News

‘Mental Model’ Approach Shows Promise in Reducing Susceptibility to Misconceptions About mRNA Vaccination

Researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center have tested the effectiveness of a ‘mental model’ approach to presenting scientific information, incorporating visual, verbal, or animated models to teach scientific or medical concepts to better identify misconceptions.

• Health Communication

New HIV Mapping Tool Helps Public Health Workers Track and Predict HIV Outbreaks

Researchers from the Social Action Lab, including PIK Professor Dolores Albarracín, have created a new tool to help public health workers predict future HIV outbreaks in the U.S.

• Health Communication

Youth Voter Turnout: Annenberg Expert Unpacks the Issue

Voting in an election helps shape the government to work on their behalf. However, the majority of U.S. youth don’t vote regularly.

• Political Communication

What Can Mainstream Journalism Learn From Prison Journalism?

In their study of the prison publication News Inside, Annenberg Professor Sarah J. Jackson and doctoral candidate Liz Hallgren find lessons for mainstream news.

• Culture & Media
• Media Institutions
• Technology & Society

Handbook on Sport and Culture: Q&A with Katerina Girginova

Our relationship with sports is changing. Now, with extended reality (XR) technology, we can watch live sporting events from the...

• Culture & Media

A Scholar Who Listens

From grazing sheep in Irish bogs to the infrastructural hum of parks in Philadelphia, recent Annenberg Gilbert Seldes Multimodal Postdoctoral...

• Technology & Society

Brain Activity Reveals What Makes Persuasive Messages Stick

A new study by the Communication Neuroscience Lab and colleagues reveals that activity in brain regions associated with reward and social processing can predict the effectiveness of messages.

• Technology & Society

A Road Map To Reduce Firearm Harms by 2040

Three Penn faculty members, including PIK Professor Desmond Patton, are among more than 40 experts to author a report addressing the persistent challenge of gun violence and proposing solutions stemming from a JAMA Summit convened last spring.

• Technology & Society

A New Exhibit at Annenberg Explores Philadelphia’s History of Communicating With Ghosts

The exhibit from the Annenberg Extended Reality Lab explores the 19th-century religious movement Spiritualism.

How Has Talking About Politics Changed in the Last Quarter-Century?

Annenberg Professor Diana Mutz finds that we’re having more political conversations now with like-minded people, and that political intolerance has increased as a result.

• Political Communication