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Jay Hmielowski, Ph.D.

Jay Hmielowski, Ph.D.

Associate Professor - Department of Public Relations
Graduate Coordinator - Public Relations

Office: 3040C Weimer

Phone: 352-392-3995

Email: jhmielowski@ufl.edu

Jay Hmielowski, Ph.D.

Associate Professor - Department of Public Relations
Graduate Coordinator - Public Relations

Jay’s research interests include environmental, science, and political communication. He is interested in understanding why different messages are effective or ineffective at changing people’s attitudes and beliefs associated with various environmental, science, and political issues. He is also interested in how people’s attitudes and beliefs affect their information seeking behaviors.

Before coming to the University of Florida, Jay worked at the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University (WSU) where he served as an associate professor. Prior to his time at WSU, he was an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Arizona and a postdoctoral associate in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University.

Jay has over 40 publications in a range of outlets that includes top-tier communication journals such as the Journal of Communication, Communication Research, Communication Monographs, and Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly. He is currently serving on the editorial board of four academic journals.

Areas of Expertise

Media Psychology and Media Effects, Political Communication, Science Communication, Trust

Education

B.A., Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst
M.A., Washington State University
Ph.D. The Ohio State University School of Communication

News

Publications

Refereed Journal Articles

Hmielowski, J., Saracco, S., Beam, M., & Hutchens, M. (2025). To Seek or Not to Seek?: An Assessment of Partisan Media Avoidance and its Correlates. Communication Studies, 76(1), 86-108.

Parvizi, J., & Hmielowski, J. (2024). A Systematic Approach to Reducing Biased Information Processing through Messaging. Atlantic Journal of Communication. DOI: 10.1080/15456870.2023.2224482

Hmielowski, J., & Shaughnessy, B. (2024). I’ve Got Friends in Rural Places: Examining Predictors of People’s Feelings about Rural Residents. Journal of Rural Studies. DOI: 10.116/j.rurstud.2024.103528

Hmielowski, J., Heffron, E., & Munroe, M. (2024). Mask Up: Examining the Effects of Policy Change Attribution and Company Profits. Asian Journal of Public Relations Research, 1, 13-31. DOI: 10.61115/ajpr.2014.7.1.13

Mitson, R., Xu, H., & Hmielowski, J. (2024). Understanding the Efficacy of Leadership Communication Styles in Remote Work Contexts. Corporate Communications: An International Journal. DOI: 10.1108/ccij-02-2024-003

Hmielowski, J., DuBosar, E., Beam, M., & Hutchens, M. (2024). Effects or Use?: Examining the Over-Time Effects of Media Use and Racial Resentment. Communication Quarterly. DOI: 10.1080/01463373.2024.2383413

DuBosar, E., Hmielowski, J., Hutchens, M., & Beam, M. (2023). Celebrating Wins, Lamenting Losses: Examining BIRG, CORFING, and Information Utility in the Aftermath of the 2020 Presidential Election. Journal of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, and Applications. DOI: 10.1027/1864-1105/a000394

Hmielowski, J., Matthews, A., & Chu, H. (). Going the Distance: Examining the Relationship between Media Use, Psychological Distances, Risk Perceptions, and Behavioral Intentions. Science Communication, 45(4), 460-484. DOI: 10.1177/10755470231188694

Hmielowski, J., & DuBosar, E. (). Country Roads to Cityscapes: Examining the Relationship between Rural Identity and Media Trusts. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 100(3), 595-618. DOI: 10.1177/10776990231162093

Sparks, J., & Hmielowski, J. (). At the Extremes: Assessing Readability, Grade Level, Sentiment, and Tone in US Media Outlets. Journalism Studies, 24(1), 24-44. DOI: 10.1080/1461670X.2022.2142646

Hmielowski, J., Staggs, S., Hutchens, M., & Beam, M. (2022). Talking Politics: The Relationship between Safe and Dangerous Discussion with Partisan Media-Trust and Use. Communication Research, 49(2), 221-244. DOI: 10.1177/0093650220915041

Hmielowski, J., Cleve, M., DuBosar, E., & Munroe, M. (2022). Feeling is NOT mutual: Discussion, Science, and Environmental Attitudes by Party Affiliation. Environmental Communication, 16(7), 960-976. DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2022.2140689.

