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73
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Introduction
Current institution
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January 2014 - January 2017
July 1994 - December 2014
January 2015 - present
Education
September 1990 - June 1994
Publications
Publications (73)
Even though multiple states have approved legal recreational use of cannabis, the expansion of recreational cannabis legalization has led to public health concerns in the United States. Young adults (18–25 years old) have the highest percentage of cannabis use disorder compared to all other age groups. The purpose of this study is to compare cognit...
Introduction
Many US young adults are susceptible to waterpipe (i.e., hookah) tobacco smoking (WTS) initiation, but research on factors associated with WTS susceptibility is limited. We examined sociodemographic, other tobacco and substance use, and attitudes and perceptions correlates of WTS susceptibility among young adults.
Methods
Baseline dat...
Objetivo: Este estudio investiga la interacción entre el encuadre del mensaje y el punto de referencia (uno mismo frente a otros) de los beneficios de la vacuna en la confianza y las intenciones de los adultos jóvenes sobre la vacuna COVID-19. También examina cómo las creencias sobre la salud relacionadas con COVID-19- como la gravedad percibida de...
Background: The prevalence of heart disease has increased and is a leading cause of death in the U.S. Despite the importance of physical activity, only one-third of adults in the United States meet the amount of physical activity recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The purpose of this study was to extend the extende...
This study investigated the effectiveness of Native American (NA) targeted obesity prevention messages. The researchers manipulated obesity attributions (internal vs. external) and message sources (NAs vs. non-NAs) in a 2 × 2 mixed experimental design to examine the way these message attributes influence NAs' emotional, attitudinal, cognitive, and...
Introduction
More than 10% of U.S. young adults have smoked waterpipe tobacco in the past month and >25% of those who have never smoked are susceptible. We tested messages designed to prevent and reduce waterpipe tobacco smoking (WTS).
Methods
In 2020, we recruited 830 U.S. young adults (18-30 years) who had never smoked waterpipe tobacco and were...
Public diplomacy (PD) as a field of study lacks both theoretical and methodological depth. Although a wide range of methodology is used to study the field, case studies, surveys, and content analyses are the most frequently used. While these methods are necessary to study PD, they lack the ability to establish a causal relationship between variable...
Authors of the knowledge gap hypothesis predicted television’s potential to narrow the gaps in some circumstances. This online experiment aimed to bound the conditions that facilitate the leveling role of audiovisual news for a foreign-born audience ( N = 137) residing in the United States. Results showed that audiovisual news narrowed the gaps by...
Background:
Waterpipe (i.e., hookah) tobacco smoking (WTS) is one of the most prevalent types of smoking among young people, yet there is little public education communicating the risks of WTS to the population. Using self-report and psychophysiological measures, this study proposes an innovative message testing and data integration approach to ch...
Background:
The current study examined how cannabis use status impacts cognitive and emotional reactions to public health campaigns about cannabis, and the degree to which these reactions influence message likeability and attitudes about cannabis-related harms.
Methods:
In a between-subjects design, 252 subjects recruited via Amazon Mechanical T...
Objective:
Hookah tobacco use among young adults may be driven by misperceptions of health harms and addictiveness, appealing flavors, and social use. This study examined the effects of hookah prevention messages on participants' cognitive and emotional processing in a lab setting.
Method:
One hundred twenty participants (61 susceptible never-us...
Background
Perceptions of risk of using marijuana have decreased significantly in the US over the last decade, while marijuana use has increased. In order to educate people on the risks associated with marijuana use, large-scale health messaging campaigns have been deployed to educate the public about the risks associated with marijuana use, partic...
Introduction:
E-cigarette use is rising among youth. Advertising and anti-tobacco campaigns may be associated with the use of E-cigarettes and other tobacco products. This study examines the associations between tobacco use and exposure to The Real Cost's first campaign focusing on E-cigarettes.
Methods:
Using the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Sur...
Young adults’ hookah tobacco use is fueled by misperceptions about risks, appealing flavors, and social use. We developed and pretested public education messages to prevent and reduce hookah tobacco smoking among young adults. We used a two (user status: current hookah user, susceptible never user) by two (risk content: health harms or addiction) b...
This study tested Psychological Reactance Theory and the Limited Capacity Model of Motivated Mediated Message Processing by examining participants’ (N = 155 young adult, ever-vapers) cognitive and affective responses to anti-vaping public service announcements (PSAs) featuring dogmatic or suggestive language. Ever-vapers in the dogmatic PSA conditi...
Extensive research demonstrates that exposure to threatening anti-tobacco messages can lead to defensive message processing which reduces message effectiveness. However, research investigating whether this effect is moderated by the smoking status of the message viewer is lacking. In this study, participants (N=48 smokers and N=51 non-smokers) view...
Objectives:
Minimally regulated electronic cigarettes (e-cigarette) advertising may be one potential factor driving the increasing prevalence of young adult e-cigarette use. Using eye-tracking, the current study examined which e-cigarette advertising features were the most appealing to young adults as a first step to examine how e-cigarette advert...
