AJ Weaver

———– Application info

Search chair info

• Dr. Jesse Fox
• 3016 Derby Hall
• 154 N Oval Mall
• Columbus, OH 43210

Job call: https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/15713

Submit letter via academic jobs online on or before 1/15/2020 (use link above)

———– My current branding

• I’m a social scientist studying human communication on faculty in the School of Communication at The Ohio State University. My research investigates the mechanisms that bias moral judgments. I am most intrigued by the contexts that motivate people to perceive immoral actions as moral (or vice versa).A major goal of my work is to understand and predict moral judgment biases by intersecting communication theory with moral psychology. To this end, I ground my investigations in entertainment theories (e.g., Zillmann & Raney’s affective disposition theories), processing theories (e.g., Lang’s limited capacity model for motivated mediated message processing), interpersonal theories (e.g., Burgoon’s expectancy violations theory), and moral psychological theories (e.g., DeScioli and Kurzban’s dynamic coordination theory & Haidt’s moral foundations theory).Being primarily experimental, I commonly use open science tools to share my conceptualizations, predictions, operationalizations, datasets, and analyses with others.
• My current CV
• My cover letter (rough draft)
• My research philosophy (incomplete rough draft)
• My teaching philosophy (not written yet)
• Diversity statement (not written yet)

———– Our specific details 

• When we first met: I AI’d your T317 Children and Media during SP2009 by myself (link to your evaluation of me; included in the teaching effectiveness evaluations). You became my advisor in the Fall of 2009.
• Thesis: I was in the wave of your first masters students. I graduated in 2011. My thesis was Skill gap: Quantifying violent content in video game play between variably skilled users. (full text). It showed how skill as a trait altered the amount and type of violent content that people produced when playing a violent video game. It was published in Mass comm and Society in 2013.
• Dissertation: I was in the wave of your first PhD students. I graduated in 2016. My dissertation was The moral mind: An investigation of human moral decision making in a virtual environment (full text). It was a moral conflict decision making simulation that tested the explanatory power of moral foundations theory (Haidt) and dynamic coordination theory (DeScioli and Kurzban). The experiment failed but the research process gave me the idea of the moral curve (i.e., rim) idea that grounded my 2019 JoC pub
• Morality reading group: After taking John’s class on morality you and I met with him and Torrin over the summer to discuss conceptualizing and forming the moral perspectives reading group. We started it one or two semesters later I believe.
• Shared research: We created a panel on moral research in comm. Exploring new terrain in the processing of moral content in media messages. (November 2016). With Eden, A., Grizzard, M., Hahn, L., Krakowiak, M., Lewis, R., Matthews, N. L., Raney, A., Sanders, M., Tamborini, R, Tsay-Vogel, M., and Weaver, A. J. National Communication Association, Philadelphia.
• Shared research: We created a panel on moral research in comm. Theories and considerations for bridging moral psychology and communications research. (November 2015). With Bowman, N. D., Grizzard, M., Lewis, R., Matthews, N. L., and Weaver, A. J. National Communication Association, Las Vegas.
• Shared research: We’ve done work on Moral Choice II together using Fable to observe how game narratives affect moral behavior in-game; this work was made into a panel and accepted at ICA 2014: Weaver, A. J., Matthews, N. L., Lewis, N., Fangxin, X. (May 2014). Narrative and moral perspective-taking as determinants of players’ antisocial behavior. International Communication Association, Seattle.
• Shared research: We performed a survey to assess how moral foundations affect selective exposure to games with morality-related elements

———– My research

• 10 pubs
  • 2 solo author
    • 1 in Journal of Communication
    • 1 in Computers in Human Behavior
  • 5 first author
  • Highlights: Journal of Communication solo author, Communication Research, Journal of Media Psychology, Nature Human Behavior
• 3 top paper awards (ICA, BEA, AEJMC)
• 20 conference papers
• 8 panels (I lead 4 of them)

———– My teaching (underlined stuff is in the job call)

• Been teaching since the Fall of 2015 (4 years)
• I’ve done large (200 students) and small lectures (20 students), hybrid online/in-person (25-50 students), and fully online classes (100-500 students)
• Teach in communication technology, interpersonal and mass media effects, ethics, pop culture, comm and society, user experience focus in many courses

———– Service summary

Editorial Board Member

• Communication Research Reports

Journal Reviewer

• Journal of Communication, 2018-2019
  • Media Psychology, 2016-2019
  • Communication Research Reports, 2016, 2018, 2019
  • Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 2016-2019
  • The Information Society, 2019
  • Human Communication Research, 2018
  • Communication Research, 2018
  • Information Communication & Society, 2018
  • Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 2012-2013
  • Human Ethology Bulletin, 2013

Pre-conference organization

• • Just Games? (June 2016). International Communication Association, Game Studies Division, Japan
  • Gaming Bodies. (May 2015). International Communication Association, Game Studies Division, Puerto Rico

Poster Judge

• • International Summer School, Germany, 2018

Conference Reviewer

• • International Communication Association, 2013 to present
  • National Communication Association, 2014 to present
  • Foundation for Digital Games, 2012

———– Awards

• Top Paper Award, ICA, Mass Communication Division, 2019
• Top Paper Award, BEA Symposium, 2017
• Excellence in Teaching, UCONN, 2016
• “Rookie [Professor] of the Year,” Student Communication Society, UCONN, 2016
• College of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Fellowship, IU, FA2014 – SP2015 ($20,000)
• Top Student Paper, AEJMC, Mass Communication & Society Division, 2014 ($75)
• AEJMC Graduate Student Travel Award, 2014 ($750)
• College of Arts and Sciences Travel Award, FA2013 ($250)
• Merit Fellowship, FA2010 – SP2014 ($1000 per annum)
• Graduate Tuition Scholarship, FA2008 – SP2014 ($11,500 – 15,500 per annum)