A rules‐based study of television's role in the construction of social reality

A qualitative analysis of one couple's conversational uses of mediated content is presented. Observations spanned a two‐year period. Data were categorized according to usage type and then examined from Lull's (1981) rules persective.     

How to respond to journalists’ questions? A new perspective on Chinese premiers’ aggressiveness at press conferences (1993–2015)

This study extends the framework describing journalists’ aggressiveness at politicians’ press conference and develops five dimensions to measure politicians’ aggressiveness in response to journalists’ questions (initiative, directness, assertiveness, adversarialness, and accountability). Using the records from Chinese premiers’ press conferences (1993–2015), this research investigates five factors which might affect premiers’ aggressiveness: the administrative life cycle, economic conditions, journalists’ country of origin, the topic of questions, and number of questions. The results show that premiers exhibit less assertiveness during honeymoon periods and more assertiveness in other years. Premiers are more adversarial amid good economic growth but less adversarial during poor economic growth. They are more assertive and adversarial in response to questions related to politics and the military and less so in response to questions related to other areas. Premiers display more initiative and accountability toward journalists who ask more questions and less toward those who ask fewer questions. Premiers are more assertive and adversarial toward journalists from developed countries but less so toward those from developing countries. Over the past 23 years, premiers’ initiative, directness, and adversarialness have decreased while their accountability has gradually increased. The theoretical contributions of this research are discussed.     

Understanding librarians’ knowledge sharing behavior: The role of organizational climate,motivational drives and leadership empowerment

Library managers in Iran have always been concerned with a low level of knowledge sharing among librarians. Identifying effective factors on librarians' knowledge sharing behavior helps us to understand and improve the situation. Organizational factors are one group of these factors. The effect of organizational climate, employees' motivational drives, and leadership empowerment on the subjective norms, attitude, intention, and knowledge sharing behavior among librarians in public libraries in Iran was studied. A conceptual model was designed in light of the Theory of Reasoned Action. Ten hypotheses were formulated. Data were collected by using a questionnaire and were analyzed using structural equations models. The findings showed that constructive organizational climate and positive motivational drives in public libraries, as well as personal and organizational knowledge sources strengthened by the librarians' ability of leadership have a positive and significant effect on subjective norms, attitude, intention, and knowledge sharing behavior. Such conditions facilitate the process of knowledge sharing in public library environments. Moreover, the study highlights the effect of the librarians' leadership empowerment on their attitude to knowledge sharing behavior by motivational drives.     

‘We need a committee for men's rights’: reactions of male and female viewers to reverse gender discrimination in Korean comedy

This study investigates the ideological implications of Nambowon (‘the Committee for Men's Rights’), one of the most popular sketches in a live comedy series entitled Gag Concert in Korea. The sketch humorously criticizes women who take advantage of men in various situations and always ends with a funny slogan demanding equal rights for men and the end of reverse gender discrimination. We treat Nambowon not as an idiosyncratic text but as part of Korean television programs that portray the rising social status of women as well as gender differences. Previous studies of gender and comedy have typically focused on textual meanings, and relatively little work exists to explain the audience's reception. Thus, we explore why audiences enjoy the show and whether and why there are differences in the reactions of male and female viewers to the portrayal of gender in Nambowon.     

‘I’m Strong for Her’ versus ‘I Rely on Him’: male and female victims’ reasons for staying reflect sex-gender conflations

Male and female victims’ communication of intimate partner violence to others in the face of potential repercussions shows how language reflects/is reflected by relational identities when deciding to stay/leave abusive relationships. In this study, a non-clinical sample (N?=?484), self-identified as male (n?=?156) or female (n?=?331) victims, indicated reason-messages used with self and/or others for why they stayed in these violent relationships. Analyses of both independent messages and grouped themes showed victims’ communication as inherently (and perhaps, falsely) gendered. Viewed through a gender- (versus sex-) lens, victims’ reasons for staying suggest barriers to support may be communicated as gendered.     

