Jorge Cruz Ibarra
Email: cruzibarra.1@osu.edu
I’m a PhD candidate in the School of Communication at the Ohio State University. My research lies at the intersection of politics, communication, and psychology. My primary focus is on populist communication—examining its characteristics, effects, and the elements that make these messages effective. I also explore related factors and outcomes, including processing fluency, message evaluation, and conspiracy theory beliefs.
In my dissertation, I will study how anger influences the processing of populist messages, examining whether this emotional state enhances or hinders their persuasiveness.
Advisor: Dr. R. Kelly Garrett
Matthew Erxleben
Email: erxleben.2@osu.edu
I am a PhD candidate in the School of Communication at the Ohio State University. I am interested in how the co-use of media (including television, video games, and music) influences the interpersonal relationships that exist between users.
Dissertation title: Media Co-Use in Dyadic Relationships
Advisor: Dr. Jesse Fox
Christina M. Henry
Email: henry.964@osu.edu
Christina is a doctoral candidate and current graduate fellow in the Department of Communication. Her research is at the intersection of media psychology and political communication and centers on the role of emotion and emotion regulation in the process of media engagement and political participation in both online and offline contexts. She also works several interdisciplinary collaborations in areas of intergroup communication, health communication, and entertainment media primarily using quantitative methods.
Her dissertation examines individual differences in the effects of political emotion and group identity on news media engagement and avoidance.
Advisor: Dr. Matthew Grizzard
Ralph Martins
Email: martins.37@osu.edu
Research Interests: I am studying the potential for political storytelling - and particularly for narratives of personal experience - to facilitate inclusive political communication and interpersonal deliberation. My work is rooted in a "deliberation 2.0" framework for deliberative democracy, which envisions a place in deliberation for narratives, testimony, greeting, and pathos in addition to more canonical forms of political argumentation. In my dissertation, I investigate the ways in and the ends to which stories are deployed in small-group deliberation, with a focus on argument, conflict, identity negotiation, and the framing of political issues.
Advisor: Dr. William "Chip" Eveland
Charles Monge
Email: monge.19@osu.edu
Originally from a liberal arts undergrad and then a masters in psychological science program, I came to Communication because I wanted to study how people convert imperfect information about one another into general ideas about who we are and what we mean with what we do. In other words, I study how people take what other people say and do and try to make sense of it. More specifically, I study how these social cognitive processes (e.g., mental state attribution) are changed by new technology and media contexts, usually in the context of nastiness and toxicity online.
Dissertation Title: From Hyperpersonal to Hyperdestructive: Extending the Logic of the Hyperpersonal Model of CMC
Co-Advisors: Dr.'s Nicholas Matthews and Matthew Grizzard
Rachel Barry Wade
Email: wade.661@osu.edu
My research explores how message features, such as metacognitive cues and emotional appeals, impact message processing and behavior in strategic ways. Specifically, I draw from theory in persuasive communication and social cognition to understand what makes a campaign message more likely to be understood, acted upon, and shared in distinct audience segments. In my dissertation, I experimentally test these relationships by coupling metacognitive cues with a discrete emotional appeal. My goal is to see if easier processing experiences can promote feelings of efficacy and, ultimately, encourage campaign engagement and adherence.
Dissertation Title: I Feel I Can, I Think I Can: Metacognitive Cues as a Manipulation of Efficacy in Emotional Appeal Messages
Advisor: Dr. Hillary Shulman