Colin's Digital Research Blog

I found an excerpt from 'Very Well Mind' that perfectly summarizes Situation Leadership Theory:  The situational theory of leadership suggests that no single leadership style is best. Instead, it depends on which type of leadership and strategies are best-suited to the task. According to this theory, the most effective leaders are those that are able to adapt their style to the situation and look at cues such as the type of task, the nature of the group, and other factors that might contribute to getting the job done. They continue to talk about how there are various leadership styles and different levels of maturity that best suit the scenario, which is why leaders should be open to adapting to situations in order to follow both the needs of their subordinates and goals.  https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-situational-theory-of-leadership-2795321

Risk Compensation/Risk Homeostasis Theory is According to Campbell Institute "people tend to take more risks when they feel a greater sense of security. In other words, individuals adjust their level of risk-taking behavior depending on the safety measures that are in place (Wilde, 1994)." I find this theory very interesting because it can easily be applied to the Netflix series Squid Games, where hundreds of people willingly fight fight for the death for a chance to become a billionaire. Even though it's a fictional show, it perfectly fits the framework of this theory's risk-reward parameters.  Risk Compensation is a subsidiary of Risk Perception Theory- which simply means the study of one's ability to accept or discern a risk. https://www.thecampbellinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Campbell-Institute-Risk-Perception-WP.pdf

The Community of Inquiry stood out to me in my research as it relates closely to online learning, which we are doing currently. This framework is used to represent an effective process where you can have an efficient learning experience using three important elements; social, cognitive, and a teaching presence. Teaching presence- is important for direct instructions and organization  Social Presence- the ability to express open communication, affective expression, and group cohesion. Cognitive presence- such as assignments and quizzes, which are supported/made easier by the other two presences (teaching and social) https://www.purdue.edu/innovativelearning/supporting-instruction/portal/files/4_Community_of_Inquiry_Framework.pdf https://cte.virginia.edu/resources/applying-community-inquiry-framework https://coi.athabascau.ca/coi-model/

The title of this article caught my eye, "Inoculation theory: Using misinformation to fight misinformation". John Cook, a psychologist at George Mason University, says that exposing people to weak forms of misinformation can help allow people to differentiate between what information is true and what are 'alternative facts'.  This type of misinformation battle can help reduce arguments against climate change and deterrence against useful vaccines other than for Covid-19.  https://theconversation.com/inoculation-theory-using-misinformation-to-fight-misinformation-77545

This excerpt is literally a two-sentence definition from the American Psychological Association defining Inoculation Theory, however, I find that it summarizes it extremely well: -a theory postulating that resistance to persuasion can be created by exposing people to weak persuasive attacks that are easily refuted. This helps people practice defending their attitudes as well as make them aware that their attitudes can be challenged, which thereby creates resistance to subsequent stronger messages. [originally proposed by William J. McGuire]

Inoculation Theory is a model for building one's resistance to others' persuasions against their beliefs. In other words, you teach those with your beliefs a weak form of a counter-argument so that whenever the opposition tries to persuade them with a stronger counter-argument, they are 'immune'.  It's difficult to explain personally, so Below I'll attach an excerpt that helped me easily understand the concept: +"The inoculation theory draws comparison with the concept of vaccination. In a normal vaccination, a weakened form of the virus is injected into an individual in order to build resistance to the disease. A similar procedure is used to ‘inoculate’ an individual from attacks on his belief." +"According to the theory, a weakened or smaller dose of a contrary argument called the inoculation message is given to the people. These individuals who have been exposed to the weaker argument develop a defense system that helps them to retain their bel...