Kirkpatrick, A., Hmielowski, J., & Boyd, A. (2022). The Indirect Effects of Episodic-Thematic Framing on Information Sharing about the Economic Threat of Artificial Intelligence. Communication Studies, 73(5-6), 577-590. DOI: 10.1080/10510974.2022.2121737

Ma, Y., & Hmielowski, J. (2022). Are You Threatening Me? Identity Threat, Resistance to Persuasion, and Boomerang Effects. Environmental Communication, 16(2), 225-242. DOI: 10.1080/17524032.2021.1994442

Ma, Y., Hmielowski, J., & Yan, W. (2021). Clearing the Smog?: Examining the Relationship between State Media and Non-State Internet-Based Media on Risk Information Seeking in China. International Journal of Communication, 15, 4208 - 4229. DOI: ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/13762

Hmielowski, J., Kirkpatrick, A., & Boyd, A. (2021). Misperceiving Risk: Media Attention, Perceptions, Concern, and Support for Smart Meters. Journal of Risk Research, 24(11), 1388-1404. DOI: 10.1080/13669877.2020.1863844

Myers, M., & Hmielowski, J. (2021). Laugh, but Don’t Seek: A Re-assessment of the Gateway Hypothesis. International Journal of Communication, 15, 4420-4442. DOI: ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/17124

Elias, T., & Hmielowski, J. (2020). Media Use, Race, and the Environment: The Converging of Environmental Attitudes based on Self-Reported News Use. Environmental Values, 24(5), 701-724. DOI: 10.3197/096327120X15973379803735.

Dixon, G., Hmielowski, J., & Ma, Y. (2020). More Evidence of Psychological Reactance to Consensus Messaging: A Response to van der Linden, Maibach, and Leiserowitz (2019). Environmental Communication, 1-7.

Dixon, G., Hart, P. S., Clarke, C., O’Donnell, N. H., & Hmielowski, J. (2020). What drives support for self-driving car technology in the United States?. Journal of Risk Research, 23(3), 275-287. DOI: 10.1080/13669877.2018.1517384

Hmielowski, J., Kelvin, W., Hutchens, M., Silva, D., Beam, M., Donaway, R., & York, C. (2020). Communication Behaviors during Presidential Elections. Public Opinion Quarterly, 84(S1), 309-331. DOI: 10.1093/poq/nfaa013

Hmielowski, J., Hutchens, M., & Beam, M. (2020). Asymmetry of Partisan Media Effects?: Examining the Reinforcing Effects of Liberal and Conservative Media Outlets. Political Communication, 37(6), 852-868. DOI: 10.1080/10584609.2020.1763525

Hmielowski, J., Donaway, R., & Wang, M. Y. (2019). Environmental risk information seeking: The differential roles of anxiety and hopelessness. Environmental Communication, 13(7), 894-908.

Ma, Y., Dixon, G., & Hmielowski, J. (2019). Psychological reactance from reading basic facts on climate change: The role of prior views and political identification. Environmental Communication, 13(1), 71-86.

Boyd, A. D., Liu, J., & Hmielowski, J. (2019). Public support for energy portfolios in Canada: How information about cost and national energy portfolios affect perceptions of energy systems. Energy & Environment, 30(2), 322-340.

Hmielowski, J., Boyd, A. D., Harvey, G., & Joo, J. (2019). The social dimensions of smart meters in the United States: Demographics, privacy, and technology readiness. Energy Research & Social Science, 55, 189-197.

Hmielowski, J., Wang, M. Y., & Donaway, R. R. (2018). Expanding the political philosophy dimension of the RISP model: Examining the conditional indirect effects of cultural cognition. Risk Analysis, 38(9), 1891-1903.

Xiang, J., & Hmielowski, J. (2017). Alternative views and eroding support: The conditional indirect effects of foreign media and internet use on regime support in China. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 29(3), 406-425.

Dixon, G., Hmielowski, J., & Ma, Y. (2017). Improving climate change acceptance among US conservatives through value-based message targeting. Science Communication, 39(4), 520-534.

Boyd, A. D., Hmielowski, J., & David, P. (2017). Public perceptions of carbon capture and storage in Canada: Results of a national survey. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 67, 1-9.

Hmielowski, J. (2017). Secondary Research/Analysis. The International Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods, 1-5.

Kim, S., & Hmielowski, J. (2017). The Influence of Self-efficacy in Medical Drama Television Programming on Behaviors and Emotions that Promote Cervical Cancer Prevention. American journal of health behavior, 41(6), 719-727.

