Reality dating shows like "The Bachelor," "The Bachelorette," "Average Joe," "For Love or Money" and "Joe Millionaire" have recently attracted a growing number of viewers in the United States. As these reality dating shows pry into the most intimate corners of the lives of ordinary people, they have many people questioning their impact on society. However, there has not been extensive research on this subject. The purpose of the study was to examine the extent that exposure to reality television dating shows have on the cultivation of attitudes and perceptions of interpersonal relationships among college students in the United States. Exposure to reality television dating shows as measured by days viewed in an average week was found to be correlated with the acceptance of dysfunctional relationship beliefs. However, the effect of exposure was found to depend on the amount of perceived realism with the effect stronger for those who evaluated the shows as realistic. These results are more supportive of cognitive-functional theory, rather than cultivation theory. No effects of exposure were found on acceptance of unrealistic relational beliefs.

The first step in this process is to define what is implied by the term "Uses and Gratifications" and to elaborate on current perspectives of the uses and gratifications paradigm in order to understand the need for the present research. As the second step in this process. a discussion of the variable of audience personality will be explored in order to describe why some of the people exhibit different preferences for different television program content. The end result of this discussion on personality and program preference will be a contribution to the body or heuristic knowledge surrounding the reasons for specific television behaviors by the audience.

The serious investigation of humor's function in society is an emerging area of research in critical humor studies, a "negative" subsect of the extensive and "positive" research that assumes humor's goodness. Using Michael Billig's theory of ridicule as a framework, this study explored how humor operated to discipline characters who broke social norms or allowed characters to rebel against those norms. Layering this with gender performative theory, the study also investigated how different male and female characters used ridicule and were subject to it themselves. After examining ridicule in The Big Bang Theory, 2 Broke Girls, and The Odd Couple using a critical rhetorical analysis, the findings revealed that disciplinary ridicule was used more overtly throughout all three programs, while potentially rebellious ridicule emerged in only a few scenes. In addition, men were overwhelmingly the subjects of disciplinary ridicule, although women found themselves as subjects throughout all three programs as well. The discursive ridiculing of non-normative bodies constructed and maintained social norms about gender and sexuality, thereby uninviting these bodies from participating in society.

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Lam Pui Shan, Denise. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 168-177). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.iii / Acknowledgements --- p.vii / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1. --- Individual Level --- p.5 / Chapter 1.2. --- Organizational Level --- p.5 / Chapter 1.3. --- Contextual Level --- p.6 / Chapter 2. --- Literature Review --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1. --- Coercive Isomorphism --- p.12 / Chapter 2.2. --- Mimetic Isomorphism --- p.14 / Chapter 2.3. --- Normative Isomorphism --- p.15 / Chapter 3. --- Methodology --- p.26 / Chapter 3.1. --- Methods of Data Collection --- p.27 / Chapter 3.2. --- Methods Related to Different Levels of Analysis --- p.34 / Chapter 4. --- Textual Analysis 一 Overall Review --- p.40 / Chapter 4.1. --- "“Sex Education""" --- p.40 / Chapter 4.2. --- """Hyper World""" --- p.66 / Chapter 4.3. --- “Mother's Drawer is at the Bottommost，， --- p.68 / Chapter 5. --- Individual Level --- p.70 / Chapter 5.1. --- Personal Backgrounds --- p.70 / Chapter 5.2. --- Degree of Freedom Experienced --- p.73 / Chapter 5.3. --- Mechanisms of Isomorphic Forces within the Individual Level --- p.83 / Chapter 5.4. --- Control and Autonomy Sourced from the Individual Level --- p.86 / Chapter 6. --- Organizational Level --- p.88 / Chapter 6.1. --- Organizational Structure --- p.88 / Chapter 6.2. --- Organizational Missions and Goals --- p.91 / Chapter 6.3. --- Code of Rules of RTHK --- p.92 / Chapter 6.4. --- Organizational Culture --- p.95 / Chapter 6.5. --- Mechanisms of Isomorphic Forces within the Organizational Level --- p.105 / Chapter 6.6. --- "Comparisons with “Hyper World"" and “Mother's Drawer is at the Bottommost""" --- p.109 / Chapter 6.7. --- Control and Autonomy Sourced from the Organizational Level --- p.123 / Chapter 7. --- Contextual Level --- p.126 / Chapter 7.1. --- Governmental Regulations --- p.126 / Chapter 7.2. --- Suppliers of Information and Advices --- p.129 / Chapter 7.3. --- Power Relations between RTHK and Different Resources Suppliers --- p.131 / Chapter 7.4. --- Social Expectations on Sex Education --- p.137 / Chapter 7.5. --- Role Expectations from the Public Perceived by Staff --- p.140 / Chapter 7.6. --- Mechanisms of Isomorphic Forces within the Contextual Level --- p.143 / Chapter 7.7. --- Control and Autonomy Sourced from the Contextual Level --- p.149 / Chapter 8. --- Conclusion --- p.153 / Chapter 8.1. --- Control on the Production of “Sex Education ´ح --- p.153 / Chapter 8.2. --- Autonomy in the Production of “Sex Education ´ح --- p.157 / Chapter 8.3. --- Balance between Control and Autonomy --- p.165 / Bibliography --- p.168

