. The method used to collect the data for this study was focus group interviews. Results indicated that mothers clearly had topics that they...
Show moreThis study is an examination of Black and Hispanic college-age women's self-reports of their perception of the communication with their mothers and how this communication influenced them. Most of the literature reported in the review analyzes the influence that parents have on their children based on the way they convey messages and interact with them. The method used to collect the data for this study was focus group interviews. Results indicated that mothers clearly had topics that they emphasized (i.e. discussed with their daughters) and those that they did not discuss for various reasons. Topics such as academics and work ethic were frequently discussed, while sports and sex were not. Both sets of topics, those discussed the most and least appeared to have influenced the daughters. A self-disclosure scale revealed that most daughters reported medium to high self-disclosure, and being influenced in some way by their mothers.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0048
Format: Thesis

Title: Political Branding in Kuwait Investigating Existence and Equity.
Creator: Alqaseer, Jasem Mohammed, McClung, Steven, McDowell, Stephen, Jerit, Jennifer, School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This study examined the existence and the relevance of political concepts in the Kuwaiti political scene. Many indications suggest the relevance and applicability of commercial marketing concepts and tools in the political context. Yet, by examining the literature, one can find a shortage of academic work that sheds light on the study of branding concepts in the political context. This study found that brands structural knowledge does exist in the minds of Kuwaiti voters, using a five-aspects...
Show moreThis study examined the existence and the relevance of political concepts in the Kuwaiti political scene. Many indications suggest the relevance and applicability of commercial marketing concepts and tools in the political context. Yet, by examining the literature, one can find a shortage of academic work that sheds light on the study of branding concepts in the political context. This study found that brands structural knowledge does exist in the minds of Kuwaiti voters, using a five-aspects brands model and discusses the implications of that for the practice of future research.
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Date Issued: 2008
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0180
Format: Thesis

Title: The Role of Communication, Prior Experience and Beliefs as Factors Influencing Combat Stress Recommendations from Military Spouses.
Creator: Alrutz, Anna Stowe, Heald, Gary, Figley, Charles, Eveland, Vicki, School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Encouraging help-seeking behavior for Combat Operational Stress Reaction (COSR) among military service members is an important factor in maintaining military readiness and military family quality of life. This research explores the role that military spouses play in encouraging help-seeking behavior among service members using a hybrid model that merged the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) with elements of Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) to understand spouses' behavior intention. Six...
Show moreEncouraging help-seeking behavior for Combat Operational Stress Reaction (COSR) among military service members is an important factor in maintaining military readiness and military family quality of life. This research explores the role that military spouses play in encouraging help-seeking behavior among service members using a hybrid model that merged the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) with elements of Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) to understand spouses' behavior intention. Six predictor variables were explored during focus group meetings and ultimately incorporated into questions in an online survey completed by 306 military spouses of service members from all branches of service. The six predictor variables were analyzed using multiple regression and simple regression to determine their significance in predicting spouse behavior intention for service members to seek help at military and nonmilitary treatment facilities. The research focused on five hypotheses and seven research questions. The hypotheses focused on information sources and usefulness about COSR, the amount of direct experience with COSR, the degree of favorable outcomes of COSR medical treatment, the perceived stigma associated with combat stress, the perceived vulnerabilities which included risk and severity, normative beliefs about help-seeking and the perceived military spouse efficacy to encourage help-seeking behavior at both military and nonmilitary treatment faculties. The research questions provided a range of generalized information about the variables. Statistical analyses indicated that spouses who report that they have more military sources that provide useful information, about combat stress, are also more likely to (1) report more favorable beliefs about military care outcomes, (2) recognize the risks and severity of combat stress, and (3) feel that they are capable of effectively making recommendations that service members seek care at a military facility. Spouses with more direct experience with combat stress also are more likely to report favorable beliefs about outcomes resulting from military health care. Spouses who have more favorable outcome beliefs, higher perceptions of risk and severity (vulnerability), plus greater general and personal efficacy are more likely to encourage their service members to seek help at a military care facility. A positive relationship was found between useful nonmilitary information sources about combat stress and behavioral intentions to recommend care at a nonmilitary care facility. In addition, spouses who have more useful nonmilitary information report higher levels of perceived stigma associated with combat stress. Direct behavioral nonmilitary care experiences are positively related to beliefs about favorable outcomes resulting from care at nonmilitary facilities. Three variables were found to be predictors of behavior intentions. The spouses who have (1) favorable outcome beliefs, (2) who experience normative expectations and are motivated to comply with these norms, and (3) who feel greater efficacy are more likely to encourage service members to seek help at a nonmilitary care facility.
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Date Issued: 2006
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0185
Format: Thesis

Title: Cultural Differences and Their Effect on Consumer Behavior.
Creator: Alkhalaf, Ahmad Abdullah, McClung, Steven, McDowell, Stephen D., School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This study aimed to 1) uncover the participants' attitudes when a purchasing decision touches any element of their culture, 2) assess consumers' view on marketers in terms of consideration of their needs and cultural backgrounds, 3) identify the commonalities among the participants' purchasing decision-making processes and consuming habits across cultures, and 4) indicate the features that would urge consumers to buy a certain product and the factors that would make a product valuable. The...
Show moreThis study aimed to 1) uncover the participants' attitudes when a purchasing decision touches any element of their culture, 2) assess consumers' view on marketers in terms of consideration of their needs and cultural backgrounds, 3) identify the commonalities among the participants' purchasing decision-making processes and consuming habits across cultures, and 4) indicate the features that would urge consumers to buy a certain product and the factors that would make a product valuable. The sample was comprised of two groups, Arabs and non-Arabs (i.e. Saudi citizens and US citizens.) The survey was conducted from February 01, 2008 through March 07, 2008 and yielded 453 participants. Significant differences were found between the two groups when buying a product that doesn't adhere to four out of six elements of culture. Both groups showed low satisfaction towards marketers' consideration of their cultural backgrounds. Participants' ranking of characteristics that urge them to purchase a certain product put high quality as the most important feature and money savings next. The ranking of elements that create a perception of a valuable product suggested that Arabs tend to reflect the habit/repeat bath model and non-Arabs tend to prioritize the sentimental values of products.
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Date Issued: 2008
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0168
Format: Thesis

Title: The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party's Congressional Challenge of 1964-65: A Case Study in Radical Persuasion.
Creator: Gentine, Steven Michael, Houck, Davis, Mayo, John, Proffitt, Jennifer, School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: This thesis explores the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party's 1965 Challenge to the legitimacy of that state's Congressional Delegation. It examines that Challenge as a rhetorical act and places it in the context of the broader Civil Rights discourse. Further, it seeks to establish that the Challenge, as a rhetorical act, played an important role in the development of crucial Civil Rights legislation, namely 1965's Voting Rights Act.
Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0127
Format: Thesis

Title: African American News Websites: Publishers' Views, Perspectives and Experiences in Relation to the Social Construction of News, Online News and the Black Press.
Creator: Akil, Bakari, McDowell, Stephen D., Jones, Maxine, Opel, Andy, Jordan, Felicia, School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this dissertation was to understand Black publishers views, perspectives and experiences as they relate to the social construction of news, online news and the Black Press. Recording the views, perspectives and experiences of Black publishers, in their own words, was one of the major outcomes desired from this research. Using non-structured standardized interviews as the primary methodology, ten publishers participated in this study and shared their views, perspectives and...
Show moreThe purpose of this dissertation was to understand Black publishers views, perspectives and experiences as they relate to the social construction of news, online news and the Black Press. Recording the views, perspectives and experiences of Black publishers, in their own words, was one of the major outcomes desired from this research. Using non-structured standardized interviews as the primary methodology, ten publishers participated in this study and shared their views, perspectives and experiences on the news creation process, on publishing Black news websites and their thoughts on the Black press and mainstream news organizations. A descriptive content analysis was also conducted to further understand the publishers' views and perspectives on the social construction of news and how it manifested into a final product, the actual website. Findings indicate that the majority of publishers in this study follow the traditional processes and procedures of mainstream news organizations outlined by media scholars. However, resources (i.e., staff size, advertising revenue or capital) influence how closely the publishers adhere to these practices. When publishers have little resources they use different modes of behavior, utilizing the advantages available through the Internet. In addition, the majority of publishers in this study use agenda setting mainstream Internet news organizations as an agenda setting tool for their own news websites. The research also demonstrated that publishers consider themselves as a part of the traditional Black press but also realize that they have the potential to reach larger, diverse and more complex audiences than their offline predecessors.
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Date Issued: 2007
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0146
Format: Thesis

Title: Gender and Sexuality Themes in Sports Blog Responses.
Creator: Adams, Justin S., Castillo, Jeanette L., McDowell, Stephen D., Nudd, Donna Marie, School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Over the past half-century, the expression of sexuality has become ubiquitous in most sectors of American society. From the free love movement associated with the 1960s to Harvey Milk's agitations for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights in the 1970s, "sex" is no longer an expletive in United States culture. Recent television shows like Modern Family and The L Word celebrate those whom Milk sought to represent, and earlier programming like Maude exemplified female self-actualization...
Show moreOver the past half-century, the expression of sexuality has become ubiquitous in most sectors of American society. From the free love movement associated with the 1960s to Harvey Milk's agitations for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights in the 1970s, "sex" is no longer an expletive in United States culture. Recent television shows like Modern Family and The L Word celebrate those whom Milk sought to represent, and earlier programming like Maude exemplified female self-actualization and self-discovery. However, as gender and queer studies have expanded in the past five decades, certain arenas have lagged in terms of attitudes toward sexual understanding. The world of competitive sports is known to be a hyper-sexualized and hyper-masculine realm, but sex and gender add a new dimension of complexity. Structures of sexuality work to maintain overarching social standards; scholar Jayne Caudwell finds that when an athlete challenges those paradigms, fans respond negatively. Whether the stories of such occurrences concern behaviors, such as promiscuity, or inborn traits like sexual preference or gender identity, ardent fans and casual readers alike tend to respond with shock, disdain or despair when their heroes fall from grace. This qualitative analysis utilizes the works of Kenneth Burke and Judith Butler in examining reactions to controversial stories regarding American professional golfer Tiger Woods and South African runner Caster Semenya. A variety of continuously-updated, Internet-facilitated sources such as blogs are used as the primary texts for research into the mindset of the American sports fan. This allows for a diverse slate of root materials for the analysis, as well as a more assuredly accurate portrayal of fans' voices in the interest of determining the causes and implications of sports fans' reactions to stories concerning athletes' sexuality.
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Date Issued: 2011
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0118
Format: Thesis

