Research & Projects

Because the connection between the public and judges on state courts is significantly more nuanced, and in many instances, direct, social networking sites like X.com (formerly Twitter) have become a favored communication platform for fostering personal connections between political elites and their intended audiences. It is within these parasocial relationships we argue that favorable perceptions can be reinforced, bolstering the legitimacy of political actors and the institutions they represent. This work articulates a novel theory that compares the extrajudicial communication strategies used by judges on Twitter to those of career influencers. Using two prominent judges on Twitter, we provide examples of how this behavior is utilized in a non-political fashion to increase their network reach and engagement. By identifying and documenting what we coin “judicial influencer” behaviors, our work provides a framework for future research in political figures leveraging parasocial relationships to increase their personal notoriety and institutional legitimacy. 

Neuroscience provides researchers with a tools to examine psychological processes behind information processing important to political communication that cannot be measured by self-report or observational methods. This entry describes neuroscience and cognition methods (e.g. fMRI, EEG, eye-tracking) that can be beneficial for political communication research as well as their usefulness for different types of communication (e.g. visual, verbal, interpersonal). We also discuss how neuroscience can be used in substantive areas rapidly growing in importance, such as misinformation. 

Does content humor influence engagement with political information on social media? The rise in humor used in political communication may be advantageous for political communication because it helps people better understand and/or anticipate underlying arguments made in the content. Yet to be understood is the extent to which humorous content makes political information more accessible to a larger audience. To investigate this, we use TikTok data to test whether humorous political content receives higher engagement than political content delivered without humor, and find that humorous content has more engagement than nonhumorous content, driven by views, likes, and shares.