Living in a world that is connected in a major way by social media has become the reality for a number of human beings. The necessity of social media in everyday life and a person's urge to use it tends to increase when wanting to stay updated and informed about the nature of things around them. The social media world has grown so much over the years, with even the youngest of generations participating in a number of different social networking sites. This study examines how people experience life without social media and how common themes develop as to how social media plays a significant part in daily interactions with others. Whether it have a positive or negative effect on those who actively use it, social media and the influence it has on its users has become something that is utilized in various ways. It does not take much effort to become connected with others through social media, making that a reason as to why it has become so popular among users around the world. People have become dependent on these computer-mediated tools for reasons that keep them feeling at-ease and in the loop of information when it comes to a variety of categories such as political news or their Facebook friends' profiles. Specifically, this study investigates the effects of a two day social media "fast" and how time away from these outlets can cause a disconnect from others, but also create a positive reduction of dependency on social media as a means of distraction from such a hyperconnected environment.

Website usage on both smartphone and tablet devices is rapidly increasing. Website success hinges largely upon how well information on the site is recalled and perceived. The purpose of this study is to explore the question of whether or not the differences in display size and resolution of smartphone versus tablet devices affect the recall of website information. I hypothesize that tablets will produce greater website recall than smartphones, due to their larger screen size and higher resolution which may reduce cognitive strain. During the study, participants viewed a sample website for two minutes on either an iPhone or iPad, and then participated in a brief 20 question memory test to evaluate how well they remembered the website information. Although test scores for the iPad users were about one test point higher than test scores for the iPhone users, the difference was not statistically significant. However, the study was limited by the low sample size (n = 94). This indicates that further research may find that tablets indeed allow for increased recall of certain kinds of website content.

This study investigates the relationship between intercultural friendships and attitudes towards intercultural dating—from the perspective of Asian students studying in the United States. Twenty Chinese students completed an online, 19-item questionnaire (Survey Monkey) surveying the cultural diversity of their friendships (age, gender, religion, nationality, and language) and also their attitudes toward dating White U.S. Americans. The data were submitted to statistical tests and the results revealed no significant correlation between success in developing U.S. American friends, diversity of friendship networks, and interest in dating a White U.S. American. These non-significant results may be due to a limitation of the study--the small number of respondents. However additional findings revealed a high percentage of respondents expressed interest in making friends and dating White U.S. Americans. They also identified major challenges involved--language barriers and cultural differences. Finally, future research directions and applications of research findings are presented.

Abstract Although sending mobile phone text messages, or texting as many people call it, is a very common form of communication, it is still a fairly new technology. Because of this, there is not a great deal of research on it. This study seeks to discover how young adults use texting for relational maintenance as well as study equity, closeness, and to discover sex/gender differences. Data was collected through an online survey. Students were offered extra credit for taking this survey, however some students took the survey with no direct benefit to themselves. Scales were created based on the scales of previous research and modified for texting. Results indicated that texting is used for relational maintenance and there was a significant correlation between using maintenance strategies through texting and closeness. In addition, there were significant correlations between the use of maintenance strategies and equity as well as being underbenefited, however, no correlation was found between the use of relational maintenance strategies and overbenefitedness. Finally, results indicated that sex differences were very minor, the only sex difference was that women use positivity more than men. Gender differences accounted for much more differences in that while femininity was partially associated with the use of relational maintenance strategies, there was a much stronger correlation between the strategies and masculinity. Direction for future research is assessed.

In my exploration of the expectations of customer service that people have in regards to their visits at Starbucks retail stores, I will utilize Laswell's Model of Communication and the theory of symbolic interactionism to guide my findings. These overarching ideas provide a foundation for understanding the communication process as a whole, and will therefore allow us to extract meaningful information from regular interactions between Starbucks employees and consumers. Additionally, my goal is for these discoveries to produce insight in regards to critical customer service qualities that other businesses should incorporate into their own customer service programs in order to find success.