Title: Evaluating Computer-Mediated Communication on the University Campus: The Impact of Facebook.Com on the Development of Romantic Relationships.
Creator: Andon, Stephen P., Raney, Arthur A., Bunz, Ulla, Opel, Andrew, School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Specifically, this study examined if students have been using Facebook.com rather than, and/or in addition to, tradition face-to-face techniques, to establish romantic relationships. A group of 440 undergraduate students were given surveys to complete during class. The survey measured the students' intensity of Facebook usage and also directed each participant to reference an instance where they had met someone socially and later checked them out on Facebook. With this in mind, students were...
Show moreSpecifically, this study examined if students have been using Facebook.com rather than, and/or in addition to, tradition face-to-face techniques, to establish romantic relationships. A group of 440 undergraduate students were given surveys to complete during class. The survey measured the students' intensity of Facebook usage and also directed each participant to reference an instance where they had met someone socially and later checked them out on Facebook. With this in mind, students were presented with three traditional face-to-face interaction scales: the attributional confidence scale, the interpersonal attraction scale, and the perceived similarity scale. To analyze this data, correlation and independent sample t-tests were run to determine whether students with high intensity Facebook usage were more likely to score higher on these respective scales.
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Date Issued: 2007
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0208
Format: Thesis

Title: Public Diplomacy or Propaganda: A Case Study of Voa Deewa Pashto Radio Service for the Tribal Region of Pakistan & Afghanistan.
Creator: Gul, Mehnaz, McDowell, Stephen D., deHaven-Smith, Lance, Proffitt, Jennifer M., Merle, Patrick F., Rayburn, Jay D., Florida State University, College of Communication and...
Show moreGul, Mehnaz, McDowell, Stephen D., deHaven-Smith, Lance, Proffitt, Jennifer M., Merle, Patrick F., Rayburn, Jay D., Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of Communication
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Abstract/Description: Governments since World War I have instituted radio broadcasts in foreign countries as a means of informing and influencing local populations, particularly in times of war and other conflicts. Frequently considered propaganda, such broadcasts also have been seen as a tool of public diplomacy, an evolving concept that generally refers to the use of mass communication, foreign exchanges, and other non-traditional diplomatic tools to advance foreign policy goals and cultivate positive...
Show moreGovernments since World War I have instituted radio broadcasts in foreign countries as a means of informing and influencing local populations, particularly in times of war and other conflicts. Frequently considered propaganda, such broadcasts also have been seen as a tool of public diplomacy, an evolving concept that generally refers to the use of mass communication, foreign exchanges, and other non-traditional diplomatic tools to advance foreign policy goals and cultivate positive international relations. This study concerned a particular case, the U.S. public diplomacy tool Voice of America (VOA) Deewa, a Pashto language radio service for the Tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. VOA Deewa was an ideal case for examining questions of public diplomacy and propaganda since it operates in a poor, neglected, war-stricken region where Taliban members spread anti-American sentiments and many citizens hold anti-American attitudes, that have been exacerbated by U.S. drone strikes in the region. Though the United States established the VOA Deewa to contain Taliban anti-America propaganda and change the hearts and minds of local citizens, it has been criticized as propaganda. To examine this assertion, and the extent to which VOA Deewa exhibited features of public diplomacy, extensive data were collected from senders, messages, and receivers. Twenty-seven VOA Deewa shows broadcast at the time of 2013 drone strikes were analyzed to determine the extent and nature of drone strike news and other topics. In addition, 11 Deewa staff from Washington D.C. and Pakistan were individually interviewed and focus groups with 78 university students belonging to Tribal regions were conducted, as well as 5 telephone interviews with locals and face-to-face individual interviews with 18 Internally Displaced Persons. Data collection and analysis was triangulated, and all qualitative content/textual analysis was conducted using Nvivo software. The findings indicate that a highly qualified, native Pashtun VOA Deewa staff delivered balanced and objective journalism on a variety of topics (education, health and hygiene, business and finance, social and moral ethics, freedom, democracy) from a U.S. perspective but with a focus on the target region. In addition, the shows frequently highlighted women's, human, and political rights, which are lacking in the Tribal region. Overall, VOA Deewa served as an effective platform for delivering awareness-raising messages, empowering local voices, and connecting locals to locals through on-air call-in programs that increased the sharing of ideas, understanding, and unity. Thus, VOA Deewa was found to serve as a public diplomacy instrument in accord with the VOA charter, and as such, to incorporate characteristics of positive propaganda and strategic communication. Though the findings may be unique to the VOA Deewa case, they contribute to the development of a theoretical framework for public diplomacy and provide a direction for future research.
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: FSU_2015fall_Gul_fsu_0071E_12726
Format: Thesis

Title: What Reagan Said to the Evangelicals: The Religious Rhetoric of Ronald Reagan.
Creator: Ryor, John Charles, Houck, Davis W., Porterfield, Amanda, Proffitt, Jennifer M., McDowell, Stephen D., Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School...
Show moreRyor, John Charles, Houck, Davis W., Porterfield, Amanda, Proffitt, Jennifer M., McDowell, Stephen D., Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of Communication
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Abstract/Description: This dissertation examines the religious rhetoric of Ronald Reagan as part of a strategy to rebuild his political base following a disappointing level of support after his first two years in office. In particular, this examination will focus on a triad of speeches given to Christian Evangelicals within ninety days of a re-election Memorandum issued by Reagan Pollster, Dick Wirthlin. I will closely examine the texts of Reagan's early 1983 speeches to the National Religious Broadcasters,...
Show moreThis dissertation examines the religious rhetoric of Ronald Reagan as part of a strategy to rebuild his political base following a disappointing level of support after his first two years in office. In particular, this examination will focus on a triad of speeches given to Christian Evangelicals within ninety days of a re-election Memorandum issued by Reagan Pollster, Dick Wirthlin. I will closely examine the texts of Reagan's early 1983 speeches to the National Religious Broadcasters, National Prayer Breakfast and the National Association of Evangelicals. In doing so I will show the way that the three speeches worked to convey the President's agenda in language that was commonly shared not only by those three groups but also by President Reagan. I'll argue that by using an intensified language of identifying symbols and linguistic nuances, the President was able to speak with a rhetorical urgency that was rooted in both the history of the Evangelical movement and Ronald Reagan's personal religious experience. Additionally, I'll show how Reagan's ability to linguistically identify with politically conservative Evangelical Christians was how he was able to successfully regain their confidence. The project will include original archival research from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and first person interviews with key Evangelical leaders who will assist in helping to better understand the context in which these speeches were given. The primary question asked and answered will be: "What did President Reagan say to rouse the support and attention of Evangelicals as part of a rebuilt coalition for his 1984 reelection?"
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: FSU_2015fall_Ryor_fsu_0071E_12816
Format: Thesis

Title: Video Self-Modeling to Facilitate Visual Symbol Learning in Preschoolers with Developmental Delays.
Creator: Darden, Felicia, Goldstein, Howard, Readdick, Christine, Woods, Juliann, Lasker, Joanne, School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: There is a growing trend toward the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) in addressing the communicative deficits of preschool children. Of particular interest is the use of pictures to teach children to request desired items. However, discrimination among pictures can be a challenge for children with developmental disabilities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of video self-modeling to teach young children with developmental delays to request by...
Show moreThere is a growing trend toward the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) in addressing the communicative deficits of preschool children. Of particular interest is the use of pictures to teach children to request desired items. However, discrimination among pictures can be a challenge for children with developmental disabilities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of video self-modeling to teach young children with developmental delays to request by choosing a picture related to a desired item or activity specific to different play contexts. Four children participated in a multiple baseline design across participants to evaluate an intervention that taught picture discrimination through video self-modeling. Child measures focused on the frequency of accurate requests using pictures, gestures, and/or spoken words. Three of the four children learned to give following the initiation of video self-modeling. One of the four children learned to make accurate requests using video self-modeling. The other three children required a branch step, direct teaching, to learn to discriminate among the pictures. The videos appeared to provide adequate contextual cues for learning to request but not necessarily for discrimination.
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Date Issued: 2006
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0845
Format: Thesis

Title: Workplace Bullying: A Communication Perspective.
Creator: Daniel, Barbara, McDowell, Stephen, Guy, Mary E., Young, Marilyn, Jordan-Jackson, Felecia, School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: In the United States, laws have been passed in most states protecting individuals from harassment, sexual harassment, assault, stalking and discrimination. However, employees are still recipients of unprofessional communication in which they are abused verbally, intimidated, and, in general, made to feel inadequate. As a result, some employees quit their jobs or develop major health problems. In some instances, they commit suicide or homicide at work. Psychologists in America who examined...
Show moreIn the United States, laws have been passed in most states protecting individuals from harassment, sexual harassment, assault, stalking and discrimination. However, employees are still recipients of unprofessional communication in which they are abused verbally, intimidated, and, in general, made to feel inadequate. As a result, some employees quit their jobs or develop major health problems. In some instances, they commit suicide or homicide at work. Psychologists in America who examined these workplace behaviors concluded that the deliberate and repeated verbal aggression coupled with ridicule or harassing and intimidating strategies caused mental and physical harm. They called the phenomenon workplace bullying, a term that was already in use in England and other countries. Focusing on supervisor-employee communication, this study explored elements/symbols that would lead to a definition of workplace bullying from a communication perspective. The theory of symbolic interactionism laid a foundation for the study. Qualitative methods were used: a focus group interview, individual interviews, and textual research. The focus group, consisting mainly of HR experts who worked in or were associated with Florida state government, proposed several themes, including lack of dignity and lack of respect, themes that were aggregated as unprofessional communication. Other themes that emerged were verbal abuse, power, subtle communication, and lack of recourse. Lack of recourse was viewed as powerlessness, or lack of support. Interviews with employees who had resigned or retired as well as interviews with current employees revealed the powerlessness employees felt when faced with unprofessional communication, verbal abuse, power, and subtle communication. A search through newspapers, academic journals, and professional journals provided interpretations from national and international organizations which supported the themes that emerged from the interviews. Overall, the study showed that workplace bullying occurred when employees lacked recourse. A link between workplace bullying and workplace violence was noted. Vignettes used in the study pointed to some situations that ended in workplace violence when employees lacked recourse. The study proposed a definition of workplace bullying and recommended that management provide employees with recourse to stem occurrences of workplace bullying, an action that would also result in a decrease in workplace violence.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0854
Format: Thesis

