Honors and Awards

• AEJMC Community Journalism Interest Group Top Faculty paper, 2024.  Tim Vos, Taewoo Kang, Rachel Mourão, Esther Thorson, and Marialina Antolini.  Place Matters.

• AEJMC Newspaper and Online News Division's Second Place Faculty Paper Award, 2024.  Taewoo Kang, Esther Thorson, & Rachel Mourao.  Curated Verification: Partisan Differences in Audience’s Information Validation Strategies.

• AEJMC News Audience Research Paper Award, 2023.  Chen, W. & Thorson, E. Comparing effects of news subscription motivation and news lifestyle, and their impact on subscription retention.

• American Communities Project, Research Advisory Board, 2022

• Paul J. Deutschmann Award for Excellence in Research, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, 2019

• Fellow, International Communication Association, 2018

• Eleanor Blum Distinguished Service to Research Award, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, August, 2017.

• Best Dissertation Proposal Award for doctoral advisee Penny Kwon, American Academy of Advertising, March, 2016.

• Best Dissertation Proposal Award for doctoral advisee Anna Kim, American Academy of Advertising, March, 2014.

• First Prize, Advertising Age White Paper 2013 (with Jeri Moore, Communicus, LLC). Paper published online May, 2013.

• Best Dissertation Proposal Award for doctoral advisee Heather Shoenberger, American Academy of Advertising, March, 2013.

• Harold L. Nelson Award for achievement in mass communication research from the School of Journalism & Mass communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, March, 2011.

• One of five most downloaded MSI reports in 2010: Dynamic Marketing Investment Strategies for Platform Firms by Shirhari Sridhar, Murali K. Mantrala, Prasad A. Naik, & Esther Thorson (2009), which entailed the development of normative budgeting and allocation rules using a two-sided dynamic sales response model and subsequent tests of the model using data from a daily newspaper company.

• Missouri Press Association President’s Award, 2009.

• Director of Graduate Studies Outstanding Contribution Award, University of Missouri, 2009. 

• “Outstanding Woman of the Year in Journalism Education,” Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Commission on the Status of Women, 2008.

• American Advertising Federation Distinguished Advertising Education Award, 2004.

• Missouri Alumni Association Faculty Award, 2003.

• Outstanding Contribution to Research Award, American Academy of Advertising, 2003.

• Best Dissertation Proposal Award for doctoral advisee Doyle Yoon, American Academy of Advertising, March, 2001.

• Curator’s Award for Scholarly Excellence, University of Missouri, 2000.

• Fellow, American Academy of Advertising, 1994.

Research Funding

Previous

The Carnegie Corporation of New York in support of “Young Adults, Media Flows and Electoral Engagement: Understanding How Campaign Dynamics Drive Millennials’ Knowledge and Participation”  Dhavan V. Shah, Principal Investigator w/ Leticia Bode, Stephanie Edgerly, Esther Thorson, Kjerstin Thorson, Emily Vraga, and Chris Wells as Co-Principal Investigators - $40,000 – 10/1/2016 — 9/30/2018.

Research Center Directorships

From 1994-2014, Thorson versaw the Center for Advanced Social Research (CASR), which was a research center housed in the School of Journalism. During that time, CASR grew from an operation of about $100,000 per year to approximately $500,000 per year. 

Thorson served as Research Director for the Reynolds Journalism Institute for eight years (2008-2016).  In total, we executed approximately $850,000 per year in applied research and project development. 

Additional Grants and Contracts
(Principal Investigator unless otherwise indicated)

• 2010 “Communication Markets” Mizzou Advantage, (With Murali Mantrala) $17,500

• 2010 A study to further examine the effectiveness of the strategic communications strategy of the U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center. Fort Leonard Wood Institute, (Co-PI) $360,000

• 2009-10 A study to examine the effectiveness of the strategic communications strategy of the U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center. Fort Leonard Wood Institute, (Co-PI) $100,000

• 2008-09 Content analysis of health reporting in California. The California Endowment, $130,500

• 2008 Impact of reporting approaches on response to public health issues. The California Endowment, (Co-PI) $202,500

• 2005 Report on the news media landscape and the future of newspapers. Newspaper Association of America (Co-PI), $85,000

• 2005 Training of journalists to cover terrorism events. Missouri Department of Homeland Security, $100,000

• 2002 Analysis of research related to “Good Business/Good Journalism. New Directions for News and Knight Foundation, $60,000

• 1999 Alcohol use by Greek and non-Greek students and Greek leaders in alcohol-sensitive and non-alcohol sensitive locales. National Panhellenic-National Intercollegiate Conference, $93,000

• 1999 Race and the news media. Ford Foundation (Co-investigator with Dean Mills & Ron Kelley, University of Missouri-Columbia), $100,000

• 1997-98 A strategic study on race and media. Ford Foundation, (Co-investigator with Dean Mills & Ron Kelley, University of Missouri-Columbia), $503,000

• 1997-98 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Co-investigator with Charles Atkin, Michigan State University), $371,000

• 1998 Evaluation of a children’s health report card statewide campaign.Kansas Health Foundation, $72,000

• 1998 Evaluation of diversity of coverage in the LA Times. Ford Foundation, (With Dean Mills & Ron Kelley) $50,000

• 1997 Evaluation of a second-hand smoke campaign in Kansas. Kansas Health Foundation, $185,000

• 1997 The influence of Greek affiliation on college and post-college experience: A follow-up study. National Panhellenic-National Intercollegiate Conference, $67,000

• 1996 Evaluation of a second-hand smoke campaign in Wichita. Kansas Health Foundation, $94,000

• 1996 Evaluation of impact of violence and crime reporting from a public health perspective. California Wellness Foundation, Subcontract with Lori Dorfman, $150,000

• 1996 The impact of Greek affiliation on college and life experiences. National Panhellenic-National Intercollegiate Conference, $102,000

• 1995-96 Newsroom and citizen effects of civic journalism in four cities. Pew Charitable Trusts, $273,000

Journal Articles

Kim, E., Thorson, E., Duffy, M., & Shoenberger, H. (2024).  Softening the blow: The power of rhetorical frames used by social media influencers with sponsorship disclosure. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 24(2), 169-183.  https://doi.org/10.1080/15252019.2024.2325408

Thorson, E. (2023).  100 years of advertising studies in AEJMC. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 100(4), 958-978.

Thorson, E. (2023).  Emotion in processing advertising and news.  Journalism & Mass Communication Monographs, 25(2), 181-192. 

Mourão, R. R., Thorson, E., Kryston, K., & Tunney, C. (2022). Predicting Audience Verification Intention: The impact of partisanship, source, importance, and information familiarity on willingness to verify headlines. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 10776990221130992.  Nominated for 2023 Kaid-Sanders Research Award, Political Communication Division, International Communication Association.

Coleman, R., Thorson, E., Jimenez, C., & Vinton, K. (2022). Reaching science skeptics: How adaptive framing of climate change leads to positive responses via persuasion knowledge and perceived behavioral control. Communication Research, 00936502221084925.

Chang, Y., & Thorson, E. (2022). Media multitasking, counterarguing, and brand attitude: Testing the mediation effects of advertising attention and cognitive load. Computers in Human Behavior, 139, 107544.

Thorson, E. (2021).  The consumer psychology of traditional media.  In Eds., Lynn R. Kahle; Associate Editors Tina M. Lowrey and Joel Huber.  APA Handbook of Consumer Psychology.  Pp 435-451. 

Brian Houston, J., Thorson, E., Kim, E., & Mantrala, M. K. (2021). COVID-19 communication ecology: Visualizing communication resource connections during a public health emergency using network analysis. American Behavioral Scientist, 65(7), 893-913.

Tunney, C., Thorson, E., & Chen, W. (2021). Following and avoiding fear-inducing news topics: fear intensity, perceived news topic importance, self-efficacy, and news overload. Journalism Studies, 22(5), 614-632.

Kim, E., Duffy, M., & Thorson, E. (2021). Under the influence: Social media influencers’ impact on response to corporate reputation advertising. Journal of Advertising, 50(2), 119-138.

Robertson, C., Mourão, R.R., & Thorson, E. (2020).  Who uses fact-checking sites? The impact of demographics, political antecedents and media use on fact-checking site awareness, attitudes, and behavior.  International Journal of Press & Politics, 25(2), 217-237.  DOI: 10.1177/1940161219898055

Houston, J. B., McKinney, M. S., Thorson, E., Hawthorne, J., Wolfgang, J. D., & Swasy, A. (2020). The twitterization of journalism: User perceptions of news tweets. Journalism, 21(5), 614-632.

Mourao, R., Edgerly, S., & Thorson, E.  (2019). When do audiences verify?  How perceptions of truth influence audience verification of news headlines.  Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 97(1), 52-71.    doi.org/10.1177/1077699019864680  

Chen, W., & Thorson, E. (2019). Perceived individual and societal values of news and paying for subscriptions.  Journalism, 1-21.  doi.org/10.1177/1464884919847792   

Thorson, E., Chen, W., & Lacy, S. (2019).  National and local news consumption and indices of communication participation in an American civic-journalism news environment. Journalism Studies, 21(1), 1-16.  doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2019.1672476.

Thorson, E., Tham, S. M.,  Chen, W.  & Kanuri, V.  (2019) Exposure to Presidential Candidate Advertising on Television, Website, and Social Media During 23 Days of the 2016 Primary, Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, 40:1, 73-89, DOI: 10.1080/10641734.2018.1500319

Thorson, E., Chen, W., & Lacy, S. (2019). Civic participation and connectivity with a metro newspaper. Newspaper Research Journal, 40(3), 346-361.  doi.org/10.1177/0739532919835614

Mourao, R., Thorson, E., Chen, W., & Tham, S. (2018).  Media repertoires and news trust during early Trump administration.  Journalism Studies 19(13), 1945-1956.  Doi  10.1080/1461670X.2018.1500492

Rodgers, S., & Thorson, E. (2018).  Special issue introduction, Digital engagement with advertising. Journal of Advertising, 47(1), 1-3.

 Li, Y., & Thorson, E. (2018).  Converting cultural capital into economic capital: A hybrid newspaper's content management and performance during economic turbulence.  Journal of Media Business Studies, 1-23.

Kwon, E., Ratweshnar, R., & Thorson, E. (2017).  Consumers’ social media advocacy behaviors of luxury brands: An explanatory framework.  International Journal of Advertising. 17(1), 13-27.

Wu, Y., & Thorson E., (2017).  Incivility, source and credibility:  An experimental test of news story processing in the digital age.  Journal of Communication Media Watch, 8(2), 126-142. 

Kim, A., Ratneshwar, S., & Thorson, E.  (2017).  Why narrative ads work:  An integrated process explanation.  Journal of Advertising, 46(2), 283-296.  

Kanuri, V., Mantrala, M., & Thorson, E. (2017).  Optimizing a menu of multi-format subscription plans for advertising supported media platforms: A model and application in the daily newspaper industry. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2711283 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2711283

• Honorable Mention, 2018 Best Paper for Research on the Practice of Marketing as it relates to Innovation, Technology and Interactivity, Awarded by American Marketing Association's Innovation, Technology and Interactivity Special Interest Group and the Lazaridis Institute for Management of Technology Enterprises at Wilfrid Laurier University.  Also scored among the top articles with highest impact using either Altmetric Attention Score or Web of Science citation index or both.

Edgerly, S., Thorson, K. S., Thorson, E., Vraga, E.K., & Bode, L. (2017).  Do parents still model news consumption?  Socializing news use among adolescents in a multi-device world.  New Media & Society, published online, January 23, 2017. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1461444816688451

Edgerly, S., Vraga, E. K., Bode, L., Thorson, K., & Thorson, E. (2017). New media, new relationship to participation? A closer look at youth news repertories and political participation. Online first publication at Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly.

• Best paper finalist, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 2018.

Swafford, S., Thorson, E., & Kim, E. (2017). Newspaper news exposure predicts political participation.  Newspaper Research Journal, 38(2), 231-234.

Ferrucci, P., Russell, F. M., Choi, H., Duffy, M., & Thorson, E. (2017). Times Are a Changin’ How a merger affects the construction of news processes. Journalism Studies, 18(3), 247-264.

Clayton, R., Leshner, G., Bolls, P., & Thorson, E. (2016). Discard the smoking cues—Keep the disgust:  An investigation of tobacco smokers’ motivated processing of antismoking commercials.   Health Communication, 32(11), 1319-1330.

Thorson, E., Hawthorne, J., Swasy, A., McKinney, M. (2015) Co-viewing, tweeting, and Facebooking the 2012 presidential debates.  Electronic News, 9(3), 195-214. 

Li, Y. & Thorson, E. (2015).  Increasing news content and diversity improves revenue. Newspaper Research Journal, 36(4), 382-398.  

Thorson, E., Karaliova, T., Kim, E. A., & Shoenberger, H., & Fidler, R. (2015). News use of mobile media: A contingency view. Mobile Media & Communication, 3(2), 160-178.

Wang, Y., Rodgers, S., Wang, Z., & Thorson, E. (2015). A seventeen year study of graduate student authorship in advertising journals. Journalism and Mass Communication Education.  

Kanuri, V., Thorson, E., & Mantrala, M. (2014). Using reader preferences to optimize news content:  A method and a case study. International Journal on Media Management, 16(2), 55-75.

Marchionni, D., & Thorson, E. (2014). When newspaper journalists blog: Credibility of news and blogs based on readers’ social political learning. Web Journal of Mass Communication Research, 46 (February).

