Table of Contents
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Writing Center Tutor
For two years and over 100 papers and projects, Marion Comi-Morog has held the role of Writing tutor at Davidson College, helping her peers to develop strategies for writing more effectively in every situation. It is her aim to help at any stage of the writing process, from prewriting to fine-tuning a finished draft.
As a Writing Center tutor, Marion must be able to collaborate and give feedback on the spot and asynchronously. Such feedback must challenge the client’s writing skill and be cognizant of the client’s deadline. Excerpt images of Marion’s feedback to client papers are provided as media files.
Davidson College Research
Poster Presentation at National Conference (2018)
Boundary extension (BE) is a small anticipation about the edges of a scene. When shown a photograph and asked to remember it, including the background, individuals will later claim that the exact same photograph is actually a closer view. Marion and her faculty mentor, Dr. Munger, tested college students at Madras Christian College (Tamil Nadu, India) and students at Davidson College (North Carolina, USA). Both groups showed significant BE, but the MCC students had significantly less extension for the most sensitive measure of BE, rating close-angle photos. Observing less BE for the Indian than US students may be related to observations that East Asian students are more sensitive to contextual changes in scenes (Masuda & Nisbett, 2006). These research findings were awarded a poster presentation at the national Psychonomics conference in 2018 and were presented by Marion Comi-Morog.
Marketing Research and Presentation for Conference (2020-2021)
Nike, Inc. has employed advertising featuring athletes to oppose police brutality (Colin Kaepernick/football [CK]) and sexism (Serena Williams/tennis [SW]). Because brand and athlete related attitudes (i.e., norm violation) are interrelated, we examined how these factors influence public reaction to social justice based marketing. Tweets about the CK ad were more viral (i.e., spread more) but less endorsed (i.e., favorited less) than the SW ad (all ps > .001, Cohen’s d range = .05-.07). We used machine learning (The Evaluative Lexicon) to quantify language valence and extremity (NCK =4,451 , NSW =9,110) and compared the two ads. Results indicated overall negative views of both (M= 2.62, SD= .06, midpoint = 4.5),with more negatively valenced language towards CK compared to SW (t(9884.1) =-14.91,p< .0001, Cohen’s d =-.267). Surprisingly, there was more extreme language used towards SW than CK (t(9195.8) =-8.95, p< .0001, Cohen’s d=-.162). This study provides insight into marketing strategy surrounding social justice based ads. These research findings were awarded a poster presentation at the 2021 Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference, where they will be presented by Marion Comi-Morog.
Upcoming Honors-Eligible Thesis in Marketing and Psychology…
Media is an inescapable aspect of our society as we know it. However, prolonged media exposure can lead to negative stereotyping of minority groups and negative self-perceptions within these groups, an effect which is particularly strong in young viewers. Therefore, it is absolutely vital to understand both what media messages portray to their audiences and how these messages are consumed by the audience. To address these issues, Marion will conduct two studies that aim to examine the produced (1) and perceived (2) stereotype content created by a world-leading provider of digital youth media, the Walt Disney Company. The goal of the current thesis is to utilize a natural language processing approach to examine Disney princess portrayals over time in terms of gender and race, and how these portrayals are perceived by the audience. She will compare these results based upon features of the narrative and individual factors within participants (i.e. participants’ race, gender, or viewership). To examine how stereotype production changes over time, she will examine only the Disney princess movies that have been remade as live-action.
Gendered Toy Marketing Research
In Spring 2019, Marion Comi-Morog examined the history and effect of gendered toy marketing in order to develop a website that shares the information to advertisement audiences and to fellow prospective marketers. This website ultimately aims to spark the debate for gendered toy marketing, initiating questions like: How does gendered toy marketing affect children? How can we market toys more effectively? The website link can be found here.
How does gendered toy marketing affect children? How can we market toys more effectively?
Marion promoted this website and the marketing debate on various social media platforms, including Instagram and Twitter. These pages allowed audiences to converse with one another about the material.
Homepage
The SNAP Challenge Blog
As a final project in a Communications Studies course, Marion developed a website devoted to her experiences with and critical analysis of the SNAP challenge, a media trend in which someone who is not receiving aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) attempts to live on this budget for a certain period of time. She explored questions such as: Is this an exercise in empathy or in poverty tourism? How can this challenge misrepresent the everyday experience of a SNAP recipient? How can and has this been used to further a spectrum of political agendas surrounding food access, by conservatives to “prove” that the SNAP program is overfunded and by activists to “prove” the lack of funds? Over the course of one week, Marion completed the SNAP challenge and conducted research to explain its complexities, insights, oversights, and political power. The website is linked here.
Comparative Grocery Lists and Prices
Performing and Promoting during COVID
COVID-19 restrictions presented particular challenges to performing arts which often require in-person practice and performance. However, Marion was inspired by her work with the Chelsea Music Festival and encouraged her clubs to continue performing for a virtual audience. The featured video was the first release of an online performance for BLU — Davidson’s hip hop troupe.
This video compilation, created by Marion, allowed the members of BLU to perform together even as they were spread across the globe and prohibited from large gatherings. Marion utilized these videos to promote the dance group to her campus and beyond, doubling the troupe’s instagram followers in the process. She has since begun work on BLU’s website to showcase their performance videos, which can be found here.
Performing Arts at Davidson College
Marion has been committed to the performing arts since the age of six years old and from her first week at Davidson College. From dance troupes to choirs and a cappella groups, Marion has risen to positions of leadership that allow her to promote the arts within her community. Over the years, she reached out to various social organizations on campus to seek out performance opportunities, and has organized partnerships with peer groups to perform for multiple fanbases.
Illustrated images for “Writing Center” and “Table of Contents” were conceptualized by Marion Comi-Morog for TechChange clients. Illustrated by Yohan Perera.
Marion Comi-Morog 