Date of Award

Spring 2015

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychological Sciences

First Advisor

Janice R. Kelly

Committee Chair

Janice R. Kelly

Committee Member 1

Kipling D. Williams

Committee Member 2

William G. Graziano

Committee Member 3

James M. Tyler

Abstract

Being out of the loop is a form of partial ostracism that leads to lower need satisfaction (Jones, Carter-Sowell, Kelly, & Williams, 2009). Research has shown that people experience lower need satisfaction when they are out of the loop on pop culture (Iannone, Kelly, & Williams, in preparation). Five studies expanded on previous research by exploring theoretical issues and potential boundary conditions. Study 1 developed a new method and explored theoretical foundations of being out of the loop on pop culture - whether being unfamiliar makes people feel worse or whether being familiar makes people feel better. This study also looked at whether people need to be told that others recognize the pop culture stimuli. Study 2 explored whether the feeling of failure associated with feeling out of the loop can be eliminated, or whether they coexist. Studies 3-5 explored potential boundary conditions of being out of the loop on pop culture: who people are out of the loop from, what people are out of the loop on, and when people are out of the loop. These studies replicated previous findings of lower need satisfaction when out of the loop on pop culture while also demonstrating that 1) being unfamiliar with pop culture makes people feel worse rather than being familiar with pop culture making people feel better 2) failure and feeling out of the loop may coexist and 3) individuals feel bad regardless of who they are out of the loop from, what they are out of the loop on, and when they are out of the loop. These findings suggest that being unfamiliar with pop culture may be extremely negative, as no factors seem to ameliorate the negative effects.

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