Students from CMU, other colleges present communication research
Students from Central Michigan University and other state institutions presented cesearch on communication topics at the Michigan Undergraduate and Graduate Communication Conference on Feb. 23 in Moore Hall.
Stephanie Thrush, a junior at CMU, presented a topic very personal to her: “Communication and Schizophrenia.” Throughout the presentation, Thrush incorporated her experience as the daughter of a schizophrenic woman.
A major key to helping schizophrenic people is seeking information to understand the condition, which can lead to empathy, Thrush said.
“There is a very negative stigma about people with schizophrenia,” Thrush said. “Before I understood the condition, I actually said a lot of (hurtful) things about my mom.”
Speaking respectfully to people with schizophrenia helps their communication skills improve, Thrush said.
“(There is a) cycle of their symptoms leading to them being socially excluded," Thrush said. "But when a person with schizophrenia is isolated and excluded, it makes their symptoms worse.”
Junior Abigail Read presented on miscommunication between people with feminine and masculine speech styles.
Read shared an example of a husband frustrated with his wife for not offering solutions when he vents and the wife frustrated with her husband for offering solutions for her problems without offering empathy.
Read gave advice about avoiding such miscommunication.
“Be knowledgeable,” Read said. “If you’re not knowledgeable (about masculine and feminine styles), clashing will undoubtedly occur.
“Make the adjustment. If you’re a masculine communicator, shut off the advice portion of your brain and start listening and understanding. The most important thing is to be able to acknowledge other (communication) styles and change how you communicate for them."
Laura Salas, a student at Monmouth College in Illinois, analyzed Audi’s Superbowl advertisement “Daughter” according to two communication theories: Grunig and Hunt's Four Models of Public Relations and the Elaboration Likelihood Model.
Salas found that the Elaboration Likelihood Model accurately explained the public’s reaction to the advertisement.
According to the Elaboration Likelihood Model, there are two ways to persuade a person: the central route, which is persuasion through critical thinking, and the peripheral route, which is persuasion through emotional cues.
Some people were immediately persuaded to support the company by the advertisement’s emotional feminist message. These individuals were persuaded by the peripheral (emotional) route, Salas said.
On the other hand, some members of the public who dug deeper discovered that the company’s leadership was almost entirely male—their decision to not support the company was an example of using the central (logical) route, Salas said.
