Brittany Shaughnessy

Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) was developed by psychologists to explore and explain why people around the world hold similar moral values despite having divergent cultural experiences. MFT identifies five “moral intuitions,” or deeply held moral values. These include harm/care, fairness/reciprocity, ingroup/loyalty, authority/respect and purity/sanctity. While MFT is used primarily in…

University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications doctoral student Brittany Shaughnessy is the author of “2020 Election Coverage Was Rife with Authoritarian Language, Study Finds” published on poynter.com on Nov. 27. In the article, she references a recent study by a team of political communication researchers, including Shaughnessy, that…

A new study suggests that effectively leveraging organizational communications in democracies can support the transfer of object salience, moral attributes and networks to media coverage, public discourse and opponent messaging. The findings by University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) doctoral students Brittany Shaughnessy and Nader Dagher, Public…

Lack of trust is a prevalent issue in modern news media. As of 2021, just 26% of American adults reported having trust in national media and scholars still don’t fully understand the impact of online comments on media trust. Why does this matter? Media trust is critical for democracies because…

A new study has found that emotions are inseparable from political decision-making and even negative emotions can be linked to positive outcomes. The findings by University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) doctoral student Ekaterina Romanova and Public Relations Department Associate Professor and  Chair Myiah Hutchens, are featured…