Grady Research

Abstract: In this study, we examine how two message appeals—feasibility vs. desirability—and anthropomorphism jointly shape the effectiveness of environmental persuasion. The findings of Study 1 showed that the feasibility appeal was more effective than the desirability appeal in an ad promoting recycling. In Study 2, we found that this effect was moderated by anthropomorphic imagery […]

Booker T. Mattison has been awarded a Special Funding Grant ($750) from the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts to support visual effects and film festival submission costs associated with his short film, Ungubani (Who Are You?). The 15-minute narrative short film tells the story of a young black man who puts himself at risk […]

Tudor Vlad was awarded  $250,000 from the U.S. Department of State (through the US Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia) to train 25 Georgian journalists. Grant awarded on June 25, 2019. Program Office:  Public Affairs Section, U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia. Funding Opportunity Title: Media Education Program Media Education Program (MEP) DOS-GEO-19-CA-001-040119.

Abstract: In order to understand publics’ information consumption behavior in current media environment, this study addresses how and why individuals vet information (or not) in crisis situations. Grounded in dual-process model and meta-cognition theory, an initial conceptual framework of crisis information vetting was outlined. An exploratory study, including four focus groups and 13 in-depth interviews, […]

Abstract: This content analysis evaluated tweets about the opioid epidemic published in 2018 by U.S. federal and state health organizations to find out what components of both textual and visual of tweets can achieve the most effective communication for opioid epidemic including text characteristics, perceived discrete emotion and visual components of images. This study found […]

Abstract: A between-subjects 2 (source type: celebrity versus non-celebrity) x 2 (message valence: positive versus negative) factorial experiment (N = 288) examined the effects of source type and message valence on various outcomes of Instagram-based advertising messages about veganism. Results of data analyses indicate significant main effects of message valence on perceived information value of […]

Abstract: This innovative practice paper explains a classroom exercise that asks students to identify anonymous people as either Democrats or Republicans based only on brief descriptions. Students are challenged to explore the reasons behind the identifications they make, specifically confronting the trigger words that lead them to assign a political affiliation. In doing so, the […]

Abstract: In 2013, U.S. television chef Paula Deen faced a public relations crisis following news reports of a court deposition in which she had admitted using a racial epithet in the past. To investigate questions related to her effectiveness at image repair on issues of race and study the question more broadly, we conducted a […]

Abstract: Kim Kardashian has received much attention for her media empire, including her game, published by Glu Mobile. The game’s premise plays a role in what I characterize as “Feminine Play Style,” an emerging mode of video games that functions through assumptions about an idealized vision of the woman player and her relationship with leisure […]

Abstract: This presentation is a broad overview of the issue of misinformation as it relates to public understanding of science and the communication of scientific information with public audiences. The presentation is based on a paper I am currently producing for the National Academy of Sciences on the same topic. Link to Presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQZGLe5xl6g