This study tests the hypothesis that defensive message processing, like defensive behaviors in the real world, has two directions, fight-and-flight. The Limited Capacity Model of Motivated Mediated Message Processing (LC4MP) characterizes defensive message processing by increases in unpleasantness and arousal reports, and accelerated heart rate ind...
Objective:
Marijuana use is associated with negative cognitive and health outcomes and risky driving. Given the rapidly changing policies regarding legal recreational and medicinal marijuana use, it is important to examine what types of marijuana prevention messages may be effective in minimizing such outcomes. This study examined cognitive and af...
Objectives: Waterpipe smoking can lead to negative health outcomes. In this study, we examined responses to anti-waterpipe smoking public service announcements (PSAs). Methods: In a pilot study, current waterpipe smokers (N = 20) and susceptible waterpipe never smokers (N = 25) were randomized to view either 3 anti-waterpipe PSAs, created by the Tr...
A 2 x 2 experiment was conducted, where participants watched anti-tobacco messages that varied in deception (content portraying tobacco companies as dishonest) and disgust (negative graphic images) content. Psychophysiological measures, self-report, and a recognition test were used to test hypotheses generated from the motivated cognition framework...
This study examined the impact of narrative and emotion on processing of African American breast cancer survivor messages. We employed a two (narrative: present/absent) × three (emotional valence: pleasant/unpleasant/mixed) × four (message repetition) within-subjects experimental design. Findings indicated narrative messages with both pleasant and...
This entry discusses the logic and basics of controlled experiments, including fundamental issues of creating experimental conditions, random assignment, and eliminating confounds. Important considerations in experimental research are reviewed, including operationalizing independent variables, sample size and composition, and manipulations checks....
This study experimentally examines the effect of smoking cues and disgust images commonly found in anti-tobacco advertisements on tobacco smokers’ message processing. In a 2 (smoking cues) × 2 (disgust) within-subjects experiment, smokers watched anti-tobacco advertisements selected to vary in presence/absence of smoking cues and high/low ratings o...
In this study, researchers provide a comprehensive model of how consumers process, remember, and evaluate positive fair labor-related brand messages that are congruent/incongruent to their existing brand expectations using both psychophysiological and self-reported measures. Data were collected across two different studies. Results indicated that c...
There is a lack of research examining whether smoking cues in anti-tobacco advertisements elicit cravings, or whether this effect is moderated by countervailing message attributes, such as disgusting images. Further, no research has examined how these types of messages influence nicotine withdrawn smokers’ cognitive processing and associated behavi...
This study tested the effects of two factors—cues (extrinsic and intrinsic) and the military advertising strategies (image and image + recruitment)—on participants’ attitudes and behavioral intentions. In a 2 × 2 mixed design experiment, participants saw three military advertisements in one of four conditions. The results of this study suggest that...
Antiobesity health communication campaigns often target individual behavior, but these ads might inflate the role of individual responsibility at the expense of other health determinants. In a 2 × 2 full-factorial, randomized, online experiment, 162 American adults viewed antiobesity advertisements that varied in emphasizing social or individual ca...
Prior content analyses of sports coverage have revealed sports journalists ascribe particular adjectives to athletes based on race. A recurring pattern is the brain-versus-brawn dichotomy. In a 2 (race: Black versus White player) x 2 (description: consistent versus inconsistent stereotype) x 2 (source: journalist vs. blogger) within-subjects experi...
This study charts pathways through message resistance to enhance the persuasiveness of diabetes self-care messages. A 2 (narrative) × 2 (other-referencing) × 2 (message) × 4 (order) experiment with adult diabetics (N = 58) tested whether packaging overt recommendations as a story rather than an informational argument (i.e., narrative structure) and...
The purpose of this study was to investigate how rotoscope animation impacts cognitive and emotional processing of depression drug ads. A 2 (animation) x 2 (position of tone) x 4 (message) experiment was conducted. Participants (N=100) viewed 4, 90-s messages. STRTs (secondary task reaction times) and self-report of emotional responses were collect...
This study uniquely examined the impacts on self, cognition, anxiety, and physiology when iPhone users are unable to answer their iPhone while performing cognitive tasks. A 2 x 2 within-subjects experiment was conducted. Participants (N = 40 iPhone users) completed two word search puzzles. Among the key findings from this study were that when iPhon...
This chapter discusses the basics of experimental design used in media studies research. Many scientific researchers believe, with good reason, that the controlled experiment is perhaps the best research method for determining a cause and effect relationship between variables. The chapter considers the types of research questions experiments can ad...
Countless content analyses of sports coverage revealed that sports journalists associate particular adjectives to athletes based on race. A recurring pattern is the brain vs. brawn dichotomy. In a 2 (race: Black vs. White player) x 2 (description: stereotype-consistent vs. inconsistent) x 2 (source: journalist vs. blogger) within-subjects experimen...
The current study experimentally tested stereotypes and credibility of messages associated with athletes. Participants were asked to rate photos of Black and White baseball players based on stereotypes identified in previous literature. They were then given an anonymous paragraph from a newspaper that featured either a stereotype consistent or inco...
