The effects of gain versus loss framing and issue involvement on publics’ responses to nuclear energy messages in South Korea

This study investigates how the public’s perceptions of nuclear power, one of the modern technologies at the center of public debate on risk issues, are influenced by gain versus loss framing in the volatile context of nuclear energy applications in South Korea. Drawing upon prospect theory as its conceptual framework, this experiment using 566 adult participants found that loss-framed messages (i.e. emphasizing the negative outcomes of not using nuclear power) were more effective in increasing participants’ message credibility perceptions as compared to gain-framed messages (i.e. emphasizing the positive outcomes of using nuclear power). Additionally, the results found issue involvement to be a significant moderator of the framing effect, by demonstrating that the advantage of loss framing was stronger for participants who were highly involved in nuclear energy issue, as compared to those who were less involved in the issue. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

The influence of fear appeals,message design,and masculinity on men's motivation to perform the testicular self‐exam

Despite the significant threat men face for contracting testicular cancer, most men remain completely unaware of this risk. Moreover, men are not regularly performing the testicular self‐exam (TSE) in order to detect this form of cancer in their bodies. The current study attempted to assess whether fear appeals targeted at men will motivate them to begin regular performance of the TSE. Additionally, the influence of message design and masculinity was also tested. Results indicate messages that follow the direction of Witte's (1992, 1994) Extended Parallel Process Model and promote both high threat and high efficacy are successful in increasing men's intentions to perform the TSE. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

The effects of nonverbal reinforcement and interviewee‐interviewer relationship on interviewee's verbal response

Utilizing survey data from 99 nursing home residents in nursing home facilities serving Medicaid patients, this study investigated the relationship of interpersonal network involvement to perceived life satisfaction and perceived need accommodations. Each subject completed three survey instruments developed to measure (a) resident's perceived quality care, (b) residents’ satisfaction with personal need accommodation and (c) interpersonal network satisfaction. Residents’ perceptions of quality care (i.e., attitude of staff, food, and self‐selected social activities) and satisfaction with roommates are significant predictors of perceived needs being met. Further, residents are more satisfied with self‐selected relationships than with institutionally‐selected roommates.     

Able but not motivated? The relative effects of happy and sad mood on persuasive message processing

The effects of happy and sad moods on systematic processing are examined in the present study. Research has indicated that positive mood leads to less systematic processing, and negative mood heightens systematic processing. Debate has ensued as to whether persons in a positive mood lack the cognitive ability to process messages systematically (e.g., Worth & Mackie, 1987), or lack the motivation to process systematically (e.g., Bohner et al., 1992). In the present study, it was posited that, consistent with Cialdini's Negative State Relief Model (1973), persons in a positive mood lack the motivation to process, but do not lack the cognitive ability to do so. An experiment was designed to test this motivational hypothesis by varying outcome involvement, message strength, and mood. Contrary to the cognitive inability hypothesis, results indicated that persons in a positive mood do have the cognitive capacity to process systematically, but that message strength is the major predictor of attitude.     

Comparing the effects of argumentation and facework on Americans and Chinese’ responses to advice in supportive interactions

Advice is a culturally universal form of supportive communication. This study examined cultural similarities and differences between American (N?=?248) and Chinese (N?=?225) college students in their responses to advice messages that differ in terms of argument explicitness and use of facework. A 2 (articulation of response efficacy: presence vs. absence) ×?2 (articulation of feasibility: presence vs. absence) ×?2 (articulation of absence of limitations: presence vs. absence) ×?2 (use of facework: presence vs. absence) experimental design was used in the study. A hypothetical problem situation (failing an exam) was employed in the design and three types of advice substance were included (talking to professor, studying with others, dropping the course). Participants were randomly assigned to read one of the hypothetical conversations in which they received advice from a friend about the problematic situation. The findings of this study demonstrated that, in both cultural groups, advice was more effective (resulting in higher perceptions of advice quality and facilitation of coping, as well as stronger intention to implement the advice) when advice givers outlined the efficacy of the advised action, explained the feasibility of undertaking the advised action, addressed the potential limitations of the advised action, and employed politeness strategies when giving advice. Theoretical and pragmatic implications of the study’s findings, as well as directions for future research are discussed.     

