Mediated Communication | Communication

The mediated communication area focuses on theory and research related to media effects, media psychology, and emerging technologies. Faculty and students explore how media influence individuals, groups, and society, examining topics such as media influence on social attitudes, digital engagement, and the psychological processes underlying media use. Research in this area uses social scientific methods—such as experiments, surveys, interviews, and content analysis—to examine how media shape cognitive and emotional processes, health, and well-being.

The Faculty

The mediated communication faculty investigate the psychological and social effects of media content across platforms including social media, TV, film, video games, virtual reality, and AI technologies. Their research explores how media shape self-perception, interpersonal relationships, social judgments, and interactions between content creators and audiences. The faculty have published their research in top-tier journals and been recognized for their excellence in teaching, mentorship, and service to the discipline.

Graduate Program

Graduate Coursework

Coursework in mediated communication provides students with a strong foundation in media effects theories, media psychology, and empirical research methods. Through a combination of theory-driven discussions and hands-on research training, students develop the skills necessary to conduct independent studies using experimental design, survey research, content analysis, and other quantitative and qualitative methods. In addition, coursework encourages critical engagement with contemporary issues in media, such as digital well-being, social identity, human-AI interaction, and the psychology of online engagement.

Selected Graduate Course List

You will work with your committee to develop a program of study that is unique to your interests. More courses are available in the course catalog.

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Required Communication Courses

8000 Communication Pro-Sem
8120 Introduction to Communication Research Methods
9280 Seminar in Communication Theory

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Specialized Communication Courses

8510 Seminar in Mediated Communication
9510 Seminar in New Technologies
9520 Seminar in Media Processing and Effects
9530 Topics in Mediated Communication - Mass Media & Social Relationships
9170 Research Practicum
8001 Topics in Political Communication
9330 Topics in Interpersonal Communication
9610 Seminar in Disaster, Crisis, and Risk
9630 Political Advertising

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Outside Courses

Journalism

8018 Strategic Communication Research II

8042 Health News and Promotion

8044 Strategic Conflict Management

8080 Media Ethics 9018 Media and Politics

9026 Mass Communication and Cultural Theory

9020 Risk Communication

Psychology

8110 Cognitive Psychology
8310 Survey of Social Psychology
8440 Social and Emotional Development
8610 Motivation
9310 Theories of Social Psychology
9365 Positive Psychology

Public Affairs

8170 Public Policy Processes and Strategies

Public Health

7800 Public Health Campaigns Successes and Failures
8270 Storytelling in Public Health and Public Policy

Sociology

8250 Media and Power in Comparative Perspective Seminar
8277 Race, Ethnicity, and Transnational Inequalities
9525 Culture, Difference, and Inequality
9777 Seminar in Body and Society
9887 Seminar in Sociology of Gender

Women’s and Gender Studies

7110 Feminist Research and Criticism
8020 Graduate Feminist Theory
8040 Problems & Issues in Feminist Scholarship

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Method Courses

8120 Seminar in Quantitative Methods in Communication
8130 Seminar in Qualitative Methods in Communication (Topics vary and course can be repeated)
A-Narrative theory and Grounded Theory
B-Ethnography and Phenomenology
8140 Content Analysis
8170 Seminar in Quantitative Methods in Communication II
8180 Advanced Topics in Quantitative Methods
8160 Rhetorical Criticism
JOURN 8010 Advanced Qualitative Methods in Journalism
ESC_PS 8610 Quantitative Methods in Educational Research I
ESC_PS 8620 Quantitative Methods in Educational Research II
ESC_PS 8630 Qualitative Research in Education I
ESC_PS 9650 Application of Multivariate Analysis in Educational Research
ESC_PS 9710 Structural Equation Modeling
ESC_PS 9720 Hierarchical Linear Modeling
PSYCH 9320 Social Psychology Methodology
PSYCH 9715 Multilevel Modeling
SOC 8187 Seminar on Interview Theory and Techniques