McKinney, M., Rill, L. A., & Thorson, E. (2014). Civic engagement through presidential debates: Young citizen’s attitudes in the 2012 election. American Behavioral Scientist, 58(6), 755-775.    

Kim, H., Oh, H. J., & Thorson, E. (2014). Embedding a social cause in news features: The effects of corporate sponsorship and localization on audiences’ attitudes to non-profit coverage. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 43(2), 314-337.

Sableman, M., Shoenberger, H., & Thorson, E. (2013). Consumer perceptions of targeted advertising: Crucial evidence in the data privacy debate. Media Law Resource Center Bulletin, 2, September.

Thorson, E., Wicks, R., & Leshner, G. (2012). Experimental methodology in journalism and mass communication research. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 89(1), 112-124.

Moore, J., Thorson, E., & Leshner, G. (2011). Terror management theory and anti-tobacco advertising: An experimental examination of influence of death explicit anti-tobacco messages on young adults.  Journal of Health and Mass Communication, 3(1-4), 5-19.

Sridhar, S., Mantrala, M., Naik, P. A., & Thorson, E. (2011). Dynamic marketing budgeting for platform firms: Theory, evidence and application. Journal of Marketing Research, December, Vol. ILVIII, 929-943.  

Tang, Y., Sridhar, S., Thorson, E., & Mantrala, M. (2011). The bricks that build clicks: Newsroom investment and online news performance. International Journal of Media Management, 13(2), 107-129. 

Coleman, R., Thorson, E., & Wilkins, L. (2011). Testing the effect of framing and sourcing in health news stories. Journal of Health Communication, 16(9), 941-954.  DOI: 10.1080/10810730.2011.561918

Meyer, H. K., Marchionni, D., & Thorson, E. (2010). The journalist behind the news: Credibility of straight, opinionated, and blogged news. American Behavioral Scientist, 54(2): 100-119.

Lacy, S., Duffy, M., Riffe, D., Thorson, E. & Fleming, K. (2010). Citizen journalism web sites complement newspapers. Newspaper Research Journal, 31(2), 34-46.

Sternadori, M., & Thorson, E. (2009). Anonymous sources harm credibility of all stories. Newspaper Research Journal, 30(4), 54-66.

Lacy, S., Riffe, D., Thorson, E., & Duffy, M. (2009). Examining the features, policies, and resources of citizen journalism: Citizen news sites and blogs. Web Journal of Mass Communication Research.

Lee, J. G., & Thorson, E. (2009). Cognitive and emotional processes in individual and commercial websites. Journal of Business & Psychology, 24, 105-115.

Micu, A., Thorson, E., & Antecol, M. (2009). In the mood for a commercial break? A model of consumer response to television commercials during sensitive news. Management & Marketing, 4(3), 35-52. 

Micu, A., & Thorson, E. (2008). Leveraging news and advertising to introduce new brands on the Web. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 9(1), 14-26. 

Fleming, K., & Thorson, E. (2008). Assessing the role of information-processing strategies in learning from local news media about sources of social capital. Mass Communication & Society, 11(4), 398-419.

Lee, J. G., & Thorson, E. (2008).  The impact of celebrity-product incongruence on the effectiveness of product endorsement.  Journal of Advertising Research, 48, 433-449.

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. (2007). Evaluating the effects of a youth health media campaign.  Journal of Health Communication, 12, 439-454.

Mantrala, M., Sridhar, S., Thorson, E., & Naik, P. A. (2007). Uphill or downhill? Locating your firm on a profit function. Journal of Marketing, 70(2), 26-44.

Kratzer, R., & Thorson, E. (2007). Use of anonymous sources declines in U.S. newspapers. Newspaper Research Journal, 28(2), 56-70.  

Rodgers, S., Kenix, L. J., & Thorson, E. (2006). Stereotypical portrayals of emotionality in news photographs. Mass Communication & Society, 10(1), 119-138.

Beaudoin, C. E., Thorson, E., & Hong, T. (2006). Promoting youth health by social empowerment: A media campaign targeting social capital. Health Communication, 19(2), 175-182.

Fleming, K., Thorson, E., & Zhang, Y. (2006). Going beyond exposure to local news media: An information-processing examination of public perceptions of food safety. Journal of Health Communication, 11, 789-806.

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. (2006). The social capital of Blacks and Whites: Differing effects of the mass media in the United States. Human Communication Research, 32, 157-177.

Lacy, S., Diddi, A., & Thorson, E. (2006). Small dailies’ profit margins half those of medium dailies. Newspaper Research Journal, 27(1), 22-36.

Thorson, E. (2006). Print news and health psychology: Some observations. Journal of Health Psychology, 11(2), 175-182.

Thorson, E., Shim, J. C., & Yoon, D. (2005). Synergy effects of public service multi-media campaigns. Korean Journal of Broadcasting and Telecommunication Studies, 11(7), 21-47.

Chen, R., Thorson, E., & Lacy, S. (2005). The impact of newsroom investment on newspaper revenues and profits: Small and medium newspapers, 1998-2002. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 82(3), 516-532.

Stammerjohan, C. A., Wood, C. M., Chang, Y., & Thorson, E. (2005). An empirical investigation of the interaction between publicity, advertising, and previous brand attitudes and knowledge. Journal of Advertising, 34(4), 55-67.

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. (2005). Credibility perceptions of news coverage of ethnic groups: The predictive roles of race and news use. The Howard Journal of Communication, 16(1), 33-48.

Fleming, K., Thorson, E., & Peng, Z. (2005). Associational membership as a source of social capital: Its links to use of local newspapers, interpersonal communication, entertainment media, and volunteering. Mass Communication & Society, 8(3), 219-240.

Len-Rios, M., Rodgers, S., Thorson, E., & Yoon, D. (2005). Representation of women in news and photos: Comparing content to perceptions. Journal of Communication, 55(1), 152-168.

Cho, S., Thorson, E., & Lacy, S. (2004). Increased circulation follows investments in newsroom. Newspaper Research Journal, 25(4), 26-39. 

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. (2004). Social capital in rural and urban communities: Testing differences in media effects and models. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 81(2), 378-399. 

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. (2004). Testing the cognitive mediation model: The roles of news reliance and three gratifications sought. Communication Research, 31(4), 446-471.

Mendelson, A., & Thorson, E. (2004). Relative importance of “visualizing” and “verbalizing” on newspaper processing. Journal of Communication, 54(3), 474-491.

Lacy, S., Thorson, E., & Russial, J. (Eds.) (2004). Good journalism, good business. A special issue of Newspaper Research Journal, 25(1).

Chang, Y., & Thorson, E. (2004). Television and web advertising synergies. Journal of Advertising, 33(2), 75-84.

Mendelson, A., & Thorson, E. (2004). The impact of role-congruency and photo presence on the processing of news stories about Hillary Clinton. New Jersey Journal of Communication, 11, 135-148

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. (2004). The impact of a health campaign on health social capital. Journal of Health Communication, 9(3), 167-194.

Fleming, K., Thorson, E., & Atkin, C. (2004). Alcohol advertising exposure and perceptions: Links with alcohol expectancies and intention to drink in teens and young adults. Journal of Health Communication, 9(2), 3-29.

Rodgers, S., & Thorson, E. (2003). A socialization perspective on male and female reporting. Journal of Communication, 53(4), 658-675. 

Yoon, T. I., & Thorson, E. (2003). Examining body image processing among Korean adolescent girls and college women. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 13(1), 143-164.

Thorson, E., Dorfman, L., & Stevens, J. (2003). Reporting crime and violence from a public health perspective. Journal of the Institute of Justice and International Studies, 2, 53-66.

Coleman, R., & Thorson, E. (2002). The effects of news stories that put crime and violence into context: Testing the public health model of reporting. Journal of Health Communication, 7, 401-425.

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. (2002). Journalists, public differ on perception of media coverage. Newspaper Research Journal, 23(4), 52-61.

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. (2002). A marketplace theory of media use. Mass Communication & Society, 5(3), 241-262.

Dorfman, L., Thorson, E., & Stevens, J. (2001). Reporting on violence: Bringing a public health perspective into the newsroom. Health Education and Behavior, 28(4), 402-419.

Coyle, J. & Thorson, E. (2001). The effects of progressive levels of interactivity and vividness in web marketing sites. Journal of Advertising, 30(3), 65-77.

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. (2001). LA Times offered as model for foreign news coverage. Newspaper Research Journal, 22(1), 80-93.

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. (2001). Value representations in foreign news. Gazette, 63(6), 481-503.

Thorson, E., & Mendelson, A. (2001). Public perceptions of news stories and news photos of Hillary Clinton. Visual Communication Quarterly, 8(4), 4-10.

Rodgers, S., & Thorson, E. (2001). The reporting of crime and violence in the LA Times: Is there a public health perspective? Journal of Health Communication, 6(2), 169-181. Including commentary by J. G. Payne, 189-192. 

Rodgers, S., & Thorson, E. (2000). The interactive advertising model: How users perceive and process online ads. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 1(1), 42-61.

Rodgers, S., Thorson, E., & Antecol, M. (2000). “Reality” in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Newspaper Research Journal, 21(3), 51-68.

Leshner, G., & Thorson, E. (2000). Over-reporting voting activity: Campaign media, public mood and the vote. Political Communication, 17(3), 263-278, 

Rodgers, S., & Thorson, E. (2000). “Fixing” stereotypes in news photos: A synergistic approach with the Los Angeles Times. Visual Communication Quarterly, 7(3), 8-12.

Thorson, E., Ognianova,, E., Coyle, J., & Denton, F. (2000). Negative political ads and negative citizen orientations toward politics. Journal of Current Research in Advertising, 22(1), 13-40.

Dorfman, L., & Thorson, E. (1998). Measuring the effects of changing the way violence is reported. Nieman Reports, Winter. 

Gronstedt, A., & Thorson, E. (1996). Five approaches to organizing an integrated marketing communications agency. Journal of Advertising Research, 36(2), 48-58.

Thorson, E. (1995). The impact of Hillary photos on newspaper readers. Visual Communication Quarterly, 2(4), 7-16.

Hitchon, J., & Thorson, E. (1995). Effects of emotion and product involvement on the experience of repeated commercial viewing. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 39(3), 376-389.  

Christ, W., Thorson, E., & Caywood, C. (1994). Do attitudes toward political advertising affect information processing of televised political commercials? Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 38(3), 251-270.

Hitchon, J., Duckler, P., & Thorson, E. (1994). Effects of ambiguity and complexity on consumer response to music video commercials. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 38(3), 289-306.  

Tapper, J., Thorson, E., & Black, D. (1994). Variations in music videos as a function of their musical genre. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 38(1), 1-3-113.   

Friestad, M., & Thorson, E. (1993). Remembering ads: The effects of encoding strategies, retrieval cues, and emotional response. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 2(1), 1-24.

Gunther, A., & Thorson, E. (1992). Perceived persuasive effects of product commercials and public service announcement: “Third Person” effects in other domains. Communication Research, 19(5), 574-596.

Thorson, E., & Lang, A. (1992). The effects of television videographics and lecture familiarity on adult cardiac orienting responses and memory. Communication Research, 19(3), 346-369. 

Schleuder, J., Cameron, G. T., & Thorson, E. (1991). The role of news teasers in processing TV news and commercials. Communication Research, 18(5), 667-684.

Thorson, E., Christ, W., & Caywood, C. (1991). Political commercials: Issue-image strategies, attack vs. support appeals, and the impact of music and visual background. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 4, 1-14. 

Schumann, D. W., & Thorson, E. (1990). The influence of viewing context on commercial effectiveness: An intensity-affect response model. In J. H. Leigh & C. R. Martin, Jr. (Eds.), Current Issues and Research in Advertising, Volume 12. Ann Arbor, MI: Division of Research, Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Michigan.

Hoffner, C., Cantor, J., & Thorson, E. (1989). Children's responses to conflicting auditory and visual features of a televised narrative. Human Communication Research, 16(2), 256-278.

Reeves, B., Lang, A., Thorson, E., & Rothschild, M. (1989). Emotional television scenes and hemispheric specialization. Human Communication Research, 15(4), 493-508.

Hoffner, C., Cantor, J., & Thorson, E. (1988). Children's understanding of a televised narrative. Communication Research, 15(3), 227-245.

Rothschild, M. L., Hyun, Y. J., Reeves, B., Thorson, E., & Goldstein, R. (1988). Hemispherically lateralized EEG as a response to television commercials. Journal of Consumer Research, 15(2), 185-198. 

Thorson, E., Reeves, B., & Schleuder, J. (1987). Local and global complexity and attention to television. In Margaret L. McLaughlin (Ed.), Communication Yearbook, Volume 10.

Reeves, B., & Thorson, E. (1986). Watching television: Experiments on the viewing process. Communication Research, 13, 343-361. (Translated to French in Rencontre de La Recherche et De L'Education, Lausanne, Switzerland, January, 1992.)

Rothschild, M. L., Thorson, E., Reeves, B. B., Hirsch, J. E., & Goldstein, R. (1986). EEG activity and the processing of television commercials. Communication Research, 13(2), 182-220.

Thorson, E., Reeves, B., & Schleuder, J. (1985). Message complexity and attention to television. Communication Research, 12(4), 427-454.

