This thesis explores the functions of laughter in Japanese communication. In orientation it contrasts markedly with previous studies and is the first study to have been based on such a large volume of data. In this paper I have focused on laughter as it serves to maintain a co-operative relationship between the participants in a conversation. I find that in the process of communication, people necessarily have to lay themselves open to others, and in doing so they become conscious of the barrier surrounding and protecting their field, i.e. their �inner world�. I hypothesise that in Japanese at least it is consciousness of this barrier that causes the occurrence of laughter in discourse. In other words, people laugh as part of the process of opening up to others, and also to show their intention to be co-operative. By laughing, people are either confirming that they belong to the same in-group, or they are pretending to belong to the same in-group in order to show co-operation. In my model, laughter is classified: A: Joyful laughter for identifying with the in-group B: Balancing laughter for easing tension C: Laughter as a cover-up. A is also divided into 3 subcategories, B into 3, and C into 2 according to the subject of the utterance and the direction of movement into the protective barrier. Two types of statistical analysis were applied to the data in order to the test the validity of the classification. Keywords: interpersonal communication; laughter; field; barrier; co-operation; joy; balancing; cover-up gender

This study addresses how parents communicate with their children about Significant Emotional Events (SEEs). A SEE is an experience that is so mentally engaging as to cause an individual to consider, examine, and possibly change one's initial values or value system. It examines parent's goals, concerns, and values related to SEE communication. A SEE involving family violence and death was selected for this study. Interviews were conducted with seven parents about the communication that they had with their children about the SEE. The interviews were transcribed and subsequently analyzed. Analysis of the interviews reveal a number of themes (e.g., sickness and mental health), and values (e.g., honesty, trust, sympathy, understanding, right and wrong). / Graduation date: 1997

Thesis (B.Sc. (Hons.)) - University of Queensland, 2006. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (B.Psy.Sc.(Hons.)) - University of Queensland, 2006. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 204-226).

This case study investigates the co-construction communication patterns that emerged during an Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) intervention designed to reduce negative and critical self-talk. The transcripts of eight sequential acupressure and behavioral (SAB) counseling intervention sessions between a therapist and two medically nonadherent HIV-infected women were analyzed using Giorgi's (1989, 1994, 1997, 2006) phenomeonlogical method of inquiry. The analysis revealed three major themes: "assessing the present," "reviewing the past," and "forging the future," and eight subthemes: "safe atmosphere," "disclosure," "negotiating meaning," "releasing the past," "breaking the past-to-present pattern," "reducing uncertainty," "generating options," and "projecting images." Prior to the intervention sessions, the women reported experiencing negative and critical self-talk and inconsistent medication adherence. Self-talk and illness narrative modifications were evident within and across sessions as the therapist used sequential acupressure and behavioral counseling techniques. During the one month follow-up, the participants reported no experience of negative and critical self-talk and described actions taken toward goals discussed and imagined during the intervention such as medication adherence, exercise, and reenrollment in school. The co-construction themes that emerged in the intervention were consistent with findings in the comforting message literature with specific parallels to the factor analysis findings of Bippus (2001). This work lends support to comforting message research and suggests that distinctions between everyday comforting messages and chronic illness support strategies may be more similar than anticipated. Other study conclusions include clinical and practical implications for people working with HIV-infected individuals.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 193-204).

