Education

PhD, University of Pennsylvania
MA, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
BA, Beijing University, P.R. China

Courses Taught

JAMS 380 — Special Topics in Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies, Topic: Entertainment and Politics (Online)
JAMS 380 — Special Topics in Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies, Topic: Health and Media (Online)
JAMS 505 — Research for Advertising and Public Relations (Previously Research for Strategic Communication)
JAMS 614 — Seminar in Media and Public Opinion
JAMS 661 — Seminar in Media Communication and Society, Topic: Media Effects and Persuasion
JAMS 701 — Media Studies Research Design
JAMS 810 — Media Effects

Research Interests

Persuasion, media effects, media psychology, strategic communication, health communication, and political communication

Teaching Areas

Persuasion, media effects, public opinion, health communication, and political communication

Selected Publications

Xu, J., & Cao, X. (in press). Young adults’ (mis)use of prescription opioid drugs: An exploratory study. Health Communication.

Cao, X. (2018). Impact of social information on intentions to volunteer domestically for foreign causes. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 29(2), 273-283.

Kim, J., Cao, X., & Meczkowski, E. (2018). Does stigmatization motivate people to quit smoking? The effect of stigmatizing anti-smoking campaigns on cessation intention. Health Communication, 33(6), 681-689.  

Cao, X., & Jia, L. (2017). The effects of the facial expression of beneficiaries in charity appeals and psychological involvement on donation intention: Evidence from an online experiment. Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 27(4), 457-473.

Kim, M., & Cao, X. (2016). The impact of exposure to media messages promoting (government) conspiracy theories on distrust in the government: Evidence from a two-stage randomized experiment. International Journal of Communication, 10, 3808-3827.

Cao, X., & Decker, D. L. (2015). Psychological distancing: The effects of narrative perspectives and levels of access to a victim’s inner world on victim blame and helping intention. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 20(1), 12-24.

Zhang, W., Cao, X., & Tran, M. N. (2013). The structural features and the deliberative quality of online discussions. Telematics and Informatics, 30(2), 74-86.

Cao, X. (2010). Hearing it from Jon Stewart: The impact of The Daily Show on public attentiveness to politics. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 22(1), 26-46.