KAITLIN FITZGERALD
Cornell University
Areas of Research: Narratives, Prosociality, Well-Being, Positive Media Psychology, Media Entertainment
I received my Ph.D. in Communication from the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. My research examines narrative and media message effects with a focus on how certain narrative experiences can foster positive, prosocial outcomes such as empathy and helping, moral sensitivity, and well-being.
Currently, I am a postdoctoral associate in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University. I work jointly with the Einhorn Center for Community Engagement and the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research to investigate community engaged learning initiatives that connect theoretical knowledge with real-world problems.
Apart from my work at Cornell, I am also actively involved in collaborative research with the Grizzard Entertainment Media Lab at The Ohio State University, the Media Psychology & Morality Lab at the University at Buffalo, and the MIMIc Project at KU Leuven, Belgium School for Mass Communication Research.
Stories are not only my program of study, they are my favorite pastime. If you told my childhood self that one day, she would be researching narrative entertainment, you would have to first pry her away from the television screen.
EDUCATION
PH.D. IN COMMUNICATION
May, 2021
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Dissertation: “More than a good story: Enjoyment and appreciation in narrative persuasion.”
Advisor: Melanie C. Green, Ph.D.
M.A. IN COMMUNICATION
May, 2017
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Thesis: “Restorative narrative: A new approach to prosocial media.”
Advisor: Melanie C. Green, Ph.D.
B.S., WITH DISTINCTION, IN PSYCHOLOGY
May, 2015
James Madison University
Minor in Sociology
Thesis: "Helicopter parenting and parent-child attachment."
Advisor: Monica Reis-Bergan, Ph.D.
PROGRAMMATIC RESEARCH
I conduct research from a quantitative and qualitative social scientific perspective.
DATA ANALYSIS
I have experience working with SPSS, Amos, R, and Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA).
DISSEMINATION OF FINDINGS
My work appears in journals including
Journal of Communication, Health Communication, and Media Psychology.
I have shared my work at domestic and international conferences.
“The magic and the danger of fiction is this: it allows us to see through other eyes.
It takes us to places we have never been, allows us to care about, worry about, laugh with, and cry for people who do not, outside of the story, exist.”