M.A. - Communicology
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Item An Analysis of The Effects Of Labeling Attachment Styles In a Romantic Relationship(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2022) Wilson, Konni; Hubbard, Amy S. E.; CommunicologyOver the years, research on attachment styles has given insight to common behavioral characteristics and personality traits for each attachment style. The literature gives insight to how better to manage and make sense of ourselves and by extensions our relationships. Little research in attachment theory has been done involving couples, namely where attachment styles were shared within couples. In addition, no research has been done to see what effects would occur by explicitly informing couples of their attachment styles and making them reflect on it together. This study tested what effects the influence of attachment style labels might have on changes in relational uncertainty and relational maintenance behaviors. It was anticipated that labels would lead to better understanding of how to buffer their partner’s emotions to meet their needs and thus prompt behavioral change, by way of sense making. While this study found that attachment style labels had no statistically significant effects in decreasing relational uncertainty nor in increasing maintenance behaviors, all couples reported a desire to increase usage of relational maintenance behaviors, especially sharing more personal thoughts and feelings with your partner and including their partners in more interactions with family and friends. Keywords: Attachment style, romantic relationships, couples, relational uncertainty, sense making, partner buffering.Item College Students' Perceived Quality of Academic-Related Advice from Peers(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2022) Bumanglag, Mark Jehnsen Sapigao; Taniguchi-Dorios, Emiko; CommunicologyGiving advice can be challenging especially when the recipient is in distress. Previous research shows that advice messages that communicate politeness are often perceived as higher in quality. Moreover, other factors such as problem seriousness may play a role in the evaluation of advice quality. Drawing on advice response theory (ART), this study aimed to explore (a) the relationship between politeness (positive and negative facework) and recipient’s perceptions of advice quality in solicited advice situations and (b) if problem seriousness moderates this association. This study focused on college students’ perceptions of academic-related advice from their peers. Participants were recruited from college students taking a Communicology course at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Participants were asked to complete an online survey assessing their perceptions on politeness, problem seriousness, and quality of the advice from their peers. A regression analysis revealed that only positive facework (but not negative facework) significantly predicted advice quality. Furthermore, problem seriousness did not moderate the relationship between facework and advice quality.Item “Are My Bikini Pics Bothering You?” The Uploading Of A Romantic Partner’s Sexy Photo On Social Media And Its Effects On Jealousy And Relationship Satisfaction(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2021) Asuncion, Dayna Aulani; Shin, Soo Y.; CommunicologyThis study advances research on romantic relationships and partner posting behaviors on social networking sites (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram) by examining the phenomenon of partner posting a sexy photo of themselves online. It was predicted that the more a person’s romantic partner posts his or her sexy photos on social media, the more jealousy the person feels. Moreover, I questioned how the attachment dimensions moderates the relationship between partner posting a sexy photo and feelings of jealousy, as well as, how jealousy is associated to relationship satisfaction. Participants underwent a 15-minute survey that measured frequency or likelihood of a partner posting sexy photos online, jealousy, attachment style, and relationship satisfaction. The results yield no significant relationship between the posting of a partner’s sexy photo and jealousy. No interaction was found between the posting of a partner’s sexy photo and attachment dimensions on jealousy, and a significant relationship was found between cognitive jealousy and relationship satisfaction. The results also showed a significant relationship between posting their own sexy photo online and the amount of jealousy they feel toward their partner, as well as a significant relationship between relationship visibility on one’s own social networking sites and relationship satisfaction. Despite my prediction not being supported, the current study expands research surrounding social networking sites and romantic relationships as it discovers significant relationships between specific posting behaviors and types of jealousy.Item Are Low Female Waist-to-hip Ratios A Costly Signal? Explicating The Communicative Function Of Female Waist-to-hip Ratios(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2021) Buist, Gabrielle Christene; Zhang, Jinguang; CommunicologyThe male preference for low female waist-to-hip ratios (WHRs) has been documented across cultures and time. According to costly signaling theory, this male preference could not have evolved unless low female WHRs reliably communicate information about females that increase men’s reproductive success. Previous research suggests that, relative to high female WHRs, low female WHRs signal the availability of valuable reproductive fat and nubility (i.e., a woman is ready to reproduce but has not been pregnant yet). This line of work begs an important question: what has maintained the