
James Shanahan
Professor
Contact Information
Research and Creative Interests
- cultivation
- cultural indicators
- media effects
- environmental communication
Biography
James Shanahan is a Professor in the Media School at Indiana University. From 2015-2021 he was the Founding Dean of the Media School. He is a mass media effects researcher. He is also a member of the Observatory on Social Media.
His research interests focus on cultural indicators, cultivation theory, media effects and public opinion. Special areas of focus are communication in relation to science and the environment.
He has authored and edited several books, including Climate Change and Resilience in Indiana and Beyond (2022), Media Effects (2021), Living with Television Now (co-edited with Michael Morgan and Nancy Signorielli, 2012), and Television and its Viewers (with Michael Morgan, 1999). He has published numerous articles and chapters on topics related to media effects.
Recent publications:
Hermann, E., Morgan, M., Shanahan, J. & Yan, H. (2023). Cultivation and social media: A meta-analysis. New Media and Society, 25(9): 2492:2511. https://doi.org/10.1177/146144482311802
Hermann, E., Morgan, M., Shanahan, J. & Yan, H. (2023). Television, authoritarianism, and support for Trump: A replication. Public Opinion Quarterly, 87(2): 389–401. doi: 10.1093/poq/nfad015
Shanahan, J., McComas, K. & Deline, M. (2022). Representations of the environment on television, and their effects, In Hansen, A. & Cox, R. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Environment and Communication. London: Routledge
McCabe, J., Filippelli, G., Novick, K., & Shanahan, J. (eds.)(2022). Climate Change and Resilience in Indiana and Beyond. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. ISBN: 9780253063946
Houser, M., Gazley, B., Reynolds, H., Browning, E., Sandweiss, E., Shanahan, J. (2022). Public support for local adaptation policy: The role of social-psychological factors, perceived climatic stimuli, and social structural characteristics. Global Environmental Change, 72, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102424
Hermann, H., Morgan, M. & Shanahan, J. (2022): Social change, cultural resistance: a meta-analysis of the influence of television viewing on gender role attitudes, Communication Monographs, 89(3): 396-418. DOI: 10.1080/03637751.2021.2018475
Hermann, E., Morgan, M. & Shanahan, J. (2021). Television, continuity, and change: A meta-analysis of five decades of cultivation research. Journal of Communication, 71(4): 515–544. 10.1093/joc/jqab014
Gui, M., Shanahan, J. & Tsay-Vogel, M. (2021) Theorizing inconsistent media selection in the digital environment. The Information Society, DOI: 10.1080/01972243.2021.1922565
Yan, H., Yang, K., Menczer, F., Shanahan, J. (2021). Asymmetrical Perceptions of Partisan Political Bots. New Media and Society, 1-22. DOI: 10.1177/1461444820942744
Shanahan, J. (2021). Media effects. Cambridge, UK: Polity.
Signorielli, N., Morgan, M. & Shanahan, J. (2019). The Violence Profile: Five Decades of Cultural Indicators Research, Mass Communication and Society, 22:1, 1-28, DOI: 10.1080/15205436.2018.1475011
Recent conference presentations:
Mudavadi, K. & Shanahan, J. (2023). Journalistic Digital Migration in Kenya. Paper presented to International Communication Association.
Li, W., Shanahan, J. & Yan, Y. (2023). The Moderating Role of Partisanship between Hostile Media Perception and Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in the U.S. Paper presented to International Communication Association.
Yan, Y. Yang, K., Shanahan, J. & Menczer, F. (2023). Exposure to Social Bots Amplifies: Perceptual Biases and Regulation Propensity.