The purpose of the current study is to understand the reintroduction of taboo topics between romantic dating partners. Through a qualitative methodological approach, the current study discovers the most prominent taboo topic between romantic partners, why romantic partners reintroduce taboo topics, and what effect the reintroduction has on the relationship. The findings present that “previous relationships” is the most prominent taboo topic. Partners either avoid the taboo topic discussion altogether or the taboo topic discussion is reintroduced because a situation occurred in which one partner saw, spoke with, or spent time with a previous partner. Finally, the current study found that reintroducing taboo topics causes conflict and the use of self-protective mechanisms within the relationship. / Department of Communication Studies

Access to abstract permanently restricted to Ball State community only. / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only. / School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science

Autoethnography is a self-reflexive form of ethnography. Autoethnography has been conducted using diverse techniques. This research employs the autoethnographic approach using a personal narrative. Personal narrative texts are subjective, provocative and provide insight into lived experience. The researcher’s personal narrative is used to examine the subjective, lived experience of being in a dual-student, non-married, long-distance relationship. Both critiques and arguments for the use of autoethnography and personal narrative are reviewed. Directions for future research on long-distance, dual-student couples are explored as well as directions for the autoethnographic approach. / Department of Communication Studies

Chapter One introduces and outlines the possible contribution of the thesis to telecommunications research. There were four main objectives, the first of which was to demonstrate that theoretical contributions of social psychology might be applicable to questions of mediated interaction. Previous research in social psychology, for the most part conducted in a face-to-face condition, might generalize to the new research and if it did not, this too might be of interest. Familiar research findings related to such phenomena as leadership role emergence, intimacy management and effects of self-focused attention are among the theoretical concepts employed in the reported investigations of mediated communication. A second objective was to develop research methods for use in communication studies. A standardized test for assessing person perception in the video medium was developed. Further, a method for assessing communality of impressions, also termed inter subjectivity, was created for use in communication studies. The third objective was to attempt to find answers to problems posed by telecommunications designers and evaluators. For example, systems engineers have long pondered the issue of how much information is necessary for successful audio-video interaction. A more basic question, namely, whether or not nonverbal cues could be communicated effectively through this medium, was given careful consideration. Finally, the fourth objective of the thesis was the attempt to identify the most successful dependent variables for use in experimental communication studies. Chapter Two was concerned with significant changes to social processes which might occur during mediated interaction. Two experimental studies comprised the chapter. Teleconferencing and leadership emergence. An attempt was made to assess the role of medium of communication on leadership differentiation in discussion groups. Groups of undergraduates met on five different occasions to solve human relations problems, either in face-to-face discussion situations, or over video conferencing networks. In face-to-face conditions, development of leadership took almost a classic form, with sociometric measures system atically related to behavioural indexes; in the video (teleconference) conditions, role differentiation tendencies were sharply curtailed, and the relationship of sociometric indexes with indexes of verbal output were greatly diminished. Speculations about how mediated communication may affect differentiation processes were offered. Distance, gaze and the intimacy equilibrium model in video-mediated and face-to-face dyads. This experiment focused on the Argyle-Dean Intimacy Equilibrium Model, gaze and social distance in face-to-face and video-mediated dyads. It was found that, during video-mediated interaction, communicators did not experience the anticipated degree of interpersonal remoteness or separation. What was expected to act as a technological barrier appeared to affect social influence but not interpersonal or informational communication. Under video-mediated (teleconference) conditions, certain negative consequences of excessive intimacy (especially assertiveness or dominance) appeared less salient, while certain positive effects remained unchanged. Consequently, subjects in the video-mediated conditions liked each other to a greater degree, enjoyed the experiment to a greater extent, and perceived greater "closeness" than did subjects in face-to-face conditions. The levels of intradyadic gaze, which were significantly higher in the video-mediated dyads, may have increased perceived intimacy between communicators. Chapter Three examined the conceptualization and methodological development of intersubjectivity for use in communication studies. Four empirical studies are reported in this chapter. Intersubjectivity: a concept and methodology for communication studies. A theoretical study of intersubjectivity, a condition of shared impressions or communality of experience between individuals, was undertaken. The origins of this concept were considered and an attempt was made to show its compatibility with other theory in social psychology. Methodologies were developed for measuring the extent of intersubjectivity in communication studies. These may be employed to test differences of dispersion or variability in semantic differential ratings. Subsequent investigations of mediated communication may benefit from this type of analysis. Variation in person perception as a function of cultural differences between encoder and decoder. This investigation, composed of two studies, assessed variation in person perception occurring as a function of cultural differences between encoder and decoder. Understanding of such variation may be essential as cross-cultural mediated communication becomes more commonplace. A multicultural subject population of psychiatric nursing students was subdivided into categories either like or unlike the apparent cultural background of two encoders in a standardized person perception test. It was found that, as predicted, like decoders were more effective at classifying the encoders' nonverbal communicative acts than were unlike decoders. Moreover, like decoders formed more homogeneous impressions of the encoders' personalities. Implications for international teleconferences were considered. Comparing social influence and intersubjectivity in three communication conditions. This quasi-experiment attempted to assess social influence and intersubjectivity in three dyadic conditions: (a) simulated-distance teleconference, (b) real-distance teleconference, and (c) face-to-face conference. Indexes of intersubjectivity but not social influence showed significant differences. There was greater communality of experience among face-to-face dyads than among dyads in either of the teleconference conditions. Differences between the two teleconference conditions were not evident. Further, this study considered some problems associated with employing rigorous experimental methodologies in settings which do not allow adequate experimental control. An assessment of differential intersubjectivity in five communication conditions. In this experiment, several intersubjectivity analyses were performed on data from five communication conditions. Three were face-to-face dyadic interactions at distances of: (I) ¾ metre, (II) 2 metres, and (III) 3 metres. Two were audio-video mediated dyadic interactions with distances comparable to (IV) 2 metres, and (V) 3 metres. Communality of impressions formed of their discussions was assessed. It was found that, as predicted, greatest intersubjectivity coincided with greatest immediacy and social presence. The intersubjectivity analyses complemented and extended previous findings. An assessment of inter subjectivity in equivalent groups. This study compared the homogeneity of impressions formed of two encoders by members of equivalent groups. The purpose was to demonstrate that differences do not necessarily emerge when an intersubjectivity analysis is performed. Both groups of subjects viewed a standardized person perception test and then rated the encoders' personalities using semantic differentials. Results showed no significant group differences in homogeneity of impressions formed of either encoder. Chapter Four considers the way in which medium of communication can be responsible for the attenuation of social cues, and investigates this in two studies. Consequences of reduced information rates for person perception in a video medium.

