Shannon Poulsen, PhD Candidate

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My research introduces satire as a prevalent and important form of misinformation in social media. Satire is one of the most popular types of explicitly-false content on social media (Poulsen et al., forthcoming). Yet, there is little empirical work examining how satire misinforms. My research offers a novel theoretical framework to understand why this happens and how to best prevent satire-induced misperceptions.

In addition to satire, I also research non-humorous mis- and disinformation. Specifically, I examine how misinformation misleads and identify several interventions that successfully reduce these misleading effects.

I’ve used a variety of methods to evaluate my arguments, including online experiments, panel data, and eye-tracking experiments. My Research page has more detailed information on my research interests, and my CV and Papers pages have information about my projects and publications.

My work has been published in a number of peer-reviewed journals, including the Human Communication Research, the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Journal of Mass Communication Quarterly and Psychological Science. I also have an article in the public-facing outlet, The Conversation, that was picked up by several major publishers.

I have won awards and have been recognized for my work numerous times. One project of mine won the 2020 Walter Lippman Article of the Year Award from Political Communication division of the American Political Science Association, and another was recognized as a finalist for 2018 Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly Outstanding Article Award. Additionally, two of my conference papers were selected to join the top paper panel for their respective subdivisions.

Outside of academia, I perform musical improvisational comedy with Hashtag Comedy as a main cast member in both TBD: The Improvised Musical and Ladies Who Lounge. I also have a pet bird, Sesame, who hates that my laptop gets any attention.

You can find updates on my work, and sometimes on Sesame, on my twitter page, @shannonpoulsen.