Another name for Fear Appeal is "Fear-arousing Communication" which I find to be a more defining name. It appears that Fear-Appealing is more often than not used in public health messaging, as connotating the fear of an audience's health is very effective in gaining their appeal. This can be used for both good or malicious intentions, depending on the messenger and the goal of the appeal.  Attached below are two short excerpts properly cited explaining different statistics about Fear Appeal Theory and its various advantages when used.  http://psychology.iresearchnet.com/social-psychology/emotions/fear-appeals/ https://chiromt.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12998-017-0157-8

I found a study done in 2015 that is highlighting how impactful using fear-based appeals are, and noting how effective they are when used in various cases (ex. type of audience and message). Some notable points I glanced over are that women are much more susceptible to being persuaded by fear appeals. In addition, fear-based appeals are more effective when telling an audience to do something just one time (like getting vaccinated), as opposed to doing a recurring action.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5789790/ https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2015/10/fear-based-appeals

 I found the fear appeal theory to be a very relevant idea in today's current events. It is a type of tool that advocates an audience to do something as a precaution against some sort of danger. According to Psychology Today,  "Fear appeals are messages that try to persuade people about the potential harm that may happen to them if they do not accept the messages’ recommendations (Tannenbaum et al., 2015)."  Diving deeper into this video theory, it states that Fear Appeal is made of three key components, the message, audience, and recommended behavior.  https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/emotional-nourishment/201809/fear-appeals

I found this article that incorporates the phenomenology theory as a research method for collecting data; listing examples, characteristics, and limitations. According to DelveTool , a phenomenological study is a qualitative research tool that "studies lived experiences to gain deeper insights into how people understand those experiences". Below I will attach an excerpt that characterizes phenomenological research design: -Phenomenological research design is descriptive. The researcher aims to describe as accurately as possible the structure of a phenomenon. -Qualitative phenomenological research design aims to uncover what a particular experience means to a group of people and how they experienced it. -This approach requires researchers to set aside their prejudices and a priori assumptions and focus mainly on the immediate experience. -It requires the researcher to first describe the lived experiences objectively and then reflect on the description with reference to the exi...

This site labeled Psychology is very detailed in explaining the phenomenological theory and how it interacts with people's personalities. I found two important points that help summarize its important arguing points.  "Phenomenological theorists focus on two kinds of subjective experience." 1)"The first is how people experience themselves in relation to others." 2)"The second kind of experience is what might be called internal monitoring, or people’s intuitive sense of their own inclinations." The article continues to mention Existentialism, which is a version of Phenomenological theory that primarily focuses on loneliness, isolation, and death; thus relating to an 'existential crisis'. I found this very interesting simply because this theory can drastically change results/course depending on the mentality of those being studied.  http://psychology.iresearchnet.com/counseling-psychology/personality-theories/phenomenological-personality-theories...

 'Phenomenological Theory', according to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy " is the study of structures of consciousness as experienced from the first-person point of view." It goes on to talk about how phenomenology is literally just the study of phenomena, relating to how things appear in our conscious experience. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/phenomenology/

 The 'Theory Of Media Dependency' seems to be very malleable in various situations of mass media. Matthew Loveless, who has a PhD in Political Science and is also a professor in the University of Bologna, states "The theory of media dependency states that for societies in states of crisis or instability, citizens are more reliant on mass media for information and as such are more susceptible to their effects."  It seems to me that he is inferring this Theory could be used as some sort of political tool. For example, Covid could be used as a global issue that scares/entices people into following specific stories more closely. Do you think Covid have been used by media outlets to gain more viewers? https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232826359_Media_Dependency_Mass_Media_as_Sources_of_Information_in_the_Democratizing_Countries_of_Central_and_Eastern_Europe

Expanding from my last post, Media Dependency Theory apparently derives from the 'Uses and Gratification Theory', which states " people use the media for their own need and get satisfied when their needs are fulfilled" which closely idols my previous excerpt. https://www.communicationtheory.org/uses-and-gratification-theory/

This will be the first of a few Theoretical Theories I will spam for today. I found 'Media Dependency Theory' as something both interesting and shocking. To generalize, it states that media is able to fulfil and satisfy an individual's needs, which in turn makes them more dependent. Media online is more immediate and vast to fill one's needs for learning, which could even become addicting. If the media fails to persuade an individual, however, then they could become even less dependent on it (which occurs less often than not).  https://www.communicationtheory.org/media-dependency-theory/