Hmielowski, J., & Nisbet, E. C. (2016). “Maybe yes, maybe no?”: Testing the indirect relationship of news use through ambivalence and strength of policy position on public engagement with climate change. Mass Communication and Society, 19(5), 650-670.

Hmielowski, J., Kim, C., & Kim, S. (2015). Engaging the Congregation: Examining the Conditional Indirect Effects of Religious Leaders’ Cues on Environmental Behaviors. Journal of Communication and Religion, 38(1), 51-66.

Hmielowski, J., Feldman, L., Myers, T. A., Leiserowitz, A., & Maibach, E. (2014). An attack on science? Media use, trust in scientists, and perceptions of global warming. Public Understanding of Science, 23(7), 866-883.

Feldman, L., Myers, T. A., Hmielowski, J., & Leiserowitz, A. (2014). The mutual reinforcement of media selectivity and effects: Testing the reinforcing spirals framework in the context of global warming. Journal of Communication, 64(4), 590-611.

Holbert, R. L., Lee, J., Esralew, S., Walther, W. O., Hmielowski, J., & Landreville, K. D. (2013). Affinity for political humor: An assessment of internal factor structure, reliability, and validity. Humor, 26(4), 551-572.

Holbert, R. L., Hmielowski, J., & Weeks, B. E. (2012). Clarifying relationships between ideology and ideologically oriented cable TV news use: A case of suppression. Communication Research, 39(2), 194-216.

Hmielowski, J. (2012). Intramedia moderation, electoral ambivalence, and electoral decision making. Mass Communication and Society, 15(3), 454-477.

McCluskey, M., & Hmielowski, J. (2012). Opinion expression during social conflict: Comparing online reader comments and letters to the editor. Journalism, 13(3), 303-319.

Dalisay, F., Hmielowski, J., Kushin, M. J., & Yamamoto, M. (2012). Social capital and the spiral of silence. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 24(3), 325-345.

Holbert, R. L., Hmielowski, J., Jain, P., Lather, J., & Morey, A. (2011). Adding nuance to the study of political humor effects: Experimental research on juvenalian satire versus horatian satire. American Behavioral Scientist, 55(3), 187-211.

Hmielowski, J., Holbert, R. L., & Lee, J. (2011). Predicting the consumption of political TV satire: Affinity for political humor, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report. Communication Monographs, 78(1), 96-114.

Holbert, R. L., & Hmielowski, J. (2010). SecondaryAnalysis inPolitical CommunicationViewed asaCreative Act. Sourcebook for Political Communication Research: Methods, Measures, and Analytical Techniques.

Baltodano, B., Bishop, J., Hmielowski, J., Kang-Graham, J., Morozov, A., White, B., & Ross, S. D. (2007). Discourses of Blame and Responsibility: US/Canadian Media Representations of Palestinian-Israeli Relations. Conflict & Communication, 6(1).

Book Chapters

Kirkpatarick, A., Hmielowski, J., & Boyd, A. (2023). Artificial Intelligence and Support for a Universal Basic Income. In Research Handbook on Artificial Intelligence and Communication (pp. 176- 192). Edward Elgar Publishing.

Presentations

Hutchens, M., Hmielowski, J., Beam, M., & Romanova, E. (2020). Environment or Beliefs?: The Roles of Media Use and Media Trust on Misinformation in the 2016 Presidential Election. Paper/Poster at International Communication Association Annual.

Ma, Y., & Hmielowski, J. (2020). Feeling the Distance: Applying Emotions to Construal Level Theory in Climate Change Communication. Paper/Poster at International Communication Association .

Hmielowski, J., Kirkpatrick, A., & Boyd, A. (2020). Misperceiving Risk: Media Attention, Perceptions, Concern, and Support for Smart Meters. Paper/Poster at International Communication Association .

Elias, T., & Hmielowski, J. (2019). Expanding the Theory of Planned Behavior: Implications for Media Use, Race/Ethnicity, and Pro-Environmental Intentions. Paper/Poster at Association for Education and Journalism and Mass Communication.

Myers, M., & Hmielowski, J. (2019). Laugh till I Seek: A Re-assessment of the Gateway Hypothesis. Paper/Poster at Association for Education and Journalism and Mass Communication.

Courses