reliability of low female WHRs as a biological signal? As the first attempt to address this question, I hypothesize in this thesis that growing and maintaining low female WHRs suppress native immunity (indicated by, e.g., lower white blood cell count, or WBCC) such that women with lower WHRs will tend to be slower in responding to infections. To test this hypothesis, I analyzed two reasonably large, existing datasets respectively from China (CHNS) and the U.S. (NHANES III) and observed three major findings after controlling for fat deposition in other body parts (e.g., upper-arm) and the body-mass index (BMI). First, lower female WHRs significantly correlated with lower WBCC not in CHNS but in NHANES III. Second, smaller waists significantly correlated with lower WBCC in both CHNS and NHANES III. Third, and most notably, thicker thighs (but not hips) significantly correlated with lower WBCC in NHANES III (CHNS did not provide thigh measures). These findings largely support my immunity-suppression hypothesis and help launch a new phase of research on the communicative function of female WHRs.Item Man, That’s Funny: The Evolved Function Of Aggressive Humor(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2020) Duarte, Brent Hidetaka; Zhang, Jinguang; CommunicationAggressive humor is humor that reflects an intention to ridicule and insult others. Previous studies found that the use of aggressive humor tends to damage interpersonal relationships and associates with traits typically considered socially undesirable. However, the use of aggressive humor is prevalent, so much so that it is considered one of four major types of humor alongside affiliative, self-enhancing, and self-defeating humor. These findings present an evolutionary puzzle: why has nature preserved a seemingly maladaptive behavior such as aggressive humor?In this thesis, I offered an evolutionary, functional analysis of the use of aggressive humor, and my main argument is that similar to physical aggression and other types of verbal aggression, the use of aggressive humor facilitates intrasexual competition. I conducted a crosssectional survey (N = 400 U.S. adults) to test this intrasexual-competition hypothesis of aggressive humor, and the findings are threefold. First, male respondents, on average, scored significantly higher than female respondents on a self-report measure of the use of aggressive humor, replicating the findings of prior research. Second, a measure of intrasexual-competition (but not courtship) motive positively and significantly correlated with the self-report measure of the tendency to use aggressive humor. This correlation remained significant after I controlled for covariates related to the mating effort and aggression but dropped to non-significance after I controlled for the Dark Triad personality traits. Third, there was no evidence that respondents’ sex moderated the correlation between the motive to intrasexually compete and the tendency to use aggressive humor. Collectively, these findings largely support the hypothesis that the use of aggressive humor is related to intrasexual competition, which could be why nature has preserved the use of aggressive humor despite its negative impact on interpersonal relationships.Item Memorable Messages Concerning Body Image: Examining Source and Channel(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2020) Shimizu, Zoe; Gasiorek, Jessica; CommunicologyAbstract In an individual’s life there are messages that have a lasting impact and change the individual’s perspective of themselves or the world. Memorable messages research has shown how impactful a single message can be, yet there is a lack of empirical research examining how two major components of memorable message, source and channel, can impact message reception. This study asked participants (n = 113) for memorable messages that has impacted their body image the most. This study asked participants to recall and self-report the source, channel and content of their memorable message, then evaluate the message’s impact using self-esteem and body appreciation measures. This study hypothesized that social media influencers will be sources of memorable messages. The hypothesis was supported; participants identified sources that they did not personally know (SMI/celebrities). Additionally, this study explicitly examined what channels were being used when receiving memorable messages and if social media was channel that individuals could receive memorable messages through. It was found that face-to-face was the channel used most to receive memorable messages; this study added to memorable message research by showing that social media can also be a channel used to receive memorable messages. Message content was coded into seven different themes (health, appearance, weight, warnings, body’s ability, encouragement and fitness). This study hypothesized that there will be messages containing body positivity. This study added to memorable message research by finding that there were memorable messages containing body positivity. Keywords: memorable messages, source, channel, body positivityItem Investigation of Influences on Code Switching Behaviors of African American Men(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2020) Rivera, Anne; Aune, R. Kelly; CommunicologyWe use language to categorize ourselves and others into groups. Individuals can modify their language use in order to impact how others categorize them thus influencing communication. Communication can become impacted as individuals code switch between one or more languages or language varieties. Code switching is influenced by numerous factors, such as the rules and norms that guide how language is used and the context in which the interaction occurs. Additionally, code switching may be used to