Biography

Cynthia Hoffner (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1988) is Professor of Communication.  Her academic work focuses on psychological aspects of media uses and effects.  Topics she studies include the role of emotion in media selection and response, parasocial relationships with media figures, and the presumed influence of media messages.  She is also interested in the uses and consequences of new media technologies, and recently published a book chapter on children’s online and parasocial relationships.  Her research appears in communication and psychology journals, including Media Psychology, Journal of Communication, Communication Research, Human Communication Research, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Communication Monographs, Motivation and Emotion, Journal of Career Development, Child Development, and Developmental Psychology.  Hoffner won outstanding dissertation awards from both the National Communication Association and the International Communication Association.  She is currently co-editor of the journal Media Psychology, and serves on the editorial boards of four other academic journals. 

Recent topics of her graduate seminars include New Media and Youth, Intersection of Media and Interpersonal Communication, and Media and Emotion.  Research Areas: Media Uses & Effects; Media Psychology; Media and Youth; Quantitative Research Methods. Degree Track Affiliations: Ph.D. (Public Communication), M.A. (Mass Communication). Core Graduate Seminars Regularly Taught: Audience Studies; Media Uses & Effects; Quantitative Research Methods.