Alice Ji

Alice Ji

Email: rji3@illinois.edu

Research Interests

My research centers on the psychology of persuasion in digital media, with a particular focus on social media platforms. I investigate how consumers interpret and react to persuasive messages such as advertisements and health-related messages by brands and social media influencers. I am also interested in the effects of misinformation and their mitigation, as well as the impact of LLM conversational agents like GPT models on cognitive processing.

Recent Publications/Presentations

Wise, K., Paltaratskaya, V., & Ji, A. (2026). Media choice. In De Gruyter Handbook of Media Psychology. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. 

Ji, A., Paltaratskaya, V., & Wise, K. (2025, June). The Effect of Message Fatigue on Visual Attention to, and Elaboration of Mental Health Infographics. Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA 2025), Colorado, US. 

Paltaratskaya, V., Ji, A., Mazumdar, P., & Wise, K. (2025). Beyond Buzzwords: The Development of Large Language Models and Their Use in Advertising and Strategic Communication Research. Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, 1–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/10641734.2025.2498996

Ji, A., Khowaja, L., Gilloly, K., Luo, H., Oshodi, N., Randolph, Z., Sun, R., Wang, C.-Y., Nelson, M. R. (2025, March). TikTok Made Me Buy It: Breaking Expectations with Shoppable Ads. American Academy of Advertising 2025 Annual Conference, Pennsylvania, US. 

Wise, K., Willis, E., Ji, A., Paltaratskaya, V., Chung, M. (2024, November). Psychological Processing of Important Safety Information (ISI) in Social Media Pharmaceutical Advertising. NCA 110th Annual Convention, Louisiana, US.

Courses Taught

  • ADV 480: Social Media Analytics 
  • ADV 305: Adtech and the Digital World 
  • ADV 150: Introduction to Advertising 
  • MACS 100: Intro to Popular TV & Movies

Awards and Honors

  • 2025 Bart A. Cummings Gift Fund, University of Illinois 
  • 2025 Graduate Student Conference Scholarship, American Academy of Advertising
  • 2024 Fall List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students

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