Effects of reintegration difficulties,perceived message acceptance and perceived autonomy support on U.S. military Veterans’ evaluations of messages encouraging them to seek behavioral health care

This online experiment integrates confirmation, politeness, and self-determination theories to examine how Veterans evaluate family members’ messages encouraging them to seek behavioral health care. Veterans (N?=?226) evaluated messages manipulated to express high or low levels of acceptance and autonomy support, completed outcome measures (persuasiveness, relational impact, identity management, emotions), and reported on their own reintegration difficulties. Positive associations were found between perceived message acceptance and three outcomes, and perceived autonomy support and two outcomes. Reintegration difficulties were associated with more negative message perceptions. Perceived acceptance and autonomy support also mediated a number of associations between manipulated message features and outcomes, as well as reintegration difficulties and outcomes. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Perceptions of social‐sexual communication at work: The effects of message,situation, and observer characteristics on judgments of sexual harassment

Social‐sexual communication at work may contribute to either the initiation of an organizational romance or sexual harassment. We examined forces that influence perceptions of sexual messages as harassing rather than flirtatious. We presented 94 working adults with questionnaires soliciting workplace attitudes and experiences. Then, participants reviewed newsletters describing male and female coworkers in a fictitious organization. Finally, participants evaluated the degree of sexual harassment evident in six hypothetical interactions wherein one of the employees introduced in the newsletter makes a suggestive remark to his or her coworker. Newsletters and questionnaires manipulated the explicitness of messages, the initiator's status as supervisor versus subordinate, the attractiveness of the message initiator and target, and the initiator's sex. Message explicitness accounted for 88% of the variance in perceptions of harassment. A five‐way interaction among message and situational cues suggested that perceptions of sexual harassment are also influenced by contextual information. Females rated highly explicit messages as more harassing than did males, and individuals who were more accepting of socializing or dating between coworkers rated scenarios as less harassing. Exposure to socializing at work had a curvilinear association with perceptions of harassment such that low to moderate exposure corresponded with perceptions of greater harassment and moderate to high exposure was associated with lower ratings of sexual harassment. The discussion highlights applications for sexual harassment training programs within organizations.     

The effects of prior reputation and type and duration of charitable donation on celebrities’ personal public relations: an investigation based on attribution theory

Charitable donations made by celebrities are being increasingly reported by news media in South Korea. This experimental study has examined the effects of celebrities’ prior reputations, and the duration and type of charitable donation they perform, on young participants’ evaluations of these celebrities (i.e. motive attribution, attitudes toward the celebrities, and related purchase intentions). The results ascertained the main effects of prior reputation and duration and type of donation on the dependent variables. Most notably, the results also found the interaction effect of duration and type of donation on the participants’ evaluation of motive attribution. That is, participants who were exposed to news stories concerning celebrities’ volunteer efforts, or monetary contributions that involve volunteer efforts, performed over long periods of time reported the highest level of motive attribution. Based on these results, this study discussed theoretical and practical implications.     

A role (in)congruity study on Vietnamese journalists’ perception of female and male leadership

This survey study examines the applicability of role congruity theory on journalists in Vietnam. Findings show that journalists hold stereotypical perceptions of female leaders. Journalists see female leaders as more communal while male leaders as more agentic. Journalists believe it is more important to report information on female leaders’ domesticity and physicality than it is on male leaders. In addition, journalists from families with a traditional division of labor tend to hold stronger gender stereotypes. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The Effects of Instructor Credibility,Grade Incentives,and Framing of a Technology Policy on Students’ Intent to Comply and Motivation to Learn

This experiment assessed whether instructor credibility (low or high) moderated the effects of grade incentives (rewards or punishment) and advantage framing (gain or loss) of technology policies on students’ intent to comply and motivation to learn. Results indicate that credibility increased motivation to learn. Significant moderated moderated mediation was found: a three-way interaction affected both intent to comply, and motivation to learn as mediated by attitude toward the policy. Specifically, credibility positively influenced learning outcomes via attitude when the syllabus used opposing frame-incentive structure (i.e., gain-framed punishment and loss-framed reward).     

Three-feature model to reproduce the topology of citation networks and the effects from authors’ visibility on their h-index

Various factors are believed to govern the selection of references in citation networks, but a precise, quantitative determination of their importance has remained elusive. In this paper, we show that three factors can account for the referencing pattern of citation networks for two topics, namely “graphenes” and “complex networks”, thus allowing one to reproduce the topological features of the networks built with papers being the nodes and the edges established by citations. The most relevant factor was content similarity, while the other two – in-degree (i.e. citation counts) and age of publication – had varying importance depending on the topic studied. This dependence indicates that additional factors could play a role. Indeed, by intuition one should expect the reputation (or visibility) of authors and/or institutions to affect the referencing pattern, and this is only indirectly considered via the in-degree that should correlate with such reputation. Because information on reputation is not readily available, we simulated its effect on artificial citation networks considering two communities with distinct fitness (visibility) parameters. One community was assumed to have twice the fitness value of the other, which amounts to a double probability for a paper being cited. While the h-index for authors in the community with larger fitness evolved with time with slightly higher values than for the control network (no fitness considered), a drastic effect was noted for the community with smaller fitness.     

The effects of parent–child communication patterns on children's interactive communication in online communities: focusing on social self-efficacy and unwillingness to communicate as mediating factors

The purpose of this study is to determine which of the following factors influence children's online communication: parent–child communication (PCC), social self-efficacy (SSE), and unwillingness to communicate (UTC). To examine children's online communication, the researchers obtained survey data from 425 elementary school students in South Korea and tested a hypothesized structural model using EQS/Windows. The findings suggest that open communication between parents and children is associated with higher levels of SSE and lower levels of UTC among children. According to the two variables, open PCC has an indirect influence on interactive communication in online communities. Overall, this study offers meaningful results indicating that children's interactive online communication is influenced by their characteristics of interpersonal communication resulting from open PCC.     

Does ‘Articulation’ matter in sponsorship? The type of articulation and the degree of congruence as determinants of corporate sponsorship effects

The congruence between an event and the sponsor's brand can be created by ‘articulating’ the basis and meaning of their relationship, and this created fit can increase the effectiveness of sponsorship. We considered a sample of 418 high school students in Incheon (Korea) in order to investigate how the type of articulation and the degree of congruence between an event and its sponsor influence the effects of sponsorship, and how the consumer's need for cognition moderates the effects of sponsorship. The results indicate that noncommercial articulation was likely to strengthen the effects of sponsorship, whereas commercial articulation was not likely to influence either the participants' responses to sponsorship or their attitudes toward the sponsor's brand. In addition, the effects of commercial articulation depended on the degree of congruence between the event and the sponsor; the consumer's need for cognition moderated the effects of sponsorship according to the type of articulation.     

The changing role of school/media resource libraries in secondary schools in Singapore and the need to implement mandatory standards, 1946–2010: Issues,challenges and opportunities

The aim of this paper is to study the development and evolution of secondary school libraries into Media Resource Libraries (MRLs) in Singapore after the Second World War and the rationale to have mandatory school library standards. It is an historical survey analysing published data about the linkages of libraries and librarianship, school library standards, education and school reforms in Singapore. It analyses historical and current documents on the roles played by stakeholders like the Library Association of Singapore (LAS) and the Ministry of Education (MOE) in the introduction and development of school library standards. The need for school libraries standards was first discussed when the Malayan Library Group (MLG) organised the first course on librarianship for school teachers in 1955, but, with no follow through. The need for school libraries standards was also mentioned by the LAS in 1962 in a memorandum to the Commission of Enquiry into Education to train teacher librarians and adopt school library standards. However, this was left out in the final report of the Commission published in 1964. The need for school library standards was discussed in a school library seminar for 150 teacher librarians in 1970. The first Recommended Minimum Standards for Secondary School Libraries was published two years later by the Standing Committee on Libraries set up by the MOE, but it was not mandatory for schools to adopt the standards. In 1997 the MOE launched its “Thinking School Learning Nation” vision to teach thinking skills. Students were expected to do multidisciplinary project work and be independent users of information. The MOE began to convert school libraries into Media Resource Libraries (MRLs) with print and non-print materials. However, a survey conducted in 2001 on the roles and competencies of 112 Library Coordinators (LCs) or teacher librarians revealed that they lack the skills and knowledge to manage MRLs effectively. This is because subsequent school library standards published in 1983 and 2002 did not require trained and full-time teacher librarians to manage the MRLs. Furthermore, it is essential for the standards to be periodically updated with regards to professional staff, collection development, facilities, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure and school library programs. Otherwise, MRLs risk being “hollow shells still considered on the periphery of core educational requirements, and are run by teachers not professionally prepared to do the work” (Hart, 2001, p. 25). The national standards published in the United States from 1918 to 2008 are well researched and provide substantive guidelines to develop school libraries. Therefore, it is essential for the MOE to formulate MRL standards by doing comparative studies of school library standards in other countries. These standards have to be mandatory and fully adopted by the schools. It provides opportunities for stakeholders like the LAS, National Library Board (NLB), the National Institute of Education (NIE), and the Singapore Teachers’ Union, to collaborate in the formulation of these standards and take collective ownership to implement them.     