Peng Lin. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 140-147). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgements --- p.iv / Table of Contents --- p.v / List of Figures --- p.vii / List of Tables --- p.vii / Chapter Chapter 1: --- Introduction: --- p.1 / Theoretical Context of the Problem --- p.1 / The Case of Guangzhou --- p.4 / "Composition of “TV Generation"" in Guangzhou" --- p.6 / Chapter 1. --- Native Guangzhou youth: --- p.6 / Chapter 2. --- "Non-native Guangzhou youth (children of early immigrants, those who were born in or moved with their parents to Guangzhou before teenage):" --- p.7 / Cultural Proximity Between Guangzhou and Hong Kong --- p.8 / Organization of Chapters --- p.10 / Chapter Chapter 2: --- Literature Review --- p.12 / Trans-border Television and Its Social Impact --- p.12 / Chapter 1. --- Media's Modernizing Influence --- p.13 / Chapter 2. --- Media's Impact on Cultural Identities --- p.14 / Chapter 3. --- Media Impact in Asian Cases --- p.17 / Audience in Trans-border TV Consumption --- p.20 / Chapter 1. --- Modes of Decoding & Audience Resistance --- p.20 / Chapter 2. --- Cultural Proximity and Reception of Local/Transnational Programs --- p.22 / Young Audience in Trans-Border TV Consumption --- p.27 / Chapter 1. --- Identification and TV Viewing --- p.28 / Chapter 2. --- Cultural Proximity and Television Viewing --- p.29 / Trans-border Media Consumption in Cross-generational Context --- p.32 / Chapter 1. --- Mass Media and Collective Memory --- p.34 / Chapter 2. --- Cultural Practices and Generation --- p.37 / Summary --- p.38 / Chapter Chapter 3: --- Research Design --- p.42 / Research Questions --- p.42 / Rationale for Using a Qualitative Approach --- p.42 / Research Methods --- p.43 / Chapter 1. --- In-depth Interview: --- p.43 / Chapter 2. --- Generational Comparative Studies --- p.45 / Sampling Procedures --- p.46 / Data Analysis --- p.48 / Chapter Chapter 4: --- Cultural Proximity in Young Audiences' Consumption of Hong Kong Drama --- p.50 / Guangzhou Young Audiences' Television Consumption --- p.52 / Watching Hong Kong dramas --- p.56 / Chapter 1. --- Dramas of excellent quality --- p.57 / Chapter 2. --- Viewing Preferences and Cultural Proximity --- p.58 / Chapter 3. --- Getting used to the “Hong Kong style´ح: --- p.62 / Pleasures and Media Uses --- p.64 / Chapter 1. --- Topics in Communication --- p.64 / Chapter 2. --- Linguistic Source --- p.65 / Chapter 3. --- Knowledge about Society --- p.66 / Chapter 4. --- Idol Worship --- p.68 / Chapter 5. --- Reference for Modern Lifestyle --- p.69 / Conclusion --- p.72 / Chapter Chapter 5: --- Cultural Proximity in Young Audiences' Perception of Hong Kong from Hong Kong Drama --- p.74 / Cultural impact of trans-border media --- p.74 / The Image of Hong Kong: A Visualized Modern City --- p.76 / Audiences' Cultural Identification: Guangzhou versus Hong Kong --- p.79 / Chapter 1. --- A “Not So Different´ح Strategy --- p.82 / Chapter 2. --- Cultural Affiliation as a Basic Tenet --- p.84 / Chapter 3. --- Aligned with the Nation --- p.87 / Chapter 4. --- Identification with Modern Lifestyle --- p.90 / Chapter 5. --- Going to the More Modernized --- p.94 / Conclusion: the Factor of Cultural Proximity in Media Perception --- p.99 / Chapter Chapter 6: --- Guangzhou Young Audiences in a Cross-Generational Context --- p.103 / Generational patterns in media consumption --- p.104 / Chapter 1. --- Watching TV in Daily Life --- p.106 / Chapter 2. --- Viewing Preferences： Hong Kong Drama versus Mainland Drama --- p.108 / Perception of Hong Kong from dramas --- p.117 / Perception of Hong Kong in relation to China --- p.120 / Conclusion --- p.122 / Chapter Chapter 7: --- Conclusions and Discussions --- p.125 / Summary --- p.125 / Implications and Limitations --- p.129 / Appendixes --- p.133 / Appendix I: INTERVIEW PROTOCAL (Translated from Chinese) --- p.133 / Appendix II: PROFILE OF RESEARCH RESPONDENTS --- p.136 / Appendix III: VIEWING PROFILES OF RESEARCH RESPONDENTS --- p.138 / Bibliography --- p.140

Methods of study include two questionnaires and eight photographs of television characters used while interviewing sixty children, ages four and five. The data showed that the children actively selected the television programs they watched rather than watching at random. They watched television regularly and named the programs they watched. The children perceived a great amount of parental supervision in their viewing of television. Most children were able to understand the concepts of fantasy and reality, to distinguish between those concepts, and to apply them to specific television program characters and their actions. However, the five-year-olds showed a greater tendency to identify television program characters as make-believe.