The aims of this thesis were to describe the experiences of persons with aphasia and their significant others of their conversations and use of communication strategies, examine current practice of family-oriented speech-language pathology (SLP) services, and test a family-oriented intervention in the early phase of rehabilitation. The persons with aphasia valued having conversations despite perceiving their aphasia as a serious social disability. They acknowledged the importance of the communication partners’ knowledge and understanding of aphasia and their use of supporting conversation strategies. Their own use of communication strategies varied considerably. The persons with aphasia longed to regain language ability and to be active participants in society. A majority of the significant others perceived their conversations with the person with aphasia as being less stimulating and enjoyable than conversations before stroke onset. Aphasia was considered a serious problem. The significant others took on increased communicative responsibility, where two thirds had changed their communicative behaviour to facilitate conversations. Type and severity of aphasia were especially related to the communicative experiences of the significant others and their motivation to be involved in SLP services. Thirty percent of the speech-language pathologists worked with people with aphasia and typically met with their families. They considered the involvement of significant others in SLP services as very important, especially in providing information about aphasia and communication partner training (CPT). However, involvement of significant others was restricted because of a time shortage and perceived limited skills and knowledge. In addition, there were national differences regarding aphasia rehabilitation services. The intervention consisted of three sessions directed to significant others (primarily emotional support and information) and three directed to the dyads (a person with aphasia and a significant other) (primarily CPT). All six participants (three dyads) felt that their knowledge and understanding of aphasia had increased and that their conversations had improved. These improvements were also evident to some extent with formal assessments. These results suggest the following: CPT should be an integral part of SLP services, national clinical guidelines are needed, and further education of speech-language pathologists and implementation of new knowledge into clinical practice requires consideration.

Several researchers have successfully developed realistic models of real world objects/ phenomena and then have simulated them in the virtual world. In this thesis, we propose the opposite: instantiating virtual world events in the real world. The interactive 3D virtual environment provides a useful, realistic 3D world that resembles objects/phenomena of a real world, but it has limited capability to communicate with the physical environment. We argue that new and intuitive 3D user interfaces, such as 3D virtual environment interfaces, may provide an alternative form of media for communicating with the real environment. We propose a 3D virtual world-based add-on architecture that achieves a synchronized virtual-real communication. In this framework, we explored the possibilities of integrating haptic and real world object interactions with Linden Lab's multiuser online 3D virtual world, Second Life. We enhanced the open source Second Life viewer client in order to facilitate communications between the real and virtual world. Moreover, we analyzed the suitability of such an approach in terms of user perception, intuition and other common parameters. Our experiments suggest that the proposed approach not only demonstrates a more intuitive mode of communication system, but also is appealing and useful to the user. Some of the potential applications of the proposed approach include remote child-care, communication between distant lovers, stress recovery, and home automation.

There are more Japanese people coming to the United States than ever before. Increasing numbers of problems and conflicts are occurring between the Americans (hosts) and Japanese (guests). Many scholars have stated that there is a distinct difference of communication patterns between Americans and Japanese. The Asia University American Program (AUAP) established between Oregon State University and Asia University in Japan is designed to give the students intensive English study and exposure to American culture. Using AU Japanese students and OSU American students for samples, this project sets out to determine to what extent their cultural and language barriers affect the intercultural and interpersonal communication between Americans and Japanese in their dormitory environment. Including an American-American paired control group, rates of satisfaction with roommates were compared between the Japanese students and experimental American students of the Japanese-American pairs, along with the control group of American pair students. The study also examines factors which affect satisfied and unsatisfied communication between Americans and Japanese, and investigates what efforts the students made to overcome cultural differences and language barriers. Questionnaire surveys and face-to-face semistructured interviews were conducted to discover these elements. The results revealed that the rates of satisfaction are similar for the Japanese- American paired roommates, and the American-American control roommates. Therefore, ethnicity did not influence the level of roommate satisfaction for the three groups. Although cultural difference and cultural similarity did not influence the roommate relationship according to quantitative measurements, cultural differences that had qualitative and subjective effects on the relationship were found. The results of the analysis also show that English competence was not a predictor for satisfactory relationships. The key factors for successful relationships were the levels of the Japanese students' eagerness to talk to their American roommates and the American students' willingness to listen to their Japanese roommates. A combination of eagerness and willingness between the roommates reinforced the opportunity for success. Regarding sex, the data shows that the female students were more satisfied than the male students. The research literature also supports the observation that female students achieve more satisfactory relationships. The main traits that contributed to satisfactory relationships on the part of American roommates were the traits of "patience", "open-mindedness" and "willingness to make an effort". The traits of Japanese students which contributed to satisfactory relationships were "trying to talk" with their American roommates and "willingness to make an effort". The main factors for the unsatisfied relationship are just the opposite of those contributing to satisfactory relationships. Roommates who had unsatisfactory relationships typically had little communication with their roommates because they stayed away from their rooms. / Graduation date: 1993