This project was conducted as part of CIS 605: Cultural and Critical Theory in Communication at the University of Alabama. On this page, I explain the theoretical and methodological perspectives that guide my scholarship, including the concepts, models, and research approaches I find most useful for studying media and communication processes.

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Conceptual Positionality

The primary theoretical lens I use is Kohutian Self-Psychology, developed by Heinz Kohut in The Restoration of the Self (1977). Kohut’s framework centers on the development and maintenance of a cohesive, vigorous self across the lifespan. The self’s central developmental need is for empathic mirroring, responses from the social environment that affirm and consolidate one’s emerging sense of identity. Three complementary theories extend and operationalize the Kohutian core of my research. Cultivation Theory (Gerbner et al., 2002), Social Comparison Theory (Festinger, 1954) and Parasocial Relationship Theory (Horton & Wohl, 1956).

Paradigmatic Positionality

I situate my research within a post-positivist paradigm. Post-positivism holds that while a singular, fully objective truth about the social world may be unattainable, rigorous empirical inquiry can nonetheless approximate that truth through systematic observation, hypothesis testing, and progressive revision of theoretical models. While the quantitative approach produces findings that are generalizable, replicable, and capable of modeling complex multi-pathway relationships among latent constructs, I am aware about its limitations: research in this domain may not fully capture the lived texture of identity fragmentation. I intend to address this in future phases through method triangulation.