2018 SCOM Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.

This project uses the Narrative Paradigm presented by Walter Fisher in order to analyze Jon Stewart’s monologue after 9/11 and understand its effects on his audience. I look deeply at the surrounding context, especially the late night response to 9/11 and the expectations for Stewart’s return. Narrative Criticism allows us to better understand Stewart’s perspective on the events of 9/11. The story he presents is clear in its theme of hope. This method allows for a deep appreciation of how Stewart identifies with his audience, while separating his own voice from the crowd. I argue that he acts as a community leader for his audience as he presents a hopeful narrative that remains honest. His response remains free from controversy and I argue that this works in his favor in order to secure loyalty from his audience as he promises a return to political comedy in the future.

The scope of my project is to change the conversation on pro-recycling advocacy. What this means is that I want to change the approaches that are currently being used to promote recycling. The current approaches are good, however, I feel that there is a misconception on the importance of recycling. There is a disconnect with society and recycling because once individuals get rid of their waste they never have to see it again, but is not the case for the environment. My hopes for this portfolio are to give an advocates approach that could hopefully implement new recycling trends in the future. (Project in Progress Spring 2018)

This project involves an in-depth analysis of how the United Airlines Express Flight 3411 affected customer’s attitudes, intent to fly, and supportive communication intent of the Airline Company, United, among a sample population. The goal is to demonstrate whether or not the incident on flight 3411 affected the JMU student body as a whole and whether or not they would still fly with United Airlines.

This paper discovers the ways in which the relationship one holds with a primary caregiver will ultimately impact the romantic relationships that are held later in life based on attachment theory and attachment styles.

This paper uses Kenneth Burke’s pentadic criticism to examine the reality Fed Up, a documentary about obesity in the United States, wants its audience to accept about the obesity epidemic and why. The first half of the documentary frames the obesity epidemic as scene-act in order to change the audience’s reality of the issue because the obesity epidemic has been framed in society as agent-act, portraying obesity as the individual’s fault. The second half shifts to an agent-scene ratio to answer why Fed Up attempts to change the audience’s reality. The implications of the pentadic ratios and shift are discussed in relation to creating new advocacy surrounding the obesity epidemic.

This presentation seeks to further understand the current alcohol consumption habits of college students. Specifically, this study uses social norms to ascertain the influence they may have on college students’ actual alcohol consumption. Through the use of the theory of social normative behavior, this study compares students’ perceptions of how much alcohol their peers consume to how much they actually consume. By analyzing alcohol consumption levels and some of the reasonings students may have for their consumption, this study indicates the ways in which perception may be attributed to the need for higher alcohol consumption.

Exploring the use of virtual reality therapy as a method of desensitization and inoculation for student's with public speaking anxiety.

Poetic inquiry is the process by which the author unearths key words from the data and strategically truncates these words into poetic structures.The following poems utilize this process in order to articulate the findings of a two-year qualitative study investigating the minority experience at a predominantly white institution (PWI).This qualitative study employed eight semi-structured interviews and was conducted at a mid-sized, public University in the Chesapeake region of the United States. All participants identified as a racial minority on the predominantly white campus and their varied experiences represent the heterogeneity of the minority experience on campus.

Keywords: minorities, predominantly white institutions, campus environment, poetic inquiry

This presentation presents a comprehensive statistical analysis of self-disclosure in college students usage of online dating applications. The study compares differences between men and women as well as age and breadth and depth of self-disclosure.