About
Communication Studies at UCLA is an interdisciplinary program that encompasses such highly contemporary areas as new technology, media effects, First Amendment law, and the telecommunication industry. Other areas of research include persuasion, political communication, history of communication, emotions, and evolutionary psychology.
Department of Communication
Recent Work (5)
Cross-cultural laughter data Phase II
Data and R code for manuscript "The perception of spontaneous and volitional laughter across 21 societies."
Erotica, Aggression and Perceived Appropriateness
Malamuth, Feshbach, & Jaffe (1977) recently outlined a model designed to integrate some of the findings in the sex and aggression literature. The purpose of the present paper is to elaborate upon some aspects of that model, to discuss a recent experiment designed to directly test its predictions, and to consider additional directions for the model's development and for research.
Exposure to Pornography and Reactions to Rape
80 male and female students were exposed to sexually violent, sexually non-violent or neutral stimuli. All subjects then viewed an interview with an actual rape victim and responded to a questionnaire assessing rape-related attitudes and perceptions. Weeks later, subjects indicated their views on rape as part of what was purported to be a general survey of public attitudes. The data indicated that exposure to sexual stimuli, of a violent or non-violent nature, reduced the extent to which subjects perceived that pornography may have detrimental effects but did not affect reactions to rape. Correlational data revealed that sexual arousal to the portrayal of sexual violence, but not to non-violent sexuality, was associated with a self-reported possibility of engaging in rape, a self-report that was strongly related to a callous attitude towards rape and rape victims.