Title: The Interrelationships Among Online Consumers: Level of Awareness of Spy Software, Personal Values, Innovativeness Characteristics and Concerns..
Creator: Youn, Hyunsook, McClung, Steven, Heald, Gary R., Korzenny, Felipe, School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: As the Internet has grown dramatically every year since the beginning of the 1990s, the diffusion of the Internet has involved many aspects. Its influence has reached not only the technical fields but also throughout the general society as we have moved toward increasing the effectiveness of online tools. The global and convenient nature of the Internet makes the medium a well-suited marketplace for shopping, and brought a closer relationship between consumers and marketers. As interactive...
Show moreAs the Internet has grown dramatically every year since the beginning of the 1990s, the diffusion of the Internet has involved many aspects. Its influence has reached not only the technical fields but also throughout the general society as we have moved toward increasing the effectiveness of online tools. The global and convenient nature of the Internet makes the medium a well-suited marketplace for shopping, and brought a closer relationship between consumers and marketers. As interactive technology has allowed people to use the Web for many different purposes and made it possible to increase online businesses and activities, marketers also have found advantages in communicating with customers directly through the Web and in gathering information of consumers to use in the creating of individual consumer profiles for more defined targeting. However, marketers' data gathering practices have undermined consumers' privacy and security. Users are not only fully informed of the nature or extent that online companies can collect information about users, but also not aware that spying software is being used without their consent or knowledge. Since no previous research investigated the issues surrounding spy software, this study gave new insight into the fast-growing world of electronic commerce. Besides, our knowledge of why consumers systematically differ in their tendency to seek out new products is still sparse. In order to have a better explanation, this study approached this matter from the diffusion of innovations perspective. Consumer innovativeness is not only relevant for marketing theory, but also for marketing practice because companies rely increasingly on the success of new product introductions for future growth and profitability. Consumers' different tendency regarding their different purchasing behavior also can be explained by marketing actions, personal characteristics, personal values, level of concerns regarding privacy and security and innovation characteristics as well (Gatignon & Robertson, 1985; Korgaonkar & Wolin, 1999; Udo, 2001;Goldsmith, 2002). By building the user-side perceptions of spy software, and investigating users' awareness of spy software, the study examined: the relationships between (a) awareness of spy software and privacy and security concerns, (b) awareness of spy software and behavioral characteristics. Also, with innovativeness characteristics, this study examined: the relationships between (c)innovativeness characteristics and the level of awareness of spy software, (d) innovativeness characteristics and privacy and security concerns. Lastly, using Kahle's (1983) value scale – the List of Value (LOV), this study postulated important effects of personal values regarding their privacy and security concerns, awareness of spy software, and innovativeness characteristics. The overall findings regarding the awareness of spy software indicated that the respondents have some level of awareness of Internet spy software, but are not well aware of what spy software is and what it is capable of. Respondents with higher level of awareness of spy software are likely to have lower level of security concerns, and it was confirmed that respondents with lower level of innovativeness characteristics are more likely concern about their security. Of innovativeness characteristics, only domain-specific innovativeness was positively related to the level of awareness of spy software in the current study. It was also found that more time they spent online per week and the longer they have been online shopping adopters have a significant influence on their level of awareness of spy software. Lastly, in terms of innovativeness characteristics and personal values, each of different personal values displayed unique predictive power on different innovativeness characteristics.
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Date Issued: 2005
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0869
Format: Thesis

Title: Democratizing Communication: Media Activism and Broadcasting Reform in Thailand.
Creator: Wongrujira, Monwipa, McDowell, Stephen D., Bertot, John C., Mayo, John K., Proffitt, Jennifer M., School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this study is to examine the reform of broadcasting media in Thailand during the period 2000-2006. The Constitution of 1997 initiated reform of the political and media structure. It led to the enactment of the 2000 Act on Organization for Frequency Allocation and Supervision of Telecommunication and Broadcasting Businesses. These legal frameworks advanced institutional restructuring by establishing independent regulatory bodies to regulate the telecommunications and...
Show moreThe purpose of this study is to examine the reform of broadcasting media in Thailand during the period 2000-2006. The Constitution of 1997 initiated reform of the political and media structure. It led to the enactment of the 2000 Act on Organization for Frequency Allocation and Supervision of Telecommunication and Broadcasting Businesses. These legal frameworks advanced institutional restructuring by establishing independent regulatory bodies to regulate the telecommunications and broadcasting industries. They aimed to move regulatory authority from the hands of state bureaucrats and the military to a new independent regulator. Applying an institutional approach and a stakeholder analysis, the processes of media democratization and media activism are the central concerns of the study. Through the examination of newspaper archives, government documents, and personal interviews, the findings indicate that even though the government entities and their business liaisons are interested in the reform of broadcasting industry, they still want to retain their control of broadcasting media. The goals of diversity and public accessibility gain little attention from the people in power, and the opening of markets to competition is not evidenced. However, three case studies of media reform advocacy demonstrate that civil society movements have made efforts to move the reform of the Thai broadcasting media to enhance media democratization, including independence, diversity, and accessibility. Intellectuals, journalism professionals, and a non-governmental organization—Campaign for Popular Media Reform—have contributed to the reform of the broadcasting media. Although the proposed new independent regulator (National Broadcasting Commissions) was not established, the intention to democratize the broadcasting media is still alive, and the participation of the civil sectors in the policy decision process is ongoing.
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Date Issued: 2008
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0831
Format: Thesis

Title: The Effects of Relationship Marketing on Brand Equity.
Creator: Wolter, Jeremy S., McClung, Steven, Heald, Gary, Hartline, Michael, School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Relationship marketing practices have become ubiquitous in the consumer domain and their effects on various consumer behaviors are well documented. At the same time, branding strategies are widely utilized as well and their effect on consumer behavior is also well documented. What is not known is how relationship marketing strategies impact brand building activities or brand equity. This study addresses this gap in the literature by examining the brand equity scores of 46 brands collected...
Show moreRelationship marketing practices have become ubiquitous in the consumer domain and their effects on various consumer behaviors are well documented. At the same time, branding strategies are widely utilized as well and their effect on consumer behavior is also well documented. What is not known is how relationship marketing strategies impact brand building activities or brand equity. This study addresses this gap in the literature by examining the brand equity scores of 46 brands collected from a convenience sample of 356 undergraduates at a Southeastern university. The effects of relationship marketing strategies on brand equity components are analyzed using a MANOVA technique. Findings provide mixed support for the hypothesized effects. Specifically, as a firm's use of social bonding strategies increases, there is a significant and positive effect on the brand equity components of brand awareness and perceived quality. Price incentive strategies and structural bonding strategies had no significant effect, positive or negative, on any of the brand equity components.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0874
Format: Thesis

Title: Influence of Morphological Awareness on College Students' Literacy Skills: A Path Analytic Approach.
Creator: Wilson-Fowler, Elizabeth B., Apel, Kenn, Foorman, Barbara, Al Otaiba, Stephanie Dent, Thomas-Tate, Shurita, School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: Purpose: This study was conducted to: 1)determine the factor structure of different morphological awareness tasks of college students with no known language, hearing, vision or academic difficulties, and 2)create and examine the direct and indirect effects of a reliable and validated morphological awareness factor structure on spelling, word-level reading, and sentence comprehension abilities in this population. Method:Three morphological awareness tasks, spelling to dictation, word reading,...
Show morePurpose: This study was conducted to: 1)determine the factor structure of different morphological awareness tasks of college students with no known language, hearing, vision or academic difficulties, and 2)create and examine the direct and indirect effects of a reliable and validated morphological awareness factor structure on spelling, word-level reading, and sentence comprehension abilities in this population. Method:Three morphological awareness tasks, spelling to dictation, word reading, and sentence comprehension tasks, were administered to 214 undergraduate college students. Factor analyses were conducted to determine the factor structure of the morphological awareness tasks. A validated exogenous morphological awareness measure was generated and path analysis was run to examine direct and indirect effects of morphological awareness on college students' literacy abilities. Results: Exploratory factor analyses revealed that the morphological awareness factor structure was unidimensional. Analyses using Item Response Theory generated a 24-item, validated, exogenous measure. Path analysis revealed that the standardized path coefficients in the direct model were .77 for spelling, .62 for word reading, and .58 for sentence comprehension. Path analysis for the indirect model indicated that the standardized indirect effect of morphological awareness on sentence comprehension was. 38 through spelling and .13 through word reading. Conclusion: College students' morphological awareness can be assessed using a validated measure that reflects a uni dimensional factor structure. Morphological awareness is a stronger predictor for spelling than for word reading and sentence comprehension. Both spelling and word reading mediated the effects of morphological awareness on sentence comprehension. However, spelling was a stronger mediator than word reading; this may have been due to differences in the task demands of spelling and word reading.
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Date Issued: 2011
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0897
Format: Thesis

