Browsing by Subject "Topic avoidance"
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Item Talking politics : political opinion expression and avoidance across conservative, liberal, and heterogeneous groups(2016-05) Peacock, Cynthia Clemons; Stroud, Natalie Jomini; Jarvis, Sharon E; Dailey, Rene; Donovan, Erin; McCombs, MaxwellDiscussion among the public about politics and public affairs is a hallmark of deliberative democracy. Specifically, sharing information, expressing opinions, and learning about the perspectives of others defines a deliberative system. People oftentimes find expressing their political opinions difficult, unpleasant, and even threatening. Yet when people refrain from expressing their ideas and opinions, those points of view remain absent from the public sphere. The implications of avoiding the expression of political opinions are considered detrimental by those who think that society is better when people communicate their positions and understand the perspectives of others. This dissertation centers on the occurrence—and avoidance—of political opinion expression, or the act of openly stating one’s political opinion. I employed quantitative, thematic, and content analyses to investigate data from The Electronic Dialogue Project in Campaign 2000 (ED2K) and an original survey, to explore how often and in what contexts people avoid expressing their opinions during political conversations, the ways in which diverse opinions and opinion expression avoidance take place in conservative, liberal, and heterogeneous networks, the motivations for avoiding the expression of political opinions, and the strategies employed in avoidance. Among other findings, I provide evidence that challenges some commonly held assumptions about political talk. Results indicate that even within one conversation, people both expressed and avoided expressing their opinions about politics. Within political discussions overall, whether discussion members were in disagreement with one another did not influence their likelihood of directly expressing their opinions. Ideologically heterogeneous groups did not emerge as bastions of diverse opinions. Finally, I used a thematic analysis and drew from interpersonal communication, mass communication, political science, and social psychology, to uncover the motivations and strategies involved in people’s decisions to avoid expressing political opinions. Political talk is perhaps the most accessible form of political engagement and helps people to understand themselves, each other, and the world around us. This dissertation examined the occurrence of and contexts surrounding political opinion expression and avoidance, and the existence of disagreement and diversity in political discussions.Item Topic avoidance as a multiplex phenomenon among individuals transitioning from dating to cohabitation(2023-07-18) Krawietz, Colton Ellis; Vangelisti, Anita L.; Dailey, Rene; Donovan, Erin; Whittaker, TiffanyThe cohabitation effect denotes that people who cohabit with their romantic partner before marriage are at greater risk for relational discord than those who do not. One explanation suggests that communicating about the relationship during the transition from dating to cohabitation with a romantic partner can influence individuals’ relationship quality. Specifically, people who communicate about the relationship, labeled as deciders, are less likely to experience relationship concerns than those who do not, known as sliders. However, little inquiry has acknowledged that deciders and sliders can be topically avoidant during the transition. This dissertation was conducted for several purposes: (a) to investigate the extent to which sliders and deciders are prone to avoiding topics; (b) to explore the degree to which topic avoidance during the transition is related to cohabitors’ relationship quality; and (c) to test whether a complex perspective on topic avoidance that includes topics, reasons, and strategies is related to cohabitors’ relationship quality. The dissertation analyzed data collected from 519 individuals who have transitioned from dating to cohabitation via CloudResearch. The dissertation found that during the transition: (a) cohabitors report lower relationship quality when they avoid topics concerning their current relationship; (b) cohabitors are primarily motivated to avoid topics for relationship and self protection as well as avoiding conflict, though each is associated with relationship quality differently; (c) certain strategies for topic avoidance are inversely associated with cohabitors’ relationship quality; and (d) a holistic approach to topic avoidance is associated with cohabitors’ relationship quality in unique ways. As a result, these findings were discussed more broadly in topic avoidance research, stay-and-leave literature, and inertia theory.Item What precludes the chilling effect? the role of power dynamics in mitigating complaints and conflict(2022-06-30) Brass, Chelsea Elizabeth; Dailey, René M.; Donovan, Erin; McGlone, Matthew; Roloff, MichaelThis study included respondents who are in romantic relationships. The purpose of this study was to extend an important line of research on the chilling effect, a type of conflict avoidance, by attempting to identify a missing chilling effect in the form of a lack of irritations. This study assessed how dependence power and punitive power relates to complaints, conflict, the chilling effect, and a missing chilling effect. An additional goal was to demonstrate the possibility that there may be individual-level factors may play a role so moderating variables were included of optimism, self-control, and communal orientation. Key findings indicated punitive power playing a large role, but punitive power played a role in predicting outcomes when in interaction with the other variables. The interaction of dependence power, punitive power and communal strength resulted in the greatest chilling effect. The interaction of the two forms of power associated with less self-control resulted in greatest missing chilling effect. Findings indicate the importance of individual-level factors when studying this type of relationship phenomena.