Selected Ongoing Projects
Responsible use of AI: Current research in this area examines critical questions surrounding the responsible and ethical use of artificial intelligence, with particular attention to its potential risks, societal consequences, and unintended impacts.
AI and misinformation: Research in this area investigates the role of artificial intelligence in shaping political and health-related misperceptions. Current projects examine how AI-generated content may complicate the detection of misinformation, as well as the potential for AI chatbots to support large-scale and effective misinformation correction.
Intersection of health and politics: Research in this area examines the intersection of health communication and politics, with a particular focus on vaccination attitudes and beliefs. Experimental research (Cao et al., 2025) has investigated how exposure to political discourse surrounding vaccines can contribute to increased vaccine misperceptions and has explored factors that may mitigate these effects.
Selected Past Projects
Information integrity: Survey research in this area has examined associations between news credibility, social media news use, and misperceptions (Xiao et al., 2021), the role of political ideology on media literacy (Borah, 2022), and incidental news exposure and misperceptions (Borah et al., 2022). Experimental work in this area has examined how corrective messages may impact people’s misperceptions (Borah et al.,2023; Borah et al.,2022).
Vaccination behavior: Several projects in this area have used experimental research to understand vaccination attitudes and behavior. Projects have investigated the promotion strategies such as gain vs. loss frames (Borah, 2023), individual vs. collective frames (Borah et al.,2021; Borah et al., 2024; Borah, 2024), narrative persuasion techniques (Borah et al., 2022), and norm-based messages (Xiao & Borah, 2020). These studies have examined several types of vaccines, including HPV, COVID-19, and Flu. Lab members have also studied vaccine-related content on social media, including posts by the CDC.
Marginalized and minority population: Members from the Digital Media and Society Lab have delved into many research areas centered on marginalized populations, including the impact of VR documentaries about refugees on donation intention (Borah et al.,2024), understanding uncivil rhetoric against women politicians of color (Borah et al.,2022), and feminism and inclusivity (Borah et al., 2023).