Reeves, B., Thorson, E., Rothschild, M. L., McDonald, D., Goldstein, R., & Hirsch, J. (1985). Attention to television: Intrastimulus effects of movement and scene changes on alpha variation over time. International Journal of Neuroscience, 27, 241-255.

Thorson, E., & Snyder, R. (1984). Viewer recall of television commercials: Prediction from the propositional structure of commercial scripts. Journal of Marketing Research, 21, 127-136.

Preston, I. L., & Thorson, E. (1984). The expanded association model: Keeping the hierarchy concept alive. Journal of Advertising Research, 24(1), 59-66.

Thorson, E. (1983). Propositional determinants of memory for television commercials. In J. H. Leigh & C. R. Martin, Jr. (Eds.), Current Issues and Research in Advertising. Ann Arbor, MI: Division of Research, Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Michigan.

Thorson, E. (1977). Simulation as a problem-solving technique in college teaching. Liberal Education, 2, 284-300.

Thorson, E., & Buss, T. (1977). Using computer conferencing to formulate a simulation model of the transitivity of choice processes. Behavior Research Methods and Instrumentation, 9(2), 81-86.

Thorson, E., & Thorson, S. J. (1976). Cognitive-perceptual aspects of political socialization: An experimental approach. Experimental Study of Politics, 5(1), 42-84 

Books

Rodgers, S., & Thorson, E. (Eds.), (2019).  Advertising Theory.  Second Edition.  New York: Routledge.

Rodgers, S., & Thorson, E. (Eds.) (2018). Special Issue, Digital Engagement. Journal of Advertising, 47(1), 1-95.   72% of the downloads for Journal of Advertising in 2018 came from this special issue. 

Rodgers, S., & Thorson, E. (Eds.) (2017). Digital Advertising.  New York: Routledge.

Duffy, M. & Thorson, E. (Eds.) (2016). Persuasion ethics today: Contemporary issues in advertising, marketing, and public relations. Routledge.

Thorson, E., McKinney, M., & Shah, D. (Eds.) (2016). Political socialization in a media-saturated world. New York: Peter Lang Press.

Steffens, M., Wilkins, L., Vultee, F., Thorson, E., Kyle, G., & Collins, K. (2012). Reporting disasters on deadline: A handbook for students and professionals. New York: Routledge.  

Rodgers, S., & Thorson, E. (Eds.) (2012). Theories of Advertising. New York: Routledge.

Thorson, E., & Duffy, M. (2012). Advertising Age:  The Principles of Advertising and Marketing Communication at Work.  New York: Cengage.

Parker, J., & Thorson, E. (2008). Health communication in the new media landscape. New York: Springer.

Schumann, D., & Thorson, E. (Eds.) (2007). Internet Advertising Theory and Research. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Association, Inc. 

Schumann, D., & Thorson, E. (Eds.) (1999). Advertising and the Worldwide Web.. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Association, Inc.   Published in paperback, 2015, Psychology Press.

Lambeth, E., Meyer, P., & Thorson, E. (Eds.) (1998). Assessing public journalism. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press.

Thorson, E. & Moore, J. (Eds.) (1996). Integrated communication: Synergy of persuasive voices. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Association, Inc.

Thorson, E. (Ed.) (1993). Proceedings of the 1993 Conference of the American Academy of Advertising. Columbia, MO: School of Journalism, University of Missouri-Columbia.

Thorson, E. (Ed.) (1989). Advertising Age: The principles of advertising at work. Chicago: National Textbook Co.

Thorson, E. (Ed.) (1979). Simulation in higher education. Hicksville, NY: Exposition University Press.

Book Chapters

Thorson, E. (2020).  The consumer psychology of traditional media.  In (Eds.) APA Handbook of Consumer Psychology.  

Thorson, E. (2019).   Laboratory experiments. In (Ed., Jan Van Den Bulck), International Encyclopedia of Media Psychology.   New York:  Wiley. 

Thorson, E., & Rodgers, S. (2019).  Advertising in the digital age.  In (Eds.), Shelly Rodgers and Esther Thorson), Theories of Advertising, pp. 3-17. Third edition.  Routledge.

Thorson, E. (2019). Effects theories of journalism.  In (Eds.), Tim Vos and Folker Hanusch, The International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies.  NY: Wiley.

Thorson, E. and Rogers, S. (2019).  Advertising.  In (Ed.) Don W. Stacks, An Integrated Approach to Communication Theory and Research.   Routledge.

Thorson, E., Tham, S., Chen, W., & Kanuri, V. (2018).  Media Event Influence in the 2016 Race: The Debates, Trump Groping Tape, and the Last-Minute F.B.I. Announcement.  In Warner, B. R., Bystrom, D. G., McKinney, M. S., & Banwart, M. C. (Eds.), Warner, B. R., Bystrom, D. G., McKinney, M. S., Banwart, M. C. (Eds.). (2017). An unprecedented election: Media, communication, and the electorate in the 2016 campaign. New York: Praeger.

Thorson, E., McKinney, M.S., & Shah, D. (2016).  The role of media use motives in the classic structural model of youth political socialization.  In (Eds.) E. Thorson, M. S. McKinney, & Shah, D. Political socialization in a media-saturated world. New York: Peter Lang Press.

Thorson, E., Leshner, G., & Jahng, M., & Duffy, M. (2016).  A hierarchy of political participation activities in pre-voting age youth.  In (Eds.) E. Thorson, M. S. McKinney, & Shah, D. Political socialization in a media-saturated world. New York: Peter Lang Press.

Thorson, E., Kim, E., & Duffy, M. (2016). Political advertising and the hierarchy of political socialization in teens. In (Eds.) E. Thorson, M. S. McKinney, & Shah, D. Political socialization in a media-saturated world. New York: Peter Lang Press.

Jahng, M., McKinney, M. S., & Thorson, E. (2016).  Peer influence in adolescent political socialization:  deliberate democracy inside and outside the classroom.  In (Eds.) E. Thorson, M. S. McKinney, & Shah, D. Political socialization in a media-saturated world. New York: Peter Lang Press.

Lee, J., Ham, C. D., & Thorson, E. (2016).  Knowledge gap in a media-saturated presidential election.  In (Eds.) E. Thorson, M. S. McKinney, & Shah, D. Political socialization in a media-saturated world. New York: Peter Lang Press.

Tandoc, E., Thorson, E., & Duffy, M. (2916).  Parenting styles in political socialization:  How the path to political participation begins at home.  In (Eds.) E. Thorson, M. S. McKinney, & Shah, D. Political socialization in a media-saturated world. New York: Peter Lang Press.

Ham, C. C., Lee, J., & Thorson, E. (2016).  The importance of family communication patterns and school civics experiences.  In (Eds.) E. Thorson, M. S. McKinney, & Shah, D. Political socialization in a media-saturated world. New York: Peter Lang Press.

Tandoc, E., & Thorson, E. (2016).  From news to political knowledge:  The roles of elaboration and discussion.  In (Eds.) E. Thorson, M. S. McKinney, & Shah, D. Political socialization in a media-saturated world. New York: Peter Lang Press.

Thorson, E., Kim, S., & Lee, J. (2016)  Measurement of political knowledge in American adolescents.  In (Eds.) E. Thorson, M. S. McKinney, & Shah, D. Political socialization in a media-saturated world. New York: Peter Lang Press.

Thorson, E., Jahng, M., & McKinney, M.S. (2016)  Political knowledge and participation in teens during low and high political interest periods of a presidential election.  In (Eds.) E. Thorson, M. S. McKinney, & Shah, D. Political socialization in a media-saturated world. New York: Peter Lang Press.

Meyer, H., Jahng, M., & Thorson, E. (2016).  Political socialization patterns in younger and older American adolescents.  In (Eds.) E. Thorson, M. S. McKinney, & Shah, D. Political socialization in a media-saturated world. New York: Peter Lang Press.

Tandoc, E., Thorson, E., Jahng, M., Kim, E, & Duffy, M. (2016).  Is dangerous news use dangerous?  The impact of safe and dangerous news use on political socialization. In (Eds.) E. Thorson, M. S. McKinney, & Shah, D. Political socialization in a media-saturated world. New York: Peter Lang Press.

Littau, J., Gardner, L, & Thorson, E. (2016).  The impact of news “voice” on adolescent political efficacy.  In (Eds.) E. Thorson, M. S. McKinney, & Shah, D. Political socialization in a media-saturated world. New York: Peter Lang Press.

Jahng, M., Meyer, H., & Thorson, E. (2016).  Youngsters’ political talk with those outside school and family:  The hierarchy of political socialization.  In (Eds.) E. Thorson, M. S. McKinney, & Shah, D. Political socialization in a media-saturated world. New York: Peter Lang Press.

Thorson, E. (2013).  Alcohol advertising. In C. Pardun (Ed.), Advertising and society. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.

Martin-Kratzer, R., & Thorson, E. (2009). The presence and pattern of international news in American news media. In G. Golan, T. J. Johnson, & W. Wanta (Eds.), International media communication in a global age. New York: Routledge.

Rodgers, S., Thorson, E., & Jin, Y. (2009). Social science theories of traditional and Internet advertising. In D. W. Stacks & M. B. Salwen (Eds.), An integrated approach to communication theory and research (2nd Ed.) (pp. 198-219). New York: Routledge.

Thorson, E. (2006). The role of the press in mobilizing citizen participation in the democracy. In G. Overholser and K. H. Jamieson (Eds.), Institutions of democracy: The press (pp. 203-220). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. (2002). Spiral of violence: Conflict and conflict resolution in international news. In E. Gilboa (Ed.), Media and conflict: Framing issues, making policy, shaping opinions (pp. 45-64). New York: Transnational Publishers.

Thorson, E. (1999). Emotion and advertising. In J. P. Jones (Ed.), The advertising business. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Thorson, E., Ognianova, E., & Coyle, J. (1998). Evaluation of the audience impacts of two civic journalism projects in a small Midwestern town. In E. Lambeth, P. Meyer, & E. Thorson (Eds.), Assessing public journalism. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press.

Thorson, E., Ognianova, E., Coyle, J., & Lambeth, E. (1998). Audience impact of a multimedia civic journalism project in a small Midwestern community. In E. Lambeth, P. Meyer, & E. Thorson (Eds.), Assessing public journalism. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press.    

Denton, F., Thorson, E., & Coyle, J. (1998). Effects of a multimedia public journalism project on political knowledge and attitudes. In E. Lambeth, P. Meyer, & E. Thorson (Eds.), Assessing public journalism. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press. 

Thorson, E. (1996). Advertising. In M. B. Salwen and D. W. Stacks (Eds.), An integrated approach to communication theory and research. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Thorson, E., & Zhao, X. (1997). Television viewing behavior as an indicator of commercial effectiveness. In W. D. Wells (Ed.), Measuring advertising effectiveness (pp. 221-238). Hillsdale, NJ:  Lawrence Erlbaum.    

Thorson, E. (1995). Studies of the effects of alcohol advertising: Two underexplored aspects. In S. E. Martin (Ed.), The effects of the mass media on the use and abuse of alcohol: Research Monograph 28 (pp. 221-238). Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Thorson, E. (1994). Using eyes-on-screen as a measure of attention to television. In A. Lang (Ed.), Measuring cognitive responses to media messages (pp. 65-84). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. 

Bradley, S., Thorson, E., & Hitchon, J. (1994). Hard sell vs. soft sell: A content analysis of American and British prime time television ads. In B. Englis (Ed.), Global and multinational advertising (pp. 141-158). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Thorson, E., Christ, W. G., & Caywood, C. (1991). Selling candidates like tubes of toothpaste: Is the comparison apt? In F. Biocca (Ed.), Television and political advertising: Vol. 1 Psychological processes. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Thorson, E. & Park, C. S. (1990). Influences on emotional response to commercials of different executional styles. In S. Agres, J. A. Edell, & T. M. Dubitsky (Eds.), Emotion in advertising: Theoretical and practical explorations (pp. 161-174). Westport, CT: Quorum Books. 

Page, T. J., Jr., Thorson, E., & Heide, M. P. (1990). The memory impact of commercials varying in emotional appeal and product involvement. In S. Agres, J. A. Edell, & T. M. Dubitsky (Eds.), Emotion in advertising: Theoretical and practical explorations(pp. 255-268). Westport, CT: Quorum Books.

Thorson, E. (1990). Television commercials as mass media messages. In J. J. Bradac (Ed.), Messages in communication science: Contemporary approaches to the study of effects. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Thorson, E. (1990). Processing television commercials. In B. Dervin, L. Grossberg, & E. Wartella (Eds.), Paradigm dialogues in communication, Volume II: Exemplars. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Thorson, E. (1990). Consumer processing of advertising. In J. H. Leigh & C. R. Martin, Jr. (Eds.), Current issues and research in Advertising. Ann Arbor, MI: Division of Research, Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Michigan.

Thorson, E., & Friestad, M. (1989). The effects of emotion on episodic memory for TV commercials. In A. Tybout & P. Cafferata (Eds.), Advertising and consumer psychology. NY: Lexington Press.

Thorson, E., & Page, T. (1988). Effects of product involvement and emotional commercials on consumer's recall and attitudes. In D. Stewart & S. Hecker (Eds.), Nonverbal communication in advertising. New York:  Lexington Books.

Reeves, B., Thorson, E., & Schleuder, J. (1986). Attention to television: Psychological theories and chronometric measures. In J. Bryant & D. Zillman (Eds.), Perspectives on media effects. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Thorson, E., & Rothschild, M. L. (1983). Using a text comprehension analysis to compare recall and recognition of TV commercials. In L. Percy & A. G. Woodside (Eds.), Advertising and consumer psychology. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.