Learn after reading: effects of news framing and responsibility attribution on Chinese college students’ perceived efficacy in identifying others and themselves with depression

Depression is now one of the most severe public health threats in China and among Chinese college students. To examine the effects of depression news coverage on Chinese college students’ mental health literacy, focusing on their perceived efficacy in recognizing depression symptoms, a 2 (news framing: episodic vs. thematic)?×?2 (responsibility attribution: individual vs. societal)?×?2 (gender: female vs. male) between-subjects experiment was conducted among 187 students at a large research university in China. The key findings, after controlling for depression issue involvement, include: (1) the main effects of attribution on perceived efficacy in identifying others (friends and family members) with depression; (2) the association between gender and perceived efficacy in identifying family members with depression; and (3) the three-way interactions on how framing, attribution, and gender jointly affect not only perceived efficacy in identifying others but also themselves with depression. These findings provide insights on how depression news coverage can help enhance mental health literacy and build stronger depression symptom resilience among Chinese college students. Implications for health journalists and public health communication professionals in China are discussed.     

The possibility of using the Google Patents search tool in patentometric analysis (based on the example of the world’s largest innovative companies)

The possibility of using the Google Patents search tool in patentometric analysis based on the world largest innovative companies is substantiated. Of these companies, the dynamics of issued patents for 2-year intervals over a 10-year period (2001?C2010) were analyzed; with this method it was possible to classify these companies according to their patent activity. It is shown that along with the very high patent activity (from 1.0 to 1.2 mln patents in 10 years) of the Sony, Samsung Electronics, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, and Siemens companies, 76% of the most innovative companies of the world that are included in the TOP-50 Business Week 2010 have very low patent activities (from 0 to 0.2 mln patents in 10 years). The conclusion is that most patent active innovation companies have stably growing or established dynamics of patent activity.     

From the Periphery to Center Stage: The Effects and Exploitation of the Other in Titus Andronicus and Assassin’s Creed III

Aaron the Moor from Titus Andronicus and Ratonhnhaké:ton from Assassin’s Creed III are each aiding in a war against an international superpower, and both characters are plotting ways to advance and improve their respective culture. Aaron is seen as the villain and the antagonist, whereas Ratonhnhaké:ton is seen as an individual who fights for freedom. However, once both characters’ usefulness is exhausted, they are easily characterized as the Other and lose whatever benefits they may have earned. They are tossed aside by the factions they are trying to help. Even though Assassin’s Creed III is a video game, the same issues of colonialism and imperialism can be investigated in this 21st-century genre as in Shakespeare’s play.     

The materials and techniques used in the paintings of Francis Bacon (1909–1992)

Abstract

Materials from 38 paintings by Francis Bacon (1909–1992), including 21 complete works and 17 partially destroyed canvases are investigated. Observations are made of the artist's technique and details are compiled of the supports used. Samples of paint and priming were taken for analysis using polarized light microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), pyrolysis–GC–MS (Py–GC–MS), and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM–EDX). Analysis of priming layers appears to show that the priming composition correlates well with particular ranges of dates. A fairly limited range of materials are found, with many of the same pigments found in works spanning Bacon's career, though other pigments were introduced at different stages in his career. Oil paints were used consistently for the painting of figures, but household paints were increasingly used in backgrounds from the 1960s onwards. A variety of different synthetic media are found in later works, including household acrylic paints and spray paints. Increased knowledge of Bacon’s materials is expected to be of great value to conservators caring for the work of this highly significant artist, and is already helping in the authentication of works attributed to him.     

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.