Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Supervisor: Craig R. Scott. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

<p> In contemporary U.S. culture, media play a pivotal role in the maintenance of hegemony by producing discourse about groups existing in the world. Although such discourse nearly always takes the existence of such groups as a given, this project begins with the recognition that the production of group subjectivities is a rhetorical achievement. This project attends specifically to media discourses about the generation known as Millennials. By analyzing media discourses relating to consumerism and labor, I show how processes of media governmentality legitimize capitalist ideology by publicly scapegoating young adults for flaws inherent to our capitalist system. Ultimately, I argue that media discourses trap the Millennial Generation in a paradox, in which Millennial consumers cannot spend or save enough money to adequately adhere to traditional standards of consumption, and Millennial laborers are consistently exploited with no recourse to meet traditional standards of productivity.</p><p>

<p> The aim of this study was to gain a deep understanding of the intercultural adaptation process during a short-term study abroad in Recanati, Italy. Specifically, this study examined the influence of cultural knowledge and adaptation, the particularity of students&rsquo; identity and background and everyday living, and the ways in which students&rsquo; expectations and self-efficacy changed as a result of the study abroad experience. A grounded theory approach allowed the researcher to explain difficult situations and phenomena that occurred as a result of the study abroad through extensive interviews and observations. Nine themes emerged from the interviews. The emergent themes produced the alternative arc of cultural adaptation, which highlights cultural knowledge and cultural similarity as prominent factors. These factors create a &ldquo;sojourner profile&rdquo; when examining the sojourner&rsquo;s possibility for alternative and traditional experiences. This profile was indicative of the sojourner&rsquo;s expectations and self-efficacy upon return.</p><p>

abstract: The three most common errors related to communication during shift turnovers are during inspection, installation, and the minimum equipment list (MEL). Miscommunications during shift turnover could lead to a catastrophic disaster. Numerous accidents have occurred relating to shift turnover issues; therefore, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been studying this matter in order to avoid preventable miscommunication problems. It has also been suggested that communication skills be developed at 14 CFR Part 147 schools so that students can communicate effectively with others in their future field. In order to assess the communication issues of students at these schools, three investigative treatments were utilized to assess communication during shift turnover. The first treatment consisted of verbal communication only; the second treatment consisted of the use of a whiteboard and written report; and the third treatment consisted of the use of a template of a fire protection system diagram on a whiteboard along with a written report. This study involved 14 students from a community college in the southwest. Data collected focused on the confidence level of communicated information related to the assigned tasks within a given time period. Through the use of Analysis of Variance, the results of the analyses found that there was no significant difference between each treatment. The data sets for the team leaders and team members were separately analyzed while there appears to be an increase of ease of communication by the use of the whiteboard- indicating a need for further study- no significant differences were found between the three treatments. Discussion of possible causes as well as the need for future investigations is presented. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S.Tech Technology 2011