Rothschild, M. L., & Thorson, E. (1983). Electroencephalic activity as a response to complex stimuli:  A review of the psychophysiological and advertising literature. In L. Percy & A. G. Woodside (Eds.), Advertising and consumer psychology. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.

Thorson, E. (1979). The Denison Simulation Project: Formulating, introducing, and evaluating curricular changes. In E. Thorson (Ed.), Simulation in higher education. Hicksville, NY: Exposition University Press.

Trade Publications

Thorson, E., & Smith, J. (2013). How advertising performs in a social media world. Advertising Age White Paper, 2013. 

Thorson, E. & Fancher, M. (2009). Citizens and professional journalists part ways on values. Nieman Reports, 63(3), 36-37.

Peer-Reviewed Proceedings Papers

Thorson, E., & Ognianova, E. (1998). The impact of a multi-media advertising and PR campaign on attitudes and knowledge about the effects of second-hand smoke. In D. D. Muehling (Ed.), Proceedings of the 1998 Conference of the American Academy of Advertising. Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 96-103.

Ognianova, E., & Thorson, E. (1997). Associations between drunk driving PSAs, alcohol moderation ads and safe driving behavior. In M. C. Macklin (Ed.), Proceedings of the 1997 Conference of the American Academy of Advertising. University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 8-19.

Thorson, E., Ognianova, E., Coyle, J., & Denton, F. (1996). Negative political ads and negative citizen orientations towards politics. In G. B. Wilcox (Ed.), Proceedings of the 1996 Conference of the American Academy of Advertising. University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 81-83.

Chi, H. H., Thorson, E., & Coyle, J. (1995). An application of the intensity-affect model using commercial-to-program involvement ratios to predict ad memory. In C. S. Madden (Ed.), Proceedings of the 1995 Conference of the American Academy of Advertising. Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University, Waco, TX, 51-60. 

Thorson, E., Page, T., & Moore, J. (1995). Consumer response to four categories of “green” commercials. In F. Kardes and M. Sujan (Eds.), Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. XVIII. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, 243-250.  

Thorson, E., & Coyle, J. (1994). The third person effect in three genres of commercials: Product and greening ads, and public service announcements. In K. W. King (Ed.), Proceedings of the 1993 Conference of the American Academy of Advertising. School of Journalism, University of Georgia, 103-111.

Williams, M., & Thorson, E. (1994). Effects of interrupting the processing of emotion-eliciting and neutral commercials. In K. W. King (Ed.), Proceedings of the 1993 Conference of the American Academy of Advertising. School of Journalism, University of Georgia, 17-25.

Thorson, E. (1993). Unique and interactive media effects: A measurement framework and a potpourri of media generalizations. Media Research: Toward Smarter, More Practical Answers: Fifth Annual Advertising Research Foundation Workshop Proceedings. New York: Advertising Research Foundation, 79-90.  

Schumann, D. W., Wright, L., & Thorson, E. (1992). Initial tests of the selection-processing model of television program context effects: Identifying and measuring scene response variables. In T. Page, Jr. & S. E. Middlestadt (Eds.), Proceedings of the Society for Consumer Psychology. Clemson, SC: CtC Press.

Thorson, E., & Christ, W. (1992). Six kinds of emotional responses to commercials. In P. Stout (Ed.), Proceedings of the 1992 Conference of the American Academy of Advertising. Austin, Texas: Department of Advertising, University of Texas. 

Thorson, E., Chi, A., & Leavitt, C. (1992). Attention, memory, attitude, and conation: A test of the Hierarchy Model. In B. Sternthal & J. Sherry (Eds.), Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. XVIII. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research.

Thorson, E. (1991). Likability: Ten years of academic research. In J. S. Dubow (Ed.), Copy research: The new evidence. New York: Advertising Research Foundation.

Thorson, E. (1991). Moment by moment analyses of TV commercials: Their theoretical and applied roles. In R. Holman & M. Solomon (Eds.), Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. XVII. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, 538-539.

Phelps, J., & Thorson, E. (1991). Brand familiarity and product involvement effects on the attitude toward an ad-brand attitude relationship. In R. Holman & M. Solomon (Eds.), Advances in Consumer Research, Volume XVII. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, 202-209.  

Schumann, D. W., Thorson, E., & Rosen, D. (1989). Testing the selection processing model: The influence of program related needs. In T. K. Srull (Ed.), Advances in Consumer Research, Volume XVI. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, 495-500.

Schleuder, J., Cameron, G. T., & Thorson, E. (1989). Proactive interference effects of television news teasers on attention to and memory for emotion-eliciting commercials. In K. B. Rotzoll (Ed.), Proceedings of the 1989 Conference of the American Academy of Advertising. Urbana, IL: Department of Advertising, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 11-16.  

Friestad, M. S., & Thorson, E. (1988). Encoding and retrieval instructions and the impact of emotional commercials. In L. F. Alwitt (Ed.), Proceedings of the Division of Consumer Psychology. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

Thorson, E., & Wells, W. D. (1987). How message order affects responses. Research quality: Back to basics. New York: Advertising Research Foundation. 

Thorson, E., & Reeves, B. (1986). Memory effects of over-time measures of viewer liking and activity during programs and commercials. In R. J. Lutz (Ed.), Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. XIII. Association for Consumer Research.

Friestad, M., & Thorson, E. (1986). Emotion-eliciting advertising: Effects on long-term memory and judgment. In R. J. Lutz (Ed.), Advances in Consumer Research Vol. XIII. Association for Consumer Research.

Thorson, E., Reeves, B., Schleuder, J., Lang, A., & Rothschild, M.L. (1985). Effects of program context on the processing of television commercials. In N. Stephens (Ed.), Proceedings of the American Academy of Advertising. Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University.

Thorson, E., & Friestad, M. (1984). Emotion and the recall of television commercials.  Proceedings of The American Psychological Association Annual Meeting, Division 23, Consumer Science. Research reported in Ad Week (December, 1984) and in Psychology Today (March, 1985).

Preston, I. L., & Thorson, E. (1983). Challenges to the use of hierarchy models in predicting advertising effectiveness. In A. D. Fletcher (Ed.), Proceedings of the American Academy of Advertising. Knoxville: University of Tennessee.

Choi, Y., & Thorson, E. (1983). Memory for factual, emotional, and balanced ads under two instructional sets. In A. D. Fletcher (Ed.), Proceedings of the American Academy of Advertising. Knoxville: University of Tennessee.

Thorson, S. J., Anderson, P., & Thorson, E. (1975). Governments as information processing systems. Proceedings of the Summer Computer Simulation Conference. LaJolla, CA: Simulation Councils, Inc., 1088-1097.

Thorson, E., Snyder, R., Anderson, P., & Thorson, S.J. (1976). Cutaneous pattern recognition: A computer simulation. Proceedings of the Summer Computer Simulation Conference. LaJolla, CA: Simulation Councils, Inc., 523-527.

Public Reports

Thorson, E. (2007). Now for the good news. Walkley Magazine, April 27, Sydney, 18-19.

Mills, D., Thorson, E., & Kelley, R. (2000). Guide to research on race and the news. Columbia, MO: Missouri School of Journalism.

Kennedy, G., & Thorson, E. (2002). Hometown news: How American journalists are covering the Post-9/11 world. Presented at a partnership symposium with the First Amendment Center (Washington, D.C.): Journalism and Terrorism: How the War on Terrorism Has Changed American Journalism.

Thorson, E., Friedland, L., & Anderson, P. (1997). Civic lessons: Report on four civic journalism projects. Philadelphia, PA: The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Thorson, E. (1997). Summary Report: The impact of Greek affiliation on college and life experiences. Indianapolis, IN: National Interfraternity Conference and National Panhellenic Conference. 

Texts

Stevens, J., Thorson, E., & Dorfman, L. (2002). Reporting on Violence: Instructor’s Guide. Web: www.bmsg.org

Conferences Chaired

“Ethics of Advertising,” Preconference at the American Academy of Advertising (Co-Chaired with M. Duffy), March 14, 2012, Myrtle Beach, SC.

“Theories of advertising and their link with the advertising industry and its practices,” Preconference at the American Academy of Advertising (Co-Chaired with M. Duffy), March 18, 2010, Minneapolis, MN.  

“How newspapers could have saved themselves (and some still can),” Invited seminar, Reynolds Journalism Institute, School of Journalism, University of Missouri, May, 2009.

“Advertising and the new media,” 15th Annual Advertising and Consumer Psychology Conference (Co-chaired with D. Schumann & C. Stannard, DMB&B-Detroit), Bloomfield Hills, MI, May 17-18, 1996.

American Academy of Advertising (Competitive Paper Sessions), April 16-19, Montreal, 1993.

“Integrated communications: The search for synergy in communication voices,” Eleventh Annual Advertising and Consumer Psychology Conference (Co-chaired with J. Moore, DDB Needham Worldwide), Chicago, May 14-15, 1992.

Paper Awards

International Communication Association, 2015, Children and Youth Division (with Stephanie Edgerly, Kjerstin Thorson, Emily Vraga, and Leticia Bode.

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, 2011, Advertising Division, Top Two Paper (with Chang Dae Ham). 

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, 2011, CT&M Division, Top Paper (with Rob Wicks & Glenn Leshner). 

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, 2009, Mass Communication and Society Division, Top Three Paper (with Jeremy Littau & Liz Gardner).

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, 2004, Mass Communication Division, Winner, Theme Competition: Public Intellectuals and the News Media (With Zengjun Peng). 

International Communication Association, 2002, Mass Communication Division, Top Faculty Paper (With Christopher Beaudoin).

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, 2001, Civic Journalism Interest Group, Top Faculty Paper (With Judy Bolch).

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, 1999, Visual Communication Division, Top Three Faculty Paper (With Shelly Rodgers).

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, 1998, Mass Communication and Society, Second Place Paper (With Glenn Leshner).

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, 1996, Mass Communication and Society, Top Paper Award (With James Coyle).

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, 1996, Visual Communication Division, Top Three Faculty Paper (With Andy Mendelson).

Papers Presented

Local Journalism Researchers Workshop, Duke University, March 24-26, 2024
Thorson, E., & Chen, Weiyue.  Effects of Civic Journalism on Community Activation: A Comparison of Loyal Readers and Non-Subscribers of a Civic Journalism Newspaper 

International Communication Association, Gold Coast, Australia, 2024
T.P. Vos, R. Mourao, E.L. Thorson, and C.T. Robertson,.  Journalistic epistemologies and journalism culture in the US

Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication, 2024, Philadelphia
White, L, Thorson, E., & Alhabash, S.  Response to Black and White Female Television Anchors:  Effects of Audience Race and Expectation Violations.

Tim Vos, Taewoo Kang, Rachel Mourão, Esther Thorson, and Marialina Antolini.  Place Matters.

Taewoo Kang, Esther Thorson, & Rachel Mourao.  Curated Verification: Partisan Differences in Audience’s Information Validation Strategies.

Zhan, E., Dong, C., Zheng, Q., & Thorson, E.  Do AI-Generated Caring Messages Increase Trust in Government? The Pivotal Role of AI Knowledge in Government Crisis Responses

Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication, 2023, Washington DC
Chen, W. & Thorson, E. Comparing effects of news subscription motivation and news lifestyle, and their impact on subscription retention.

Zhan, E., Thorson, E., & Chen, W.  Seeing after believing:  Exploring the role of personal values in civic news use and community participation. 

Thorson, E., Kim, A., Kwon, E, & Cho, C.  Media fragmentation and Covid-19 responses in South Korea.

Moderator, Research Award Panel:  Deutschmann Award to Jane Singer    

Spotlight Panel Session:  The pursuit of research excellence:  Eight Essays by Deutschmann Award Recipients.

Discussant, Political Communication Paper Session:  Politics and Gender

American Marketing Association Global Marketing Conference (June, 2023, Santiago, Chile.)
Thorson, E., Kim, A., Arunachalam. S., Pedada, K., Mantrala, M., Chang, Y., Cho, C, Houston, B. Predictors of Covid Knowledge, Public Health Compliance, and Vaccine Intent in the U.S., South Korea, Taiwan, and India. 

American Academy of Advertising, St. Petersburg, FL, March, 2022 Kim, Eunjin and Thorson, E. Effects of a virtual influencer.

International Communication Association Annual Meeting, Paris, June, 2022
Thorson, E., Kim, E., Pedada, M.K., Mantrala, M., Chang, C., Cho, C., &  Houston, B.  Predictors of Covid Knowledge, Public Health Compliance, and Vaccine Intent in the US, South Korea, Taiwan, and India

Thorson, E., Tunney, C., Kryston, K., & Clayton, R. An Evaluative Space Explanation for How People Cope with Fear-Inducing News.

Zhan; E., Thorson. E., & Chen, W. Let’s Talk About the News! Online Disinhibition as a Critical Component of the News Consumption to Participation Path.

Chen, Weiyue, & Thorson, E. Challenges to the News Democracy Narrative: Reexamining the Effects of Knowledge and Civic Competence

Thorson, E.  Research Contributions of Sharon Dunwoody.

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Detroit, August, 2022.
Thorson, E., & Chen, Weiyue.  Motivations to pay for local and national news in the U.S.

Chen, Weiyue, Thorson, E., & Zhan, Shuo (Emily).  Examination of civic values and their impact on news use and community participation. 

