Communicant Activeness, Cognitive Entrepreneurship, and A Situational Theory of Problem Solving

This dissertation presents a situational theory of problem solving that highlights distinctive communicative and cognitive features in human problem solving. Its purpose is to provide a simple and useful, but not atheoretical, account of communication behavior and the cognitive approaches that we adopt during problematic situations. In the conceptualization, I introduce a new concept, communicant activeness in problem solving (CAPS), which has three domains in communicant activeness to explain not only when people voluntarily learn and share information but also how they choose certain information as more relevant than other information. The three domains are information selection (information forefending and information permitting), information transmission (information forwarding and information sharing), and information acquisition (information seeking and information processing). I then use the focal construct, communicant activeness in problem solving, as a dependent variable in the new situational theory of problem solving. I also propose another new concept, cognitive entrepreneurship in problem solving (CEPS). It describes cognitive strategies that we take to reason about a solution in some problematic situations. Depending on the situation, we adopt a more or less entrepreneurial mindset. This construct contains four distinct but correlated dimensions: cognitive retrogression, cognitive multilateralism, cognitive commitment, and cognitive suspension. For conceptual convenience, I named the more entrepreneurial approach the cognitive alpha strategy and the less entrepreneurial approach the cognitive omega strategy. The construct of cognitive entrepreneurship becomes another dependent variable to be accounted for by the independent variables in the situational theory. To explain the cognitive and communicative dependent variables in problem solving, I use four situational antecedent conditions from the situational theory of publics: problem recognition, constraint recognition, level of involvement, and referent criterion (J. Grunig, 1968, 1997). I refine these antecedent concepts to accommodate several conceptual issues found from the past research of the situational theory of publics (e.g., the multicollinearity issue among independent variables). I also introduce the concept of situational motivation in problem solving that explains motivational effects on subsequent cognitive approaches and communicative behaviors. These revised situational antecedent variables jointly explain 1) how and why people communicate and 2) how people use unique cognitive strategies when they approach problem resolution. I called this emerging theory the situational theory of problem solving (STOPS). This dissertation elaborates 1) a conceptual model of communicant activeness in problem solving; 2) another conceptual model of cognitive entrepreneurship in problem solving; 3) a situational and motivational account for when, why, and how people communicate and are cognitively unique in a problematic situation. It then empirically tests a set of hypotheses and propositions that pertain to new concepts and the situational theory of problem solving. This dissertation advances conceptual understanding about how communication behavior and cognitive approaches affect our problem-solving efforts (descriptive theory building). It also contributes to finding a way to improve our adaptability in dealing with life problems (normative theory building). The new concepts and theory, CAPS, CEPS, and STOPS, offer some solutions for theoretical and practical problems in communication and several communication subfields

Depolarized Holography with Polarization-multiplexing Metasurface

The evolution of computer-generated holography (CGH) algorithms has prompted significant improvements in the performances of holographic displays. Nonetheless, they start to encounter a limited degree of freedom in CGH optimization and physical constraints stemming from the coherent nature of holograms. To surpass the physical limitations, we consider polarization as a new degree of freedom by utilizing a novel optical platform called metasurface. Polarization-multiplexing metasurfaces enable incoherent-like behavior in holographic displays due to the mutual incoherence of orthogonal polarization states. We leverage this unique characteristic of a metasurface by integrating it into a holographic display and exploiting polarization diversity to bring an additional degree of freedom for CGH algorithms. To minimize the speckle noise while maximizing the image quality, we devise a fully differentiable optimization pipeline by taking into account the metasurface proxy model, thereby jointly optimizing spatial light modulator phase patterns and geometric parameters of metasurface nanostructures. We evaluate the metasurface-enabled depolarized holography through simulations and experiments, demonstrating its ability to reduce speckle noise and enhance image quality.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, to be published in SIGGRAPH Asia 202

An Oscillatory Path to Vaccination: The Roles of Normative and Epistemic Factors in Explaining Vaccination Hesitancy in COVID-19.

This study examined the roles of normative and epistemic factors in influencing individuals\u27 reluctance to be vaccinated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Individuals\u27 ethical orientations (IEO; teleology vs. deontology) were introduced as normative characteristics, while COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy beliefs and vaccine knowledge were addressed as issue-specific epistemic factors. We conducted two online surveys to investigate each of these three factors\u27 influences on the level of Americans\u27 reluctance to receive COVID-19 vaccines. Combinations of these factors that predict COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy levels were also explored to provide integrated perspectives in the specific vaccination context. Our findings demonstrated the positive association between IEO and reluctance to receive COVID-19 vaccines. Significant interactions between 1) COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy beliefs and IEO and 2) conspiracy beliefs and vaccine knowledge were also identified. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for future study were addressed

All-American high school basketball star to attend University of Montana next fall

Voluntary citizen attention and actions are key to successful public-sector communication. We investigated the conditions which increase such attention and actions using the situational theory of problem solving (STOPS) and government-citizen relationships (GCRs). Using three national issues consisting of an environmental issue, a social issue, and a political issue from South Korea (N=275), this study examined three hypotheses regarding public engagement effect (the effect of GCRs on political conversations on national issues), government empowerment effect (the effects of GCRs and issue-specific trust toward government on constraint recognition), and public serenity effect (the effect of issue-specific trust on problem recognition and involvement recognition). We found significant public engagement and government empowerment effects and partially significant public serenity effect. The results of the public serenity investigation found that issue-specific trust toward government was significant with problem recognition but insignificant with involvement recognition. Consequently, the findings illustrate strategic values in government-citizen relationships on public engagement, empowerment, and serenity to enable participatory democracy