Rebecca Frazer, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Public Relations assistant professor, is the co-recipient of two National Communication Association (NCA) 2023 Top Paper Awards in both the Mass Communication and Communication and Social Cognition Divisions.

In the Mass Communication Division, Frazer and Matthew Grizzard, an associate professor at The Ohio State University, co-authored “Reconceptualizing Selective Moral Disengagement Mechanisms as Continuums of Moral Influence: A Theoretical Expansion.”

The authors studied how humans rationalize harmful behavior and how they can act immorally while still feeling good about themselves. Their paper provided a reconceptualization of moral disengagement and paved the way for better future research applying moral psychology in mass communication.

In the Communication and Social Cognition Division, Frazer and a team of scholars co-authored “Victims of Circumstance: The Role of Behavior-Independent Events in the Disposition Formation Process.” In this study, the authors investigated whether events that happen to a character—outside of the character’s behavioral control—may also influence how much a character is liked by an audience. Their initial results suggest that such events can indeed have such an influence.

Both awards will be presented at the NCA 109th Annual Convention at National Harbor in Maryland from Nov. 16-19.

Posted: August 23, 2023
Category: College News, Research News
Tagged as: Communication in Social Cognition, Mass Communication, NCA Top Paper Award, Public Relations, Rebecca Frazer