 Kim, Eunjin, Shoenberger, H., Thorson, E, Zihan, E, & Kim, Donggyu.  Trust in the novel:  Exploration of the effectiveness of virtual influencers.

 Thorson, E., Speech in honor of Annie Lang, Paul J. Deutschmann Award for Excellence in Research.

International Communication Association,  2021, ONLINE.
Chen, W. & Thorson, E. Connectivity, Attitudes, Knowledge, and Community Participation: A Comparison of Loyal Readers and Non-Subscribers of a Civic Journalism Newspaper. 

Association for Education in  Journalism & Mass Communication, 2021, ONLINE       
Thorson, E., Tunney, C., & and Kryston, K.  An evolutionary approach to why people seek and avoid more information about negative news stories. 

American Academy of Advertising, Dallas, March 2019
Jiang, M., Rifon, N., & Thorson, E. (2019). Consumer resistance to influencer marketing. Proceedings of the American Academy of Advertising Global Conference. Retrieved from https://aaasite.memberclicks.net/assets/Proceedings/2019/JiangAAAProc2019.pdf

Jiang, M., Rifon, N., & Thorson, E. (2019). Influencer credibility and sponsorship disclosure effects on ad recognition and resistance to sponsored Instagram posts. Proceedings of the American Academy of Advertising Annual Conference

International Communication Association, Washington DC, 2019
Kim, A., Ratneshwar, S.,  & Thorson, E.  Why are some narrative ads more persuasive than others?

Robertson, C., Mourão, R.R., & Thorson, E.  Who uses fact-checking?  The impact of demographics, political antecedents and media use on fact-checking site awareness, attitudes and behavior.

Chen, W., & Thorson, E.  Perceived individual and societal values of news and paying for subscriptions.

Tunney, C. & Thorson, E.  Why do people both follow and avoid fear-inducing news topics?

Bad Ass Women of ICA post conference, Speaker on the Senior Bad Ass Women Panel.

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Toronto, Canada, 2019
Neumann, D., & Thorson, E.  Fear of missing out:  Components of the experience and experiential variations in different contexts.

Alhabash, S., Thorson, E., Chen W., Deng, T, Kanver, D., Ma, M, Park, N, Hirsch, J., & Smith, A.  Effects of candidate lateral location and eye gaze direction in political ads:  Evidence from self-report and eye movement patterns.

AEJMC Table Talks:  Thorson, E., Building a research agenda.

Konanova, A., Thorson, E., Richards, J., & Lynch, K.  Does newspaper presence in households affect subscribers’ and non-subscribers’ perceptions of their buying behavior?  A mixed-method study.

 2019 Deutschmann Award Session:  Honoring the career of Dr. Esther Thorson.

American Academy of Advertising, New York, 2018
Thorson, E., Tham, S., & Chen, W.  Attention to political advertising during high-salience political news events.  

AEJMC, Washington, DC, August, 2018
Thorson, E., Tham, S., & Duffy, M. The Role of Media Context and General Advertising Attitudes on Ad Avoidance

Thorson, E., Chen, W., Bode, L. Effects of Scandals and Presidential Debates in the U.S. 2016 Presidential Election

Career Advancement: Engaging with Leaders Session

Thorson presentation on “Developing a Research Agenda”

Discussant: Newspaper and Online Division

Discussant:  Political Communication and Graduate Student Interest Group 

Presenter at Shyam Sundar Deutchmann Award Session

International Communication Association, Prague, 2018
Edgerly, S., Thorson, E., Mourao, R., and Tham, S. Evaluating, fact-checking and detecting misinformation: How headline slant and source influence perceptions of truth and verification behaviors.

Shoenberger, H., & Thorson, E.  Reaching parents at risk for child maltreatment: An interdisciplinary experimental investigation of PSA type and level of self-regulation

Choi, H., & Thorson, E.  Good Citizen Behaviors and People’s Choice of News Media Repertoires.

Thorson, E., Lacy, S., Chen, W.  Connectivity with a Newspaper and Civic Engagement and Perceptions of Connectivity with a Metro Newspaper

Commenter on panel entitled:  Filter Bubbles: From Academic Debate to Robust Empirical Analysis 

“The Future of Journalism,” University of Cardiff, September, 2017
Edgerly, S., Thorson, E.  News use repertoires and political knowledge during the 2016 presidential election.

Thorson, E., & Mourao, R.  The impact of news media repertoires on news media trust.

2017 International Communication Association, San Diego
Houston, J. B., Thorson, E., Frisby, C., Galarza, R. &  First, J. Protest Communication Ecology and Community Racial Crisis: The Case of the Michael Brown Shooting Death and Subsequent Civil Unrest.

ICA Pre-conference on Varieties of Publics and Counter-publics

Panel One: Campaign Dynamics amid a Shifting Communication Ecology: Understanding Election 2016

Thorson, E., Tham, S., & Chen, W.  Persuasion or Information: Comparing News and Advertising Effects on Public Opinion 

2017 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Chicago
Thorson, E., Chen, W., & Lacy, S. Connectivity with a newspaper and knowledge of its investigatory work influence civic engagement.

2016 International Communication Association National Meeting, Fukuota, Japan, June
Kim, Eunjin, & Thorson, E.  Narrative persuasion:  The what, why, and how of narrative advertising.

Shoenberger, H., Leshner, G., & Thorson, E.  Through the truth goggles:  An experimental investigation of perceived credibility and quality with the use of a fact-checking prototype.

Davis, Rachel, Clayton, Russell, & Thorson, E.  Differences in processing of interactive infographics on different screen sizes and interface types.

Hawthorne, J., Thorson, E, McKinney, M., & Stanfield, K.  Tweeting and commenting about Ferguson: National and local perspectives. 

2016 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
Thorson, E., Moore, J., & Warner, B.  How high school classroom experiences influence youth political knowledge and participation:  A mediation model.

Thorson, E., & Di, Zhu.  Does the political apple fall far from the tree:  Agenda-setting in tweens’ and teens’ agreement with parental political beliefs?

Moore, J., & Thorson, E.  The influence of demographics and news media exposure on Philadelphians’ beliefs about poverty.

Thorson, E.  The impact of verisimilitude on commercials for the presidential primary 2016.

Tham, S., & Thorson, E.  Divvying up how we spend time with news devices and channels.               

2016 American Academy of Advertising National Meeting, Seattle, March
Pre-Conference “Your brain on advertising:  Psychophysiological and neuroscientifc approaches to studying advertising effects and processes”

Thorson, E. Historical overview of advertising psychophysiology research

Pre-Conference “Everything you’ve always wanted to know about all aspects of the academic publication process, but never asked”

Thorson, E. Panel on “How to write a publishable paper”

Thorson, E., Duffy, M., Choi, H., & Kim, E.  The kids ARE different:  Perceptions of advertising ethics by millennial college students and adults.

2016 Southern Political Science Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico, January
Edgerly, S., Vraga, E.,  Bode, L.,  Thorson, K.S., Thorson, E., &  Shah, D.  New media, new relationship to participation?  A close look at youth news repertoires and participation.

2015 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, San Francisco
Thorson, E., Kim, E., & Fidler, R.  Predicting time spent with news via legacy and digital media.  

Thorson, E., Duffy, M., Kim, E., Choi, H, Karalioa, T., & Kwon, E.  A Mutualist Theory of processing PSAS and ethically problematic commercials.

Wu, Y., & Thorson, E.  Incivility, source and credibility:  An experimental test of how university students process a news story.

Panelist, Exploring collaborative opportunities for accessing data.

Duffy, M., Thorson, E., Karaliova, T, & Choi, H.  How do ads mean?  A Mutualist Theory of advertising ethics. 

2015 International Communication Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Edgerly, S., Thorson, K., Thorson, E., Vraga, E., & Bode, L.  Sparking interest, modeling consumption:  A contingency model for youth news socialization.  Top Paper Award.

Swafford, S., Christensen, M., & Thorson, E.  The impact of enhancing local political election news on political knowledge and participation.

Ferrucci, P. Russell, F., Choi, H., Duffy, M., & Thorson, E.  Times are a changin’:  How a merger affects construction of news processes.  

2014 Digital Disruption to Communication Theory, Brussels, Belgium
Thorson, K. J, & Thorson, E. Contingency models for mobile news use by young teens and parents: Is disruption occurring?

Duffy, M., Thorson, E., Kim, E., Karaliova, T., & Choi, H. Constructivist integrating of “ethics” and interpretation of commercials.

2014 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Montreal
Houston, B., McKinney, M., Thorson, E., Hawthorne, J., & Wolfgang, D., & Swasy, A. Effects of news tweets on users’ liking, trust, and intention to share and use information.

Jenner, M., Thorson, E., & Kim, E. A. How U.S. daily newspapers decide to design and implement paywalls.

Panelist, Communicating Science, Health, Environment & Risk, and Communication Theory and Methodology Teaching Panel: The “three pillars”: Strategies for how to effectively manage research, teaching and service.

Russell, F. M., Thorson, E, Duffy, M., & Choi, H. Converging on quality: Integrating the St. Louis Beacon and St. Louis Public Radio newsrooms. 

Thorson, E., Swafford, S., & Kim, E. A. Political participation and newspaper coverage of municipal elections in small-town America. 

Thorson, E., Kim, E. A., Kwon, E., & Shoenberger, H.  Development of another minds confidence scale for advertising.

2014 International Communication Association, Seattle
Perreault, M., Jenkins, J., & Thorson, E. “Stay Tuned”: A case study of trustee networked journalism.

2014 American Academy of Advertising, Atlanta
Shoenberger, H., Sableman, M., & Thorson, E. Consumer attitudes toward ads that are behaviorally targeted.

2013 International Communication Association, London
Thorson, E., Kim, A., & Duffy, M. News in a multi-screen world: A taxonomy of daily screen usage for news and information.

Kanuri, V., Mantrala, M., & Thorson, E. On the measurement of reader preferences for news topics: An application of choice-based conjoint technique.

2013 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington D.C.
Thorson, E., Hawthorne, J., Swasy, A., & McKinney, M. The effects of social watching the 2012 presidential debates.

Thorson, E., Kim, E., Swasy, A., Hawthorne, J., & Mitchell, M. Heavy and light tweeters and non-tweets watch the presidential debates.

Maksl, A., Thorson, E., Kim, S., & Swasy, A. Is Internet accessibility a complement or substitute for other forms of communication in rural America?

Thorson, E., & Kim, E. Attitudes about advertising and patterns of news use and evaluation.

Lee, J., Kanuri, V., Thorson, E., & Mantrala, M. Advertising structure and consumers’ willingness to pay for memberships on video sharing websites.

Kim, E., Thorson, E., & Duffy, M. Three patterns of news use in college students.

2012 INFORMS Revenue Management & Pricing Conference, Berlin
Mantrala, M. K., Kanuri, V., Thorson, E., & Rao, V. Willingness to pay for online news and the design of optimal subscription plans. 

2012 American Academy of Advertising
Thorson, E., Kim, E., & Duffy, M. Political advertising and the hierarchy of political socialization in teens.

2012 International Communication Association, Chicago
Thorson, E., & Kim, S. Measurement of political knowledge in American adolescents.

Li, Y., & Thorson, E. Prediction of newspaper financial performance from differing features of online news content.

Thorson, E., Kim, A., & Duffy, D. The yielding-reactance response model and youth sensitivity to ethically problematic commercials.

Yadamsuren, B., Erdelez, S., Lee, J., & Thorson, E. Incidental exposure to online mews among rural Americans.

2012 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Chicago
Tandoc, E., & Thorson, E. Talking or thinking? Pathways from news political learning among children.

Kim, E., Thorson, E., Medvedeva, Y., & Duffy, M. Mobilizing or reinforcing engagement with politics? Impact of media voice and political talk on political engagement of teens. 

Maksl, A., Thorson, E., & Swasy, A. Internet access effects in low and high-income rural residents in middle America.

Maksl, A., Swasy, A., & Thorson, E. Some effects of Internet access among rural and small-town respondents.

Ham, C. D., Lee, Y., & Thorson, E. Parent-child communication patterns, political discussions, news media use and adolescent knowledge and political interest in the 2008 presidential election.       

2011 American Academy of Advertising
Wang, Y., Schauster, E., Rodgers, S., & Thorson, E. A study of graduate-student authorship in advertising journals: 1997-2008.

2011 International Communication Association, Boston
Thorson, E., Thorson, K., & Sridhar, H. Media choice repertoires.

Thorson, E., Leshner, G., Jahng, M. R., & Duffy, M. A hierarchy of political participation activities in pre-voting-age youth.

2011 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, St. Louis
Li, Y., & Thorson, E. Newspaper financial performance: Content really does make a difference.

Jahng, M., McKinney, M., & Thorson, E. Peer influence in adolescent political socialization: Deliberative democracy inside and outside the classroom.

Thorson, E., Kim, E., & Duffy, M. How self-other perceptions and media affordances are related to news use by college students.

Yadamsuren, B., Erdelez, S., Lee, J., & Thorson, E. Incidental exposure to online news: An insight from the Pew Internet Project.

Thorson, E., Tandoc, E., & Jahng, Mi. Parenting styles in political socialization: How the path to political participation begins at home.

Wicks, R., Thorson, E., & Leshner, G. Experimental methodology in journalism and mass communication research. (Top Paper, Communication Theory and Methodology Division.)

