The present study used regression procedures to investigate the relationships between selected communication variables and innate innovativeness. The three general types of variables examined in this study were communication anxiety, communicator style, and selfdisclosiveness. Ten hypotheses were tested together with a descriptive model which was based on the communication variables and their ability to predict innate innovativeness. Results of the tests of the model were confirmed as were the ten hypothesized relationships. The results of the regression analyses performed on the data indicated that receiver apprehension and honesty of self-disclosiveness were negatively and positively associated with innate innovativeness respectively, and were the variables which most significantly impacted the variance of innate innovativeness scores.

Educators are commonly concerned about how to trigger students' interest in the classroom, as well as how to create a learning experience in which students are engaged and motivated to invest effort and time. Similarly, researchers have explored these variables and aimed to establish a better understanding of how students' interest is developed. Yet, less attention has been paid to teacher self-disclosure as a factor in students' learning experiences and interest development. Although teacher self-disclosure has commonly been addressed in connection with the teacher-student relationship it has not been linked to interest development. Therefore, with the goal of exploring the construct of teacher self-disclosure, this study explored associations and interactions of perceptions of teacher self-disclosure and of students' individual and situational interest in a language learning context. In addition, students' ratings of the learning experience and intended effort were added to investigate associations between these student variables and their perceptions of teacher self-disclosure and interest. Data were collected in language classes of 16 different instructors. In total, 185 students participated in the qualitative part of the study, Phase 1, by filling out surveys at the beginning and end of the semester. For the main analysis, correlation and regression analyses were used in order to explore the relations between students' perceptions of teacher self-disclosure and initial individual interest, situational interest, the learning experience, and intended effort. Further, a total of nine instructors and eight students participated in the qualitative part, Phase 2, by agreeing to be observed and interviewed. Here, the focus was on describing and assessing the use of teacher self-disclosure in language classes. Results indicated that teachers were rated as varying in their self-disclosure, but that self-disclosure did not account for much of the variance in students' situational interest. Qualitative results showed that students perceived teacher self-disclosure to be an important communication strategy and one of the influential variables an instructor can bring into the learning experience. Overall, this study makes a contribution to understanding the complexity and interactions of student and teacher variables that are crucial to establish a functioning student-teacher relationship and subsequently healthy learning experience. / text

Much research has studied cohesiveness within client groups in terms of making therapeutic gains. These studies have defined cohesiveness in terms of a) attraction of the group as perceived by a group member, b) how clearly each member sees his/her role within the group, and c) the effectiveness of one's skills in attaining group goals. Little research has dealt with the role of staff cohesiveness in developing an effective treatment program. Effectiveness, in this study, is defined as the degree to which clients are willing to disclose personal information to the staff. The results show a positive correlation between staff's perceived effectiveness with clients and the clients' willingness to self-disclose. On-hand experience with clients seems important in involving clients in therapy.

This study examined stepparents' privacy boundary management when engaging in communicative interactions with stepchildren. I utilized Petronio's communication privacy management theory to investigate stepparents' motivations of disclosing or concealing from stepchildren as well as how stepparents' gender influences such motivations. Moreover, present research also explored types of privacy dilemma within stepfamily households from stepparent perspectives. Fifteen stepfathers and 15 stepmothers received in-depth interviews about their self-disclosing and concealment experiences with stepchildren. I identified confidant dilemma and accidental dilemma in stepfamily households from stepparents' perspectives, as well as stepparents' gender differences in self-disclosing and concealing motivations. Findings also suggest that stepparents reveal and conceal from stepchildren out of same motivations: establishing good relationships, viewing stepchildren as own children, helping stepchildren with problems resulting from the divorce and viewing stepchildren as "others." The result also indicates that stepparents experienced dialectical tensions between closedness and openness during the decision of revealing or concealing from stepchildren.

Grounded in a social penetration perspective, this exploratory study aspires to examine the impact of self-disclosure on intercultural friendship development between Taiwanese and native English speakers by a section of the following populations: (a) Taiwanese sojourning in the US, (b) native English speakers sojourning in Taiwan, and (c) Taiwanese in Taiwan. This research employed a triangulation of quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews to answer the proposed research questions and hypothesis regarding four dimensions and six topics of self-disclosure. Consistent with the quantitative results, the five themes that emerged from the qualitative analysis indicate both unique challenges in self-disclosing to intercultural friends and a positive association between self-disclosure and cultural adaptation. Additionally, this study highlights the role of self-disclosure in the four identified stages of intercultural friendship development. Finally, findings from this study have implications for the social penetration theory, anxiety/uncertainly management theory, and theory of adaptation in intercultural dyads.

published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Thesis (M.P.H.)--University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, 2008. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 46-05, page: 2672. Adviser: Margaret Caughy. Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of Att vara en i mängden… – En studie om religiös isolering på Facebook (Running with the pack… – A study on religious isolation on Facebook) is to gain an understanding of religious isolation between Christian, Jewish, Muslim and non-religious people. Further, the purpose is also to gain insight on how Christians, Jews and Muslims experience Facebook as a platform for expressing religious identity. The study was made using a concurrent mixed method, combining quantitative and qualitative methods, targeting Swedish Facebook users. The theoretical framework behind the study is The Spiral of Silence, by Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann.The results indicate that religious isolation exists, and that it effects how prone users are to self-disclose about their religious identity. Also, the study shows that public opinion does not affect how prone users are to self-disclose. Rather, it is determined by the perceived opinion of the people in the user’s Facebook network. Due to the algorithm used by Facebook to filter users’ newsfeed, the recommendation to all Facebook users is to deliberately show interest to a diversity of religious content

This preface is designed to provide insight for the reader into the reasoning behind choosing these specific pieces of work to make up the doctorate portfolio and why I consider them to be important pieces, contributing to my identity and competence as a counselling psychologist. This doctorate portfolio is comprised of a selection of completed work for the Practitioner Doctorate in Counselling Psychology for The University of Wolverhampton. It contains three dossiers: Academic, therapeutic and research. In a seperate document is a confidential attachment, which is separate to this portfolio as it contains confidential information. The Academic Dossier contains essays that were submitted for the modules 'Life-span Approach' and 'Working with Couples'. Received academic feedback for these essays are provided within the confidential attachment. The Therapeutic Dossier contains two essays that were written at the last stages of the three year doctorate course, reflecting upon my perceived professional development in the 'Professional Issues' essay and an exploration of therapeutic experience on supervised placements in 'Supervised Practice', over the last three academic years. A conscious decision was also made to not edit these essays for entering into the doctorate portfolio, as they can then ideally represent a growth in writing style and academic ability, which has occurred over the course of this doctoral training. Finally the Research Dossier is composed of several chapters, including a literature review, empirical study and critical appraisal.

published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy