Tag: Srader D

Nikole Duncan

The Act of Listening as a Bridge to Solving Conflict

This study explores three different perspectives on the same dispute and the influence that active listening has on developing an understanding of all sides. Smith (2017) mentions that in order to develop a voice one must first develop an ear; therefore, I will be analyzing Morgan McKinney, Dr. Hain, and Halona Jackson’s viewpoints with a clear vision. After hearing all views I will reenact the positions of all three parties on Ace day through their own perceptions so that everyone can be heard and hopefully appreciated. The ultimate goal is to have the gap between three different perceptions that has led to misunderstanding filled. Smith teaches that we might not always like what we see or what is said, but in order to change it we must first see as well as hear it clearly.

COMM 499, Capstone

Doyle Srader

P003

10:30 – 11 AM

Return to schedule

Mackenzie Galick

Listening Styles and Receiver Apprehension

This study explores participant’s results on the Listening Style Profile and Receiver Apprehension score in an attempt to discover if there is a correlation between a participant’s listening style and the degree to which they are an anxious listener. 49 individuals participated in our survey and were categorized into listening styles based on how they attend to and process information in a conversational setting. They were also scored based on their fear of misinterpreting or inadequately processing messages sent by others.

COMM 413, Advanced Interpersonal Communication

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room, Poster #3

1 – 3 PM

Return to schedule

Zoe Herron & Jordan Norris

Connections Between General Communication Competence and Intercultural Willingness to Communicate

With little previous research conducted on the specific links between a person’s general communication competence and their actual willingness to communicate interculturally, we have chosen to explore possible connections between the two in our research. Hypothesizing that those who are more competent in their communication would be more willing to engage in intercultural communication, we surveyed participants on each instrument (Communication Competence Scale and Intercultural Willingness to Communicate) and then examined and evaluated any correlations between the results.

COMM 413, Advanced Interpersonal Communication

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room, Poster #4

1 – 3 PM

Return to schedule

Kayla Miller & Abby Spencer

Individualism/Collectivism and The Willingness To Communicate Inter-culturally

We conducted a study to examine people’s willingness to communicate inter-culturally among individualistic versus collectivist cultures. We wondered if people were more likely to communicate inter-culturally in an individualist culture or a collectivist culture. Accordingly, we predicted the outcome to be that collectivist cultures will be less likely to communicate inter-culturally. Fourteen people participated in two surveys that tested the relationship between intercultural willingness to communicate and individualism or collectivism. The Auckland Individualism and Collectivism Scale (AICS), and the Intercultural Willingness to Communicate scale were the two survey’s they were presented. In the Intercultural Willingness to Communicate, participants were given twelve situations in which a person might choose to communicate or not communicate, and were asked to indicate the percentage of times he/she would choose to do so. In the AICS, 30 statements were listed to measure where he/she lies on the individualist or collectivist spectrum. Participants had the option to choose from never, rarely, sometimes, usually, often, or always when filling out the survey. The study found a .39(39%) correlation between the two instruments. This study did not produce a high enough percentage to confirm our hypothesis to be true.

COMM 413, Advanced Interpersonal Communication

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room, Poster #5

1 – 3 PM

Return to schedule

Gabrielle Morales

‘I’m Tired of Not Being Home’: A Rhetorical Fantasy-Theme Analysis of Huerta’s Speech on PTSD

It is common knowledge that many veterans hold symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); however, as active soldiers, most neglect to acknowledge the early symptoms.  Chaplain Carlos Huerta (2012) explores this in his speech. While the speech may read as an autobiography or personal account of his experiences battling with PTSD, the artifact embodies the experiences of all military members who struggle with the condition.  When Ernest Bormann’s fantasy-theme criticism is applied to analyze Huerta’s speech, it is made clear that Huerta is creating a shared worldview of soldiers, both past and present, who are in constant battle with PTSD both on and off the physical war battlefield.

COMM 441, Rhetorical Criticism

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room, Poster #10

1 – 3 PM

Return to schedule

Gianna Rains

Give Extra, Get Extra’: A Narrative Criticism of Wrigley’s Extra Gum Commercial “The Story of Sarah & Juan”

Wrigley’s Extra gum commercial became popular immediately after being aired. Commercials strive to associate their product with positivity, and Wrigley took this goal to the next level. They created a love story that consisted of a young couple, events of their love story, creative settings, and an organized timeline. The audience gets to see how Sarah and Juan’s love story unfolds, as well as how they commemorate their history of love with giving the other a piece of gum. A narrative criticism looks for key characteristics: character(s), events, and setting(s). These three features help determine what the objective of the commercial is. In this commercial ad, Wrigley’s primary objective is to sell their gum. The secondary objective is to have the audience associate Extra gum with Sarah and Juan’s history and commemoration of their love story. Their unique story also reveals that gender roles and racial norms are challenged, while the tradition of a proposal and marriage remains the same. Therefore, their objectives are effective because of the supporting characteristics of the ad.

COMM 441, Rhetorical Criticism

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room, Poster #12

1 – 3 PM

Return to schedule

Rory Rice

Feminist Criticism

Taking  the speech by Chamamanda Adichie “Everyone should be a Feminist” and, then learn the theory of feminist criticism so that we can dig into the different ways a feminist critic will dissect the artifact and then we can come up with the conclusion of what the speaker is saying.

COMM 441, Rhetorical Criticism

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room, Poster #14

1 – 3 PM

Return to schedule

Michael Buss, Tanner Dean

An Attempt at Visual Arguemnt

Visual arguments are heavily dependent on their context and enthymematic nature. The visual must make a claim, or claims, that are understood by the audience and also provide reasons why those claims are true. We have attempted to translate these concepts to a visual debate: Resolved: Digital photography is better than film photography.

COMM 325, Argumentation and Debate

Doyle Srader

P003

3 – 3:30 PM

Return to schedule

Lesly Eran

Muted Voices

This senior capstone project evaluates the effectiveness and influence of how communication affects the way gender roles are viewed based on the Muted Group Theory. At the event, guest speakers were invited to participate in a symposium panel where questions and answers were discussed identifying the importance and impact of the issues that arise among gender roles and communication. The project was held on the Northwest Christian University campus as an event.  Attendees were counted to measure the effectiveness of this event.

COMM 499, Capstone

Doyle Srader

P003

11 – 11:30 AM

Return to schedule

McKenzie Wirth

Conflict Styles and Using Secret Tests

Conflict styles influence how a person solves problems in his or her relationships. There are five common Conflict Styles: Accommodation, avoidance, competitive/aggressive, compromise and collaborative (Thomas, 1976). When uncertainty over a romantic partner’s commitment to the relationship arises, this could be a potential problem area in which a person’s conflict style makes a difference as to how he or she reduces uncertainty and solves this issue. Often, individuals who have an avoidant conflict style don’t like discussing problems directly with their relational partners, because they experience communication apprehension (Thomas, 1976). Thus, it’s plausible that these individuals may employ Secret Tests to reduce the uncertainty they feel towards their partner’s commitment to the relationship. There are seven common strategies: asking-third-party tests; directness tests; triangle tests; separation tests; endurance tests; public presentation tests; and indirect suggestion tests. The present study seeks to determine the following: 1) If a person has a predominately non-confrontational (passive) approach to conflict, then he or she will use indirect secret tests; and 2) If a person has a predominately solution-oriented (assertive) or controlling (aggressive) approach to conflict, then he or she will not use indirect secret tests.

COMM 499, Capstone

Doyle Srader

P003

10:30 – 11 AM

Return to schedule

Michael Buss

Effective Forgiveness

Given the inevitability of conflict and relational transgressions in interpersonal relationships, forgiveness plays an essential role in the maintenance of relationships. Factors, such as offense severity and blameworthiness effect the type of forgiveness, either direct, indirect, or conditional, and even if someone will choose to forgive at all. If the act of forgiveness is not sincere, the forgiving party’s negative affect will not be reduced. Sincere forgiveness is strongly correlated with a sincere apology.

COMM 413, Advanced Interpersonal Communication

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room, poster #1

10 AM – Noon

Return to schedule

Lesly Eran

Exploring: The Positive Outcomes After Breaking Up

The affirmation of romantic relationships is very important for individuals because this can reinforce the sense of identity and self-esteem in people. Researchers have found that positive emotions can occur following a breakup, particularly when different personal growths happen after the dissolution. Moreover, researchers also advise various methods to overcome the ending of a romantic relationship.

COMM 413, Advanced Interpersonal Communication

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room, poster #4

10 AM – Noon

Return to schedule

Colby Hanson

The Complexity of Being a Good Comforter

Knowing how to comfort effectively can make a significant difference in how people close to you are able to deal with difficult situations. There are many different suggested approaches to comforting, but few are backed by research. Results from studies have demonstrated that effective comforting doesn’t come from an effective trait or technique, but rather a “person- centered” approach that takes into account the distressed person and elements of the situation.

COMM 413, Advanced Interpersonal Communication

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room, poster #5

10 AM – Noon

Return to schedule

Colby Hanson

Crossing the Finish Line the Wrong Way

Physical appearance is often the first source of information that people gain when seeing/meeting others for the first time. This study observed what happened when this wasn’t the case. Participants were shown a story about someone before seeing a picture of that person. Results found that showing a negative story about someone attractive, and then showing a picture of that person, significantly decreased the perceived attractiveness of the person compared to uninformed ratings. When an unattractive person was paired with a positive story, and an average looking person was paired with a neutral story, there were positive, but insignificant changes in the perception of attractiveness.

COMM 499, Capstone

Doyle Srader

P003

1 – 1:30 PM

Return to schedule

McKenzie Hinson

Talk Clean to Me: Removing the Taboo Surrounding Sex-Communication with Children

One particularly tricky communication situation occurs when people communicate with their children about the concept of sex. In communicating, parents have the opportunity to convey ideas, attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, and expectations to their children, and consequently, parents play an important role in the formation of their children as they move into adolescence and adulthood. Despite an understanding of this, parents often feel uncomfortable when discussing sexual matters with their children, and research suggests that there are unique challenges and concerns in discussing things of a sexual nature with young children and with adolescents. In light of the research presently discussed, parents should strive to have open sex-communication with their children. While there are legitimate concerns and anxiety regarding sex-communication with children, general parent-child communication was found to be a significant predictor of adolescent sexual behavior. Though these conversations are not necessarily easy to have, it’s arguable that parent-child sex-communication is important at any age, and thus, should not be avoided.

COMM 413, Advanced Interpersonal Communication

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room, poster #6

10 AM – Noon

Return to schedule

Madi Novelli

Attraction & Lasting Relationships

Attraction plays a big role in relationships and can determine just how long some relationships last. People get into relationships to better enhance their self. Research shows that similarities play a big part when someone is attracted to someone. However, not having much in common is great as well because different personalities and interests can make someone else experience new things and make their self even greater. Bad attraction also happens a lot within the process of getting into relationships. Bad attraction is often found with online dating or relationships that are pretty much all on a screen. Those relationships lack face to face conversations and human touch that can really affect relationships in the long run.

COMM 413, Advanced Interpersonal Communication

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room, poster #8

10 AM – Noon

Return to schedule

Maci Beierle & Joseph Miller

America’s Shift to a Contact Culture

The purpose of this presentation is to show how America has shifted from a non-contact culture to a contact culture. Our hypothesis states that America has transitioned to a more contact culture over the past 50 years. This research is analyzed with the help of two popular sitcoms in their respective times; I love Lucy (1950’s) and Modern Family (2010’s). After watching the “”Pilot”” episodes in each sitcom, we recorded all physical contact between couples, male and females, and those of the same sex. Both sitcoms displayed all three-gender aspects within physical contact, whether it was a tap on the shoulder or a kiss on the cheek. With the information we gathered from these episodes, we were able to conclude that our hypothesis was correct.

COMM 430 Nonverbal Communication

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room, Poster #2

10:00 AM – Noon

Back to the schedule

Michael Buss

Nonverbal Communication in Worship Band Settings

When worship bands play live, they need to communicate in order to make the music as fluent and flawless as possible. Verbal communication is limited if not absent during a live set, therefore band members must communicate non-verbally. Rehearsal times are essential to achieving a fluent live set. It is beneficial to have more than one rehearsal before playing live. Rehearsals are the place to coordinate song road map and dynamics which are managed through corrective and expressive behaviors primarily displayed by the band leader. The first rehearsal is the coordination stage, the second rehearsal is the dress rehearsal and finally, the culmination of events, the live performance.

COMM 430 Nonverbal Communication

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room, Poster #3

10:00 AM – Noon

Back to the schedule

Niki Duncan & Lesly Eran

Gender and Power Roles Displayed Nonverbally in Advertising

In this study we will be looking at the difference between nonverbal gender and power role cues in advertising magazine pictures from 1995 and 2016. Our purpose is to find out how gender roles have altered throughout the years.  We estimate that Women will have more encouraged independence, and power in women’s magazines today than they did in 1995. We also hypothesize that there will be less of a difference between men’s gender roles within magazines in 1995 and magazines today in 2016.

COMM 430 Nonverbal Communication

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room, Poster #4

10:00 AM – Noon

Back to the schedule

Colby Hanson & McKenzie Hinson

Nonverbals and Finding Success on The Voice

For the purpose of this study, we examined performers’ gestures, primarily illustrators and affect displays, in order to determine if there is a correlation between these nonverbal displays and the likelihood of winning the singing competition The Voice. We hypothesized that if a performer is able to use illustrators and affect displays more frequently and efficiently, then he or she will have a greater likelihood of wining the competition, because in so doing, he or she will elicit powerful, satisfying emotions in audience members. Thus, audience members will feel a greater connection to the performer, causing them to vote in favor of the performer.

COMM 430 Nonverbal Communication

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room, Poster #5

10:00 AM – Noon

Back to the schedule

Joshua Higashi

Language of Leaders

I will be presenting a poster comparing two speeches I wrote. I wrote a speech for current NCU President Joseph Womack and for former President of New Hope Christian College Guy Higashi. I will be comparing the differences in speeches based on the speaker’s cultural and ethnic background as well as the audience’s demographic.

COMM 311 Speechwriting

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room, Poster #2

1:00 – 3:00 PM

Back to the schedule

Miles Adkisson

Communication Methods and University Admission

This research study was designed to compare the effectiveness of different communication methods and their impact on recruiting students to a private Christian university located in Eugene, Oregon. Using surveys and data collection, this study attempted to identify whether computer-mediated communication methods such as email or texting were more effective in increasing recruitment rates compared to traditional methods such as, mail and/or phone calls. This study hopes to help uncover the most effective communication methods when it comes to undergraduate recruitment at a small Christian university and how admission departments can utilize these findings to recruit more students. 

Keywords: admissions, computer-mediated technology, Christian university, recruitment

COMM 499, Capstone

Doyle Srader

PFB 003

12:30 – 1:00 PM

Isaiah Blake

Disability Awareness: A Unique Perspective

This presentation focuses on the difficulties of trying to cope with people who are disabled. The first portion of the speech deals with what it has been like living with a brother who has Down Syndrome. This is a clear example of someone who is permanently disabled. The terms ‘social’ and ‘medical’ definition of a disability will be drawn into perspective; and the term ‘temporarily abled’ will be defined. The second portion of the speech will focus on the ongoing difficulties of dealing with a dad who suffered from a severe stroke. A heavy emphasis will be placed on what it looks like for someone who was a temporarily abled individual to now becoming disabled. The final portion of the speech will be focused on my thoughts, and the audience’s mindset. This final segment will be a call to action, and a re-assessment of one’s thoughts. In order to make change for those who are disabled, we who are temporarily abled, must put ourselves in their shoes and understand the need for social, economic, and spiritual assistance. 

COMM 499, Capstone

Doyle Srader

PFB 003

1:30 – 2:30 PM

Noah Cabalona

Cluster Criticism on Sabac’s As Children Cry

Suffering is a common theme in every person’s life. The rapper Sabac explains how children suffer and gives advice regarding how humanity can change the cycle of suffering. Sabac’s song As Children Cry, tries to explain why children suffer and calls for a change. Cluster Criticism can help interpret Sabac’s ideas written in his song. Cluster criticism examines the artifact through identification, terministic screen, as well as a few key terms. In Sabac’s, As Children Cry, he incorporates frequently used terms children and suffering. He uses multiple terms that can be interpreted as God and Devil Terms. The terms include stability as a God term and suffering as a devil term. The issues that Sabac addresses look like there is no fix for them. He describes problems, but he doesn’t place blame on one specific group of people. He places blame on all of humanity, even the victims. This song is both very depressing and it also shows a bit of future promise to humanity.

COMM 441, Rhetorical Criticism

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room

1:00 – 3:00 PM

Noah Cabalona

Narrative Criticism on Three K-Rino Songs About the Media

A rapper named K-Rino focused on how many people are mentally poisoned from listening to a lot of mainstream media, mainly radio songs. Three songs were used in this narrative criticism. The narrative analysis of these songs made it clear that they had a unified objective in them. This project is a criticism of each of these songs, as singles, as well as a group. Understanding each of the features of these songs was also a goal in this criticism. I assessed each of the features and compared them to each other to see if each of them had a unified topic. Each element had common strategies to help persuade his message to the listeners. After understanding these songs, I realized that K-Rino wanted to persuade his beliefs to his listeners by the art of storytelling. His beliefs consist of how humanity shouldn’t mindlessly believe what they hear just because it was taught to them. He used imaginative narrative to get a clear message to his viewers about how they need personal change in their lives.

COMM 499, Capstone

Doyle Srader

PFB 003

Noon – 12:30 PM

Colby Hanson

To speak or Listen? Taking a second look at our attitudes toward listening. 

We are often given the choice to speak or listen in our daily communication. However, many people hold an implicit definition of listening that likely alters this decision. Due to this implicit idea people hold, there is a common idea that speaking is better suited for situations where any form of persuasion or debate is involved. Through our study, we set out to test if this is indeed a phenomenon. By using a questionnaire with varying situations, we hope to get a clearer picture on what exactly this implicit definition looks like.

We believe that in contrast to this implicit definition, listening is actually better suited than speaking in many situations that involve persuasion or debate. We plan on surveying a number of debate judges and asking if it was the better speakers, or the better listeners that won the given debate. We believe that the common consensus among judges will be that the better listeners won the debate. 

Using these two sets of data, we hope to explore and explain the role of listening in communication.

COMM 370, Listening Behavior

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room

1:00 – 3:00 PM

Colby Hanson

The ideology of military advertising 

One of the best ways to sell a product or recruit people is through effective advertising. This concept is no different for the Army. How does the Army attract students who might otherwise be heading for higher education? Based on one of their ads, they do this by making the experience seem like a more adventurous experience with all of the benefits of college. 

I will be presenting a rhetorical criticism of this ad posted by the army, using the ideological criticism method. In this ad, the army tailors certain situations to fulfill nearly everything someone would receive from going to school including diplomas, team membership, academic breakthroughs, and more. Additionally, the army uses hidden power moves to attempt to create a new ideology towards joining the army. In doing so, they deceive the viewer by leaving out irreconcilable elements of being in the military. Such elements include the presence of enemies, any serious danger, any serious struggle, and more. This ad creates an incomplete view of an alternative to college. This is what I will explore in my critique.

COMM 441, Rhetorical Criticism

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room

1:00 – 3:00 PM

Jessica Harwood

Perceived Relationship Maintenance and Satisfaction in Romantic Partnerships

The aim of this research project was to better understand the correlation of relational maintenance and satisfaction. There have been many studies to gain a better perspective of how relationship satisfaction is reached through varying styles of relational maintenance behavior. I found ten couples on campus and gave them a questionnaire that measured the perceived relational maintenance done by a partner and another that analyzed the participant’s relational satisfaction. I then averaged the perceived maintenance results that correlated with their relational satisfaction and compared their partner’s scores. I suspected that the perceived high maintenance scores would result in higher satisfaction within the relationship. In addition, men and women would excel in different forms of relational maintenance, for example, women use assurance techniques, while men are prone to task oriented styles.

COMM 499, Capstone

Doyle Srader

PFB 003

11:00 – 11:30 AM

Joshua Higashi

Relation Communication in Education Environments

Northwest Christian University is a small school in the middle of a college town. With a well-known University right next to NCU and another small college a few minutes away we aim to understand how NCU is different than other schools both small and large. With a smaller student body, NCU’s faculty and staff have the opportunity to work with each student personally and develop a relational closeness. NCU has a different approach to leadership than secular universities. With the geographical closeness of our school we also foster a denser social network. Mainstream universities aim for community, but large student populations make that hard to accomplish. Northwest Christian University isn’t the only school with a small student population, therefore what sets NCU apart from other small schools?

Being at a small school has many pros the cons are just as evident. A big issue with fostering a strong sense of community happens when students get so involved that there becomes a bubble around the school. When there is an in-group there is an out-group. With being close to a large university is a part of NCU’s identity how does NCU maintain their identity while maintaining balance? Students at NCU can be both immersed in the community at NCU, but if they become suffocated they can retreat to the University of Oregon with the simple crossing of a street. Northwest Christian University is mix of many great aspects of a small university and a large university.

COMM 240, Communication Theory

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room

1:00 – 3:00 PM

Hannah Roddy

Self-Disclosure and Co-Rumination at NCU Night Chapel

This senior capstone project evaluates the effectiveness and impact of an event regarding self-disclosure and co-rumination. The event was held on Northwest Christian University campus as a Night Chapel event. Students were encouraged and given the opportunity to verbally share their struggles and experiences as others listened. Attendees were counted, self-disclosure participants were counted, and each participant was anonymously rated with regards to how personal or deep his or her response was, in order to measure the effectiveness of this event. 

COMM 499, Capstone

Doyle Srader

PFB 003

10:30 – 11:00 AM

Candace Rodgers

A Rhetorical Criticism of Mother”Hood”

The rhetorical method of fantasy-theme criticism is designed to offer insights into the shared worldview of groups. I use this method to analyze the Simlac video Mother “Hood.” The video is a satirical look at the groups with which parents self-identify. These groups are formed around parenting methods. There is a tension created between the individual’s convergence with these groups and divergence from the overarching worldview of motherhood. Simlac uses the symbolic convergence of the reality that “we are parents first” as a marketing strategy to sell baby formula. 

COMM 441, Rhetorical Criticism

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room

1:00 – 3:00 PM

Candace Rodgers

Language, Feelings, and Hidden Biases 

This Capstone project is modeled after the method of Anna Deavere Smith. Through conducting interviews with students, faculty, and staff at NCU I sought out people who had stories within a similar theme. I will perform portions from each interview, weaving together the different perspectives on the power of language and our hidden biases. 

COMM 499, Capstone

Doyle Srader

PFB 003

11:30 AM – Noon

Nick Sullivan

Relational Maintenance: The Difference between College Freshmen and Seniors

This study was conducted in order to compare the relational maintenance techniques used by college freshmen opposed to college seniors. Specifically, how freshmen and seniors talk to long distance friends that were developed before college. Nine students completed a five day survey that required them to keep a log of what friends they talked to. Results indicated that Freshmen are in more frequent contact with long distant friends and family from back home, than college seniors. The findings provide support for higher relational maintenance among college freshmen. 

COMM 499, Capstone

Doyle Srader

PFB 003

2:30 – 3:00 PM

Sarah Delp & Colby Hanson

Relational Closeness Through Simple Self Disclosure.

The purpose of the study is to evaluate and compare social penetration effectiveness between handwritten notes, and text messages. We will be communicating singularly with our participants through one of the two mediums using simple self-disclosures, and then evaluating relational closeness. The hypothesis we will be testing is, subjects receiving surface disclosures via CMC will report greater relational closeness than those receiving the same messages in writing. 10 random participants from Northwest Christian University will be asked a series of the same 8 simple, surface level questions by one of the researchers (ex: what is a hobby of yours? Where did you grow up?) by either text messages or handwritten notes. The person not asking and answering the questions will then deliver the handwritten notes. After the 8 exchanges, we will then ask the participants to fill out McCroskey and McCain’s (1974) social attraction sub scale questionnaire, The Measure of Interpersonal Attraction. This will then be used to measure the relational closeness as well their disclosures and emotional states to the researcher using their given communication method.

COMM 460 Technology, Change and Communication

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room

Colby Hanson & Joshua Higashi

A Debate Over the Individualism-Collectivism Dichotomy

We will be having a debate on the validity of the Individualism/Collectivism dichotomy. Individualism is can be described as actions/behaviors that are focused on one’s selfish interests. Collectivism can be described as actions/behaviors that focus on the group’s interests rather than the individual’s. This dichotomy has been used frequently since its creation to describe and understand cultural behaviors and intercultural interactions. However, many scholars have called the widespread use of this dichotomy into question. 