<p> Disengagement has been identified as a significant and persistent problem across broad swaths of modern life. Lack of participation in political and civic affairs poses an existential threat to public institutions and the fabric of our democracy (e.g., Delli Carpini, 2000; Prior, 2007). Failures to heed recommended guidelines and treatment plans cause epidemic-levels of unnecessary illness and premature death (e.g., Cramer, Benedict, Muszbek, Keskinaslan, &amp; Khan, 2008; Ramanadhan &amp; Viswanath, 2006). Worker apathy, employee turnover, and active disengagement cost organizations and their stakeholders billions of dollars annually (e.g., Gallup, 2013; Rampersad, 2006). </p><p> Despite exposure to countless admonitions to get involved, take better care of themselves, and work harder or smarter, many people simply do not do what their leaders, doctors, bosses, and other pro-social advocates tell them is good for them. Perceptions of problematic disengagement have led to thousands of public communication campaigns (Rice &amp; Atkin, 2012; Snyder et al., 2004) focused on addressing these problems. Many such campaigns, however, have been described as being most effective on those who least need to change, and least effective on those whose behavior is deemed most problematic. The current study grew out of suspicions that efforts to address issues of problematic disengagement may actually serve to sustain or even exacerbate disparities in engagement. To test this possibility, the study examined the effects of two different theory-based pro-social advocacy message strategies on subjects at different levels of pre-existing positive engagement in pro-social activities within three different but common contexts of life: political and civic affairs, personal health, and the workplace. One of the strategies employed a &ldquo;typical&rdquo; directive message based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1991, 2012). As a contrasting alternative, the other strategy employed an autonomy-supportive message based on self-determination theory (SDT; Ryan &amp; Deci, 2000, 2008). A non-persuasive control message was also tested to provide a comparison. The findings suggested that, compared to the control message, both persuasive message strategies led to greater disparities in post-test engagement between groups with the lowest levels of pre-existing pro-social engagement and groups with higher levels. </p><p> A foundational hypothesis, acknowledging the powerful influence of past behavior on future behavior, predicted that (H1) subjects&rsquo; pre-existing levels of pro-social engagement (i.e., <i>pre-test engagement</i>) would have a significant effect on their expectations of engagement in performing pro-social behaviors in the future (i.e., <i>post-test engagement</i>). A subsequent series of hypotheses predicted that, in addition to the <i> main effect</i> predicted in H1, pre-test engagement would <i>moderate the effect</i> of the TPB-based advocacy message on post-test engagement (H2). The results of this interaction effect <i>would</i> be that (H2a) among subjects with the lowest levels of pre-test engagement, the TPB-based directive message strategy would be no more effective in promoting post-test engagement than the control message, but that (H2b) among subjects at higher pre-test engagement levels, the TPB-based message would lead to greater post-test engagement than the control message. The result of these two outcomes (H2c) would be greater disparities in post-test engagement between groups lowest in pre-test engagement and groups with higher levels of pre-test engagement. These hypotheses were supported. </p><p> A research question explored whether the SDT-based autonomy-support message, as an alternative strategy, would be more effective (again, compared to the control message) in promoting greater post-test engagement among groups at all levels of pre-test engagement and thereby avoid promoting greater disparities. However, analyses showed that the SDT-based message also produced greater disparities in post-test engagement between the groups that were lowest in pre-test engagement and the groups at higher pre-test engagement levels. </p><p> A final hypothesis (H3), that the interaction effects between message type and level of pre-test engagement would be consistent across all three domains examined in the study, was also supported. This provided support for the notion that the tendency of pro-social advocacy messages to promote greater disparities between groups that could be termed the &ldquo;haves&rdquo; and &ldquo;have nots&rdquo; of society might be generalizable to more situations than those examined in the current study, and therefore worthy of further research. The implications of these findings for future research and practical application are explored in the discussion section that concludes this dissertation. </p><p>

abstract: The relationships between goals and specific flirting behaviors were investigated in a college population. Research questions and hypotheses were guided by Dillard's (1990) Goals-Plans-Action (GPA) model of interpersonal influence, which states that goals lead to planning processes, which, in turn, produce behavior. Six hundred and eighty-five undergraduates at a large southwestern university participated in an online survey assessing their behaviors in their most recent flirting interactions, their goals for that interaction, as well as measures designed to assess planning, the importance of the goal, and the number of goals present for the interaction. Results indicate that goals relate to the use of some, but not all behaviors, and that a flirting script may exist. Furthermore, planning, importance, and number of goals were all found to relate to the reporting of specific flirting behaviors. Sex differences were found as well, such that men reported using more forward and direct behaviors, while women reported using more facial expressions, self-touch, and laughing; men also reported flirting for sexual reasons more than women, and women reported flirting for more fun reasons that men. Overall, this study confirms the utility of the GPA framework for understanding the relationship between goals and flirting behavior, and suggests several avenues for future research. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Communication 2014

abstract: The China smog is a severe air pollution issue that has damaging effects on the health of millions of Chinese nationals and contributes to global warming. In the context of the China smog, this study examined civic engagement on social network sites (SNS) and in real life among Chinese nationals utilizing theories of uses and gratification, the effects of Internet use, media exposure, Internet censorship, political efficacy, trust and social capital. Six hundred and eighty eight Chinese nationals who are currently studying, working or residing in China completed online questionnaires. In general, the results of this study showed that a combination of high needs for recognition of SNS use and low needs for entertainment of SNS use is related with increased civic engagement. The results of this study also revealed that civic engagement is positively related with attention to content about the China smog on mobile Internet, external political efficacy and social capital. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Communication 2017

<p> This dissertation investigated the relationships between subordinates&rsquo; perceptions of the mentoring they receive from their superiors and their reports of organizational identification and workplace experiences. Specifically, the relationships between (1) career development and psychosocial mentoring functions and organizational identification, (2) organizational identification and job satisfaction, communication satisfaction, and organizational commitment, (3) and career development and psychosocial mentoring functions and job satisfaction, communication satisfaction and organizational commitment were examined. Furthermore, the indirect effect of mentoring functions on job satisfaction, communication satisfaction, and organizational commitment through organizational identification was examined. Paid, fully-employed adults completed an online survey measuring their perceptions of mentoring from their direct superior, organizational identification, job satisfaction, communication satisfaction with their superior, and organizational commitment. Results showed significant positive relationships between (1) the career development and psychosocial mentoring functions and organizational identification, (2) organizational identification and job satisfaction, communication satisfaction, and organizational commitment, and (3) mentoring functions and job satisfaction, communication satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Results also indicated evidence of an indirect effect of mentoring functions on subordinates&rsquo; job satisfaction, communication satisfaction, and organizational commitment through subordinates&rsquo; increased organizational identification. These results suggest that organizational identification is an important factor in enhancing employees&rsquo; workplace experiences and that organizational leaders may consider fostering workplace environments in which employees are likely to identify with the organization. </p><p>

