Jacob Turner

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Alejandro Gallardo-Cano

Universidad Pedagógica Nacional, México

Pankaj Dwivedi

Ministry Of Education

Clay Warren

The George Washington University

Derek Bolen

Grand Rapids Community College

Sandra Pensoneau-Conway

Southern Illinois University

Susan Gerofsky

UBC

Janet Gaffney

The University of Auckland

Carlee Arnett

University of California, Davis

Dragos Simandan

Brock University

Luke LeFebvre

University of Kentucky

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Papers by Jacob Turner

The Evolving Communicative Value of Popular Music: Music Is Interpersonal Communication in the Age of Digital Media

Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media

White Men Holding on for Dear Life and Taking It: A Content Analysis of the Gender and Race of the Victims and Killers in The Walking Dead

Sex Roles

The present content analysis of the first seven seasons of AMC’s hit zombie thriller, The Walking... more The present content analysis of the first seven seasons of AMC’s hit zombie thriller, The Walking Dead, revealed that of the 122 characters who were killed, most were White (78.7%) and male (75.4%), and the 87 characters who did the killings were also mostly White (82.6%) and male (60.9%). The show’s creators, then, have envisioned a post-apocalyptic society that is (mostly) White men killing off (mostly) White men in a sort of White male survivalist fantasy. Current results also revealed that of the female characters who met their death, 33% were lead characters, whereas only 16% of the male character deaths were leads. So although women die at comparable rates to the men on the show generally and are granted some agency by carrying out many of the killings, the show’s propensity to kill off major female characters with more dispatch than lead men ultimately reveals the women’s vulnerability when compared to the patriarchal survivors and leaders on the show. Social cognitive theory is used to speculate about the possible effects the popular cable TV program might have on audience members in the United States and worldwide.

A Longitudinal Content Analysis of Gender and Ethnicity Portrayals on ESPN’s SportsCenter From 1999 to 2009

Communication & Sport

This longitudinal content analysis of ESPN’s SportsCenter from 1999 to 2009 found that women’s sp... more This longitudinal content analysis of ESPN’s SportsCenter from 1999 to 2009 found that women’s sports continue to be almost wholly absent from the influential program. Women were also no more likely to be depicted as show hosts, reporters, or coaches in 2009 than 1999. Furthermore, coverage of women’s sports was noteworthy for a lack of journalistic depth when compared to men’s sports. This study also looked at coverage of athletes of color. Results revealed increasing evidence of the hypervisible Black male athlete in the relative absence of African Americans and other ethnic minorities in positions of power (from SportsCenter hosts to head coaches) across the two seasons. These results, when taken together, point to the perpetuation of normative hegemonic White masculinity in mediated sports.

An investigation of the relationships among socially interactive technologies, communication competence, social cognition, and formal written discourse

Melissa Spirek, Ph.D., Advisor The current research project called upon a two-study design to exa... more Melissa Spirek, Ph.D., Advisor The current research project called upon a two-study design to examine college students’ use of socially interactive technologies (instant messaging programs, online social networking websites, blogs, and text messaging applications on cell phones). The first study was implemented to examine the frequency and form of college students’ use of socially interactive technologies. The second study investigated whether the informal interactive written discourse typical of socially interactive technologies is permeating college students’ more formal writing. Using this two-study design, college students’ responses from a media use questionnaire were collected for Study I and examined in tandem with results from a quantitative content analysis of two formal messages written by students during an experimental computer laboratory session for Study II. The current investigation was couched in a framework based on the communication competence and social cognition literatures. These disparate fields were called upon together within an ecological schema provided by the theory of affordances to focus on the ways internal and external factors might contribute to communication outcomes in formal writing situations. The first study’s results revealed that socially interactive technologies are generally popular among the college students in the current sample. Results from Study I also revealed that among the students in this sample, college grade point average and levels of need for cognition were negatively related to the frequency with which students use certain interactive media. The second study’s results revealed that frequent use of socially interactive technologies in general, and certain formats in particular (text messaging and instant messaging), was consistently associated with the use of particularly informal written communication techniques. Specifically, iii problems with formatting as well as the inclusion of a nonstandard orthography and grammatical mistakes were all significantly related to frequent use of socially interactive technologies among the students in the current sample. Study II also revealed that multitasking on the computer while writing the two formal messages was significantly related to problems with formatting as well as the inclusion of grammatical mistakes in the two formal documents. The consistent relationships among socially interactive technology use and decreased communication competence in two formal writing situations suggest that further concerted attention from communication researchers regarding the possible relationships between socially interactive technology use and formal written discourse is warranted.

Assessing the factorial complexity of the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale

ABSTRACT

A cross-cultural analysis of argumentativeness among self-identified Christians in France and Britain

This study analyzes the differences in argumentativeness between France and Britain. A total of 5... more This study analyzes the differences in argumentativeness between France and Britain. A total of 521 individuals in France (n = 244) and Britain (n = 277) participated in this study. Results indicate British Christians had a lower level of argumentativeness than French Christians. Religiosity was a nonsignificant predictor of total argumentativeness in France. However, in Britain, religiosity significantly predicted 37% of total argumentativeness.