Title: Media Exposure, Body Dissatisfaction and Disordered Eating: An Examination of Mediating and Moderating Mechanisms.
Creator: Davis, Kimberly Ann, Sapolsky, Barry, Carbonell, Joyce, Jordan-Jackson, Felecia F., Rayburn, Jay, McDowell, Steve, School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this study is to further explore the relationship of media exposure to body dissatisfaction and eating disturbance by examining the mediating effects of pressures and internalization as well as the moderating effects of ethnicity and weight. In the current study, the effects of television and magazine exposure were separated. Pressure was operationalized as influences perceived to be exerted by the media. Internalization was operationalized as the incorporation of specific...
Show moreThe purpose of this study is to further explore the relationship of media exposure to body dissatisfaction and eating disturbance by examining the mediating effects of pressures and internalization as well as the moderating effects of ethnicity and weight. In the current study, the effects of television and magazine exposure were separated. Pressure was operationalized as influences perceived to be exerted by the media. Internalization was operationalized as the incorporation of specific values (conveyed by the media) to the point they become guiding principles. The results regarding media use reveal that women read an average of three magazines and watch four television programs on a regular basis. They spend an average of two hours reading magazines and 12.3 hours watching television programs weekly. The results further reveal that while non-White women weigh more than White women, White women exhibit greater body dissatisfaction, feel more pressure to conform to thin images in media and display greater risk of eating disorder. Thus, ethnicity was found to moderate the effects of internalization, body dissatisfaction, and pressure in relation to magazine exposure. Because Body Mass Index (BMI) was not related to the sociocultural variables, it was not found to moderate the effects of internalization. The relationships to television exposure are negative or non-significant; therefore, magazine exposure is a more pertinent predictor of body dissatisfaction, eating disorder, pressure and indirectly internalization. Likewise, pressure is more salient than internalization revealing, that internalization is not a necessary precursor to women experiencing increased levels of body dissatisfaction and eating disorder. This study adds to our understanding of the relationship of media exposure to body dissatisfaction and eating disturbance by examining the mediating roles of pressures and internalization as well as the moderating roles of ethnicity and weight, as measured by the BMI. The results of this study reveal that body dissatisfaction and eating disturbance must be examined in light of exposure to magazines and the pressure women feel to conform to thin images portrayed in the media.
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Date Issued: 2007
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0812
Format: Thesis

Title: The Effects of Cognitive Load on Gait in Older Adults.
Creator: Wilson, Kimberly R., Stierwalt, Julie A.G., Zwaan, Rolf A., LaPointe, Leonard L., Lasker, Joanne, Scott, Lisa, School of Communication, Florida State University
Abstract/Description: It is a well-documented fact that the rate of falls increases with advanced age. In an attempt to discern factors that contribute to the high fall rate in aging populations; investigators have looked to a task that is often executed while walking – talking. Although the effects of varying cognitive-linguistic load across a variety of dual-tasks have been heavily researched, few studies have systematically examined the contribution of increasingly complex cognitive-linguistic load on the gait...
Show moreIt is a well-documented fact that the rate of falls increases with advanced age. In an attempt to discern factors that contribute to the high fall rate in aging populations; investigators have looked to a task that is often executed while walking – talking. Although the effects of varying cognitive-linguistic load across a variety of dual-tasks have been heavily researched, few studies have systematically examined the contribution of increasingly complex cognitive-linguistic load on the gait parameters of healthy aging adults. Moreover, few researchers have utilized ecologically valid stimuli as a part of their investigation. The broad goal of this research was to examine the nature of the impact of manipulating cognitive-linguistic load hierarchy on gait in healthy aging. Discourse tasks of varying complexity were presented while participants walked a 44-foot walkway. The progression of discourse was from low load (explaining how to perform a task) to high load (completing a story initiated by the investigator). The dependent measures collected included measures of linguistic complexity, fluency, and gait. Results showed a significant effect of cognitive-linguistic load linguistic complexity on measures of discourse. Comparison of fluency measures across conditions revealed that cognitive-linguistic load did not have a significant impact on fluency. However, like measures of discourse, gait parameters were significantly affected by the addition of a secondary cognitive-linguistic task. Theoretically, these results could imply that a change in cognitive-linguistic and gait measures is linked to a sharing of resources involved in the execution of both tasks. In addition, these results also provide insight into dual-task performance and the potential contribution of cognitive-linguistic load on fall rates in healthy and neurologically compromised populations.
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Date Issued: 2008
Identifier: FSU_migr_etd-0905
Format: Thesis

Title: User Generated Branding versus Brand Generated Advertising on Facebook: The Impact of Content Source on Perceptions, Attitudes and Purchase Intention.
Creator: Diwanji, Vaibhav Shwetangbhai, Cortese, Juliann, Chapa, Sindy, McDowell, Stephen D., Florida State University, College of Communication & Information, School of Communication
Abstract/Description: This study examined the influence of User Generated Branding (UGB) on consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions by comparing it to brand generated advertising on the world’s largest social media website: Facebook (eMarketer, 2016). The research was theoretically grounded by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), which helped in understanding how consumers’ attitudes toward a behavior would form their behavioral intentions. The advent of User Generated Branding on Facebook has radically...
Show moreThis study examined the influence of User Generated Branding (UGB) on consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions by comparing it to brand generated advertising on the world’s largest social media website: Facebook (eMarketer, 2016). The research was theoretically grounded by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), which helped in understanding how consumers’ attitudes toward a behavior would form their behavioral intentions. The advent of User Generated Branding on Facebook has radically changed the communication patterns between brands and consumers. Facebook, at its core, is a place for interpersonal communications. Therefore, it offers its members with emotional benefits through networking and conversations. But, as it is slowly evolving into a marketing platform (Scale, 2008), users have found many practical commercial implications in terms of information search on the platform before deciding to purchase an item. UGB refers to “the strategic and operative management of brand-related user generated content (UGC) by the brand and its consumers to achieve brand goals (Burmann & Arnhold, 2009, p. 3).” Brand-related user generated content is any type of data, information or media, voluntarily created and contributed by regular people who are consumers of a specific brand, which comes across as useful or entertaining to other consumers (Krumm et al., 2008). On the other hand, brand generated advertising is any form of media-related strategies and tactics, usually paid, deployed by a business in order to establish as well as maintain effective and ongoing communications with its customers (Stuhfaut & Davis, 2010). The current research tried to explore into this collaboration between consumers and brands as well as other consumers on Facebook (Saxena & Khanna, 2013). The present research posited that UGB, as an added consumer interaction touch point about brands on Facebook, could play a more decisive role than brand generated ads in shaping users’ perceptions, attitudes, and purchase intentions. 669 undergraduate students from a major university in Southeastern USA voluntarily participated in this research. In an online survey, the subjects were randomly assigned to one of the two experimental conditions, framed as either a UGB Facebook post or a brand generated ad post. Inattentive and inconsistent responses were eliminated using dummy test questions. So, the final sample size consisted of 539 participants (n = 539). The findings suggested that there was not a statistically significant difference in how these two sources of content impacted users’ attitudes and purchase intentions (p = .05). Both UGB posts and brand generated ads on Facebook were seen to play complementary roles in influencing consumers’ intentions to purchase. This research offered useful insights to marketers and advertisers in finding the right kind of content combination on Facebook that would induce favorable perceptions, attitudes and purchase intention. Practical implications showed that, on Facebook, brands should flexibly adapt their promotional strategies to users’ brand-related interactions. From an academic perspective, the present study was seen to contribute toward filling the prevailing gap in the literature in investigating consumer behavior patterns related to UGB on Facebook, considering the ever increasing popularity of the website (de Vries et al., 2012).
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Date Issued: 2017
Identifier: FSU_SUMMER2017_Diwanji_fsu_0071N_13948
Format: Thesis

Title: Nuclearization as National Security a Comparative Analysis of Framing and Frame Building in Indian and Pakistani Newspapers.
Creator: Saleem, Awais, McDowell, Stephen D., Coutts, Christopher, Opel, Andrew R., Graves, Brian, Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of...
Show moreSaleem, Awais, McDowell, Stephen D., Coutts, Christopher, Opel, Andrew R., Graves, Brian, Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of Communication
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Abstract/Description: Global politics is a complex game, particularly when conflict dominates the relationship between countries. South Asia is no different as both India and Pakistan have fought four wars since achieving independence from the British in 1947. Both countries have acquired nuclear capability but the tense nature of the bilateral relationship has given rise to fears of a potential nuclear war in the region. There were hopes of a thaw in relationship after the new governments assumed power following...
Show moreGlobal politics is a complex game, particularly when conflict dominates the relationship between countries. South Asia is no different as both India and Pakistan have fought four wars since achieving independence from the British in 1947. Both countries have acquired nuclear capability but the tense nature of the bilateral relationship has given rise to fears of a potential nuclear war in the region. There were hopes of a thaw in relationship after the new governments assumed power following the general elections in Pakistan (2013) and in India (2014). However, these hopes were quickly dashed following an escalation in cross-border firing incidents along the line of control (LoC) in the Kashmir valley. The status of Kashmir valley has become a flashpoint of bilateral conflict between India and Pakistan. Both India and Pakistan occupy parts of the valley and blame each other for illegal occupation and infiltration to justify the use of aggressive tactics. India and Pakistan have a collective population of close to 1.5 billion (almost twenty percent of the global population). Both countries rank consistently low on human development and press freedom indices, but the respective governments in India and Pakistan continue to divert large chunks of their annual budgets for defense-related expenditures instead of providing better health, education, and infrastructure facilities to their citizen. In such a scenario, the media’s role in framing this conflict becomes critical. It merits attention to explore whether the media is part of the problem or part of the solution. Therefore, this dissertation applies Galtung’s (2002) peace journalism model to the coverage of Kashmir conflict during 2016. The news coverage of the Uri attack on September 18, 2016 in the Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 16 Indian soldiers and the Bhimber attack in the Pakistani-administered Kashmir that killed seven Pakistan soldiers was chosen for the content analysis to explore how the English-language newspapers in India and Pakistan (three top-circulating newspapers in each country) framed the bilateral conflict. The findings showed that the coverage in both India and Pakistan had a similar pattern. It was primarily episodic, was using mainly conflict frames and lacking focus on solutions of the conflict, was relying on official sources to further the national security narrative prevalent in each country, and was showing a clear tendency to promote war journalism at the cost of marginalizing the human cost of war. The second part of the analysis in this dissertation was based on interviews with journalists (15 each from India and Pakistan) to explore the processes attached to frame-building. The journalists were asked questions about the framing of stories related to bilateral conflict and which factors were likely to affect this coverage. They were also asked about the presence of pressure groups, censorship, organizational policy, alternatives available, and suggestions for improvement in the standards of coverage. The responses indicated that news television had gained a place of prominence in each country and was driving the content of print and social media as well. It was revealed that the private media ownership structure in both India and Pakistan, backed by big media houses, was aggravating the situation. The media owners in India were found to be hand in glove with the religious right-wing that had seen a rise in Indian mainstream politics after 2014 elections while the media owners in Pakistan had a nexus with the powerful military establishment in their country. The journalists revealed during the interviews that these media owners were getting good ratings on television by focusing on bilateral conflict, which meant good business, while they were able to use that clout in the ruling establishments for tax breaks and other benefits as well. The journalists generally did not express much hope in the track-II dialogues or social media as an alternative forum unless the overall environment between both countries improved. It was surprising that the interviewed journalists showed little concern about what impact such coverage could likely have on the public perception. The study also explores an interplay of framing and securitization. The findings provide a clear idea that the coverage of bilateral conflict in India and Pakistan justifies war and has a securitization agenda (Buzan, 1997). The implications of such coverage in making the audience more accepting of the hawkish foreign policy steps taken by their respective governments as well as the consequences for the overall peace and stability of the region have been discussed. How the findings of this study contribute to the existing literature on conflict framing, war/peace journalism, and securitization is also part of this dissertation. It shows that researchers should also focus on frame-building processes to put the news frames in context. In the conclusion, limitations of this research as well as future directions for researchers interested in the study of framing and framing-building have also been discussed.
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Date Issued: 2017
Identifier: FSU_SUMMER2017_Saleem_fsu_0071E_14066
Format: Thesis

