Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2005. / Supervisor: Brian Detlor. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 234-272). Also available online.

This study is a response to the growing demand for more critical examinations of the video game as a communicative as well as interactive medium of mass culture. It reflects the game in regard to its potentials and abilities conveying a message to its audience and sets it into a broader discourse of mass communication. The analysis focuses on opinion forming games and their agendas whilst scrutinizing the methods through which certain messages are delivered to the player. The study is primarily based on qualitative research and analyzes the mechanisms of manipulation through examples with an emphasis on the mechanics and rules of the game, its visual aesthetics, its narrative structure and the emotional dimensions of the gameplay. The analysis illustrates that games are effectively used to render the image of war and to frame the enemy in a stereotypical manner in order to match certain political interests. They also function as a recruitment tool for the military as well as for political and ethnic fractions. In addition the study demonstrates the positive potentials of the medium by referring to serious games which offer complex perspectives and profound knowledge about certain topics and encourage the player to aim for creative and constructive solutions in order to finish the game successfully. The results of the study demonstrate that video games can no longer be categorized as a subculture of entertainment for young men. With the growing acceptance of the medium as a part of mass culture its influence especially on young people had been taken into account by certain groups which made use of the video game to convey their messages to an audience. The analysis shows the inner complexity of the medium and gives examples for attempts to use its potentials by concluding that these efforts are far from being utilized fully. In this regard the study offers impulses for further research which should fill the void and explore the possibilities games provide and how we can make good use of them.

Background: Tobacco use remains a major public health issue. Population-level efforts to curb tobacco use include media to promote smoking cessation. However, these campaigns (including tobacco package warning labels) commonly emphasize the addictiveness of nicotine and the difficulty of quitting with statements like ?nicotine is as addictive as heroin and cocaine?. Addiction oriented messages may have an iatrogenic effect on cessation by undermining behavioural precursors such as self-efficacy, cessation outcome expectations, behavioural control, and quit-aid efficacy. <br /><br /> Objectives: First, to determine the effects of addiction focused messages in comparison to efficacy enhanced messages and control messages on smokers? self-efficacy, cessation outcome expectations, behavioural control, and quit-aid efficacy. Second, to determine if the impact of addiction focused messages differ according to participant nicotine dependency level. <br /><br /> Methods: A sample of adult smokers (n>101) from Kitchener/Waterloo and Owen Sound were randomly assigned into one of three intervention conditions: addiction focused (M1), efficacy enhanced (M2), and control (M3). Outcome measures were collected at baseline, post intervention and 30-day follow-up and included: self-efficacy, outcome expectations, behavioural control, quit-aid efficacy, and outcome expectancies. The 30-day follow-up also included measures of smoking consumption, quit attempts and use of a quit-aid. <br /><br /> Results: Majority of the participants were males and between 18-25 years of age. Mean number of cigarettes smoked ranged from 12 to 15 across groups whereas the mean number of years smoked ranged from 12 to 17. General linear analyses revealed no significant effect of message type or nicotine dependence (as measured by the Fagerstrome Test for Nicotine Dependence) on the outcome variables of interest. However, when perceived addiction was substituted as the measure of nicotine dependence, the analysis revealed a main effect for nicotine dependence on self-efficacy post intervention and on cessation outcome expectations at follow-up. An interaction effect was found for outcome expectancy at post intervention. <br /><br /> Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that acute addiction oriented messages may not negatively impact smokers? self-efficacy, outcomes expectations, behavioural control, quit-aid efficacy, and outcome expectancies. However, this does mean that message orientation should be ignored when constructing smoking cessation messages. In fact, program designers are encouraged to employ messages that limit the use of addiction oriented statements such as ?nicotine is as addictive as heroin and cocaine?. Further research is required to examine the potential cumulative impact of addiction oriented messages on quitting behaviour and its precursors.

This study explores whether the third-person effect caused by the published article in the Ptt Gossiping bulletin board. And the follow-up support to restrict the inappropriate content in the Ptt Gossiping bulletin board. Source of this study is use recommended system detected written by Expect language. It would detect popular articles and published articles. Pick a representative to do the test article.and place in the survey questionnaire online. The result shows: All of the four article have third person effect. Affect the follow¡Ðup support restrict the behavior of inappropriate content.

This research will discuss the effects of framing promotion messages to different price level products. Consumers will perceive the difference of significance of savings, and the different perceptions of retailer¡¦s tactics in price promotion: inflating the regular price before a promotion and a permanent price reduction. If it has differences on promote effects and purchase intentions when using the different promotion type. Finally, this research uses price consciousness to make deep investigation. To understand if consumers with different price consciousness have different perceptions on the subject of the effects of framing price promotion messages. In this research, we find that for the high-price product, consumers perceive a price reduction framed in dollar terms as more significant of savings than in percentage terms. For the low-price product, consumers perceive a price reduction framed in percentage terms as more significant of savings than in dollar terms. But the effects of framing price promotion messages have no significant effect on consumer¡¦s perception of whether retailers use tactics or not. It is no significant effects of promotion type ( coupon v.s discount ) on the perceived significance of the savings. Consumers consider that the lower likelihood of retailer¡¦s tactics using in coupon promotions. In purchase intentions, consumers are more likely to purchase in coupon promotions than in discount promotions. It is no significant difference on different price consciousness consumer to the subject of the effects of framing price promotion messages. We can¡¦t find that whether it has relationship between price consciousness and the effects of framing price promotion messages.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-157). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-157). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 181-193).

Thesis (doctoral)--Göteborg University, 2002.

In this thesis, I am concerned with the language of advertising. By analyzing advertising from a discourse perspective, this paper further examines the context of communication and the participants’ roles in the context. This study focuses on commercial advertising, based on the assumption that the intended meaning of the advertiser is to persuade the viewer to perform a purchase. Therefore this study observes persuasive messages and how they are presented in advertising. To analyze and compare real texts from a discourse perspective present an opportunityto examine social changes that might have taken place in a society due to different temporal settings. The social changes are examined by comparing assigned gender roles in advertisements published in 1956 and advertisements published in 2014. The material consists of a total of eleven transcripts description of printed advertisements collected from The New Yorker. The examples used for this study have been hand picked to illustrate theories described in the background, such as those provided by Leech (1966), Hermerén (1999), Romaine (1999), Cronin (2000) and Hillier (2004). The framework for the analysis is based on Leech’s (1966) concept of primary and secondary situations with corresponding primary and secondary participants. The findings suggest that advertisers can persuade the viewer by addressing the viewer directly and by using exophoric references, or by inserting secondary participants to convey the message. In addition, the assigned role of women seems to have changed more than the assigned role of men in advertising discourse.