Does the effectiveness of campaigns depend on voters’ predispositions? A comparative study of British and Taiwanese election campaigns

Using data from the 2010 British Election Study and the 2012 Taiwan Election and Democratization Study, this paper investigates the impact of political predispositions on the association between election campaigns and voting choice in Britain and Taiwan. Findings show that the political predispositions of partisanship (strength), political sophistication and election interest do play moderating roles in the association between campaigns and voting choice in Britain and Taiwan. Of these predispositions, the study finds no differences in the moderating roles of partisanship and political sophistication in Britain and Taiwan. However, election interest plays a moderating role differently in Britain and Taiwan. This paper argues that this finding may be attributed to differences in the political contexts of the two democracies. The findings of this study offer new insights into comparative political communication, indicating that the impact of election campaigns depends on individuals’ political predispositions.     

Family man in advertising? A content analysis of male domesticity and fatherhood in Taiwanese commercials

This study examines how Taiwanese commercials represent women and men, particularly men, in the family context as spouses and parents. A content analysis of prime-time commercials indicates that advertising representations of gender roles have made only slight and slow progress. Men are much less likely than women to be shown doing housework and taking care of children. When men are shown as nurturant fathers, their involvements with children are limited to playing with offspring.     

A study of voice change in boys between the ages of eleven and sixteen∗

Disclosing creative possibilities of thought and action is an important function of communication, especially of narrative rhetoric. This essay describes some of the problems which must be addressed in developing a rhetoric of possibility. Then it examines how rhetors disclose the human capacity for various states of mind. After showing why such possibilities are significant, it explores two ways of disclosing them. Rhetors may tell stories of deeds which reflect characters’ states of mind, or they may enable or challenge people to perform such acts themselves, with striking consequences for their own life stories. Often, however, performances disclose specific states of mind only when rhetors make them revealing through commentary or the careful stipulation of narrative details. While both methods are useful, they have different rhetorical implications.     

Korean immigrants’ viewing patterns of Korean satellite television and its role in their lives

The present article investigates the Chinese peoples’ interdependent and independent self‐construals, including how these self‐construals are influenced by socio‐demographic factors such as age, gender, and rural‐urban residence. A modified version of Singelis’ (1994) self construal scale was administered to 237 Chinese respondents’ in an urban and a rural area of Shandong Province, China, and qualitative data (focus group and in‐depth interviews) were collected to enrich the quantitative findings. Our results suggest that the Chinese self‐construal varies across age, gender, and urban‐rural residence, and is also influenced by the changing political, economic, and socio‐cultural context in China. The theoretical and practical implications for the field of intercultural communication are outlined in the discussion section.     

The door opens to a thousand blossoms: A preliminary study of communication and rural development in China (1979–88)

The economic reform underway in China from 1979 has brought remarkable change to the country, particularly in rural areas. What role do communications play in the process? What kind of communications via different media occurred in the consequential rural change? Does it have something to offer about communication and development? What can be improved and what should be continued with regard to communications in rural China? The purpose of this paper is to try and find answers by looking at the communication activities in rural China, with data from newspapers, personal observations and other literature. The analysis is based on existing theories followed by conclusions and implications for policy and planning. It is pointed out that concerns about basic human needs are the fundamental guideline for communication for development. Communications would greatly enhance development when basic information needs are met, which leads to fulfilment of basic human needs.     

A study of women's compliance‐gaining behaviors in violent and non‐violent relationships

Recent research by communication scholars has investigated the dynamics of abusive spousal relationships (Chandler, 1986; Infante, Chandler, & Rudd, 1989; Infante, Chandler‐Sabourin, Rudd, & Shannon, 1990; Rancer & Niemasz, 1988; Rudd, Burant, & Beatty, 1994; Sabourin, Infante, & Rudd, 1993). Infante and his colleagues have suggested that those involved in violent relationships communicate differently with their partners than those involved in nonviolent relationships. Based on this prior research, it seems important for communication scholars to further investigate the communication behaviors of individuals involved in violent relationships. This current study seeks to advance the family violence research by comparing the types of compliance‐gaining strategies that battered and non‐battered women report using during their disputes.     