better represent an individual’s ingroup membership, show distinctiveness from the outgroup (or ingroup), and/or to convey specific relational messages. The studying of African American men’s code switching behavior has been limited. Therefore, this study examined the influence of language and conflict on African American men’s code switching between African American English (AAE) and Standardized American English (SAE). These language varieties not only have rich sociohistorical contexts that still influence modern society, but also the perceptions and use of these language variations have been shown to impact communication. Hypotheses were tested that predicted African American men reporting greater overall preference for AAE relative to SAE (H1); greater preference for AAE than SAE in non-conflict provoking scenarios relative to conflict provoking scenarios (H2) and greater preference for AAE relative to SAE in scenarios in which AAE is the initial language used (H3). Additionally, this study addressed a research question examining the influence relational motives may have on preferences for AAE and SAE. Hypotheses did not find support, however findings from H3 and RQ were significant. Findings indicated that African American men’s code switching behavior is influenced by the linguistic code used during an interaction. When interacting with another African American man, African American men prefer to use the opposite code of the speaker. Additionally, findings suggest that the relational motive in African American men’s preferences for AAE or SAE was dominance. Results from this study highlight how code switching between AAE and SAE in the African American community relates to identity, is influenced by intended relational motives, and is impacted by the initial language used by interlocutors.Item Communicating Hawaiian Identity: Understanding Cultural Identity Through Themes in Family Narratives(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2020) Burgess, Sanoe K.; Ebesu Hubbard, Amy; CommunicologyCultural identities play a substantial role in our behaviors, relationships, and communities. Approaches to understanding cultural identity include concepts such as physical appearance, blood quantum, and acculturation. Another concept that is known to impact cultural identity formation and maintenance is family narrative. Hawaiian cultural identity is a topic commonly discussed and debated among scholars. However, research exploring family narratives and Hawaiian cultural identity is limited. Using a qualitative semi-structured interview method, information on memorable family stories among a group of 21 Native Hawaiians were gathered. A total of seven themes that assist in the transmission of Hawaiian cultural identity including Kuleana, Aloha, ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, Mahalo, Mea kalakupua, Koko, and Kapu were identified within memorable family narratives. The Mahalo theme was associated with differences in reported cultural affiliation. Results reinforce the importance of sharing moʻolelo in families and offer storytelling as an additional approach to understanding Hawaiian cultural affiliation. Keywords: Cultural identity, Hawaiian, family, narrativesItem The Performer-Audience Relationship During Live and Remote Musical Performances(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2019) Bergeman, Brittany Kay Miller; Aune, R. Kelly; CommunicologyThis study assesses audience engagement and entrainment with, and enjoyment of musical performances across different types of mediation. Using message processing as a framework to guide the study, it was predicted that audience members viewing a live performance will report higher levels of engagement and entrainment with, and enjoyment of a performance than audience members that view a remote audience-centered performance who in turn will report higher levels of the factors than remote audience members viewing a performance production. To test the hypotheses, participants viewed a musical performance of a barbershop quartet in one of the three experimental conditions and self-reported their engagement and entrainment with, and enjoyment of the performance. For the first hypothesis, the hypothesized linear effect was found; however, a significant quadratic effect suggested that the results may have been curvilinear in nature as well. The test of the second hypothesis concerning entrainment showed no significance. The discussion addressed methodological concerns that may have influenced the results, and identified limitations that should be investigated in future research.Item Reflecting On Life While Confronting Mortality: How The Fear Of Death Influences Forgiveness(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2019) Vila, Giovanni Garrett Onnagan; Hubbard, Amy S. E.; CommunicologyTerror management scholars proposed people’s attitudes, actions, and behaviors are driven by the anxiety associated with the awareness of death. Much evidence currently supports the notion that people act defensively and are less tolerant of others when they are reminded of death. But this might have been due to the narrow way that terror management researchers have typically primed people to think about death in their studies. The present study compared two different death reminder procedures on people’s willingness to forgive and to accept an apology. This study found that people who were reminded of death by a typical death reminder priming were more unwilling to forgive and more unwilling to accept an apology than people reminded of death by a death reminder priming that also involved thinking of others. Results of this study provided evidence that some reminders of death can prompt people to act less defensively and that the way thoughts of death are evoked matters.