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Dhavan V. Shah is Maier-Bascom Professor at the UW-Madison, where he is also Director of the Mass Communication Research Center, Scientific Director of the Active Aging Research Center, and a Core Leader in the Center for Excellence in Cancer Communication Research. He is housed in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication with appointments in the Department of Political Science and the College of Engineering. His research concerns the social psychology of communication influence, especially effects on social evaluations, political judgments, health outcomes, and civic participation. For details, see Research and CV sections of the website.

Highlighted Research:

Modern political campaigns involve broadcast advertising and digital media. This research merges two large data sets, one tracking national political ad content and placement and another measuriung citizens' conventional and digital media use, political exchanges, and levels of participation. We find that political ad exposure drives news use, leading to political conversation - face-to-face and online - and, in turn, participation. Yet exposure to attack ads appears to diminish news use, indirectly suppressing participation. We conclude ads and digital media work in tandem to shape participatory action.

 

University Affiliations:

Center for Health Enhancement Systems Studies (CHESS):
This transdisciplinary center conducts research and development of innovative health systems, especially information and communication services, in order to optimize individuals' health behaviors, quality of life, and access to services. | More Info |

Political Communication at the UW: A cross-departmental consortium of faculty examining the connections between mass media, citizen communication, and politics. The website lists faculty affiliates, their interests and departmental affiliations, and courses available to students. | More Info |

Consumer Culture and Civic Participation (CCCP): A working group investigating the fluid and evolving relationship among mass media, consumption, markets, and civic and political life. Organizer of "The Politics of Consumption/The Consumption of Politics" coinference and ANNALS volume. | More Info |

Mass Communications Research Center (MCRC): This research team explores the psychological underpinnings of political communication influences, especially message framing and priming effects, using dynamic online survey experiments. | More Info |

Social Media and Democracy (SMAD): This research team explores the social and psychological influences of social media, especially political blogs, video-sharing sites, and other user-created content, using surveys, experiments, content analysis, and other methods. | More Info |

 

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© 2011. Dhavan Shah