The Charles K. Atkin Distinguished Speakers Series brings leading communication scholars to Michigan State University to share research addressing timely issues in communication and society.
Now in its sixth year, the series will feature three scholars whose work explores social connection, social norms, artificial intelligence, persuasion and health communication. Join the College of Communication Arts and Sciences on Friday, Oct. 23, for a day of research presentations and discussion.
11:00 a.m. | Ellen Reinhart, Ph.D., Michigan State University (CAS Room 233)
Believing You Contribute to U.S. Society: Social Contribution Disparities, Implications, and Avenues for Change
Abstract: Believing that one is a valued, contributing member of society is important for individual physical, mental, and social health. Who gets to feel this way, and what cultural ideas and messages convey what counts as a contribution? This talk examines the role and implications of social contribution by using a culture cycle framework to unpack social well-being. Specifically, this talk probes a social class disparity in perceived social contribution by investigating if one source of this disparity is the perception that helping distant others (e.g., volunteering) is more of a contribution than helping close others (e.g., caring for a family member). To further expand on the implications of believing that one contributes to society, I will share work on perceived social contribution and political participation during the 2024 U.S. Presidential election. Finally, I will discuss future directions, including how institutional messages might shift perceptions of what is considered a contribution to society.
Bio: Ellen Reinhart, Ph.D. is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Communication at Michigan State University. Her research centers on wellbeing at the intersection of social inequality, culture, and communication, specifically how people feel valued and the consequences of feeling valued (versus undervalued). One line of research focuses on a social class disparity in feeling like one meaningfully contributes to society by investigating perceptions of helping behaviors. Some of her other research has focused on how political communication messages impact policy support, how emotions and efficacy relate to political behavior, and how experiencing personal harm modifies views of inequality. Dr. Reinhart earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in social psychology from Stanford University and was a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford's Graduate School of Business prior to joining MSU. Her work has been published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Political Psychology, PLOS One, and the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
1:15 p.m. | Rain Wuyu Liu, Ph.D. (CAS Room 145)
Social Norms: From Health and Environmental Behavior to the AI-Generated Era
Abstract: Social norms, whether measured as perceptions or deployed as appeals, are among the most powerful influences on behavior that communication researchers study. However, their influence is conditional, and specifying those conditions has guided my research since graduate school. This talk traces a program examining how normative influence shapes health and environmental behavior, drawing on experiments and surveys spanning COVID-19 prevention in the US and Italy, anti-littering in Ghana, and reusable bag adoption among grocery shoppers. Across these contexts, I will show when descriptive, injunctive, and dynamic norms change behavior, when they fail, and what moderates these effects.
I will then turn to a question that remains unanswered: what happens when the social environment from which people derive norms is itself partly synthetic? Drawing on ongoing work, I consider how the perceived prevalence and approval of AI-generated content function as social norms that shape platform trust and the credibility of information, and what this implies for the next generation of norm-based campaigns.
Bio: Rain Wuyu Liu (Ph.D., Michigan State University, 2017) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Arizona. Her research examines persuasion and social influence, particularly how social norm messaging shapes information processing, attitude formation, and behavior change on health and environmental issues, and how cultural values and beliefs condition normative influence.
She is a 2026-2027 fellow at the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy and an AI fellow with the Office of Responsible AI and the Arizona Institute for AI and Society. She has worked on grant-funded projects supported by the National Science Foundation, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the University of Arizona Research Innovation and Impact, and the Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Institute.
Her work appears in Communication Monographs, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Health Communication, Environmental Communication, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, and Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, among others. She serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Intercultural Communication Research. Her honors include the B. Aubrey Fisher Outstanding Journal Article Award, ICA’s inaugural Environmental Communication Division Dissertation Award, multiple top paper awards from NCA and ICA, and the 2026 International Research Award and Teaching Innovation Award from the University of Arizona College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
2:30 p.m. | Jingyuan “Jolie” Shi, Ph.D. (CAS Room 145)
Artificial Intelligence for Persuasion and Health Communication
Abstract: Amid mounting interest in artificial intelligence (AI) technology, communication scholars have sought to understand humans’ responses to AI and their interactions with this technology in various domains. This talk outlines how AI shapes the mechanisms and outcomes of persuasion by serving as an information source, message creator, interlocutor, interactive agent, and collaborator, particularly in the context of promoting individual well-being and public health.
The speaker will present her recent findings from a series of empirical studies and discuss their theoretical and practical implications for persuasion and communication research in the ever-changing era of emerging technology. The talk will conclude by proposing a two-level human–machine communication framework, which integrates communication science and explainable AI, and discussing how communication science can enhance and support the explainability, transparency, and ethical use of AI in persuasion and health contexts.
Bio: Jingyuan “Jolie” Shi, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Interactive Media and Co-Director of the Centre for Media and Communication Research (CMCR) at Hong Kong Baptist University. She currently serves as an Associate Editor for Environmental Communication. Her research interests converge at the intersection of persuasion, health and environmental communication, and new communication technology. Her current research focuses on how AI transforms persuasion mechanisms and how such technology can be used for social good. Her research offers implications for developing theory-driven communication strategies to promote social good and addresses significant public health and environmental issues, including vaccine hesitancy, mental well-being, cancer prevention, and climate change.
Dr. Shi’s work has appeared in leading journals in communication such as Human Communication Research, Communication Theory, Communication Research, Science Communication, Environmental Communication, Health Communication, and Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. She has received the Outstanding Performance in Scholarly Work and the Rising Star Research Grant from Hong Kong Baptist University. She has also won several international awards, including the Promising Professor Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), and the Top Paper Award from the International Communication Association (ICA). She has also served as an expert advisor on the steering committee for the World Health Organization’s (WHO) research project on communicating health risks via social media.