Title: Company Benefits and Social Benefits: Exploring Strategies for Multinational Consumer Goods Companies to Implement Mutually Beneficial Social Marketing Programs.
Creator: Sadek, Nashwa Nader, Harlow, Summer, Cortese, Juliann, Merle, Patrick F., Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of Communication
Abstract/Description: The aim of this thesis was to present social marketing to multinational consumer goods companies as a concept that, unlike commercial marketing, not only benefits the company but also benefits society. Through in-depth interviews and document analysis, this thesis qualitatively analyzed two social marketing campaigns, one launched by Nestle Pakistan and the other by Henkel Egypt. Using the social exchange theory as a framework for analysis, this thesis offers examples and types of benefits...
Show moreThe aim of this thesis was to present social marketing to multinational consumer goods companies as a concept that, unlike commercial marketing, not only benefits the company but also benefits society. Through in-depth interviews and document analysis, this thesis qualitatively analyzed two social marketing campaigns, one launched by Nestle Pakistan and the other by Henkel Egypt. Using the social exchange theory as a framework for analysis, this thesis offers examples and types of benefits that companies and society gain from social marketing. Additionally, this thesis illustrates some of the challenges of social marketing, demonstrating ways and strategies to address these challenges and maximize the benefits of social marketing for the company and society. Most importantly, this thesis identifies ways in which consumer goods companies can fund social marketing campaigns without increasing their overall budgets.
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Date Issued: 2017
Identifier: FSU_2017SP_Sadek_fsu_0071N_13759
Format: Thesis

Title: Mood Management, Self-Transcendence, and Prosociality: Selective Exposure to Meaningful Media Entertainment and Prosocial Behavior.
Creator: Zhao, Danyang, Raney, Arthur A., Li, Wen, Arpan, Laura M., Cortese, Juliann, Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of Communication
Abstract/Description: There has been growing discussion that distinguishes meaningful media entertainment, eudaimonic media experiences, and self-transcendent positive emotions from pleasurable media entertainment, hedonic media experiences, and non-transcendent positively-valenced emotions. The mood management theory and selective exposure perspective explain how individuals tend to select media to consume when they are in a particular mood state in order to achieve a better mood or maintain their existing...
Show moreThere has been growing discussion that distinguishes meaningful media entertainment, eudaimonic media experiences, and self-transcendent positive emotions from pleasurable media entertainment, hedonic media experiences, and non-transcendent positively-valenced emotions. The mood management theory and selective exposure perspective explain how individuals tend to select media to consume when they are in a particular mood state in order to achieve a better mood or maintain their existing desirable mood state. These perspectives do not specifically capture the self-transcendent emotional states or meaningful media entertainment. However, they provided imperative theoretical foundation to examine these phenomena. This dissertation project examines and compares the entertainment media selection between meaningful and funny video content when a positive affective state, hedonic joyful mood or elevation is experienced. It also examines these two positive affects experienced after consuming chosen media content, and how they may affect prosociality. Specifically, it explores if individuals in the affective state of elevation will be more likely to choose elevation-inducing videos to view comparing to individuals in the affective state of hedonic joy, in order to maintain their existing self-transcendent good mood. Further, it investigates whether elevation-inducing meaningful video exposure, comparing to joy-inducing funny video exposure, would lead to greater likelihood of helping a stranger despite a controllable cause of the help-seeker’s plight. The results showed that the affective experience of elevation led to continued exposure to the meaningful media after initial exposure to elevation-inducing content and more meaningful media exposure in general (than the mood state of hedonic joy). This congruency in mood state and selective exposure behavior mirrors the good mood maintenance proposition of the mood management theory. Moreover, more meaningful video exposure led to higher levels of elevation, which in turn led to higher likelihood of agreeing to help a stranger in need. As speculated, elevation had a stronger and more stable relationship with prosociality than hedonic joy did. The findings also supported the positive relationship between need for affect and elevation elicited by meaningful media content. The role of content types, entertainment preferences, individual differences in predispositional altruistic personality, and need for affect in the production of selective exposure behavior and helping are also discussed.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: 2018_Su_Zhao_fsu_0071E_14729
Format: Thesis

Title: The Muted Candidate.
Creator: Waldeck, Christopher, School of Communication
Abstract/Description: During political debates, there are often candidates who are "muted" onstage by a dominant group because their ideologies and beliefs are different from those within the dominant group. By analyzing the Republican primary debates I was able to observe the candidates that were being muted, who the dominant group was, how the muted group was being muted, and what values and ideas were the most dominant. In this debate I found that in each debate the candidate whose ideas were muted the most was...
Show moreDuring political debates, there are often candidates who are "muted" onstage by a dominant group because their ideologies and beliefs are different from those within the dominant group. By analyzing the Republican primary debates I was able to observe the candidates that were being muted, who the dominant group was, how the muted group was being muted, and what values and ideas were the most dominant. In this debate I found that in each debate the candidate whose ideas were muted the most was Ron Paul. The questions he was asked were meant to address his ideas rather than take a position on an issue. He was often scoffed at by the candidates or ignored by them. Despite making it to the final four, he was still considered an outsider during the debates by the questions he was asked by the moderator and the reactions of the other candidates. In order to move forward as a Democracy, all ideas must be brought to the table not just the ones of the dominant group in order to truly represent the people in America. Keywords Muted, Dominant, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0247
Format: Thesis

Title: Objective-Building in User-Defined Worlds.
Creator: Kilby, Dylan, School of Communication
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this honors thesis is the exploration of how a player of role-playing video games creates, designs, and seeks to fulfill self-made objectives in video games with large playing worlds and little or no defined endgames, called "expanded world role-playing video games," or EWPRG. This thesis also examines the evolving intentions of a gamer as they participate in an EWRPG, and how objectives change with the player's relationship with the game. The researcher performed a content...
Show moreThe purpose of this honors thesis is the exploration of how a player of role-playing video games creates, designs, and seeks to fulfill self-made objectives in video games with large playing worlds and little or no defined endgames, called "expanded world role-playing video games," or EWPRG. This thesis also examines the evolving intentions of a gamer as they participate in an EWRPG, and how objectives change with the player's relationship with the game. The researcher performed a content analysis on the on-line role-playing games RuneScape to identify possible pathways to objective building and aspects in which gamers would be more inclined to participate. The results of the content analysis were discussed and compared during a focus group session, whose recruits self-identified as role-playing gamers. Finally, a second focus group was conducted in which recruits created a gaming map and discussed what aspects of each recruit's map inspired certain objectives or interests.
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0175
Format: Thesis

Title: Voices of Railroad Square Art Park.
Creator: Wasserman, Sara E., School of Communication
Abstract/Description: Voices of Railroad Square Art Park is a short documentary film that explores Railroad Square Art Park in Tallahassee, Florida. In this film I use interviews with individuals who are important to Railroad Square to contribute to a larger story of how they fit into the culture of this artist community at large.
Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0398
Format: Thesis

Title: Rhetoric of Acts: A Critical Analysis.
Creator: Roche, Megan, School of Communication
Abstract/Description: Rhetoric is an agent of the kind of persuasion designed to produce conviction. Conviction is the motivation of Christianity as a Social Movement. The New Testament book of Acts is the harbor for the launching of the movement of Christianity. By critically analyzing the rhetorical devices used in this book, this Thesis offers a discussion of the discovered rhetorical devices and the way in which they influenced the forward propelling of Christianity.
Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0193
Format: Thesis

Title: The Use of a Mobile-Based Decision Support System in Agriculture: An Interpretive Case Study in Southwest and Central Bangladesh.
Creator: Ismail, Omar S., School of Communication
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors influencing the adoption of a new mobile-based decision support system among farmers in rural Bangladesh. A Decision Support System (DSS) is an area of the Information System (IS) discipline that focuses "on supporting and improving managerial decision-making" (Arnott and Pervan 658). This study is an interpretive case study exploring the adoption of a mobile-based DSS for accessing agricultural information in a rural context....
Show moreThe purpose of this research is to investigate the factors influencing the adoption of a new mobile-based decision support system among farmers in rural Bangladesh. A Decision Support System (DSS) is an area of the Information System (IS) discipline that focuses "on supporting and improving managerial decision-making" (Arnott and Pervan 658). This study is an interpretive case study exploring the adoption of a mobile-based DSS for accessing agricultural information in a rural context. Research questions are: 1) How do the end-users (farmers and extension officers) define the system to be useful in their work? 2) Is it easy for farmers to use the mobile application for farming? Conversely, are the applications creating complexity in their normal duties? 3) What are the factors playing an important role in using the decision support system? 4) How essential are the facilities provided by the agency in using the decision support system. Alongside the analysis of recent documents, the data collection process includes interviews and focus group discussions with farmers and extension workers, and participant observation. The outcome of this research will be a qualitative assessment of a decision support system in the context of rural Bangladesh. This study can help to determine the future variables that can help future researchers to consider for quantitative study. Also, the case study helps to draw a richer picture of the use of a mobile-based DSS in a rural environment.
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0569
Format: Thesis

