Communications | Penn Today

Angry mob on the steps of the U.S. Capitol with tear gas in the air.

Dissecting chaos: An interdisciplinary look at the attack on the U.S. Capitol

Faculty from five schools at the University took part in a virtual panel discussion to unpack the policies, messages, and conditions that led to the events of Jan. 6.

Large group of men gather in the street in Yemen holding the country's flag during the 2011 Arab Spring.

Arab Spring, 10 years later

A virtual panel at the Middle East Center looked at the legacy and long-term impact of the 2011 uprisings and how the region has been redefined by them.

Illustration of person on a computer with two information path bubbles coming out of the computer that describe The Hunter and The Busybody.

Researchers measure different types of curiosity studying ‘hunters and busybodies’

A multidisciplinary study has found a way to readily quantify the information-seeking associated with curiosity and explore mechanisms underlying information-seeking.

6 strategies for cooling it down on social media

Damon Centola of the Annenberg School for Communication shared his findings on how to improve communication between individuals with polarized political viewpoints.

Three abstract shapes used in a communications visual study.

Why independent cultures think alike when it comes to categories

In discovering how groups categorize unfamiliar shapes, research out of Annenberg’s Network Dynamics Group finds that intrinsic social experiences are at the root of problem solving, rather than the human brain itself.

A person in an American flag outfit and bandana carrying an American flag in front of a large group of people at the U.S. Capitol building. Many hold flags that read "Trump 2020."

The influence and importance of language

Labels for what happened Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol were very different from those used to describe the Black Lives Matter movement or the 2020 election results. How much weight do individual words actually have? It depends on the context.

On conservative talk radio, efforts to tone down inflammatory rhetoric appear limited

Brian Rosenwald of the School of Arts & Sciences weighed in on how conservative talk radio hosts will address the incoming Biden administration. “A Democratic administration equals a new boogeymen to focus on,” said Rosenwald. “You might have offhand references or conversation about Biden being an illegitimate president, but the focus won’t be on the ‘stolen election’ unless and until there is fresh news on the topic.”

The Trump presidency was marked by battles over truth itself. Those aren’t over

Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center said people can be primed to believe false information through repetition. “What Trump did was take tactics of deception and played to confirmation biases that were already circulating in our culture and embodied them in somebody who is president of the United States. He didn’t change what was available, but he changed its accessibility,” she said. “That crazed content has always been there. But it becomes dangerous when it is legitimized and when it has the power of the state behind it.”

Masked news reporter holds a microphone to an interviewee laughing and responding.

Delivering the news with humor makes young adults more likely to remember and share

An Annenberg study finds when compared to nonhumorous news clips, viewers are not only more likely to share humorously-presented news, but they are also more likely to remember the content from these segments.

Trump supporters’ main problem was never the economy

Research by Diana Mutz of the Annenberg School for Communication and School of Arts & Sciences found that people who voted for Trump in 2016 did so because of racial anxieties, not economic distress. “It’s the same old same old. White males have been the group with the most power in our country for a long, long time,” she said. “Change is hard.”

Filters