<p> This dissertation investigates how wearable technologies have come to matter for a variety of individuals, companies, and governments in the decade from 2007-2017. In particular, this dissertation argues that these devices are part of larger efforts to capture, know, and quantify the mundane practices of everyday life through an array of computation-based technologies. In doing so, they implicitly suggest that everyday life is no longer defined by its traditional theoretical conceptions of a domain of &ldquo;excess,&rdquo; unknowability, and qualitative character. Through four different case studies that emphasize different elements of life and bodily activity, this dissertation analyzes how the interactions between technologies and bodies legitimate some forms of knowing&mdash;such as the supposed certainty of big data&rsquo;s predictive analytics&mdash;at the expense of other forms of knowing&mdash;such as the memory-oriented &ldquo;recall&rdquo; of diary writing. Each chapter, though based on concerns of experience and routine, explores how power, control, and resistance manifest in the routines of everyday life, and how these devices are designed, implemented, and discussed in ways that encourage the transformation of living into analyzable information. In each of my case studies&mdash;the hearing aid (and in particular the Soundhawk smart hearing system), the fitness tracker (in particular Fitbit), the wearable camera (in particular GoPro), and the identification band (in particular Disney Magic Band)&mdash;I treat wearable technology as an idea. Looking at advertisements, online blogs, magazine features, interviews, popular culture texts, and other sites of discourse, I examine how different organizations have promoted or critiqued these technologies for different goals, explaining how wearable technology has served as a means for 1) generating knowledge about how people live, 2) turning that knowledge into information that can be automatically analyzed by algorithms and other computational programs, and 3) use information as the basis to arbitrate decisions on what constitutes a normal or productive way of living. In analyzing the relationships between technologies, cultural discourses, and everyday life, I argue that media studies should consider the ways in which such bodily technologies mediate the everyday, taken-for-granted experiences of environments and social relationships.</p><p>

abstract: Performance is a public speech act that can present the experience of difference and generate relations across lines of difference. In personal narrative performance, performers do not just tell stories, the stories they tell are strategic hailings that call attention to discourses that produce the conditions of their exclusion and form intimate relations in public. Personal narrative performance renders the private public. Performers take to the stage, the space of the public, to offer their stories, their bodies, and their relations to audiences for collective consideration. In turn, the act of performance generates further relations: among performers and audiences, and between performance and discourse. This study analyzes these two layers of relation in performance through looking at the ways neoliberalism and performance interanimate one another. Through looking at three sites of neoliberal relationality--same-sex marriage, family, and immigration and multiculturalism, it asks questions of how performers narrate and represent non-normative experiences within neoliberalism, the historical and cultural context through which they are living and narrating. In order to understand the cultural work, the resistive and relational potential, of the relations that occur in and through personal narrative performance, we also need to understand the political, cultural, and historical conditions under which narratives in performance are produced. My argument is that in and through performance intimacy is queered: it takes the private--the stuff of the personal presented as aesthetic communication--and renders that private very public. In public and through relations, performance can raise awareness and shift consciousness, reify orders of relation or generate alternate imaginaries. This is to say that a lot of different types of work are done in performance, and although performance is often seen as resistance, under the weight of neoliberalism, it is important to tend to what arguments performances are making and how in turn that shapes the relations that occur in the site of performance. Queer intimacy offers a way of engaging performance, an analytic that considers the text of performance as well as the relational context among performers and audiences, and turns back on larger cultural questions of belonging. The potential of performance, of the concept of queer intimacy, provides a lens to read performance, to tend to the conditions that give rise to and inform performance in the current historical moment. It brings together the critical impulse of intercultural communication and cultural studies with performance studies. From a critical cultural perspective, it tends to the structural in performance, and through performance emphasizes the lived experience as narrated and embodied as and through communication. Coupled with the impulses of queer theory, queer intimacy offers both resisting normativity and imagining beyond it. To consider queer intimacy in performance is not only to recognize that relations are made possible, but to tend closely to the belongings we are making. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Communication 2014