 Ham, C. D., & Thorson, E. Responses to user-generated brand videos: The Persuasion Inference Model. (Second Place Research Paper, Advertising Division.)

Panelist, “Top Ten” syllabus favorites of Senior Scholars.

2010 Fourth Great Lakes-NASMEI Marketing Conference, Chennai, India
Sridhar, S., Mantrala, M. K., Naik, P. A., & Thorson, E. Dynamic marketing budgeting for platform firms: Theory, evidence, & application. 

2010 American Academy of Advertising
Wang, Y., Schauster, E., Rodgers, S., & Thorson, E. A study of graduate-student authorship in advertising journals: 1997-2008.

2010 International Communication Association, Singapore
Duffy, M., Thorson, E., & Jahng, R. Comparing legacy news sites with citizen news and blog sites: Where’s the best journalism?

Littau, J., Thorson, E., Oh, H. J., Jahng, M. R, Gardner, E., & Meyer, H. The role of two new measures of media use in political socialization responses on youth.

2010 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Denver
Jahng, M., Meyer, H., & Thorson, E. (2010). Adolescent development of political efficacy and its mediating role in political socialization.

Thorson, E., Jahng, M., & McKinney, M. (2010). Political knowledge and participation in teens during low and high political interest periods surrounding the U.S. 2008 presidential election.

Panelist, “Kappa Tau Alpha Centennial: Celebrating the Scholarly Life.”

2009 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Boston
Sridhar, S., Thorson, E., & Mantrala, M. The impact of newsroom cutbacks on newspaper revenue: An empirical financial analysis.

 Littau, J., Gardner, L., & Thorson, E. The impact of news “voice” on adolescent political efficacy.

 Duffy, M., Thorson, E., & Vultee, F. Advocating advocacy: Acknowledging and teaching journalism as persuasion. (Best Poster, Cultural and Critical Studies Division).

 Jahng, M., Meyer, H., & Thorson, E. Youngsters’ political talk with those outside school and family: The hierarchy of political socialization.  

2009 American Academy of Advertising, Cincinnati
Thorson, E., Lee, J., & Ham, C. D. Linking retail behavior with fundamentals of advertising processing and media use.

 Chair and organizer, Special panel on Advertising Theory.

2009 International Communication Association, Chicago
Thorson, E., Meyer, H., & Jahng, M. Adolescent knowledge and interest in the 2008 presidential election: School and home influences and media use.

Thorson, E., Meyer, H., Littau, J., & Jahng, M. Parental and environmental antecedents of adolescent news use.

Coleman, R., Thorson, E., & Wilkins, L. Testing the impact of public health framing and rich sourcing.

Lee, J., Ham, C. D., & Thorson, E. Knowledge gap in the media-saturated 2008 presidential election (Top Poster Award).

2009 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Boston
Duffy, M., Thorson, E., & Vultee, F. Advocating advocacy: Acknowledging and teaching journalism as persuasion

Littau, J., Gardner, E., & Thorson, E. The impact of news “voice” on adolescent political participation (Top Three Paper, Mass Communication and Society Division).

Jahng, M., Meyer, H., & Thorson, E. Youngsters’ political talk with those outside school and family: The hierarchy of political socialization.

Sridhari, S., Thorson, E., & Mantrala, M. The impact of newsroom cutbacks on newspaper revenue: An empirical financial analysis.

2008 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Chicago
Thorson, E., Meyer, H., & Marchionni, D. Reporter blogging, social presence, and newspaper credibility.

Kim, H., & Thorson, E. Embedding a social cause in the news: The effects of corporate sponsorship and news proximity on consumer attitudes and participation intention.

Marchionni, D., Meyer, H., & Thorson, E. When newspaper reporters blog: The credibility of news and blogs that match or mismatch people’s socio/political leanings.

Kim, H., & Thorson, E. Identifying the key targets for CSR marketing: Associating the consumer characteristics with purchase intentions of CSR-marketed products.

Martin-Kratzer, R., & Thorson, E. Anonymous sources in nightly news programs. 

2008 International Communication Association, Montreal
Thorson, E., Meyer, H., Denton, F., & Smith, J. Prediction of print and online newspaper readership from indices of news quality.

2007 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washingon, D.C.
Oyedeji, T., & Thorson, E. News need marketing management model: An exploratory study.

Littau, J., Thorson, E., & Bentley, C. Citizen journalism and community building: Predictive measures for social capital generation.

Meyer, H., Marchionni, D., & Thorson, E. The journalist behind the news: Credibility of straight, collaborative, opinionated and blogged “news.”

Kostiuk, D., Duffy, M., & Thorson, E. New and legacy media use for information and entertainment in 2000 and 2005: Displacement or complementarity?

2007 International Communication Association, San Francisco
Boyajy, K., & Thorson, E. Internet impact on traditional media use for news: 2002 and 2004.

Moore, J., Thorson, E., & Leshner, G. The only thing we have to fear is … death: Using terror management theory to predict attitudinal and behavioral responses to death-explicit anti-tobacco PSAs.

Chen, R., & Thorson, E. Civic participation by educated immigrant populations: Examining the effects of media use, personal networks, and social capital.

2006 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, San Francisco
Brown, C., Thorson, E., & Fleming, K. Taking action on credibility: Does APME’s credibility roundtable program have measurable effects? 

Fleming, K., & Thorson, E. Assessing the role of information-processing strategies in learning from the news about sources of social capital.

Thorson, E., & Thorson, K. Choice of media sources in the new media landscape: The crucial 18-34 demographic.

Thorson, E., & Hamman, B. Predictors of news trust and news medium choice in 18-34 year olds.  

Martin-Kratzer, R., & Thorson, E. The emotional effect of negative news photographs.

2005 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, San Antonio
Yoon, T. I., & Thorson, E. How consumers process cultural cues on commercial websites: The role of felt targetedness in the Communication Model of Cultural Cues.

Kratzer, R., & Thorson, E. Says who? Examining the use of anonymous sourcing in news stories.

Overholser, G., Thorson, E., Jin, Y., Song, Y., & Lacy, S. Newshole changes in three large newspapers with different ownership patterns.

Lacy, S., Diddi, A., & Thorson, E. Do medium and small market dailies produce abnormal profits?

Kratzer, R., & Thorson, E. The exclusion of female sources in the media.

2005 Interamerican Press Association Annual Meeting, Indianapolis
Thorson, E. Measuring the quality of news.

2005 American Academy of Advertising, Baton Rouge
Micu, A., Thorson, E., & Antecol, M. A model of consumer response to television commercials in wartime TV news: The Iraq War, 2003.

2005 International Communication Association, New Orleans
Beaudoin, C. E, Thorson, E., & Hong, T. The influence of a statewide public health campaign on social capital.  

Fleming, K., Thorson, E., & Beaudoin, C. E. The impact of “foxification” of the war in Iraq II on American attitudes and perceptions of the war.

2004 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Toronto
Lee, J. G., & Thorson, E. Celebrity-product incongruence and the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement.

Yoon, T. I., & Thorson, E. Examining the cultural paradox hypothesis on commercial websites.

Fleming, K., & Thorson, E. Effects of positive media images, media use, and information-processing strategies on attitudes and international knowledge during wartime.

Fleming, K., Thorson, E., & Zhang, Y. Going beyond exposure to local news media: An information-processing examination of public perceptions of food safety.

Jin, Y., Thorson, E., and Antecol, M. The impact of local, network and cable news dependency during the Iraq War on attitudes, interest in the war, preference for visual complexity and central vs. peripheral news features.

Peng, Z., & Thorson, E. The psychological impact of “Foxified” news on news processing and public mood. 

Thorson, E., Chen, Q., & Lacy, S. The impact of investment in newsrooms on newspaper revenues and profits: Small and medium newspapers, 1998-2002.

2003 International Communication Association, San Diego
Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, Esther. Retesting the marketplace theory of media use. 

Beaudoin, C. E., Jin, Y., & Thorson, E. When uses and gratifications meet the knowledge gap. The impact of media motives and demographics on political activity. 

Rodgers, S., Kensicki, L., & Thorson, E. Stereotypical portrayals of emotionality in news photographs. 

2002 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Kansas City
Beaudoin, C. E., Antecol, M., & Thorson, E. Fox news and its links to hawkish support for the war in Iraq.

 Yoon, D., Thorson, E., & Len-Rios, M. Dual and single newspaper readers: Media use patterns, relations to community and demographic profiles.

 Fleming, K., & Thorson, E. News use and knowledge about diabetes in African Americans and Caucasians.

2002 International Communication Association, Seoul, Korea
Yoon, T. I., Thorson, E., & Lee, M. C. (2002). A structural equation approach to body image disturbance. 

Yoon, D., Thorson, E., & Len-Rios, M. (2002). Selective perception of ethnicity coverage and its influence on the evaluation of the media.

Len-Rios, M., Thorson, E., & Yoon, D. (2002). Analysis of news content and audience perceptions of ethnicity coverage and diversity in the newsroom: Implications for social comparison processes.

Lee, J. G., Thorson, E., & Cameron, G. (2002). Contextual priming effects in judgment of online product information: Role of product involvement in assimilation and contrast.  

Lee, J. G., & Thorson, E. (2002). Attitude toward political information websites (Aps) and its antecedents.

Thorson, E., & Beaudoin, C. E. (2002). Urban African and Caucasian Americans: Social capital patterns and associations with media use. (Top Faculty Paper, Mass Communication Division).  

Chen, R. Q., Thorson, E., Yoon, D., & Ognianova, E. (2002). General news, a civic journalism project, and indices of social capital.

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. (2002). Social capital in the state of Kansas: Links to news and a health campaign.

2002 American Academy of Advertising
Yoon, T. I., Thorson, E., & Lee, M.C. The double-edged image: Intended and unintended effects of body image represented in Web Sites.  

Lee, J. G., & Thorson, E. Effects of individual differences in needs for cognition and emotion on the processing of banner ads in affective and cognitive web sites.

Thorson, E., Yoon, D., & Beaudoin, C. E. (2002). Track and trend: Watching a health campaign move through the hierarchy of effects. 

2001 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Miami
Fleming, K., Thorson, E., & Atkin, C. Alcohol advertising exposure and perceptions: Links with alcohol expectancies and drinking or intention to drink in teens and young adults.

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. Beyond the cognitive mediation model: Diversion, interaction and action motives trump the surveillance motive.

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. Talking the talk and walking the walk: The mass media and social capital in town and cities.

Thorson, E., Shim, J., & Yoon, D. Crime and violence in Charlotte, NC: The impact of a civic journalism project on knowledge, mental elaboration, and civic behaviors.

Yoon, T. I., Thorson, E., & Lee, M. C. Girls versus women: Body image processing among Korean females.

2001 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington, D.C.
Thorson, E., & Yoon, D. Taking it outside in Kansas: Effects of an integrated communications campaign and its echo.

Bolch, J., & Thorson, E. Teaching crime and violence reporting from a public journalism perspective.

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. Believability and satisfaction: Media credibility in a Midwestern community. 

2001 International Communication Association, Washington, D.C.
Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. The media mediation model: Toward a better understanding of the construction of global knowledge. 

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. What people use—and why: New & traditional media at the millennium.

Thorson, E., & Beaudoin, C. E. Can a children’s health media campaign affect indices of social capital?

Thorson, E., & Beaudoin, C. E. Drinking and driving PSAs and moderation ads: Exploring links to knowledge, attitudes and behavior.

2001 American Academy of Advertising
Thorson, E., & Yoon, D. Synergy of traditional and interactive media effects in a children’s health campaign.

2000 International Communication Association, Acapulco
Thorson, E., & Beaudoin, C. E. Content analyses of liquor advertising characters, themes, and appeals.

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. International news coverage in the L.A. Times: Comparison of perceptions of readers and news professionals with a content analysis.

2000 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Phoenix
Coleman, R., & Thorson, E. The effects of news stories that put crime and violence into context.

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. Social capital, kids and news coverage: An application of the selective perception model.

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. Mass mediating social capital.

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. Crime and ethnic group coverage: Media exposure and audience perceptions.

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. The appeals present in alcohol advertisements at the millennium.

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. Values representations in international news.

Rodgers, S., & Thorson, E. Changing faces: Diversity of local news sources in the LA Times.

Rodgers, S., & Thorson, E. What a difference a year makes: A content analysis before and after the start of a Latino Initiative.

1999 International Communication Association, San Francisco
Antecol, M., & Thorson, E. Individual and structural blame anti-smoking television commercials.  

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. A new look at the world: International news in the Los Angeles Times.

Thorson, E., & Coleman, R. Influencing readers’ perceptions of crime and violence.

Thorson, E. Respondent to Chuck Stone’s lecture, “The ties that bind: Multicultural differences in the community of democracy.”

1999 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, New Orleans
Rodgers, S., & Thorson, E. The visual representation of individuals of different genders, ages and ethnicities in the photographs of the LA Times (Top Three Faculty Paper, Visual Communication Division).

Antecol, M., Thorson, E., & Mendelson, A. The news media and smoking: Predicting the predictors of Fishbein and Ajzen’s Theory of Reasoned Action. 

Beaudoin, C. E., & Thorson, E. A distorted mirror on the world? International photos in the Los Angeles Times. 

Thorson, E., & Antecol, M. Cognitive filtration of crime and violence news. 

Thorson, E., Antecol, M., & Fleming, K. Media consumption and social capital patterns in urban African Americans and Whites. 

