Argues that the human brain is not specialized to deal with 20th-century media. Measures effects of image size and motion on college students' emotional responses. Finds that image size positively affects the arousal and dominates dimensions of emotional responses, but has no significant effect on valance evaluations. Finds that still pictures…

Argues that the construction of a performance script permits the modification of the original text in order to render that original theatrically communicative in the present. Notes that the dominant concerns of script modification are in how to negotiate audience expectations. Describes three types of textual deviation: nonverbal alteration;…

Explores the successes and failures of the author's "Searching for Osun," a performance ethnography which charted a subjective and selective meditation on Nigeria. Explains important concepts of performance ethnography, such as: an idea of question which constitutes the context; the accountability of the ethnographer; subjectivity;…

Attempts to elaborate the cultivation hypothesis by examining some proposed subprocesses, especially learning and construction with first- and second-order measures. Examines the relationship between first- and second-order measures. Argues that cultivation theory needs to be extended. (SR)

Considers how race, gender, and fandom (appreciation and enjoyment of a popular culture star) of older adolescent audiences affect how they interpret two of Madonna's music videos. Finds that viewers differed dramatically in how they interpreted the videos and did not agree about even the most fundamental story elements. (RS)

Defines televisual experience as a complex ensemble of bodily practices. Describes three thematic categories which include the experience of the captive phenomenal body and the escape from the cognitive body, both of which combine to produce the discovery of a body-in-difference. (KEH)

Examines the agenda-setting impacts of electronic text news (ETN) and reactions to ETN as a news medium. Finds that electronic news viewers have nearly the same agenda as do users of traditional media. (MM)

Examines the electronic polling process (telephone polling that uses synthesized or digitized voice). Compares the process with two similar telephone polls and provides a basic cost efficiency comparison between the polls. Finds that digitized systems place more calls but get lower response rates than regular phone surveys. (MM)

Argues that social studies teachers should help improve effective speaking through promoting students' awareness of audience throughout the school year. Presents class activities to promote growth in this skill. (SR)

Examines the performance of texts ("trigger scripting") as a method of modifying sexual attitudes and assertiveness in a dating context in order to prevent date rape or unwanted sexual aggression. Suggests that live performance alone and live performance plus discussion cam modify sexual attitudes and increase awareness of the issues.…

Focuses on three widely publicized sermons given by the Reverend Jedidiah Morse to examine the role of the jeremiad (or political sermon) in shaping public attitudes toward political dissent during the Franco-American Crisis of 1798-1799. (MM)

Investigates similarities in how people respond to mediated presentations and nonmediated experience in the realm of social interaction. Finds that viewing distance manipulation failed to support predictions and watching larger television screens led to more positive emotional responses, in which subjects selected a viewing position that…

Tests the proposition that message structure (cuts) affects attention to television differently, depending on whether the cuts link related or unrelated content. Finds cuts in unrelated sequences require more attention than cuts in related sequences. (NH)

Discusses research evidence concerning the persuasive effects of three variations in the articulation of an advocate's supporting argumentation. Finds that greater explicitness in identification of the sources of information and in the completeness of an argument significantly enhance persuasive effectiveness and perceived credibility; greater…

Describes and compares three models used in planning interpretive environmental experiences: an intuitive program-planning model; an interactive communications model; and Cherem's model, in which the audience directly influences program goals and techniques. Cherem's model includes managerial realities, but doesn't recognize the social aspect of…