Title: Measuring the Effectiveness of Different Theatrical Marketing Techniques for Theatre Tallahassee.
Creator: Older, Laura, School of Communication
Abstract/Description: During the fall season of 2014, the three shows produced by Theatre Tallahassee were studied to determine the most effective marketing techniques for this particular theatre's audience and how accurately the marketing used at that time communicated the show to the audience. Three methods of study were used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. The theatre's financial return on investment (ROI) was determined for their marketing expenditure. During performances, surveys were...
Show moreDuring the fall season of 2014, the three shows produced by Theatre Tallahassee were studied to determine the most effective marketing techniques for this particular theatre's audience and how accurately the marketing used at that time communicated the show to the audience. Three methods of study were used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. The theatre's financial return on investment (ROI) was determined for their marketing expenditure. During performances, surveys were distributed to collect demographic information about patrons and to assess their feelings about the marketing. Additionally, audience members were interviewed via telephone to allow patrons to express at length their thoughts and experiences with the theatre's marketing.
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0512
Format: Thesis

Title: The Role of Tradition in Northern Ireland's Print Media Coverage of the Twelfth Parades.
Creator: Kapusta, Annalise, School of Communication
Abstract/Description: The media's role in societies of conflict is a subject of debate among many scholars. Some have argued that the very nature of media and their tendencies towards sensationalism are contradictory with peace. This study addresses the media's role in Northern Ireland's peace process. Although a peace agreement was approved in 1998 after nearly thirty years of conflict and over 3,000 casualties, the peace process in Northern Ireland is still ongoing. To this day, walls separate Catholic and...
Show moreThe media's role in societies of conflict is a subject of debate among many scholars. Some have argued that the very nature of media and their tendencies towards sensationalism are contradictory with peace. This study addresses the media's role in Northern Ireland's peace process. Although a peace agreement was approved in 1998 after nearly thirty years of conflict and over 3,000 casualties, the peace process in Northern Ireland is still ongoing. To this day, walls separate Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods; sectarian murals and flags reinforce the division instead of aiding reconciliation; and further peace agreements are at a standstill. This study examines print media coverage of a contentious, annual event in Northern Ireland: the Twelfth Parades, when the Orange Order marches through cities every twelfth of July to celebrate Protestant culture. However, these parades often pass through Catholic neighborhoods and occasionally provoke dangerous confrontation. I looked at the national newspapers' coverage of the Twelfth Parades in 2013, when a police blockade sparked days of riots and violence following the event. Overall, this research questions and examines how the Twelfth Parades are justified and legitimized in the media, with particular attention to a commonly used media frame of "tradition," despite the disorder and violence often surrounding it. My study's larger implications relate to the media's role in peacemaking and how they can harmfully contribute to preventing peace in Northern Ireland, as well as other conflict-ridden areas of the world.
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: FSU_migr_uhm-0551
Format: Thesis

Title: Death Desensitization, Terrorism News, and Sectarian Prejudice: A Mixed Methods Application of Terror Management Theory in Lebanon.
Creator: El Masri, Azza, Merle, Patrick F, Arpan, Laura M., Raney, Arthur A., Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of Communication
Abstract/Description: Over the last 30 years, Terror Management Theory (TMT) has been applied in over 500 studies. However, the bulk of literature in TMT remains from Western countries, where death may not take as an explicit role in one’s life as it does in other areas prone to high death exposure. The purpose of this study stems from a need to explore the impact of death on outgroup prejudice in Lebanon, where 18 sects divide and pit citizens against one another not just through physical conflict but also...
Show moreOver the last 30 years, Terror Management Theory (TMT) has been applied in over 500 studies. However, the bulk of literature in TMT remains from Western countries, where death may not take as an explicit role in one’s life as it does in other areas prone to high death exposure. The purpose of this study stems from a need to explore the impact of death on outgroup prejudice in Lebanon, where 18 sects divide and pit citizens against one another not just through physical conflict but also through inflammatory media rhetoric. Taking TMT as a theoretical basis, the research proposed a mixed methodological application, and advanced three hypotheses and one research question. In Study 1, 105 Lebanese undergraduate students were recruited across the country for a quasi-experiment mimicking TMT’s traditional protocol. Data showed that participants were more likely to get news from the outlet that reinforced their religious worldview, especially when they identify with it. However, threat to one’s ingroup manipulated through a terrorism news story – did not predict sectarianism nor did the mortality salience induction method. Independently, proximity to the attack and sect partially explain outgroup prejudice. In Study 2, ten in-depth interviews were conducted between December and January 2018, yielding four a priori themes. The results suggest that in high death exposure areas, such as in Lebanon, TMT’s protocol may not be the adequate method to understand outgroup prejudice. This may be due to death desensitization.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: 2018_Sp_ElMasri_fsu_0071N_14575
Format: Thesis

Title: The Fine Line between Famous and Notorious: Research in Public Figures' Crisis Response Strategies Using the Situational Crisis Communication Theory.
Creator: Bartman, Andrea, McDowell, Stephen D., Dennen, Vanessa P., Rayburn, J. D., Lee, Jaejin, Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of Communication
Abstract/Description: This dissertation sought to explore public figures’ crises and crisis response messages through the lens of the situational crisis communication theory. The categories of public figures in this study are athletes, celebrities, and politicians. This research project focused on public figures’ apology messages for transgression crises, which are classified in the situational crisis communication theory as organizational misdeeds with injuries and organizational misdeeds without injuries. This...
Show moreThis dissertation sought to explore public figures’ crises and crisis response messages through the lens of the situational crisis communication theory. The categories of public figures in this study are athletes, celebrities, and politicians. This research project focused on public figures’ apology messages for transgression crises, which are classified in the situational crisis communication theory as organizational misdeeds with injuries and organizational misdeeds without injuries. This project used a content analysis of YouTube videos to determine the type of crisis a public figure experienced and the type of response they used to address their crisis. There were 47 public figures with 51 crisis response videos in the content analysis. Of the public figures in this research 25 employed an apology strategy in their crisis response video. The second part of this study was three focus group discussions that used one crisis response video that featured an apology message for each of the three categories of public figures. Alex Rodriguez was chosen as the athlete, OJ Simpson was chosen as the celebrity, and Anthony Weiner was chosen as the politician. Focus group participants discussed what they felt the public figure did well, did not do well, and could have done better during their crisis response message. Participants had many responses to these research questions, but a main theme for each topic was they felt the public figures’ use of emotion was good, they felt the public figures did not apologize well, and they felt the public figures could have done a better job sharing how they plan to prevent a similar situation from happening again. The implication of this research is the possibility of using the situational crisis communication theory as a way to help individuals like public figures respond to a crisis in addition to the organizational crises the theory has typically been used for previously.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: 2018_Sp_Bartman_fsu_0071E_14414
Format: Thesis

Title: It's All about the Money: The Political Economy of Climate Change Editorial Coverage.
Creator: Garcia, Christopher James, Clayton, Russell B., Opel, Andy, Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of Communication
Abstract/Description: Critical political economic methods are used in this study to examine climate change editorials published by prestige press newspapers in the United States between the years 2014 to 2017. This includes exploring elements of corporate ownership for each newspaper of interest, editorial sourcing practices and ideological messages perpetuated within global warming editorial coverage. Political economic methods are utilized due to their ability to expose how neoliberal social, political, and...
Show moreCritical political economic methods are used in this study to examine climate change editorials published by prestige press newspapers in the United States between the years 2014 to 2017. This includes exploring elements of corporate ownership for each newspaper of interest, editorial sourcing practices and ideological messages perpetuated within global warming editorial coverage. Political economic methods are utilized due to their ability to expose how neoliberal social, political, and economic values shape the tone and substance of editorial content available for mainstream news consumption. The history behind the pro-capitalist agenda of mainstream news media in the United States is reviewed to contextualize how this study is rooted in the methods of a historical, political economic approach. This paper specifically recalls shifts in financial and political power within the news industry beginning in the 1850s while supplementing this information with the corporate histories of each newspaper utilized in the analysis. The three newspapers analyzed in this study include the New York Times, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal. This thesis was conducted utilizing the search terms “global warming” and “climate change” on ProQuest historical newspaper database. After filtering for results from the desired publications, the editorial content was textually analyzed to examine ownership influence over climate change editorials through an analysis of sourcing patterns and ideologies perpetuated within editorial news content. This study’s results found that while each newspaper of interest showed varying degrees of support for climate change prevention efforts and belief in climate science evidence, all three publications were similar in their unwavering support for pro-market policies as solutions for climate change-related issues. Furthermore, each newspaper examined had a history of close collaborative efforts between ownership and editorial board staff. These cooperative relationships become potential conflicts of interest when understood in the context of modern day newspaper ownership – primarily with regard to the increased investment in newspaper companies by non-news related business entities. Given that all three newspaper companies analyzed in this study have investors directly engaged with the oil and gas industries, climate change coverage in particular can be seen as a potentially risky action that could have a negative impact on corporate profitability. In this context, each newspaper’s affinity for pro-market ideology and sources sympathetic to capitalism can be understood as a consequence of political economic interests that subtly influence the range of available discourses within mainstream news media.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: 2018_Sp_Garcia_fsu_0071N_14565
Format: Thesis

Title: Ain't No Sunshine: The Political Economy of Florida's Fight for Solar.
Creator: Huebner, Alex, Kazmer, Michelle M., Opel, Andy, Graves, Brian, Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of Communication
Abstract/Description: This dissertation interrogates how Florida’s major electric utility companies actively suppressed the nascent solar energy industry in their effort to consolidate solar energy production into their hands during the 2015-2016 election cycle. Along with this, newspaper coverage of this issue was analyzed to determine how the fight was presented to the public and whether prevailing commercial pressures that influence the news production process affected the coverage of this issue. Finally,...
Show moreThis dissertation interrogates how Florida’s major electric utility companies actively suppressed the nascent solar energy industry in their effort to consolidate solar energy production into their hands during the 2015-2016 election cycle. Along with this, newspaper coverage of this issue was analyzed to determine how the fight was presented to the public and whether prevailing commercial pressures that influence the news production process affected the coverage of this issue. Finally, audience commentary about this issue was explored to determine how Facebook users made sense of this issue and whether the commentary reflected the prominent themes that were also present in the news coverage. Results highlight the economic and political ties between the utility companies and their support network as well as the solar supporters and their affiliated network that squared off in this fight. Additionally, findings reveal that commercial pressures to the news production process resulted in news coverage that portrayed this issue this to the public from a small handful of viewpoints, limiting the range of perspectives from which this issue may legitimately be discussed. Furthermore, results indicate that Facebook users who commented on this issue largely reflected the same perspectives and concerns that were present in the news coverage. Final conclusions and recommendations for changes to the news production process are provided.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: 2018_Sp_Huebner_fsu_0071E_14429
Format: Thesis