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Negotiating a Media Effects Model: Addendums and Adjustments to Perloff’s Framework for Social Media’s Impact on Body Image Concerns

Sex Roles, 2014

This paper is written in response to Perloff’s article for the Feminist Forum that proposes an ag... more This paper is written in response to Perloff’s article for the Feminist Forum that proposes an agenda and a related model to guide future research conducted in the area of social media effects on young women’s body image concerns, especially as they occur in the United States. The current paper offers suggestions and considerations for ways to renegotiate and reconfigure Perloff’s agenda and model. Specifically, this paper argues for a model that makes space for both deleterious and salutary effects, not only the former, as a means to create a model that is malleable enough to provide heuristic value for future empirical research in this area. The current paper includes a United States-focused review of the recent research about online social support groups (OSGs) and internet-based health interventions that include social media applications and suggests that these media and their related effects be included in the proposed model moving forward. The current paper also contends that more concerted and prominent attention to the form, function, attributes and/or affordances of social media is needed in the proposed agenda and related model. The theory of affordances offers a comprehensive way to address the complexity of how social media is used and the related outcomes they bring about for a particular group of people (i.e., young women with body image concerns) and is therefore also suggested as an addition to the proposed model. Other related augmentations, addendums and revisions are suggested near the end of the current paper.

Sex and the Spectacle of Music Videos: An Examination of the Portrayal of Race and Sexuality in Music Videos

Sex Roles, 2011

This content analysis used two studies to examine sexual behaviors and sex role portrayals in mus... more This content analysis used two studies to examine sexual behaviors and sex role portrayals in music videos televised in the United States. The first study included 120 videos recorded from MTV, MTV2, VH-1, BET, and CMT and revealed African American videos were significantly more likely to portray sexual content and female characters in provocative clothing than White videos. The second study analyzed 20 videos from BET's late-night program, Un:Cut. Results revealed Un:Cut videos depicted seven times as many sexual acts and featured significantly more discouraged sexual behaviors than videos from the five major music video channels. Findings from these studies clarify that race is an important factor when gender roles and sexual content are examined in music videos.

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The Influence of Religiosity and Ethnic Identification on Media Use Among Muslims and Non-Muslims in France and Britain

Mass Communication and Society, 2010

Stephen M. Croucher (Ph.D., University of Oklahoma, 2006) is Assistant Professor in the School of... more

An examination of the relationships among United States college students' media use habits, need for cognition, and grade point average

Learning, Media and Technology, 2014

ABSTRACT The current study uses survey methods to understand how US college students&#39; use... more ABSTRACT The current study uses survey methods to understand how US college students&#39; use of various types of social media, such as social networking websites and text messaging on smart phones, as well as consumption of traditional media, such as watching television and reading books for pleasure, is (or is not) related to intellectual cognitive processing and performance in school. The current results, which were based on a number of multiple regression analyses, revealed college students’ use of traditional media appears to be a significant and viable predictor of both college students’ grade point averages (GPAs) and their levels of need for cognition (NFC). On the other hand, college students’ use of socially interactive technologies appears to be wholly unrelated to college students’ GPAs and their levels of NFC. Implications of these findings, both in terms of the relationships among social and traditional media use and success at school as well as relationships among shifts in young people&#39;s media use habits and possible related shifts in their levels of cognitive processing, are explored.

This Is SportsCenter: A Longitudinal Content Analysis of espn ’s Signature Television Sports-News Program from 1999 and 2009

Journal of Sports Media, 2014

This longitudinal quantitative content analysis of SportsCenter examines how the program has chan... more This longitudinal quantitative content analysis of SportsCenter examines how the program has changed in recent years. The study compares three weeks of SportsCenter from 1999 to three weeks from 2009. The study’s results, which are understood against the theoretical backdrop of agenda setting, reveal that the way sports news is covered on SportsCenter has changed dramatically over this 10-year-period as has the frequency with which espn includes product placements and corporate synergistic messages.

A Comparative Analysis Between Muslim and Non-Muslim Self-Construals and Conflict Styles in France and Britain

This study is a cross-cultural investigation of the conflict styles and self-construals of Muslim... more

A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Argumentativeness Among Christians in France and Britain

Speaker and Gavel, 2010

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Bringing theory to research on computer-mediated comforting communication

Computers in human behavior, Mar 31, 2007

The current paper sought to advance the literature on computer-mediated emotional support by outl... more The current paper sought to advance the literature on computer-mediated emotional support by outlining a candidate theory of online comforting communication. We present a model that explicates the discursive, cognitive, and affective processes that function to reduce emotional distress and help improve one's psychosocial well-being. We identify unique attributes of online social interaction, as compared to face-to-face (FtF) interaction, that may be especially useful for facilitating empathic and adaptive comforting communication. ...

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The Evolving Communicative Value of Popular Music: Music Is Interpersonal Communication in the Age of Digital Media

Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media