Politics as Information
I study how individuals judge the credibility of information—whether journalistic, scientific, or personal—that underpins public opinion and democratic accountability, amid polarized media environments. My work examines the psychological mechanisms by which citizens evaluate and trust information sources, focusing on evolving practices and norms in fact-checking journalism and science communication.
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Truth-seeking vs. Balance: The Credibility Dilemma in Correcting Political Misinformation
Forthcoming in Political Communication
paper | supplement | replication
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International Journal of Press/Politics. 2024.
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The Reasoning through Evidence versus Advice (EvA) Scale: Scale Development and Validation, with Priti Shah
and Stephanie Preston.
Journal of Personality Assessment. 2024.​
supplement | replication​​​​​​
Politics as Experience
I examine how personal experiences and collective trauma shape political attitudes and participation. My research explores how mass tragedies (e.g., natural disasters, the Vietnam war, the Mexican Revolution, terrorist attacks, the Sewol ferry disaster), political ruptures (e.g., corruption leading to presidential impeachment), and personal encounters with public policy (e.g., local energy supply) influence institutional trust and democratic engagement through emotional pathways.​​
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Can Corruption Connect You to Politics? Nepotism, Anxiety, and Government Blame, with Deanna Kolberg-Shah.
Political Psychology. 2024.
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Warm Glow Feelings Can Promote Green Behavior, with Jennifer Jerit and Jason Barabas.
PNAS Nexus. 2024.
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Disaster Experience Mitigates the Partisan Divide on Climate Change: Evidence from Texas, with Ted Chen, Christopher Fariss, and Xu Xu.
Global Environmental Change. 2024.
supplement | replication​​​​
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​​Between Public Interest and Personal Interest: Local Context of Political Issues and Policy Preferences, with T.K. Ahn and Won-ho Park.
Korean Political Science Review 49(4): 301–333. 2015. [In Korean]
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Perceived Threat as a Motivator of Policy Voting: Analysis of the 2012 US Presidential Election.
American Studies 38(1): 77–101. 2015.
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Received Muhyang Scholar’s Best Paper Award, American Studies Institute, Seoul National University, 2016.​
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Emotional Underpinnings of Partisanship: The Sewol Ferry Disaster and the 2014 Korean Local Election, with Won-ho Park.
Korean Political Science Review 48(5): 119-142. 2014. [In Korean]
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A Reading of The Burning Plain by Juan Rulfo: The Social Value of the Ability to Feel Emotions.
México y La Cuenca del Pacífico 17(51): 75-95. 2014. [In Spanish, a literary analysis of war-related emotional trauma in post-revolutionary Mexico]
Select Working Papers & Research in Progress
The Appearance of Corruption: Americans’ Perceptions of Political Corruption Among Government Actors, with Elizabeth Suhay
Harnessing the Warm Glow: Field Experiments on "Green" Electrical Power Choices in New Hampshire, with Jennifer Jerit and Jason Barabas.​
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The Fractured Democratic Recovery: Media Framing and Institutional Trust During a Constitutional Crisis.
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From Combat to Community: War Trauma, Welfare, and Civic Participation, with Hojung Joo.​​​​​​