Exploring Gendered Nonverbal Behavior in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Debates

The purpose of our paper is to explore the gendered double-bind in political communication. Research by argumentation scholars and others point to a double standard in media portrayals of nonverbal behavior by male and female politicians. Our analysis will rely on primarily strategic maneuvering to examine closely the ways in which gender stereotypes were enacted by U.S. Presidential candidates during televised debates in 2016

“Are You a Good Witch or a Bad Witch?”: An Exercise in Suspending Judgment when Interacting with “Difficult” People

Courses: Interpersonal Communication, Health Communication Objectives: In this single-class activity, students gain awareness and practice in suspending judgments about “difficult” people in order to understand the reasoning behind certain objectionable behavior

Background Nonverbal Disagreement during Televised Political Debates: A Strategic Maneuvering Approach

Since the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon presidential debates, interest in the impact of televised debates on political campaigns has grown steadily among scholars of argumentation and rhetorical communication. In addition to communicating policy positions of a candidate, televised debates provide the voting public one of the few opportunities to build or solidify impressions of candidates based on a (at least semi-) spontaneous social performance in which candidates meet face-to-face to discuss their differences. The strategies candidates use to communicate their policies and their desired image during a debate can influence the direction of public opinion toward them. We claim in this essay that arguments candidates make nonverbally in televised debates are significant in creating and sustaining their image as presidential candidates

Make No Apologies: Fear of Negative Evaluation, Depressive Symptoms, and the Mediating Role of Accounting for COVID-Safe Behavior Amongst People at High-Risk for Severe Illness

With the goal of understanding unique and important threats to the mental health of people who are especially vulnerable to severe illness as a result of COVID-19, this study investigated associations between such individuals\u27 fear of negative evaluation, tendency to account for practicing COVID-safe behaviors, and depressive symptoms. Grounded in perspectives on self-presentation, normative influence, and cognitive dissonance, we hypothesized that fear of negative evaluation would relate positively to accounting for COVID-safe behaviors, which, in turn, would associate positively with increased depressive symptoms. The results showed that increased fear of negative evaluation predicted an increased use of apologies and excuses, which in turn were positively related to depressive symptoms. Justifications for COVID-safe behaviors were not significantly associated with either fear of evaluation or depressive symptoms. The practical and theoretical implications are discussed

CD34(+) Therapy-Related Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia in a Patient Previously Treated for Breast Cancer

Therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a long term complication of chemotherapy for a variety of cancers. In most cases, the marrow demonstrates high risk cytogenetics and the prognosis is poor. In a minority of patients good risk cytogenetics, including t(15;17)(q22;q12), are seen and the patient\u27s prognosis is similar to those who have de novo disease. Currently we present a patient who developed therapy-related acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) after chemoradiotherapy for breast cancer. This case was especially atypical because the leukemic cells were CD34(+), which is an unusual immunophenotype for APL. Recognition that this patient had APL, rather than the more common therapy-related MDS or AML, was imperative to initiate chemotherapy in a timely manner

Impression Management in Televised Debates: The Effect of Background Nonverbal Behavior on Audience Perceptions of Debaters' Likeability

This study examined whether a debater's background nonverbal behavior affected audience perceptions of her and her opponent's likeability. Students watched one of four versions of a televised debate. In each, while the speaking debater appeared on the main screen, subscreens displayed her opponent's background nonverbal behavior. In one version, the nonspeaking debater displayed a neutral expression, whereas in the others she displayed occasional disagreement, nearly constant disagreement, or both agreement and disagreement. After viewing the debates, students rated the debaters' likeability. Analysis indicated that background behavior influenced perceptions of the nonverbal communicator but not of the speaking debater

Treatment with an Anti-CD44v10-Specific Antibody Inhibits the Onset of Alopecia Areata in C3H/HeJ Mice

A murine CD44v10-neutralizing antibody has been reported to impair delayed-type hypersensitivity reactions. Because alopecia areata is characterized by a delayed-type hypersensitivity-like T cell mediated immune response, we addressed the question whether an anti-CD44v10-antibody influences the onset of alopecia areata. Therefore, we used the C3H/HeJ mouse model with the induction of alopecia areata in unaffected mice by the grafting of lesional alopecia areata mouse skin. Six grafted mice were injected (intraperitoneally) with anti-CD44v10, six grafted mice with anti-CD44standard, and six with phosphate-buffered saline only. After 11 wk phosphate-buffered saline injected animals on average had developed alopecia areata on 36.8% of their body. The onset of hair loss was slightly delayed and its extent reduced to 17.2% of their body in anti-CD44standard-treated mice. By contrast, five of six anti-CD44v10-treated mice did not show any hair loss and one mouse developed alopecia areata on only 1% of the body. Immunohistochemical examination revealed a marked reduction of perifollicular CD8+ lymphocytes and, to a lesser degree, CD4+ cells as well as a decreased expression of major histocompatibility complex class I on hair follicle epithelium in anti-CD44v10-treated mice as compared with phosphate-buffered saline or anti-CD44 standard-treated mice. Our data show that anti-CD44v10 is able to inhibit the onset of alopecia areata in C3H/HeJ mice. This might be accomplished by an anti-CD44v10-triggered impairment of immune cell homing (e.g., CD8+ T cells), resulting in a decrease of their number in target tissues

Pleasure and meaningful discourse: an overview of research issues

The concept of pleasure has emerged as a multi-faceted social and cultural phenomenon in studies of media audiences since the 1980s. In these studies different forms of pleasure have been identified as explaining audience activity and commitment. In the diverse studies pleasure has emerged as a multi-faceted social and cultural concept that needs to be contextualized carefully. Genre and genre variations, class, gender, (sub-)cultural identity and generation all seem to be instrumental in determining the kind and variety of pleasures experienced in the act of viewing. This body of research has undoubtedly contributed to a better understanding of the complexity of audience activities, but it is exactly the diversity of the concept that is puzzling and poses a challenge to its further use. If pleasure is maintained as a key concept in audience analysis that holds much explanatory power, it needs a stronger theoretical foundation. The article maps the ways in which the concept of pleasure has been used by cultural theorists, who have paved the way for its application in reception analysis, and it goes on to explore the ways in which the concept has been used in empirical studies. Central to our discussion is the division between the ‘public knowledge’ and the ‘popular culture’ projects in reception analysis which, we argue, have major implications for the way in which pleasure has come to be understood as divorced from politics, power and ideology. Finally, we suggest ways of bridging the gap between these two projects in an effort to link pleasure to the concepts of hegemony and ideology

In the Living Room: Second Screens and TV Audiences

© The Author(s) 2015. This article is based on a small pilot project exploring the role, function, and meanings of second screens and companion apps for TV audiences that is contextualized by existing academic audience research. This is mapped alongside industry research and academic debate about second screens. The results illustrate some disjunction between industry expectations of usage and viewers' everyday experiences. I argue that industries' tendency to conflate "viewer" with "fan" indicates a less than nuanced understanding of the television/companion app audience. Further, the lean forward/lean back binary applied to digital media users and television audiences respectively points to a problematic not addressed in much industry literature, while the respondents for this research indicate a complex interplay between the pleasures of viewing that incorporates the social and the personal with the second screen and the TV text