Biography

Dr. Fujioka’s general research areas include social psychological effects of mediated messages, communication and ethnic minorities and communication and health decision making. More specifically, Dr. Fujioka’s research program centers on the role of cognitive, emotional and motivational factors in how individuals process and respond to mediated messages, particularly, mediated racial and ethnic images and health-related information. Her current research examines automatic components of audience responses in relation to conscious-driven processes when people encounter social information. She uses various methods such as online survey, psychophysiology, and eye tracking. Her ultimate goal is to provide insight that can be used to design effective campaign messages targeted at improving the physical and mental well-being of individuals and communities. Her research appears in Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Communication Research, Howard Journal of Communications, Communication Monographs, Pediatrics, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, and Journal of Health Communication. Fujioka also brings unique professional experience into her classes, having previously served as a marketing researcher who specialized in audience response research testing at a corporate marketing firm in Japan. She has also worked as an assistant producer for NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) service center. Degree Track Affiliations: Ph.D. (Public Communication), M.A. (Mass Communication). Core Graduate Seminars Regularly Taught: Audience Studies; Quantitative Research Methods; Persuasion & Communication Campaign.