Title: Gender Identity and Engagement in Health Behaviors.
Creator: Scholz, Kendra, Sypher, Ulla, Clayton, Russell B., Arpan, Laura M., Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of Communication
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this research was to investigate the link between gender identity and engagement in three health behaviors—alcohol consumption, marijuana use, and the non-medical use of prescription stimulants. Historically, health research has focused on how biological sex (i.e. male and female) is associated with engagement in health behaviors, thereby ignoring the role that gender identity (i.e. masculine and feminine) plays in making health decisions. The primary goal of this study was to...
Show moreThe purpose of this research was to investigate the link between gender identity and engagement in three health behaviors—alcohol consumption, marijuana use, and the non-medical use of prescription stimulants. Historically, health research has focused on how biological sex (i.e. male and female) is associated with engagement in health behaviors, thereby ignoring the role that gender identity (i.e. masculine and feminine) plays in making health decisions. The primary goal of this study was to offer a more contemporary understanding of health research by considering gender identity instead of biological sex in order to suggest a more accurate way for researchers to investigate health behaviors and, consequently, develop more effective interventions. A secondary goal of this research was to add to the established literature exploring the close relationships between the three health behaviors. Throughout this paper, sex is used to indicate the biological dichotomy of male and female, and gender is used to indicate the cultural representations of masculinity and femininity. This study uses Social Constructionism, Social Learning Theory, and Gender Schema Theory as theoretical foundations for the hypotheses. The role that gender identity plays in predicting alcohol use, marijuana use, and the non-medical use of prescriptions stimulants in a college-age population was investigated. It was hypothesized that gender identity would be more accurate than sex in predicting engagement in health behaviors. Participants were recruited from several Communication courses at Florida State University during the spring 2017 semester. In total, 205 respondents completed the online survey; ultimately 174 responses were included in data analysis. The Bem Sex-Role Inventory was used to measure gender identity, the AUDIT-C was used to measure alcohol consumption, the UNCOPE was used to measure marijuana use, and the Stimulant Medication Use Questionnaire was used to measure prescription stimulant misuse. The results did not show significant relationships between gender identity or sex and the three health behaviors. However, the results did show significant relationships between the three health behaviors. The results indicate that, in the current sample, neither gender identity nor sex predict alcohol consumption, marijuana use, or the non-medical use of prescription stimulants, though the three health behaviors are related to one another, which supports the literature regarding substance use.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: 2018_Sp_Scholz_fsu_0071N_14578
Format: Thesis

Title: hat's the Beef with Veganism?: An Experiemental Approach to Measuring Attitude Change after Documentary Exposure.
Creator: Connon, Courtnee, Merle, Patrick F, Graves, Brian, Rayburn, J. D., Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of Communication
Abstract/Description: Veganism is a growing dietary trend in the U.S. and scientific evidence is showing that it may be necessary for more people to make the lifestyle change in the near future. However, previous research shows predominantly negative attitudes toward vegans among omnivores. The purpose of the present study was to measure attitude change in millennials after viewing a documentary about the environmental and ethical implications surrounding veganism in order to see if documentaries are an effective...
Show moreVeganism is a growing dietary trend in the U.S. and scientific evidence is showing that it may be necessary for more people to make the lifestyle change in the near future. However, previous research shows predominantly negative attitudes toward vegans among omnivores. The purpose of the present study was to measure attitude change in millennials after viewing a documentary about the environmental and ethical implications surrounding veganism in order to see if documentaries are an effective tool in changing the stigma of veganism. The study utilized a questionnaire with seven scales measuring attitude change toward vegans, animal welfare, and the environment. In addition, the questionnaire included the new ecological paradigm scale, behavioral beliefs, control beliefs, in-group meat eating identification, and perceived threat of veganism. The study implemented a pretest-posttest experimental design with two treatment groups. Each group was shown a different 35-minute segment form the documentary “Cowspiracy”. The study showed positive attitude change after watching the documentary for attitudes toward vegans and the environment. There were statistically significant results between attitudes toward veganism, the environment and animal welfare based on political affiliation. Democrats had more positive attitudes about each of the topics compared to republicans after viewing the documentary. This research is significant because it shows a possibility for creating more positive attitudes toward veganism after showing a documentary such as “Cowspiracy” to non-vegans. The results lay a solid foundation for future research in this area by establishing that attitudes have the possibility of changing after watching the documentary “Cowspiracy”. There is an opportunity for further research to take what we’ve learned about changing attitudes to apply toward behavior change with the implementation of qualitative research.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: 2018_Sp_Connon_fsu_0071N_14584
Format: Thesis

Title: Unpacking Social Bias: An Analysis of Socioeconomic Group Status and Transcaribe-Related in News Item Media Framing.
Creator: Escobar Salazar, Nivia, Muhamad, Jessica Wendorf, Cortese, Juliann, McDowell, Stephen D., Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of...
Show moreEscobar Salazar, Nivia, Muhamad, Jessica Wendorf, Cortese, Juliann, McDowell, Stephen D., Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of Communication
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Abstract/Description: With an estimated cost of $175 million for 11 kilometers of rail (DNP, 2014), Transcaribe, a bus rapid transit system (BRT) was designed to facilitate mobility and sustainability throughout the city of Cartagena, Colombia, while stabilizing usage costs and fees and reducing emission rates linked to carcinogenic pollutants. It is expected that under optimal conditions the system would mobilize 39% (15.7 million) of the more than 40 million passengers transported via the corridor (Canabal, 2015...
Show moreWith an estimated cost of $175 million for 11 kilometers of rail (DNP, 2014), Transcaribe, a bus rapid transit system (BRT) was designed to facilitate mobility and sustainability throughout the city of Cartagena, Colombia, while stabilizing usage costs and fees and reducing emission rates linked to carcinogenic pollutants. It is expected that under optimal conditions the system would mobilize 39% (15.7 million) of the more than 40 million passengers transported via the corridor (Canabal, 2015); however, as of January 2017 adoption rates are calculated to have reached a mere 1.2 million (Boyano, Romero, & Ramos, 2016). As such, it has become imperative to understand what factors might be contributing to lowers than expected usage rates. Understanding how the media portrays Transcaribe-related news items is an important first step. Therefore, the study consisted of a deductive examination of Transcaribe-related stories in the Cartagena, Colombia regional’s newspaper El Universal. Through applying a media framing scale (Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000; Wendorf Muhamad & Yang, 2017) news items were examined for the presence or absence of five new frames: (1) attribution of responsibility (AR); (2) conflict frame (CF); (3) morality frame (MF); (4) human interest (HI); and (5) economic consequences (EC). Differences in absence or presence of frames between low and high socioeconomic neighborhoods were noted. Results indicate attribution of responsibility frame (n = 287) was the most frequently employed frame, followed by human interest frame (n = 165), conflict frame (n = 193), economic consequences frame (n = 104), and morality frame (n = 20). Attribution of responsibility is the most frequently used frame, present in low socioeconomic level (n = 173) and high socioeconomic level (n = 177). There were two hypotheses (HI, EC) supported and three (AR, CF, and MF) hypotheses rejected.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: 2018_Sp_EscobarSalazar_fsu_0071N_14558
Format: Thesis

Title: The Persuasive Effect of Narrative with Different Story Ending, Counterfactual Thinking, and Eleboration.
Creator: Cui, Di, Raney, Arthur A., Dennen, Vanessa P., Arpan, Laura M., McDowell, Stephen D., Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of Communication
Abstract/Description: Counterfactual thinking is a psychological concept used to explain the phenomenon that individuals reflectively imagine different outcomes for events that have already happened. This dissertation examined the application of counterfactual thinking in the field of media psychology. Specifically, it discussed the question of whether readers can generate counterfactuals from fictional contexts. This dissertation also examined the influential factors of counterfactuals, including the influence of...
Show moreCounterfactual thinking is a psychological concept used to explain the phenomenon that individuals reflectively imagine different outcomes for events that have already happened. This dissertation examined the application of counterfactual thinking in the field of media psychology. Specifically, it discussed the question of whether readers can generate counterfactuals from fictional contexts. This dissertation also examined the influential factors of counterfactuals, including the influence of story plot, involvement (identification and transportation), and individual characteristics, and the functional roles of generating counterfactuals. By analyzing the results of two experiments, the author found that participants who were more highly transported into the narrative world were more likely to generate counterfactuals. Meanwhile, the study results indicated that counterfactual thinking might be a factor of generating counterfactual thinking. However, the study did not find a relationship between counterfactual thinking and agreement with story-consistent beliefs.
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Date Issued: 2017
Identifier: 2018_Sp_Cui_fsu_0071E_14516
Format: Thesis

Title: Political Economy of Media Labor: An Analysis of Working Conditions of Newspaper Journalists in Karnataka, India.
Creator: Koushik, Kailash, Proffitt, Jennifer M., Dennen, Vanessa P., McDowell, Stephen D., Nudd, Donna M, Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of...
Show moreKoushik, Kailash, Proffitt, Jennifer M., Dennen, Vanessa P., McDowell, Stephen D., Nudd, Donna M, Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of Communication
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Abstract/Description: The Indian newspaper industry has been celebrated globally in communication research, as it continues to grow, both in circulation and readership. However, little is known about the journalists who work in this celebrated industry. Labor as a whole is sidelined in media research, and it is the same in the context of India. This study presents an insight into the working conditions of newspaper journalists, focusing on the newspaper journalists working in the state of Karnataka, India. The...
Show moreThe Indian newspaper industry has been celebrated globally in communication research, as it continues to grow, both in circulation and readership. However, little is known about the journalists who work in this celebrated industry. Labor as a whole is sidelined in media research, and it is the same in the context of India. This study presents an insight into the working conditions of newspaper journalists, focusing on the newspaper journalists working in the state of Karnataka, India. The study employs critical political economy of media to analyze the working conditions of journalists. It begins by outlining critical political economy, recent research on political economy of media labor, and history of Indian media with a focus on newspapers. The study, then, provides an overview of the Working Journalists Act and a historical account of the journalists wage boards constituted since 1956. Further, it utilizes this historical context, to examine the current working conditions of newspaper journalists, based on in-depth interviews of newspaper journalists. The study reveals the exploitation of newspaper journalists, through the analysis of their daily work and how structural dynamics of the newspapers allow owners to underpay and overwork newspaper journalists. The study also reveals mechanism of exploitation at a time when newspapers are transitioning toward digital media. Lastly, it examines whether these conditions of work of journalists will be favourable for democracy, and provides recommendations on how to change and improve the working conditions of journalists, in order for them to carry out their democratic responsibilities. The study aims to contribute and fill gaps in research about media labor in India.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: 2018_Fall_Koushik_fsu_0071E_14862
Format: Thesis