Current research models state psychological reactance (i.e., the " boomerang effect ") as a process where a perceived threat to a person's freedom to make choices elicits a motivational state marked by negative thoughts, anger, and a drive to restore felt autonomy (Brehm, 1966; Brehm & Brehm, 1981; Dillard & Shen, 2005; Rains & Turner, 2007). Publi...
This study focused on the effects of game-product congruity and product placement proximity on advergame players' brand memory, brand attitude, game enjoyment, and future intention to play. A 2 (congruity) x 2 (proximity) repeated-measures experiment was used. Results revealed that players' implicit memory improved for congruent games only. Explici...
Experiments are a powerful method for understanding causal relationships in journalism and mass communication research. In this essay, the authors examine seven aspects of experimental quality that reviewers should include as criteria in their evaluations. They note that there are complex interrelationships among these indicators. In cases where as...
The area of health communication research and theory focuses primarily on the application of communication theory, concepts, and strategies in the service of enhancing public health, and understanding how such processes work. The approaches are numerous and represent significant scholarship across bio-psycho-social levels of analysis. Research can...
The current study experimentally tested the effects of two types of content commonly found in anti-tobacco television messages – content focused on communicating a health threat about tobacco use (fear) and content containing disgust related images – on how viewers processed these messages. In a 2 × 2 within-subjects experiment, participants watche...
The current study experimentally tested two types of message attributes commonly used in anti-tobacco television ads—content that focuses on a health threat about tobacco use (fear), and content that contains disgust-related images (disgust)—for how they impact viewers' cognitive processing of the message. The results suggest that the impact of dis...
This study experimentally tested the effects of 2 types of content commonly found in anti-tobacco television messages-content focused on communicating a health threat about tobacco use (fear) and content containing disgust-related images-on how viewers processed these messages. In a 2 x 2 within-subjects experiment, participants watched anti-tobacc...
Research on the impact of antismoking advertisements in countermarketing cigarette advertising is equivocal. Although many studies examined how different message appeal types influence people's attitudes and behavior, there have been few studies that have explored the mechanism of how individuals attend to and remember antismoking information. This...
There have been contradictory findings concerning the direct effects of ideal body image advertising on women's body concerns. Despite numerous studies, the mechanism of how women are affected negatively by such imagery is still unclear. The current study explored why women are influenced negatively by ideal body image in the third-person effect fr...
This study experimentally tested the effects of negative emotional video and presentation style of television news stories on viewers' attention to, and memory for, the stories. News stories were selected that elicited either fear or disgust. Also, stories were presented either as “breaking” news, “live” news, or traditional news. Findings suggest...
Political advertising is one of the dominant media for reaching voters. Previous metaanalyses (Allen & Burrell, 2002; Lau, Sigelman, Heldman, & Babbitt, 1999) found little or no net benefit to negative versus positive ads. However, this finding does not reveal whether ads have effects (both or neither could be persuasive). A meta-analysis revealed...
Spirituality seems to be an important cultural factor for African American women when thinking about their health. It is, however, not clear how spiritual health locus of control (SLOC) impacts health-related outcomes in the context of health message processing models, such as the Extended Parallel Process and the Risk Perception Attitude framework...
Television political advertising has been criticized for focusing too much on candidates' image rather than on their issue positions. Yet, image advertising has been largely ignored by the press as a source for news stories. This study examined the effects of a proposed type of television adwatch story—one that critiqued political advertisements th...
This study tested the roles of processing goals and retrieval cues on memory for television news. Encoding goals were manipulated either by having participants rate the overall meaning of eight television news stories (conceptually-driven processing) or by having participants rate the surface features of the stories (data-driven processing). Then p...
This study finds stories using computer-assisted reporting are as credible as stories based on anecdotal evidence or authoritative sources.
This study used regional telephone survey data collected after the 1996 U.S. presidential election to examine how two possibly important affective variables-public mood and political cynicism-predict actual as compared with self-reported voting. Public mood, a construct introduced by Rahn, Kroeger, and Kite (1996) to suggest how affective processes...
This study tests how people differentiate between television channels, conceptualized as having two important properties: channels differ in degree of specialized content and are positioned within arrays varying in size. Participants watched news stories identified as emanating from either specialist news channels or from generalist channels. News...
Music in the twentieth century means, among other things, big business of mass communication that crosses global boundaries. Several theories address the possible effects of such global corporate influences on local culture. This essay reviews such theories and evaluates them in relation to popular music as a cultural product. Specifically, we revi...
Television news is routinely blamed for a decline in political knowledge and for a deepening cynicism among the American electorate. Yet studies attempting to measure the effects of TV news have produced decidedly mixed results. This study, using survey data from a 1994 U.S. Senate campaign in Missouri, finds that using TV news for political and go...
Effects of various mass media on political learning during the 1992 presidential campaign are examined via analyses of two voter surveys conducted in different states. Three indicators of political knowledge are compared: differences on issues between parties (Republican vs. Democratic), differences on issues among candidates (Bush vs. Clinton vs....