This thesis explores the influences of different types of interpersonal trust on the development of the business enterprise, and builds in part on the author's MSc dissertation, which found interpersonal trust to play a key pert in the decision making process. A key feature of the research is a focus on the notion of becoming, rather than that of being; of change over static presence. The research acknowledges the basic truth of the statement 'only perception gives knowledge of things' and therefore adopts a broadly interpretative approach throughout. This is in keeping with the subjective nature of the trust concept. The thesis discusses the nature of trust from a primarily sociological standpoint and develops its models mainly from discussions of trust in the management and organization literature. The field studies, while conforming to these epistemological and ontological presuppositions, utilise three different methods: semi-structured, taped interviews; longitudinal participant observation case study; and verbal protocol analysis, in order to apply and refine the theory of trust developed and thereby come to an understanding of the role and importance of interpersonal trust in the business enterprise. The thesis finds that interpersonal situational trust is central to small business development, and may be usefully construed as an a posteriori tacit knowledge which the trusting party uses in order to fill gaps in his explicit knowledge of a situation, thereby reducing its complexity and enabling cooperation. The link between trust and co-operation is teased out, and it is suggested that trust overcomes an individual's co-operation threshold for a situation, as determined by a set of identifiable co-operation criteria, enabling co-operative behaviour on the part of the individual. The combination of co-operation threshold and trust level outcomes for each of the individuals in the situation is thus said to determine whether or not co-operation occurs between them. It is argued, therefore, that trust is a prerequisite for co-operation, and that the stronger, more resilient the situational trust, the more likely it is that cooperation will occur. The thesis finds that a useful distinction may be drawn between trust which is based on familiarity with the trusted party and trust which is based on familiarity with the situation in which the trusting interaction occurs. It finds that the development of the latter type, termed Comprehensible Situational Cue Reliance-Based Trust is perhaps of most importance with regard to the effect of trust on business development. The thesis applies a process theory derived from the work of the metaphysician Alfred North Whitehead to the theory of trust which it utilises, and finds that interpersonal situational trust may be considered as 'an actual occasion in concrescence', thereby offering the potential for a philosophical reconceptualisation of trust in terms of a process metaphysic, instead of the more static philosophical presuppositions which have historically tended to underpin its theoretical development. The thesis concludes by suggesting that trust is the medium through which the entrepreneur is able to create and extract value from the environment, emphasises the indicative (as opposed to definitive) nature of its exploration, and identifies a number of areas for further research, including matched international comparisons of businesses in order to verify the applicability of the theories and models which it develops.

Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 173-177). / Electronic reproduction. / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / xiv, 177 leaves, bound 29 cm

"Rumination" and "Silencing the Self" have both been theorised to explain women�s greater vulnerability to depression. Rumination (Nolen-Hoeksema, e.g., 1987, 1991) refers to a passive focus on mood and symptoms, while Silencing the Self (Jack, 1991) refers to the socially-based belief that, broadly speaking, one should actively suppress one�s negative emotions and thoughts within romantic relationships. This thesis proposes that frequent suppression of negative emotional material within romantic relationships (self-silencing) makes that material more likely to be a target for rumination, resulting in greater depressed mood and depressive symptoms. It seems paradoxical that the more one tries to suppress one�s thoughts, the more one thinks about them. Wenzlaff and Luxton (2003) have demonstrated that frequent suppression may make material more accessible and a more likely target of rumination. Study 1 was a pilot investigation. It was found that self-silencing (the broad construct) and thought suppression (a narrower construct) were related, and that both were positively correlated with rumination. Furthermore, thought suppression contributed to the relationship between self-silencing and rumination for women. It was hypothesised that the more women suppress their negative feelings in romantic relationships (what Jack, 1991, describes as "Silencing the Self"), the more they will ruminate about these feelings and experience symptoms of depression. In Studies 2 and 3, the correlations among rumination, self-silencing and depression in adults and high school students were investigated. There were positive correlations among all the measured variables for adults and teenage girls, supporting the hypotheses. Regression analyses showed that for female adults and teenagers, rumination and self-silencing made unique, additive contributions to the prediction of depressive symptoms. In Studies 4 and 5, the causal relationship among self-silencing, rumination and depressed mood was investigated. Participants were asked either to write about a sad event that had happened in their relationships, or a typical (neutral) event. In Study 4, participants were also instructed to write either factually about these events, or to write in a ruminative way about them. Participants� chronic tendencies to self-silence were measured and they were classed as "high" or "low" self-silencers based on a median split. Female participants who chronically self-silenced more frequently and who ruminated experienced the most dramatic decrease in mood. In Study 5 participants wrote factually or suppressed their feelings about sad or neutral events and their tendency to ruminate was measured. Participants were divided into "high" and "low" ruminators based on a median split of their rumination scores. There was no support for the alternative hypothesis that chronic ruminators who suppressed would report depressed mood. Study 6 confirmed that in women, the combination of both chronic self-silencing in romantic relationships and acute rumination resulted in more severe symptoms of depression. Participants were e-mailed daily for one month about their self-silencing, rumination and negative mood. Chronic self-silencing, rumination and depressive symptoms were measured at the start and end of the month. Again, the combination of chronic self-silencing and acute rumination emerged as a better predictor of depressive symptoms than either variable alone. The six studies reported in this thesis support the hypothesis that self-silencing and rumination together explain short term negative mood as well as depressive symptoms even after one month. These studies explain why certain women are more likely to experience depressed mood in the context of romantic relationships. In particular, the combination of being a high self-silencer and ruminating makes one especially vulnerable to depressed mood and depressive symptoms. Clinically, there are already interventions targeted at rumination that are effective in reducing distress. However, the current research demonstrates that self-silencing may also be a promising target for intervention. Self-silencing is based on a wider understanding of the social context of depression. By targeting self-silencing, as well as rumination, depression may be more effectively treated.

Author's revision to her thesis is in envelope on back page. / Copies of author's previously published works inserted. / Bibliography: leaves 472-502. / xvi, 502 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / The first aim of this thesis is to investigate the English language proficiency of several cohorts of undergraduate medical students enrolled at the University of Adelaide, South Australia, employing both quantitative and qualitative measures. The second is to consider the influence of students' English language proficiency upon their academic and clinical performance. The thesis puts forward recommendations for future teaching and learning strategies and research opportunities in the medical education arena. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychiatry, 1998

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on February 29, 2008) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-06, Section: A, page: 2049. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 167-180).