An exploration of female offenders’ memorable messages from probation and parole officers on the self-assessment of behavior from a control theory perspective

Guided by control theory, this study examines memorable messages that women on probation and parole receive from their probation and parole agents. Women interviewed for the study were asked to report a memorable message they received from an agent, and to describe situations if/when the message came to mind in three contexts likely to emerge from a control theory perspective: when they did something of which they were proud, when they stopped themselves from doing something they would later regret, and when they did something of which they were not proud. The types of memorable messages and the reactions to these messages within the three contexts were coded, and differences between women on probation versus parole were examined. Overall, a greater proportion of women on parole recalled memorable messages, and the most frequently reported type of memorable message was behavioral advice. Women reported that the message helped them do things of which they were proud, such as engaging in routine activities and fulfilling goals; helped them to not give into urges that could lead to further negative sanctions or feelings of regret; and came to mind when they relapsed. Practical implications of the findings for training are presented.     

A study of the relative effectiveness of climax and anti‐climax order in an argumentative speech∗

Two experiments examine the relationship between ambiguity tolerance as a personality trait and verbal behavior. In the first experiment Bales’ IPA system was used to analyze a group discussion. The high ambiguity tolerators dramatized almost three times as much as the low ambiguity tolerators. In the second experiment, only two of the IPA categories were used, dramatizes and gives opinion. No differences were found in the gives opinion category. In the dramatizes category, however, the same effect was found again.     

The effects of message source and fear appeal on young adults’ response to Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) messages in Singapore

This study examines the psychological processes that determine how fear appeal and sponsor type impact young adults’ responses to public campaigns against Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) in Singapore. The results showed that fear appeal in the STD messages increased the level of anger arousal, while the STD messages sponsored by a commercial company versus a government agency increased the level of negative cognitions among participants. The interaction between fear appeal and sponsor type was found in both affective and cognitive responses of psychological reactance against the STD messages.     

On the international research-to-practice conference on modern problems and tasks of information-security assurance (SIB’2017)

This article considers the results of a conference held at the Moscow University of Finance and Law in April 2017. The conference had three sections: Information Security Assurance Technologies, Data Protection Hardware and Software, and Upcoming Trends in Information Security Assurance. More than 40 reports were presented. A brief review of the plenary and main sectional reports is provided.     

A regression analysis of researchers’ social network metrics on their citation performance in a college of engineering

Previous research shows that researchers’ social network metrics obtained from a collaborative output network (e.g., joint publications or co-authorship network) impact their performance determined by g-index. We use a richer dataset to show that a scholar's performance should be considered with respect to position in multiple networks. Previous research using only the network of researchers’ joint publications shows that a researcher's distinct connections to other researchers, a researcher's number of repeated collaborative outputs, and a researchers’ redundant connections to a group of researchers who are themselves well-connected has a positive impact on the researchers’ performance, while a researcher's tendency to connect with other researchers who are themselves well-connected (i.e., eigenvector centrality) had a negative impact on the researchers’ performance. Our findings are similar except that we find that eigenvector centrality has a positive impact on the performance of scholars. Moreover, our results demonstrate that a researcher's tendency toward dense local neighborhoods and the researchers’ demographic attributes such as gender should also be considered when investigating the impact of the social network metrics on the performance of researchers.     

Eisenhower's ‘atoms for peace’ speech: A case study in the strategic use of language

This article examines the speech “Atoms for Peace,”; delivered by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 8, 1953. The author demonstrates how a complex rhetorical situation resulted in the crafting and exploitation of a public policy address. Far from serving as a precursor to nuclear disarmament, the speech functioned to bolster the international image of the United States as a peacemaker, to warn the Soviets against a preemptive nuclear strike, and to alert the American public to the dangers of a nuclear exchange.