Specialization:
Media influences on interpersonal and intergroup relations between racial, ethnic, and religious groups. Media effects on social identities. Media effects on immigration integration and acculturation.
Education:
Ph.D. in Social Psychology, Iowa State University.
Bio:
Muniba Saleem studies how media affects interpersonal and intergroup relations between racial, ethnic, and religious groups using social scientific methods. Applying social psychological theories, Muniba has studied the effects of media representations of marginalized groups in violent contexts on hostile attitudes and support for harmful policies towards depicted members (Saleem & Anderson, 2013; Saleem et al., 2017). Recent work has examined how the same negative media depictions influence minority members' social, psychological, and political outcomes. Longitudinal and experimental research reveals that negative media depictions adversely influence immigrants' integration and trust in American politics (Saleem et al., 2019) but at the same time minorities are motivated to seek collective action to improve their ingroup's image and status in the larger society (Saleem et al., 2020). Dr. Saleem's work has been published in journals such as Communication Research, Journal of Communication, Child Development, and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Her research has been funded by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, and Facebook.
Current work examines:
1) how social media is affecting collective action to improve marginalized groups' status.
2) the psychological and societal impact of hate speech on majority and minority members.
3) how media preferences and exposure affect immigrants' social identities and political integration.
Research:
Select Publications:
Roden, J., Mustafaj, M., & Saleem, M. (in press). Who Else Likes it? Perceived Gender of Social Endorsers Predicts Gender Equality Support. Computers In Human Behavior.
Saleem, M., Hawkins, I., Wojcieszak, M., & Roden, J. (2020). When and How Negative Media Representations Empower Collective Action in Minorities. Communication Research, doi: 10.1177/0093650219877094.
Huff, S., Saleem, M., & Rivas-Drake, D. (2020). Examining the role of majority group attitudes and bicultural identity integration on bicultural students’ behavioral responses towards White Americans. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, doi: 10.1037/cdp0000284.
Saleem, M., Wojcieszak, M., Hawkins, I., Miao, L., & Ramasubramanian, S. (2019). Social Identity Threats: How Media and Discrimination Affect Muslim Americans’ Identification as Americans and Trust in the U.S. Government. Journal of Communication, 69 (2), 214-236.
Lane, D., Coles, S., & Saleem, M. (2019). Solidarity and Social Movement Messages: The Effects of Dominant Group Identity on Perceived Racism and Movement Support. Human Communication Research, 45 (1), 1-26.
Rivas-Drake, D., Saleem, M., Schaefer, D., Medina, M., & Jagers, R. (2018). Adolescent intergroup contact attitudes across peer networks in school: Selection, influence, and implications for cross-group friendships. Child Development. doi: 10.1111/cdev.13061.
Saleem, M., Dubow, E., Lee, F., & Huesmann, R.L. (2018). Perceived Discrimination and Intergroup Behaviors: The Role of Muslim and American Identity Integration. Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology, 49 (4), 602-617.
Saleem, M., Prot, S., Anderson, C.A., & Lemieux, A. (2017). Exposure to Muslims in Media and Support for Aggressive Public Policies: The Mediating Role of Aggressive Perceptions. Communication Research, 44 (6), 841-869.
Saleem, M., & Ramasubramanian, S. (2017). Muslim Americans’ Responses to Social Identity Threats: Effects of Media Representations and Experiences of Discrimination. Media Psychology, 22 (3), 373-393.
Bruneau, E., Lane, D., Saleem, M. (2017). Giving the underdog a leg up: exposure to non-violent resistance improves third party perceptions and behavioral support of a disempowered group. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 8 (7), 746–757.
Saleem, M., Yang, G. L., Ramasubramanian, S. (2016). Reliance on Direct and Mediated Contact: Longitudinal Effects of Sources of Information on Public Policies Representative of Outgroup Harm. Journal of Communication, 66. 604-624.