The legal system and the social sciences share an interest in privacy but have developed separate conceptualizations of the concept. The result is two similar but conflicting theories of privacy that make different assumptions about how people behave and how that behavior can be controlled. The purpose of this study was to begin testing these theories by examining the operationalization of privacy through mandated standards intended to ensure privacy for the mentally ill. Specifically, the standards set in Wyatt v. Stickney, which reflect the idea that privacy is a sphere of space free from outside intrusion, were examined to see if they did indeed ensure privacy. Using two units in a facility that met the standards mandated by the court in Wyatt v. Stickney, the research examined staff and patient perceptions of privacy. Thirty-five patients were interviewed and twenty-four staff completed questionnaires on the overall habitability of the unit and patient privacy. Results indicated that the Wyatt court's operationalization of privacy as primarily a visual phenomena was inadequate and although the specific standards ordered to ensure privacy were reported to be effective by a simple majority of patients, overall patients reported a lack of privacy. Staff responses were generally in agreement with patients but they tended to use more extreme or stronger ratings. The present study also has implications for the legal conceptualization of privacy. It was found that privacy was perceived as important by patients; that autonomy as evidenced by control was an important issue for a minority of patients; and, the right of selective disclosure was not a major concern of patients. Needed future areas of research that were identified included: comparing privacy ratings across a variety of group living situations, comparing the mentally ill's conceptualizations of privacy from others, determining the effect of privacy on the therapeutic goals of an institution and therapeutic outcome and, determine the relative importance of privacy to the mentally ill.

This research examines how culture moderates the effect of attitude projection onto the family in terms of opinion certainty. Korean students and American students completed a measure of collectivism-individualism and a measure of family cohesiveness and then indicated their own attitude positions on eight topical issues. Next, each person estimated the positions of either his or her own family, or student peers at their home university, or college students from the respective out-group country. In a fourth condition, participants did not estimate the attitude positions of others. As expected, Koreans and Americans assumed attitude similarity to their family and to their student peers more than to college student out-group members. Also as expected, however, projection onto the family did not lead to an increase in opinion certainty among Korean participants. Only among American participants did attitude projection onto the family correlate with increases in opinion certainty. Despite confirmation of the predicted outcomes for opinion certainty, the additional process measures revealed unexpected findings. These measures showed that individualism predicted the opinion certainty of Koreans following projection onto the family. Only in the out-group projection condition was the opinion certainty of Korean participants correlated with their collectivism scores and their family cohesion scores. These findings are discussed in terms of (1) cultural orientations that influence personality and (2) methodological features of the present study that are typical of social projection research paradigms. / Department of Psychological Science

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2007. / Title from file title page. Roderick J. Watts, committee chair; Gabriel P. Kuperminc, Julia L. Perilla, committee members. Electronic text (124 p. : ill.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Jan. 3, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 95-102).

“Homonorm” is a collection of short stories that explores the gay male experience and challenges gender expectations. Through an exploration of form and content, each story serves to illuminate different issues in the gay community and in society. Where one story explores the issue of youth obsession with magical realism, the other tells the story of a gay artist’s sexual awakening and struggle with HIV and AIDS through a series of still-life photographs. This eclectic collection serves to break the stereotype of gay fiction and undo the gender norms for men through fantastical situations and a-typical forms of fiction to underscore the idea that life and community are varied and so too should be the representations of these two groups. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Celebrities such as Halle Berry, Dave Chappelle, Kathy Griffin, and Don Imus have recently evoked public ire for making what some people have seen as tasteless jokes. Their notorious humorous communication shares two notable qualities: the discourse was mass mediated and the “jokes” were all premised on stereotypes. This two-part dissertation addresses the complicated subject of understanding the meanings viewers co-create with humorous mediated communication that is premised on racial stereotypes. I focus on Chappelle’s Show as my primary text of analysis, but the findings here have applicability to the wider genre of humorous mediated communication that is premised on stereotypes. In the first part of the dissertation I survey humor theory and humor criticism, noting weaknesses in the ways that communication scholars have previously studied humorous mediated texts. I then suggest that humor scholarship can be improved through two principal methods: 1. humor scholars of various academic disciplines need to use a unified set of terms that refer to the humor stimulus, humor motivation, and the possible effects of the humor, and 2. critics of humorous mediated texts need to approach them as a unique genre, with a critical lens that accounts for the polysemy inherent in many humorous texts. In the next part of the dissertation, I model a multi-methodological approach to mining the mélange of meanings in Chappelle’s Show. My in-depth case study of racial stereotype-based humor in Chappelle’s Show incorporates textual analysis of a dozen sketches, qualitative analysis of viewer opinions about the show, and a quantitative analysis of viewing behaviors as well as the relationship between viewing the show and prejudice. This multi-methodological approach helps better mine the polysemic meanings of the text because it explores the spectrum of the communication model from stimulus to receiver. I conclude that Chappelle’s Show can both encourage and reduce prejudice. While inconclusive conclusions are an anomaly in media criticism, I advocate the pursuit of such conclusions in humor criticism. Stereotype-based mediated comedic texts demand an exploration of their multiple meanings, not a definitive statement about how they should be interpreted or how they affect an audience. / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 1988. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 283-301).