COMM 220 Intercultural Communication

Doyle Srader

P003

10:30 AM

Hayley Leno & Jaime Terwilliger

Two Truths and a Lie: Deception Detection Based on Mode of Communication

Lies can often be exchanged through text based communication and face to face communication. The following study was conducted to determine if lies were detected more often through face-to-face or text-based communication and whether not it mattered if the participant knew the researcher well. The first hypothesis was that when the participant does not know the deceiver, deception detection will succeed more often through text-only communication than face-to-face communication. The second hypothesis was that when the participant does know the deceiver well, successful deception detection will be equally likely in face-to-face and text-only communication. Twenty-seven participants from Northwest Christian University participated in a game of Two Truths and a Lie, once face-to-face and once over text message. The results show that there was not a significant difference between face-to-face detection and the text based detection. Also, in either medium, there was a not significant difference in lie detection between participants who knew the researcher well, or did not know the researcher well.

COMM 460 Technology, Change and Communication

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room

1 – 3 PM

Makenzie McLauglin

How General Practitioners can Communicate with Patients who have Symptoms of Depression

People across the globe know that depression exists to some extent, but those who do have depression are still afraid to talk about it in public or to their general practitioner. Studies have shown that campaigns can be helpful to an individual if it addresses the problem to the individual’s close family or friends. Once the family or friend see’s the campaign and speaks to the individual while showing their concern, the individual might be moved enough to go see their general practitioner. To be able to help their patient, the general practitioner must be knowledgeable on how to speak to the patient about depression, and how to asses them effectively. The practitioner could ask their patient to take a survey that could help them diagnose the patient’s extent of depression and how to treat it effectively. This paper can help people on both sides of the conversation know how to give a positive feedback about depression.

COMM 207 Special Topics: Health Communication

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room

1 – 3 PM

Kayla Ping

Service learning project- Coach Athlete Satisfaction

The following document follows a service learning project including the Northwest Christian University volleyball team. The team took part in a service learning project with the team’s three coaches. The three coaches will be referred to as coach A, B, and C. The service learning project included tracking communication and more specifically implementing immediacy behaviors by the coaches to try and promote team cohesion and success. The service learning project tracked the team’s response and satisfaction through the 4 month season regarding coach’s communication strategies and tendencies. The study shows the effect on the athletes when the coaches started using immediacy tools. Implementing simple behaviors such as eye contact, body positioning, listening behaviors and positive statements have been shown to increase satisfaction between individuals. The project aimed to identify if specific behaviors would get specific results from the athletes. The paper includes and introduction, prior research, description of the project, findings, and a discussion with a conclusion. 

COMM 499 Capstone

Doyle Srader

P003

1:30 PM

Miles Adkisson

9/11 Conspiracy Theories and the Narrative Paradigm

Following the attacks that took place on September 11, 2001, many conspiracy theories arose claiming that the original explanation that al-Qaeda was behind the violent attacks, in which thousands of Americans were killed, were falsified to cover up government involvement in the attacks. Since the attacks, a wide variety of conspiracy theories have been put forward in websites, books, and films. This study seeks to explain which argument has more coherence and fidelity, according to Walter Fisher’s narrative paradigm, and why such theories arise following traumatic historical events.

COMM 407, Special Topics: Narrative Paradigm

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room

1 – 3 PM

Tianna Bushman

Competing Narratives: Is this systemic racism?

Fisher wrote that all people are storytellers, and that narrative rationality is determined by coherence and fidelity. Could Fisher’s paradigm prove useful in real world controversies? Brown, Baucham, and Anyabwile from the Gospel Coalition each offered a response to the Ferguson trial debates. Each of these individuals developed compelling arguments for the perspectives in which their narratives take place. In this study Fisher’s theories of narrative rationality and of the ideal audience were applied to these three narratives in order to show whether Fisher’s narrative paradigm could prove useful in assessing competing narratives in real world situations. 

COMM 407, Special Topics: Narrative Paradigm

Doyle Srader

Banquet Room

1 – 3 PM