Investigating how social identity, platform affordances, and technological structures shape the information we encounter, engage with, and act upon.
Michigan State University · Department of Advertising + Public Relations
Investigating how social identity, platform affordances, and technological structures shape the information we encounter, engage with, and act upon.
Understanding communication in an identity-driven information ecosystem.
The ASPECT Lab at Michigan State University investigates how the information we encounter, engage with, and act upon is shaped by internal psychological factors and external technological structures.
Our work draws on computational methods, large-scale data collection, survey research, and experimental design to understand modern communication ecosystems. We are particularly interested in how social identities — political, cultural, and group affiliations — systematically influence the information environments people inhabit.
Central to our work is the Identity Driven Information Ecosystem (IDIE) framework, which highlights how social identities shape not just what information people consume, but the platforms they use, the communities they join, and the content they create.
The people behind the research.
Associate Professor in the Department of Advertising + Public Relations at Michigan State University. His research explores how variations in technology and affordances shape political communication, with a focus on computational methods and large-scale data collection. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and holds an M.P.P. from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.
Our work spans political communication, platform studies, health communication, and computational social science.
How do the technical features of communication platforms shape what political campaigns say and how they say it? We study content across platforms to understand how structure and users shape political messaging.
Examining systematic biases in how information is produced, distributed, and consumed — from engagement asymmetries on Facebook to negativity biases in news coverage and the effects of press freedom on public responsiveness.
Political identity extends far beyond the ballot box. We study how partisan identities are reflected in music tastes, television consumption, visual imagery, food preferences, and lifestyle choices — and how these cultural signals shape political evaluations.
Investigating how platforms and framing affect engagement with health and science content — from digital wellness misinformation and science-influencer polarization to invasive species messaging and environmental advocacy.
We're always looking for motivated students interested in our research areas.
The ASPECT Lab welcomes graduate and undergraduate students interested in political communication, computational social science, platform studies, and health and science communication.
Graduate students develop skills in computational research methods including large-scale data collection, content analysis, natural language processing, and statistical modeling, alongside survey and experimental research design.
Undergraduate research assistants contribute to ongoing projects and gain hands-on research experience. Positions are available on a rolling basis.
If you're interested, please reach out directly with a brief description of your interests and experience.
Dr. Hiaeshutter-Rice presented “Enemies of the (E)state: News, Attacks, and a Free Press” at UCLA’s Political Communication & Behavior Lab.
Fioroni, Hiaeshutter-Rice, and Ploger presented work on rethinking the impact of “bad press” at the AAPOR annual conference.
New work on news, press attacks, and press freedom presented at the Midwest Political Science Association conference in Chicago.
Interested in collaborating or joining the lab? We'd love to hear from you.
404 S. Wilson Rd., Room 309
Department of Advertising + Public Relations
Michigan State University · East Lansing, MI 48824