1998 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Baltimore
Rodgers, S., Antecol, M., & Thorson, E. Reality as it appears in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: A content analysis.

Ognianova, E., & Thorson, E. Evidence for selective perception in the processing of health campaign messages.

Thorson, E., Atkin, C., & Antecol, M. Hard liquor advertising on TV: What do Americans know about it and do they care?

Thorson, E., & Leshner, G. Participation in community organizations and consumption of TV and newspaper news (Top Two Faculty Paper, Mass Communication and Society Division).

1998 American Association for Public Opinion Research, St. Louis
Thorson, E. Evaluation of public journalism efforts in four cities.

1998 International Communication Association, Jerusalem
Ognianova, E., Coyle, J., & Thorson, E. Evaluation of public journalism efforts in four cities.

Leshner, G., & Thorson, E. Cynicism and public mood about an election as mediators of actual and self-reported voting.

Thorson, E., & Antecol, M. News media consumption and bias transfer. 

1998 American College Personnel Conference
Thorson, E. Greek alumni: College satisfaction and performance as adults.

1998 American Academy of Advertising, Lexington
Thorson, E., & Ognianova, E. The impact of a multi-media advertising and PR campaign on attitudes and knowledge about the effects of second-hand smoke.

1998 Kentucky Conference on Health Community, Lexington
Antecol, M. & Thorson, E. Effects of television on alcohol beliefs and behaviors: Exposure vs. active processing.

Schooler, C., Thorson, E., Antecol, M., Flora, J. A., & Castro, A. Health communication orientation: Understanding consumer responses.

1997 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Chicago
Thorson, E., & Friedland, L. Civic lessons: A report on four civic journalism projects funded by the Pew Center for Civic Journalism.

Thorson, E., & Mendelson, A. Media portrayals of Hillary Clinton and their impact on audiences.

Thorson, E., Mendelson, A., Ognianova, E., & Friedland, L. Affective and behavioral impact of civic journalism.

Chaffee, S., McDevitt, M., & Thorson, E. Citizen response to civic journalism: Four case studies.  

Ognianova, K., Thorson, E., Mendelson, A., & Friedland, L. What makes an active citizen? Do the media play a role?

1997 International Communication Association, Montreal
Ognianova, E., & Thorson, E. A comparison of the effects of alcohol consumption and awareness of alcohol PSAs, moderation ads and public safety programs on driving behaviors and policy attitudes.

Mendelson, A., & Thorson, E. The impact of visualizer-verbalizer learning styles on learning from newspaper stories and photos: An exploratory study.

Antecol, M., & Thorson, E. The impact of intentional processing of news and dramas for information about the world.

1997 Conference on Lifesaving Intervention, Tampa, May
Thorson, E. News, Missourians and the Great Flood of '93.

1997 American Academy of Advertising, St. Louis
Ognianova, E., & Thorson, E. Effects of drunk driving PSAs and beer moderation ads on safe driving behavior. 

1996 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Anaheim
Ognianova, E., Meeds, R., Thorson, E., & Coyle, J. Political ad watches and the third-person effect.

Thorson, E., & Mendelson, A. Perceptions of news stories and news photos of Hillary Rodham Clinton (Top Three Faculty Paper, Visual Communication Division).

Ognianova, E., Coyle, J., & Thorson, E. The mediating role of public mood: New explorations in the relationship between media use and political knowledge and attitudes (Top Research Paper, Mass Communication and Society Division).

1996 International Communication Association, Chicago
Ognianova, E., Coyle, J., & Thorson, E. The mediating role of public mood: New explorations in the relationship between media use and political knowledge.  

Ognianova, E., & Thorson, E. The third-person effect as an intrinsic characteristic (Top Three Paper, Information Systems Division).

Thorson, E., & Mendelson, A. Photo-story congruence and photo novelty effects on processing stories about Hillary Clinton.

1996 American Academy of Advertising, Vancouver
Li, H., & Thorson, E. Buying styles of home shoppers.

Thorson, E., Ognianova, E., Coyle, J., & Denton, F. Negative political ads and negative citizen orientations toward politics.  

1996 Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research, Chicago, November
Ognianova, E., & Thorson, E. Personality characteristics predicting the third-person effect in the public's perceptions of media influence.

1996 Society for Consumer Psychology, Hilton Head, SC
Thorson, E., Schumann, D. W., Wood, C. M., & Dyer, B. Predicting consumer response to advertisements in a program context: A comparison of models.

Thorson, E., Coyle, J., Meeds, R., & Ognianova, E. Political ads and political ad watches: How their relationships determine attitude and learning. 

Thorson, E., & Friestad, M. A measure of implicit memory: Its relationship to more traditional measures of television commercial impact on attitude and recall.

1995 American Academy of Advertising, Norfolk, VA
Thorson, E., Coyle, J., & Chi, A. An application of the intensity-affect model: Using commercial-to-program involvement ratios to predict ad memory.

1995 International Communication Association, Albuquerque
Thorson, E. The impact of news photographs of Hillary Rodham Clinton on readers' perceptions, comprehension, and attitudes.

Thorson, E., & Friestad, M. Measures of implicit memory: Their relationships to more traditional measures of television commercial impact on attitude and recall.

Meeds, R. &, Thorson, E. The framing of television stories of the Midwest floods of 1993.

1995 Visual Communication Conference, Flagstaff, AZ, June
Thorson, E., & Mendelson, A. Processing news photos of Hillary Clinton: The effects of traditional and power portrayals.

1995 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington, D.C.
Denton, F., Thorson, E., & Coyle, J. Effects of a multimedia public journalism project on political knowledge and attitudes.

Wilkins, L., Brown, T., MacDonald, J. R., Burnnett, M. D., Thorson, E., Donnell, E. D. & Thompson, J. Designing a risk communication campaign: Applying the insights from the flood of ’93 to other flood events.

Thorson, E., Meeds, R., Ognianova, E., Donnell, H. D., & Jackson-Thompson, J. J. Framing the flood of ’93: A comparison of newspaper and television frames with citizen perceptions and preferences.

1995 Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research, Chicago, November
Ognianova, E., & Thorson, E. Psychological variables predicting the third-person effect in the public's perceptions of media influence.

1994 Association for Consumer Research, Boston, October
Thorson, E., Page, T., & Moore, J. Consumer response to four categories of “green” commercials.  

1994 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Atlanta
Thorson, E., & Meeds, R. The framing of newspaper stories about the Great Flood of ’93.  

1994 International Communication Association, Sydney
Thorson, E., & Coyle, J. A comparison of the impact of political ads appearing in radio, newspaper, and television.

Thorson, E. The impact of news photos of Hillary Clinton on processing news stories.

1994 Advertising and Consumer Psychology, Minneapolis
Thorson, E., & Zhao, X. Television viewing behavior as an index of commercial effectiveness.  

1994 American Academy of Advertising, Tucson, April
Thorson, E., & Coyle, J. The third person effect in three genres of commercials: Product and greening ads, and public service announcements.

Williams, M., & Thorson, E. Effects of interrupting the processing of emotion-eliciting and neutral commercials. 

1993 Association for Consumer Research, Nashville
Thorson, E. Cycling patterns in over-time measures of television viewing.

1993 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Kansas City
Gronstedt, A., & Thorson, E. In search of integrative communications excellence: Five organizational structures in advertising agencies.

Thorson, E. Experimental studies of visual communication.

Christ, W., Caywood, C., & Thorson, E. Effects of issue-image strategies and attack and support appeals in political commercials: A voter replication study.

1993 International Communication Association, Washington, D.C.
Tapper, J., Thorson, E., & Black, D. Musical genre as a determinant of differences in music videos.

Thorson, E. Alcohol advertising to youth.

1993 American Academy of Advertising, Montreal
Thorson, E., & Page, T. Consumer responses to four categories of green messages.

1993 On the Beat:  Rock 'n' Rap, Mass Media and Society, University of Missouri School of Journalism
Thorson, E., Tapper, J., and Black, D. Beyond Madonna: The gamut of music videos.

1992 American Academy of Advertising, San Antonio
Organized and Chaired Special Topics Session: “Advertising Only Affects Others, Not Me: Studies of the Third Person Effects in Advertising Communications.”

Thorson, E., & Hitchon, J. The third person effect in product and greening commercials.

Thorson, E., & Christ, W. Attitudinal effects of commercials representing six categories of emotional response.

1992 International Communication Association, Miami
Duckler, P., Thorson, E., & Hitchon, J. Effects of ambiguity and complexity on consumer response to music video commercials.

Thorson, E. A theory of attention to television commercials.

Thorson, E., & Laurion, S. Effects of medium and age on memory for news feature stories.

1992 Association for Consumer Research Summer Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Hitchon, J., & Thorson, E. The role of the brand in American and British Commercials. 

Thorson, E. Building international brand equity without advertising.

1992 American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C.
Milbrath, W., & Thorson, E. The impact of news, benefit, and curiosity headlines.

Schumann, D., Wright, L., & Thorson, E. Initial tests of the selection-processing model of television program context effects: Identifying and measuring scene response variables.  

1991 Association for Consumer Research, Chicago
Thorson, E., Chi, A., & Leavitt, C. Attention, memory, attitude, and conation: A test of the Hierarchy Model.

1991 International Communication Association, Chicago
Christ, W., Thorson, E., & Caywood, C. On the correlation between political attitudes and responses to political commercials.  

Bradley, S., Thorson, E., & Hitchon, J. Hard sell vs. soft sell: A content analysis of American and British prime time television ads.

Thorson, E., Christ, W., & Caywood, C. Political commercials: Issue-image strategies, attack vs. support appeals, and the impact of music and visual background. 

1990 Association for Consumer Research, New York, October
Chair and Organizer of panel entitled “Moment by Moment Analyses of TV Commercials: Theoretical and Applied Considerations.”

Phelps, J., & Thorson, E. Brand familiarity and product involvement effects on the attitude toward the ad-brand attitude relationship.

Milbrath, W., & Thorson, E. The impact of news, benefit, and curiosity headlines.

Thorson, E., & Hitchon, J. The role of ambiguity and complexity in music video commercials.

1990 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Minneapolis
Chi, A., & Thorson, E. Effects of viewing context on the processing of television commercials.

Hitchon, J., & Thorson, E. Moderating effects of emotion and product involvement on wearout of television commercials.

1990 International Communication Association, Dublin, Ireland
Schleuder, J., Cameron, G. T., & Thorson, E. How viewers use news teasers to process TV news and commercial information more efficiently (Top 10 Paper Award).

Gunther, A., & Thorson, E. Perceived persuasive effects of product commercials and public service announcements: “Third Person” effects in other domains (Top 3 Paper Award).

1990 Advertising and Consumer Psychology, New York
Bradley, S., Thorson, E., & Hitchon, J. Leading lady or bit player: The role of the product in American and British commercials.

1990 American Academy of Advertising, Orlando
Thorson, E. & Page, T. On the ubiquity of Aad effects.

1989 Association for Consumer Research, New Orleans
Thorson, E., & Deith, B. Heartrate as an index of attentional, attitudinal and memory responses to commercials

Chair of a special session, “Political effects of the talking lamp: Individual processing of political advertising on television.”

Thorson, E., Christ, W., & Caywood, C. Political commercials: Issue-image strategies, attack vs. support appeals, and the impact of music and visual background.

1989 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington D.C.
Thorson, E., & Zhao, X. Curvilinear relations between ROI measures and eyes-on-screen.

1989 International Communication Association, San Francisco
Lang, A., & Thorson, E. The effects of television videographics and lecture familiarity on adult cardiac orienting responses and memory (Top Three Paper, Information Systems Division).

1989 American Academy of Advertising, San Diego
Schleuder, J., Cameron, G. T., & Thorson, E. Proactive interference effects of television news teasers on attention to and memory for emotion-eliciting commercials. 

Thorson, E., Christ, W., & Caywood, C. Are political commercials treated as brand commercials by viewers?

Thorson, E. Advertising research generated by academics.

Hitchon, J.,  & Thorson, E. The role of emotion and product involvement in the wearout process.

1988 Association for Consumer Research, Hawaii
Thorson, E. Advertising research generated by academics.

Hitchon, J., Thorson, E., & Zhao, X. The mediating role of product involvement and emotional impact on repetition effects.

Schumann, D., Thorson, E., & Rosen, D. Testing the Selection Processing Model: The influence of program-related need.  

1988 Advertising and Consumer Psychology, New York
Park, C. S., & Thorson, E. Influences on emotional response to commercials of different executional styles.

Friestad, M., & Thorson, E. The emotion-memory relationship in television advertising.

Page, T. J., Jr., Thorson, E., & Heide, M. P. The memory impact of commercials varying in product involvement level and emotional appeal.

1988 American Academy of Advertising, Chicago
Thorson, E. Experimental studies of television processing over time.

 Thorson, E., Zhao, X., & Friestad, M. Attention over time: Behavior in a natural viewing environment.

1988 International Communication Association, New Orleans
Schleuder, J., Thorson, E., & Reeves, B. Effects of time compression and complexity on attention to television commercials.

Thorson, E., & Zhao, X. Memory for TV commercials as a function of onsets and offsets in watching.

Thorson, E., & Lang, A. The impact of videographics on adult learning from television.

1988 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Portland
Thorson, E., Salmon, C. T., & Nowak, G. Determinants of attitude change on issues of social significance.

 Thorson, E. The psychophysiological chronometry of television viewing.