This mixed-methods research study was conducted for the purpose of examining school-based occupational therapists' child psychosocial knowledge and attitudes, along with how therapists developed this knowledge and attitudes. Using a phenomenological qualitative approach, the study addressed the following broad research question: What meaning do school-based occupational therapists give to their experience in developing child psychosocial knowledge? Using a quantitative approach, a survey instrument was used to answer the following questions: (a) What level of child psychosocial knowledge and attitudes do school-based occupational therapists possess? (b) How do the following variables impact child psychosocial knowledge and attitudes: (1) level of education, (2) academic course content, (3) participation in mental health fieldwork, (4) application of psychosocial knowledge in non-mental health fieldwork, (5) professional practice experiences, and ( 6) continuing education experiences. Snowball sampling was used to select 11 school-based occupational therapists for the phenomenological portion of the design. Data were analyzed using Giorgi and Giorgi's (2008) method of phenomenological analysis. Random sampling was used to select 1,000 school-based therapists who were mailed the Occupational Therapy Child Mental Health Questionnaire based upon The Teacher Mental Health Opinion Inventory (Morris, 2002). The response was N = 630. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and analysis of association. Using the mixed-methods triangulation convergence model, where both quantitative and qualitative data were collected at the same time and the results converged during interpretation by comparing and contrasting them, the following conclusions were made: (a) school-based occupational therapists possess and use child psychosocial knowledge: however. they do not believe it is sufficient; (b) school-based occupational therapists have a difficult time articulating psychosocial knowledge; however. through case descriptions they are able to give many examples of psychosocial knowledge they use in practice; (c) school-based occupational therapists believe that holistic, occupation-based, and client-centered practice, along with additional psychosocial intervention strategics, help them maintain a positive attitude toward children with emotional disturbance; (d) school-based occupational therapists experience tension when attempting to apply their holistic, occupation-based, and client-centered practice in an environment that is typically focused on students changing to meet the environmental demands; (e) due to the constraints of the educational system and the IEP, school-based occupational therapists practice holistically by incorporating psychosocial knowledge in a hidden fashion; (f) school-based occupational therapists believe that mental health fieldwork and rich experiences with individuals who have mental illness is important to developing a comfort level with people who have mental illness; (g) school-based occupational therapists do not readily connect the learning from adult mental health fieldwork that they apply in their school-based practices.

Interest in a multiracial society has increased in recent years and including on racism and prejudice and in the propensity to stereotype out-groups. Theories on racism help explain the dominant group's prejudice toward subordinate groups. Yet they only explain why dominant group members stereotype subordinates or if the dominant group's propensity to stereotype is different from that of subordinate groups. Recent assimilation theories suggest that some minorities are assimilating with Whites but Blacks are not undergoing assimilation. Classic assimilation theory suggests that when a subordinate group assimilates with the dominant group then they will also take on the dominant group's values and beliefs, including their prejudices and propensities to stereotype. The use of racial stereotypes in support of the assimilation of a minority group has not been tested. Results from the LSAF national survey provide support for Asians to be assimilating with Whites. However, Hispanics do not appear to be taking on Whites' propensity to stereotype, contradicting the prediction that Hispanics are assimilating with Whites.

Not available / text

This study examined a mediational model of mental illness stigma, parent-child communication about mental health concerns, and help seeking attitudes/behaviors among young adults with at least one immigrant parent while considering the possible moderating effect of acculturation gap. The primary goal of this study was to examine whether the acculturation gap changed the relation between mental illness stigma and communication about personal mental health concerns with immigrant parents, which in turn could become a significant predictor of their help-seeking attitudes, as well as a barrier to seeking professional mental health services. Findings provided support to the direct and indirect effects of mental illness stigma through communication about mental health concerns on attitudes about help-seeking. The acculturation gap hypothesized to be a possible moderator for the stigma-communication about mental health concerns relationship among young adult ABCI was found to be significant for ABCI with a low mainstream culture acculturation gap. Discussion on the findings, limitations of the study, future research directions, and counseling implications are addressed.