Ben Warner
Ben Warner
Dr. Benjamin (Ben) R. Warner (Ph.D., University of Kansas) is Professor in the Department of Communication and director of the Political Communication Institute. He is interested in the effects of partisan media, presidential debates, campaign ads, social media, and political humor. Much of Dr. Warner’s research explores the antecedents, consequences, and remedies of political polarization. He draws on theories of persuasion, intergroup processes, and media psychology. He is editor of Democracy Disrupted: Communication in the Volatile 2020 Election and An Unprecedented Election: Media, Communication, and the 2016 Campaign. He has published in Communication Monographs, Political Communication, Mass Communication and Society, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Applied Communication Research, and a variety of other outlets.
Graduate
Comm 9630 – Political Advertising
Comm 9630 – Political Campaign Debates
Comm 8610 – Survey of Political Communication Research
Comm 8170 – Advanced Topics in Quantitative Methods
Comm 8170 – Quantitative Methods in Communication 2
Comm 8160 – Rhetorical Criticism
Comm 8120 – Quantitative Methods in Communication 1
Comm 8001 – Survey of Persuasion
Comm 8001 – Politics and New Media
Comm 8001 – Political Polarization
Undergraduate
Comm 4474 – Theory and Research in Persuasion
Comm 4473 – Political Communication
Comm 3572 – Argumentation & Advocacy
Warner, B. R., Bystrom, D. G., McKinney, M. S., & Banwart, M. C. (Eds.) (2022). Democracy disrupted: Communication in the volatile 2021 presidential election. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.
Warner, B. R., Bystrom, D. G., McKinney, M. S., & Banwart, M. C. (Eds.) (2018). An unprecedented election: Media, communication, and the electorate in the 2016 campaign. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.
Park, J. Warner, B.R. (2024). Does collectivism make a difference?: A comparative test of common ingroup strategies to reduce affective polarization. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 36(3), https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edae033
Warner, B. R., Park, J., Kim, G.-E., McKinney, M. S., & Paul, W. B. (2024). Do presidential primary debates increase political polarization? American Behavioral Scientist, 68(1), 80-96. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642211026613
Warner, B. R., Colaner, C. W., & Park, J. (2021). Political difference and polarization in the family: The role of (non)accommodating communication for navigating identity differences. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 38(2), 564-585. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0265407520967438
Warner, B. R., McKinney, M. S., Bramlett, J., Jennings, F. J., & Funk, M. (2020). Reconsidering partisanship as a constraint on the persuasive effects of debates. Communication Monographs, 87, 137-157.
Warner, B. R., Horstman, H. K., & Kearney, C. C. (2020). Testing a narrative writing intervention to reduce affective political polarization. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 48, 459-477.
Wocjieszak, M. E. & Warner, B. R. (2020). Can interparty contact reduce affective polarization? A systematic test of different forms of intergroup contact. Political Communication, 37, 789-811.
Warner, B. R. (2018). Modeling partisan media effects in the 2014 U.S. midterm elections. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 95, 647-699.
Warner, B. R., Villamil, A. (2017). A test of imagined contact as a means to improve cross-partisan feelings and reduce attribution of malevolence and acceptance of political violence. Communication Monographs, 84(4), 447-465.