 Duncan, T., Schultz, D., Thorson, E., & Moriarty, S. Teaching survey of professionals.

1987 Advertising and Consumer Psychology, New York
Thorson, E., & Page, T. Effects of product involvement and emotional commercials on consumers’ recall and attitudes.

1987 International Communication Association, Chicago
Thorson, E., Reeves, B., & Schleuder, J. Local and global complexity to television. (Top Three Paper, Mass Communication Division.)

 Hoffner, C., Cantor, J., & Thorson, E. Children's integration of conflicting auditory and visual television content.

1987 Ogilvy and Mather Research and Development Center, San Francisco
Thorson, E. The role of emotion in advertising.

1987 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Norman, Oklahoma
Nowak, G., & Thorson, E. The effects of involvement, message appeal, and viewing conditions on memory and evaluation of TV commercials.

1987 American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C.
Thorson, E. Effects of consonant, dissonant, and mixed relations between program- and commercial-induced affect.

Thorson, E., & Leavitt, C. Probabilistic Functionalism and the search for a taxonomy of commercials.

1987 Association for Consumer Research, Toronto
Co-chair with C. Allen, University of Cincinnati: “Consumer Processing Without Awareness.”

Thorson, E., & Donatello, M. Sub- and supraliminal conditioning of affect to brand names.

Chair of session on “Continuous Measures of Advertising Response.”

Thorson, E., & Friestad, M. Qualitative and quantitative indices of emotion and prediction of consumer responses to ads.

1987 Speech Communication Association, Chicago
Hoffner, C., Cantor, J., & Thorson, E. Children's understanding of a televised narrative: Development differences in processing of audio and video content.

Prior to 1986
Thorson, E., Reeves, B., & Schleuder, J. (1985). Message complexity and attention to television.  International Communication Association Annual Meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii, May.

Friestad, M., & Thorson, E. (1985). The role of emotion in memory for television commercials.  International Communication Association Annual Meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii, May.

Thorson, E., & Friestad, M. (1985). The effects of emotion on episodic memory for TV commercials.  Advertising and Consumer Psychology Meeting, Chicago, August.

Thorson, E. (1984). Episodic and semantic memory: Implications for the role of emotion in advertising.  Paper presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Gainesville, August.

Reeves, B., Thorson, E., Rothschild, M.L., McDonald, D., Hirsch, J., & Goldstein, R. (1984). Attention to television: Intrastimulus effects of movement and scene changes on alpha variation over time. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Communication Association, San Francisco, May 24-28.

Thorson, E. (1979). Predictors of coping behaviors in adolescent children during the Youngstown Steel Crisis. Paper presented at the International Society of Political Psychology Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., May 24-26.

Thorson, E. (1977). Simulation and gaming:  Evaluating their teaching effectiveness in the college curriculum.  Paper presented at the North American Simulation and Gaming Association Annual Meeting, Boston, October 11-14.

Thorson, E. (1975). Simulation in the liberal arts college: A program of educational change and evaluation. Paper presented at the North American Simulation and Gaming Association Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, October 23-25.

Thorson, E., & Thorson, S. J. (1974). The use of experimentation in socialization research. Paper presented to the Annual meeting of the American Political Science Association.

Thorson, E., & Thorson, S. J. (1974). The development of political cognition in children: An experimental approach. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association.

Doctoral Dissertations Chaired

Current Advisees: Emily Zhan, Michigan State University

Linda White, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2023)

Hanna Na  (2022)

Weiyue Chen, Butler University (2021)

Carin Tunney (2021)

Aziz Muqaddam, University of San Diego (2020)

Samuel Tham, Colorado State University (2019)                               

Heesook Choi, Mississippi State University (2019)

Kellie Stanfield, University of Missouri (2017)

Penny Kwon, Texas Christian University (2016)

Rachel Davis Myers (2015)

Anna Kim, University of Southern California (2015)

Heather Shoenberger, Pennsylvania State University (2014)

You Li, Eastern Michigan University (2012)

Rosie Jahng, Wayne State University (2012)

Karen Boyajy Hoff (2012)

Joonghwa Lee, University of North Dakota (2011)

Chang Dae Ham, University of Illinois (2011)

Jeremy Littau, LeHigh University (2009)

Doreen Marchionni, Media Consulting (2009)

Youngkee Ju (2009)

Enas Salmeen (2005)

Kenneth Fleming, Retired Director, Center for Advanced Social Research, University of Missouri (2005)

Renee Kratzer, University of Missouri (2005)

Anca Micu, Sacred Heart University (2005)

Renee Chen, Freelance Communication Specialist (2005)

Doyle Yoon, University of Oklahoma (2003)

Teresa Lamsam, University of Nebraska-Omaha (2003)

Jung-Gyo Lee, Kyung Hee University (2003)

Vince Filak, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (2003)

Tae-Il Yoon, Hallyum University (2002)

Renita Coleman, University of Texas (2001) (Co-chaired with Lee Wilkins)

Christopher Beaudoin, Boston University (2001)

Yuhmiin Chang, National Chengchi University, Taiwan (2001)

Shelly Rodgers, University of Missouri (2000)                                                            

Stan Ketterer, University of Oklahoma (2000)

Michael Antecol (1998) (Deceased) 

Tom Weir, University of South Carolina (1998)

Lillie Fears, Arkansas State University (1997)

Ekaterina Ognianova, Levi Strauss (1997)

Robert Meeds, Texas Tech University (1997)

James Coyle, University of Cincinnati (1997)                                                                                          

Andrew Mendelson, New York University (1997)

Nileeni Meegama, Bank of America (1996)

Betty J. Parker , Western Michigan University, faculty emeritus (1994)

Hsu-Hsien Annie Chi, Shih Hsin University, Taipei, Taiwan (1994)

Mark Edwin Doremus (1994)

Anders Gronstedt, President, Gronstedt Group (1994)

Chung Sook Lee (1994)

Suzanne Laurion, University of South Florida (1992)

Michael Williams, Posthumus degree, University of Wisconsin (1991)

Glen Nowak, University of Georgia (1990)

Joseph Phelps, University of Alabama (1990)

Marian Friestad, Emeritus, University of Oregon (1989)

Annie Lang, Indiana University (1998) (co-chaired with Byron Reeves)

Joan Schleuder (1998) (deceased) (co-chaired with Byron Reeves)

Professional Associations

American Academy of Advertising

• Vice President (1993)

• Selection Committee for AAA Research Grants (1990-91)

• Placement and Academic Development Committee (1986, 1987, 1988)

• Publications Committee (1988- 91)

• Chair, 1992-1993

• Research Committee

Association for Consumer Research

• Advisory Board (1988-1991)

• One of three judges for Ferber Award, 1990 (Best dissertation in marketing)

• 1985 Program Committee

American Psychological Association, Consumer Science Division

• Chair of the Annual Meeting of Advertising and Consumer Psychology, May, 1996

• Chair of the Annual Meeting of Advertising and Consumer Psychology, May, 1992

International Communication Association

• Board Member at Large (1997-1999)

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

• Chair, Publications Committee (1997-1998)

Current Editorial Boards 

• Journal of Interactive Advertising

• Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly

• Journal of Communication

Prior Board Service

• Communication Research (1995-2003)

• International Journal of Advanced Media and Communication

• Journal of Advertising (until 2007)

• Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media

• Journal of Consumer Research (1986-1991)

• Mass Communication & Society

• Media Psychology 

• Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity Advisors

• Journal of Interactive Advertising

Sample Consulting Projects

• Development of a model for pricing online and mobile apps. Seattle Times, 2011- 2016

• Segmentation and Targeting Project, Kansas City Star, 2011

• Advertising Revenue Modeling Project, Seattle Times, 2010 - 2016

• Newspaper Finance Modeling Project, Morris Communications, Augusta, GA, 2007 - 2016

• Lauder report on health news and cosmetics, 2004

• RTNDF report on international news coverage in local television news, 2004

• Research Consultant, Project for Excellence in Journalism, Washington, D.C., 2002-2012

• Center for Substance Abuse Prevention: Expert Panel: Alcohol Problems and Prevention.          

• Political advertising commentator, PBS Point of View Web Site, 1996-2002 (presently available at http://www.pbs.org/democracy//readbetweenthelines/index.html.) This is used in political science courses across the United States and has been reprinted many times. Its latest presence is in Arguing in Communities: Reading and Writing Arguments in Context (Gary Layne Hatch, McGraw-Hill, 2002).

• Consultant to a campaign to reduce drinking and driving among Kansas teens (Kansas Alcohol Safety Action Project).

• Media Commentator for Wisconsin Public Television's “Weekend Show” (Fridays, 7 o’clock) (One hour news, review and analysis of the week in Wisconsin).

• Advertising Consultant for DDB Needham, Chicago, American Association for Lutherans; Honda Canada, MasterCard. 

• College Advertising Campaign, Lands' End, Chicago, 1988-90. Third Prize, 1989; First Prize, 1990. 

• Television advertising research consultant, Tatham, Laird & Kudner, Chicago, 1987-1990.

• Television advertising research consultant, DDB Needham Worldwide, 1985-1993.

• Analyses of Emotional Advertising. For: Ogilvy and Mather Research and Development Center, 1985.

• Children's Responses to Animation in TV Commercials. For: ABC Television, 1985.

• Evaluation of the Tell-Back Audience Response System. Reports #1 and #2 (with B. Reeves & M. Rothschild). For: ABC Television, 1984. 

• A psycholinguistic analysis of viewer response to two commercials for Certain. For: The Proctor & Gamble Co., October, 1980. 

• A psycholinguistic analysis of viewer memory for three executional styles in Crisco commercials. For: Compton Advertising, Inc., October, 1979.

• A factor analytic study of consumer conceptions and preferences for coffee products (regular grind, instant and decaffeinated). For: The Proctor & Gamble Co., June, 1979.

• Memory for messages in Top Job commercials with and without demonstrations. For: Compton Advertising, Inc., February, 1979.

Expert witness

• Underhill, et al v. Jack Miller Oldsmobile, et al (impact of advertising on imitation)

• Fair Vs. City of Chicago  (Chicago alcohol billboard case)

• New Jersey vs. Bad Frog Beer

• Eller vs City of Oakland (Oakland alcohol billboard case)

• Korean American Grocers et al. v. City of Los Angeles (Los Angeles billboard case)

• Pete’s Brewing v. Hope E. Whitehead (beer labeling in Missouri)

• Soloflex vs NordicTrack (copyright infringement)

Invited Lectures

University of Texas-Austin, Center for Media Engagement Lecture
March, 2019

Boston University, College of Communication
Melvin L. DeFleur Distinguished Lecture
October 23, 2014

Texas Tech University
William S. Morris Lecture
College of Media and Communication
March 4-5, 2013

University of Memphis
Invited Lecture, Fogelman College of Business & Economics
April 11-12, 2013

Medill School, Northwestern University
Inaugural Distinguished Visitor of Medill Ideas Colloquium
February 14-15, 2013

Leap Media Roundtable
Vail, CO, August 28, 2012
“What Will Consumers Pay For?” (With Murali Mantrala) 

Recent Public Reports on Thorson Research

Natalie Stroud, American Press Institute: “Insights, tools, and research to advance journalism,” September 18, 2014:

http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/research-review/paywall-decisions/?utm_source=TBR&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20140929

Thorson and her colleagues’ research was the first to be featured on the American Press Institute’s new blog. Stroud points out that “Audience research can help news organizations make better decisions about pricing, can allow for greater understanding of their particular audience.  University of Missouri School of Journalism scholars Mike Jenner, Esther Thorson, and Anna Kim analyzed paywall practices by surveying 416 publishers, or designees such as executive editors, from daily newspapers across the U.S.  Most importantly, what Jenner, Thorson, and Kim highlight is the lack of research informing these decisions.”

Tom Rosenstiel’s Blog on Poynter site: “Why we need a better conversation about the future of journalism education,” April 15, 2013:

http://www.poynter.org/media-innovation/media-lab/the-next-journalism/210196/why-we-need-a-better-conversation-about-the-future-of-journalism-education/

Rosensteil, in his discussion of the future of journalism schools and especially the discussion of the hospital model of journalism, pointed out that what was missing from this conversation was experiments that were already occurring. His first example referred to Thorson’s econometric research. “At the University of Missouri, scholars such as Esther Thorson and others at the Reynolds Institute, are pushing toward economic research for the news industry to operate more scientifically.”

Ken Doctor Blog on the Nieman Foundation Site: The newsonomics of Pulitzers, paywalls, and investing in the newsroom, April 18, 2013:

http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/04/the-newsonomics-of-pulitzers-paywalls-and-investing-in-the-newsroom/

Since the 1990s, Esther Thorson has been studying the linkage between investment in newsrooms and advertising and circulation results. “Money in, money out,” she calls it, suggesting that considering the newsroom as a simple “cost center” is shortsighted.

With credentials in both psychology and mathematics, she’s now associate dean of graduate studies at the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism. Along with her colleague, marketing professor Murali Mantrala, she has long worked with the Inland data and with individual newspaper companies as well. Her conclusion: “Input into the newsroom in dollars had far and away the greatest impact on all sources of revenues — both advertising and circulation.” Citing a case history that Thorson says is more widely indicative: “For every dollar invested in the newsroom, you create 21 cents of direct impact on circulation revenues, plus 56 cents of indirect impact from print ad revenues, plus 32 cents of indirect effect online ad revenue.” Investments in ad sales and circulation sales directly yield less, she says.