Classroom communication is imperative in the creation of a classroom environment that encourages participation and inter-student relationships. Several factors that may influence these variables, such as female-to-male sex ratio, have not been studied in depth. This study examined the impact of class size, female-to-male ratio, and teaching method on individual participation and class interactions. Class size was negatively related to individual verbal participation, classroom connection, classroom animation, and classroom intimacy and positively related to classroom nonimmediacy. Female-to-male sex ratio was positively associated with classroom connection, animation, and intimacy. Class activities were positively related to individual verbal participation, classroom connection, classroom animation, and classroom intimacy and positively related to classroom nonimmediacy. The use of videos in the classroom was positively associated with classroom animation and intimacy while other technologies were not significantly correlated with any variables. These findings suggest that the ideal classroom should have a small number of students and utilize interactive class activities. Furthermore, women should be encouraged to take classes that are traditionally dominated by men and future research should focus on how gender is connected to the variables in this study.

The following study applies research on Implicit Person Theory (IPT) to the context of organizational communication. IPT scholars argue that most individuals ascribe to one of two groups regarding perceptions of ability: entity or incremental theorists. Entity theorists believe abilities are fixed, unchanging, and constant, whereas incremental theorists believe abilities are changeable, malleable, and subject to development. Incremental theories are a predictor of success, while entity theories can stifle development (e.g., Dweck, 2006). This study explores the relationship employees' mindsets have on the organization, including learner empowerment, impression management, organizational dissent, and guilt. The present study reasons that incremental (versus entity) theorists will exhibit higher perception of learner empowerment, lower expression of impression management behaviors, higher expression of organizational dissent, and a lower perception of organizational related guilt. No significant results were found on the directional relationships predicted; however, this study presents implications for future research in the area of IPT and organizational communication.

This dissertation investigated positive intergroup contact and communication in the experiences of fans at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Guided by concepts from Intergroup Contact Theory (ICT), formerly Allport’s (1954) Contact Hypothesis, I asked fans to identify and discuss factors that were relevant to their experiences at the event. These factors are reported in previous literature to foster positive intergroup relations. The fan participants also provided detailed, experience-based rationales for why and how the factors supported each other and created individual models of their experiences of ICT at the Olympics. The study relied on participant-centered, in-depth qualitative interviews using Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) software. Based on an integration of ICT, communication theories, social capital concepts, and calls from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and mega-sporting event industry, the dissertation sought to answer four research questions. It started with a broad approach to the array of previous scholars’ ICT factors in order to identify what factors were present and relevant in fans’ experiences. It also sought to understand why and how the factors worked together by analyzing the ways factors related to and supported each other in Olympic fans’ experiences and producing a composite meta-structure of the factors’ relationships. Additionally, through thematic analysis, the research explored where and when in fans’ experiences the factors emerged and were active. Finally, the study identified the functions that each ICT factor served in fostering positive intergroup contact and communication and offered suggestions for practitioners and organizers of intergroup contexts. The study aimed to make theoretical contributions by addressing gaps and calls in ICT literature, as well as practical contributions by providing insight about how to organize intergroup contexts to foster positive contact and communication. In addition to addressing its research questions, the study provided a comprehensive list of previous scholars’ ICT factors, a preliminary, tentative model of ICT for ideal intergroup contexts adapted from Pettigrew’s (1998) model of group membership transformation for problematic contexts, and promising future directions given the unique, ideal, and unexplored features of the Olympics.

This study aims to deepen the understanding of how Third Culture Kids (TCKs) receive and maintain long-term perceptions of positive identity. The literature review surveys bodies of research related to Third Culture Kids, intercultural communication conceptions of identity, and communication strategies of identity management. The research framework is a response to Martin and Nakayama’s (2010) call for a dialectical approach to the study of intercultural communication, and reflects an interpretive/critical/activist dialectic paradigm.

This qualitative multi-method research project gathered survey, interview, and visual data through online platforms. Participants were TCKs over age 40 who self-selected as having a positive identity. A modified grounded analysis revealed several key findings connected to agency development, choice making, communication filters, and framing of positivity. Factors contributing to characteristics of a positive identity included sending organization, total number and frequency of moves, and degrees of difference among their cultural contexts.