Title: Snap It Together: Exploring the Role of Snapchat Live Stories in the Collective Identity and Action of Offline Communities.
Creator: Rowlett, Jerrica Ty, Sypher, Ulla, Harlow, Summer, Dennen, Vanessa P., Jordan-Jackson, Felecia, McDowell, Stephen D., Florida State University, College of Communication and...
Show moreRowlett, Jerrica Ty, Sypher, Ulla, Harlow, Summer, Dennen, Vanessa P., Jordan-Jackson, Felecia, McDowell, Stephen D., Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of Communication
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Abstract/Description: Social media have altered various aspects of society, including identity management, collective action, and civic engagement. One of the more recent social media to enter the scene is Snapchat, an application that allows users to create snaps (photos or short videos) to share with others. Snapchat has several features that make it unique, yet this research focuses on the Snapchat Map and Snapchat Live Stories feature of the application. These features allow members of a physical offline...
Show moreSocial media have altered various aspects of society, including identity management, collective action, and civic engagement. One of the more recent social media to enter the scene is Snapchat, an application that allows users to create snaps (photos or short videos) to share with others. Snapchat has several features that make it unique, yet this research focuses on the Snapchat Map and Snapchat Live Stories feature of the application. These features allow members of a physical offline community to share snaps to the map, generating a content that anyone in the world can view. This research explores this feature of Snapchat, bringing into question the community building potential and identity management strategies of the platform, particularly in instances of civic engagement. This mixed-methods research utilized qualitative textual and visual analyses of Snapchat Live Stories, as well as quantitative content analysis of the data. Additionally, a survey was distributed it 495 active Snapchat users to learn about their experiences with the app. Findings show that Snapchat has the affordances necessary to create a sense of community among individuals, but it seems that most users are not interacting with these application features, bringing into question the usability of the applications. Findings also suggest that the affordances of Snapchat do not easily permit collective action among members of a community or increase perceived political self-efficacy. The application can provide a more wholistic view of a community, giving insider-perspective through camera angles that allow the viewer to feel as if they are present.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: 2019_Spring_Rowlett_fsu_0071E_14998
Format: Thesis

Title: When 'They' Are Listening: Sociolinguistic Variation in John F. Kennedy's Cold War Speeches during 1961.
Creator: Pope, Steven John, Houck, Davis W., Raney, Arthur A., Sunderman, Gretchen L., Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of Communication
Abstract/Description: When John F. Kennedy took office in January 1961, the United States entered a new era of Cold War diplomacy. During the era ridden with propaganda and imminent nuclear apocalypse, the presidential address served as a powerful tool to promote international peace while simultaneously threatening the opposition. Rather than fixate on President Kennedy’s rhetorical initiatives as they appear in transcriptions, the following identifies President Kennedy’s sociophonetic initiatives through...
Show moreWhen John F. Kennedy took office in January 1961, the United States entered a new era of Cold War diplomacy. During the era ridden with propaganda and imminent nuclear apocalypse, the presidential address served as a powerful tool to promote international peace while simultaneously threatening the opposition. Rather than fixate on President Kennedy’s rhetorical initiatives as they appear in transcriptions, the following identifies President Kennedy’s sociophonetic initiatives through linguistic methodology. By utilizing the phonetic software tool, Praat, the succeeding analysis produces a speaking profile for three of Kennedy’s 1961 speeches. With consistent content and context across each speech, President Kennedy’s ability to adapt his speaking style - dependent on the present audience - is distinguished. Considering Kennedy’s speeches were often influenced by speech writers, the President’s orality and sociophonetic variation provides evidence to his individual attempts to appeal to specific audiences. To further critique Kennedy’s use of language when appealing to his constituents, specific “signals” directed to the opposition are additionally analyzed. Beneficial to historians, rhetoricians, and linguists this work returns to a basis in orality in an effort to promote linguistic methodologies in the rhetorical domain.
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Date Issued: 2019
Identifier: 2019_Spring_Pope_fsu_0071N_15205
Format: Thesis

Title: Promoting Behavioral Intentions to Defend Victims of Bullying among College Students with an Interactive Narrative Game.
Creator: Wu, Yijie, Arpan, Laura M., Boot, Walter Richard, Raney, Arthur A., Lustria, Mia Liza A., Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of...
Show moreWu, Yijie, Arpan, Laura M., Boot, Walter Richard, Raney, Arthur A., Lustria, Mia Liza A., Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of Communication
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Abstract/Description: Bullying and cyberbullying nowadays have become an issue that a substantial number of college students have to deal with. However, most people do not think they occur as frequently in universities as in high schools or middle schools, and few of them are willing to intervene in a bullying situation when they see one. The goal of this dissertation was to explore ways to promote victim defending behaviors among college students from two perspectives: 1) to examine the psychological and personal...
Show moreBullying and cyberbullying nowadays have become an issue that a substantial number of college students have to deal with. However, most people do not think they occur as frequently in universities as in high schools or middle schools, and few of them are willing to intervene in a bullying situation when they see one. The goal of this dissertation was to explore ways to promote victim defending behaviors among college students from two perspectives: 1) to examine the psychological and personal factors that determine college students’ behavioral intentions to help victims and 2) to investigate the effects of playing an anti-bullying interactive narrative game on behavioral intention to help victims. To fulfill this goal, two studies – one survey and one experiment – were designed. The first study was a survey to examine psychological factors (i.e., attitude, self-efficacy, injunctive norms, descriptive norms, and personal moral norms) and personal factors (i.e., age, gender, and trait empathy) that might influence behavioral intention to defend victims of bullying. Results from Study 1 showed that psychological factors like injunctive norms perceptions, self-efficacy, and personal moral norms regarding victim defending behaviors as well as personal factors including age, gender, and trait empathy can influence a college student’s intention to help victims of bullying. Following this, an experiment was conducted using a mixed 2 (Medium of Intervention: Interactive narrative game/Non-interactive narrative video) × 2 (Outcome Valence: Positive/Negative) × 2 (Time: Pre-test/Post-test) factorial design with an additional control group. The experiment investigated whether medium of intervention and outcome valence influenced college students’ behavioral intention to defend bullied victims through the mechanisms of presence, identification, counterfactual thinking, and guilt. Results from Study 2 showed that playing an anti-bulling interactive narrative game, Life is Strange, increased college students’ intention to defend victims of bullying due to its ability to facilitate internal ascription of responsibility, personal moral norms for victim defending, and empathy for victims through evoking players’ strong sense of presence in the game. Experiencing a negative outcome in the game also increased intention to help victims later via players’ feeling of guilt. These results and their implications are discussed.
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Date Issued: 2019
Identifier: 2019_Spring_Wu_fsu_0071E_15252
Format: Thesis

Title: The Role of Ideographs in Nonprofit Branding: Abortion as Ideograph and Its Role in the 2012 Susan G. Komen/Planned Parenthood Social Media Crisis.
Creator: Willingham, Christine Marie, Houck, Davis W., McDowell, Stephen D., Rayburn, J. D. (Jay D.), Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of...
Show moreWillingham, Christine Marie, Houck, Davis W., McDowell, Stephen D., Rayburn, J. D. (Jay D.), Florida State University, College of Communication and Information, School of Communication
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Abstract/Description: This dissertation traces the discursive and political history of abortion and concludes "abortion" is an ideograph, a term coined by Michael Calvin McGee to describe an ultimate term or slogan representing an ideology and acts as a motivating force in political discourse. Next, this dissertation examines the role of abortion as ideograph during the Susan G. Komen/Planned Parenthood social media crisis in 2012 and its impact on brand image. The crisis threatened Komen's reputation; thus,...
Show moreThis dissertation traces the discursive and political history of abortion and concludes "abortion" is an ideograph, a term coined by Michael Calvin McGee to describe an ultimate term or slogan representing an ideology and acts as a motivating force in political discourse. Next, this dissertation examines the role of abortion as ideograph during the Susan G. Komen/Planned Parenthood social media crisis in 2012 and its impact on brand image. The crisis threatened Komen's reputation; thus, exemplifying the characteristics of a paracrisis (Coombs & Holladay, 2012) and revealed dissonance between brand identity and brand image. Prior to the crisis, candidates running for office had pledged to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood and emphasized its role as the nation's "largest abortion provider." To shift the narrative from abortion provider to health care provider, Planned Parenthood leveraged the attention generated by the crisis to enhance its brand image. The following artifacts were selected for analysis: media reports, legislation and court cases about abortion, comments posted during the crisis to Komen's Facebook page, blog posts, and press releases of advocacy groups and congressional leaders. A rhetorical analysis of the texts revealed rhetors viewed Komen's action as a political decision in response to conflicting ideological beliefs about abortion. Komen's longstanding partnership with Planned Parenthood and the use of "pro-choice" language in its brand communication facilitated a brand image of Komen as supporting the right of a woman to make choices relevant to her personal circumstances. The news that Komen would be "halting grants to Planned Parenthood" prompted Komen's publics to reevaluate their understanding of the organization's brand values. Pro-life supporters understood Komen's decision as an acknowledgment of the harmful effects of abortion to women while pro-choice supporters viewed the decision as a betrayal of its brand values. The crisis demonstrates the power of ideographs to motivate and unite like-minded publics; however, the ideograph can also pose a threat to brand credibility by dividing organizational publics along ideological lines. Komen's failure to understand its brand image as supportive of women's right to choice led to organizational action viewed as contrary to brand values and resulted in the loss of brand equity.
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Date Issued: 2019
Identifier: 2019_Summer_Willingham_fsu_0071E_15254
Format: Thesis

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