Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1999

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Abstract

Social representations consist of beliefs, values and norms that influence thought and behavior. Moscovici's Social Representation Theory provides an explanation for how social representations are formed, mutate, and survive, while Dynamic Social Impact Theory provides a framework by which to examine the emergence of macro-social phenomena from everyday communication (i.e., clustering, consolidation and continued diversity). Previous research has not examined, but has assumed, the processes by which social representations of aggression develop. The purpose of the present study was to examine social representations (SRs) of direct and indirect aggression and the process by which SRs emerge from interpersonal communication. Specifically, participants were randomly assigned to fixed addresses in an electronic social space and communicated with four of their nearest neighbors, for four weeks about direct and indirect verbal aggression. In the present study, most people agreed about the aggressiveness of direct responses whereas judgments about indirect responses were relatively varied.

Extent

79 p.

Comments

FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Adviser: Deborah R. Richardson.|Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1999.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Identifier

FADT12621

Format

pdf

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