Michigan State University

Dan Hiaeshutter-Rice

Associate Professor of Advertising + Public Relations

I study how platform affordances, social identity, and computational methods reshape political communication and the information ecosystem.

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Dan Hiaeshutter-Rice
Research Agenda

Areas of focus

My work sits at the intersection of political communication, platform studies, and computational social science.

Platforms & Political Communication

How the technical features and affordances of communication platforms shape the content and strategies of political campaigns. Central to this work is the Identity Driven Information Ecosystem (IDIE) framework.

Systematic Biases in Information

How algorithms and user behavior influence content exposure and engagement, including how news engagement on Facebook skews ideologically and how negativity drives public interaction with advocacy content.

Identity & Political Expression

How political identity manifests through consumer choices and cultural signals — from music preferences and podcast selection to television viewing and visual imagery as reflections of partisan identity.

Health & Science Communication

Digital wellness content, science-influencer polarization, environmental messaging effectiveness, and how social identity and norms shape health-related behaviors including sports-gambling engagement.

Selected Work

Publications

Peer-reviewed journal articles. Full list and citation metrics on Google Scholar.

2026
Are Policymakers Persuaded in Parallel?: Policymakers, Evidence, and Motivated Reasoning
Bergan, D. E., Amakoh, K., Carnahan, D., Hiaeshutter-Rice, D., & Teinowitz, L.
American Politics Research, 54(1), 80–90
2025
Embracing Dialectic Intersubjectivity: Coordination of Differential Perspectives in Content Analysis With LLM Persona Simulation
Kang, T., Thorson, K., Peng, T. Q., Hiaeshutter-Rice, D., Lee, S., & Soroka, S.
Social Science Computer Review
2024
Climate Change Advocacy and Engagement on Social Media
Hart, P. S., Feldman, L., Choi, S., Chinn, S., & Hiaeshutter-Rice, D.
Science Communication
2024
Go Negative for Clicks: Negative Sentiment in Environmental Advocacy Emails Is Associated with Increased Public Engagement
Hart, P. S., Soroka, S. N., & Hiaeshutter-Rice, D.
Environmental Communication, 1–7
2024
Testing How Militaristic and Xenophobic Language Affects Engagement with Facebook Posts About Invasive Species
Chinn, S., Hiaeshutter-Rice, D., Hart, P. S., & Larson, B. M.
Environmental Communication, 18(3), 351–357
2024
How Science Influencers Polarize Supportive and Skeptical Communities Around Politicized Science: A Cross-Platform and Over-Time Comparison
Chinn, S., Hiaeshutter-Rice, D., & Chen, K.
Political Communication, 41(4), 627–648
2024
Identity Driven Information Ecosystems
Hiaeshutter-Rice, D., Madrigal, G., Ploger, G., Carr, S., Carbone, M., Battocchio, A. F., & Soroka, S.
Communication Theory, 34(2), 82–91
2023
Who Will Tell the Stories of Health Inequities? Platform Challenges (and Opportunities) in Local Civic Information Infrastructure
Battocchio, A. F., Thorson, K., Hiaeshutter-Rice, D., Smith, M., Chen, Y., Edgerly, S., et al.
The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 707(1), 144–171
2023
Cued by Culture: Political Imagery and Partisan Evaluations
Hiaeshutter-Rice, D., Neuner, F., & Soroka, S.
Political Behavior, 1–19
2023
Mapping Digital Wellness Content: Implications for Health, Science, and Political Communication Research
Chinn, S., Hasell, A., & Hiaeshutter-Rice, D.
Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media, 3, 1–56
2022
The Language of Extremism on Social Media: An Examination of Posts, Comments, and Themes on Reddit
Hiaeshutter-Rice, D. & Hawkins, I.
Frontiers in Political Science, 4, 1–16
2022
Political Sorting in US Entertainment Media
Fioroni, S. B., Lotz, A. D., Soroka, S., & Hiaeshutter-Rice, D.
Popular Communication, 20(2), 117–132
2021
Understanding Audience Engagement with Mainstream and Alternative News Posts on Facebook
Hiaeshutter-Rice, D. & Weeks, B. E.
Digital Journalism, 1–30
2021
Platform Effects on Alternative Influencer Content: Understanding How Audiences and Channels Shape Misinformation Online
Hiaeshutter-Rice, D., Chinn, S., & Chen, K.
Frontiers in Political Science, 3, 53
2021
Freedom of the Press and Public Responsiveness
Hiaeshutter-Rice, D., Soroka, S., & Wlezien, C.
Perspectives on Politics, 3, 1–13
2019
Civic Laboratories: Youth Political Expression in Anonymous, Ephemeral, Geo-Bounded Social Media
Lane, D. S., Das, V., & Hiaeshutter-Rice, D.
Information, Communication & Society, 1–16
2018
Negativity and Positivity Biases in Economic News Coverage: Traditional Versus Social Media
Soroka, S., Daku, M., Hiaeshutter-Rice, D., Guggenheim, L., & Pasek, J.
Communication Research, 45(7), 1078–1098
View all on Google Scholar →
Research Lab

The ASPECT Lab

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.

We draw on computational methods, large-scale data collection, survey research, and experimental design to understand modern communication ecosystems, with a focus on how social identities systematically shape the information environments people inhabit.

We are always looking for motivated graduate students in political communication, computational methods, or platform studies. Get in touch.

Visit the ASPECT Lab site →
AAffordances
SSocial Identity
PPolitical Communication
EE-Health
CCommunication
TTechnologies
Mentorship

Doctoral students

Current and former Ph.D. students I advise and have advised.

Current
LC
Layla Chen
Ph.D. student, Advertising + Public Relations
TK
Taewoo Kang
Placement: Incoming Assistant Professor, Yonsei University
NZ
Nan Zhang
Placement: Incoming Assistant Professor, Indiana University
Former
AB
Ava Francesca Battocchio
Northwestern University
SA
Suhwoo Ahn
Kookmin University, South Korea
SB
Sevgi Baykaldi
Atılım University, Turkey
Teaching

Courses

Digital advertising, analytics, computational methods, and data science.

ADV 362

Digital Advertising Analytics

A hands-on course covering campaign management, digital metrics, platform analytics, and data-driven advertising strategy, using real and simulated datasets.

Undergraduate
ADV 492

Advanced Digital Analytics

An advanced course covering sophisticated measurement techniques, attribution modeling, and applied data analysis for digital advertising campaigns.

Undergraduate
CAS 892

Introduction to Python

A graduate-level introduction to Python for communication researchers — data collection, manipulation, and analysis for computational social science.

Graduate
Summer Workshop

Summer Data Lab

An intensive workshop providing hands-on training in data science methods and computational tools for graduate students and faculty across the College.

Workshop
Recent

News & talks

October 2025

Invited Talk at UCLA

Presented “Enemies of the (E)state: News, Attacks, and a Free Press” at UCLA’s Political Communication & Behavior Lab.

June 2025

Paper at AAPOR

Fioroni, Hiaeshutter-Rice, and Ploger presented work on rethinking the impact of “bad press” at the AAPOR annual conference.

April 2025

Paper at MPSA

New work on news, press attacks, and press freedom presented at the Midwest Political Science Association conference in Chicago.

Connect

Get in touch

I welcome inquiries about research collaborations, prospective graduate students, and speaking opportunities.

Office

404 S. Wilson Rd., Room 309
Department of Advertising + Public Relations
Michigan State University · East Lansing, MI 48824

Google Scholar→ GitHub→ MSU Faculty Profile→ Political Communication Working Group→ Download CV (PDF)↓