September 2022 Featured Faculty Affiliate: Michelle Amazeen
September 2022 Featured Faculty Affiliate: Michelle Amazeen (COM Mass Communication, Advertising, and Public Relations)
Dr. Michelle A. Amazeen is Director of the Communication Research Center and an associate professor in the Department of Mass Communication, Advertising and Public Relations in the College of Communication. Her research program examines mediated persuasion and misinformation. Working at the intersection of journalism studies, media effects, and political communication, she explores the nature and persuasive effects of misinformation and efforts to correct misinformation. She uses qualitative and quantitative methods to yield results with practical applications for journalists, educators, policy makers, and consumers who strive to foster recognition of and resistance to persuasion and misinformation in media.
What made you decide to be a social scientist/ why does social science matter to you?
I was exposed to the social scientific work of my advisor, Dr. Sharon Shavitt, when I was studying at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign many years ago. At the time she was examining attitudes and advertising. As an advertising major, I found it interesting that I could study how people responded to ads. This introduction paved the way for my interest in how people respond to mediated persuasion, specifically misinformation. Our society has become so saturated with media messages, it’s important for us to understand how these messages – especially as they relate to science-related issues – are affecting human perceptions and behavior.
Can you tell us about a recent research project that you’re excited about?
I’m thrilled to be working on a project related to climate disinformation with a team of social scientists from BU. Titled “Data and Misinformation in an Era of Sustainability and Climate Change Crises,” we’ll be analyzing the nature, origins, spread, and impacts of mediated climate change mis- and disinformation, as well as testing different social media interventions to mitigate misinformed beliefs. I’m grateful to Boston University’s Institute for Sustainable Energy and the Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering for funding this project. This funding will also allow us to involve several student researchers in our project.
What is the best piece of professional advice you ever received?
Do what you love and you’ll never work another day in your life. Becoming an academic who uses social scientific methods was a second career for me. I spent over a decade working in the marketing research industry, ultimately finding it unfulfilling because I was using my skills to research things that didn’t really seem to be meaningful in the grand scheme of things (like studying how people perceived different brands of toilet bowl cleaner). Fortunately, I was able to pivot back toward academia, earning a PhD in Mass Media and Communication, so that I could focus on research that I feel helps make the world a better place.
What is your favorite course you’ve taught at BU?
Without question, COM CM 180: Understanding Media. This course allows me to help students become more media literate while drawing upon my own research and those of other communication researchers. While it’s really a communication theory class, students learn how these theories can be useful lenses through which to interpret contemporary media and their effects on people and society. I enjoy highlighting some of the impressive work my students have done using these theories to help them understand important social issues such as Covid-19, alternative medicines, climate change, and web design.
Tell us a surprising fact about yourself.
Having worked at a radio station in the late 1980s, I’m an 80s music trivia maven.