Meghnaa Tallapragada
Biographic Data
| ID | 4258165 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Meghnaa Tallapragada |
| GIVEN NAMES | Meghnaa |
| FAMILY NAME | Tallapragada |
| SIGNATURE | TALLAPRAGADA M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Temple University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1472-9129 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 9 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Using the Theory of Planned Behavior in Considering the Efficacy of Encountering Concussion Intervention Materials Online
This study employs the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to consider the efficacy of sport-related concussion (SRC) education materials among collegiate club sport athletes. In particular, variations in the targeted behavior (i.e. self-reporting SRC symptoms or other reporting SRC signs in teammates), format (i.e. digital text or video), and the presence of a personal narrative were considered. Data obtained from 443 club sport athletes in contact…
Metacognitive AI literacy: Findings from an interactive AI fair
Public understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) is essential for navigating the increasingly significant impacts of AI on society. Existing research provides guidance, but more work is needed to develop effective strategies for promoting AI literacy. The authors are part of a multidisciplinary team that organized an “Interactive AI Fair” at a large university. The authors conducted multi-method research during and after the Fair, including e…
Testing a sport-related concussion intervention among high school athletes
When Visual-Verbal Overlap Matters: Examining Its Boundary Conditions in Communicating Innovations
Using abstract-concrete cognition, dual coding theory, and exemplification theory, we conducted two online experiments assessing public perceptions of ongoing research aimed at developing reduced-gluten wheat and reduced-allergen peanuts using crossbreeding and genome-editing techniques. Visual-verbal overlap messages generated emotions and moral acceptability of the techniques, which then enhanced support for both products, and even intentions t…
Contributing to the explanatory power of the stigma management communication theory: A study in handling colorist and racist comments
This study enhances the explanatory power of the stigma management communication theory [SMCT] while providing practical communication techniques for people who may want to respond to racist/colorist comments. Using the typology of SMCT, we propose a predictive model that includes two new variables– perceived agency and perceived efficacy to verbally respond to racist/colorist comments. Results from a survey (N = 655) and in-depth interviews (N =…
Issue ownership of science in the United States
This study assesses whether the Democratic Party holds issue ownership over science in the United States. We analyze data from a national survey that asked 1041 adults questions specifically designed to measure perceptions of science ownership. While the results suggest that the Democratic Party does hold a significant advantage in ownership of science in an abstract sense, perceptions of ownership of specific types of science vary across the two…
“Balancing Field-General and Subfield-Specific Contributions When Addressing, Utilizing, or Assessing a Theory’s Explanatory Power”
Explanatory power is a key criterion for assessing the strength of a theory. This essay provides an expanded detailing of explanatory power’s three components: Plausibility, range, and postdiction. In addition, a case is made for how plausibility advancements signal field-general contributions, range-based works gravitate toward subfield-specific offerings, and postdiction assessments can be field-general or subfield-specific. This discussion is …
Pandemic as boundary condition in service to communication theory building
The coronavirus pandemic is a unique context that can allow researchers to address boundary conditions. This essay details four different types of boundary conditions and emphasizes they are not created equal. A review of pandemic-related research published in nine communication journals reveals a relative dearth of studies exploring moderation-based effects, with even fewer of the proposed conditional relationships stemming from pandemic-driven …
Exploring the role of parents’ sport orientations in the efficacy of concussion intervention materials
Investigations into parents’ role as health referents in the management of sport-related concussion (SRC) are on the rise. This study contributes to these efforts by exploring the efficacy of concussion intervention materials to promote conversational intentions because of parents’ orientations toward football and SRC management. Data collected from 600 parents of middle and high school football players offered support for an indirect effect of f…
Something Very Fishy: An Informal STEAM Project Making a Case for Ocean Conservation and Climate Change
This paper reports about an informal learning experience – Something Very Fishy (SVF) – which is focused on ocean conservation and climate change. Results from 49 elementary school student workbooks indicated that experiencing SVF improved their understanding of ocean conservation, increased their interest in pursuing science careers, but did not affect their actions towards conservation. Survey results from 40 undergraduate students who helped r…
The moderating role of interest in politics and news consumption in the relationship between political ideology and beliefs about science and scientists in the United States
In the United States, an ideological and partisan divide in beliefs about science is well documented. In this study, we further examine this partisan divide and how this relationship is conditioned on levels of political interest and news consumption. Analyzing data from three nationally representative U.S. surveys, we replicate past research and find ideological divisions in evaluations of, and beliefs about, science and scientists. We then show…
Veterans’ Transition Out of the Military and Knowledge of Mental Health Disorders
There is a need for research to understand veteran’s mental health and how they use resources, like the Veteran’s Affairs and non-profit organizations. This study serves to further our understanding about veterans’ knowledge on this subject. This study adds to the literature by conducting semi-structured interviews with 15 veterans who had deployed on either United States military bases or ships, or peace-keeping missions, overseas after 9/11. Th…
Improving GM Consensus Acceptance Through Reduced Reactance and Climate Change-based Message Targeting
Public understanding of and support for GM foods in the U.S. are generally low and out of step with the scientific community, and particularly among those who identify as environmentalists. In order to communicate the scientific consensus on GM foods to these audiences, messages may need to be tailored to reduce reactance. We employ a messaging experiment that tests the potential for first-person narratives to link acceptance of the scientific ev…
Media Narratives About Concussions: Effects on Parents’ Intention to Inform Their Children About Concussions
This study examined the effects of media narratives about concussions on parent’s intentions to inform their children about concussions. A randomized experiment of 600 parents whose children play football in middle school or high school were presented with one of the five narrative conditions or the control condition (where parents read a brochure). Results indicate that parents who read the narrative shared from the perspective of a high school …
Conversion messages and attitude change: Strong arguments, not costly signals
A conversion narrative recounts the process that led the speaker to reject one belief for a different, usually incompatible, alternative. However, researchers know little about whether, when, and, if so, how such messages affect audience attitudes about controversial science. Using a general US population-sample experiment, we assessed the attitudinal impact of three versions of a statement by Mark Lynas, an environmental activist who converted f…
The Effects of the “War on Science” Frame on Scientists’ Credibility
A randomized experiment of 1,024 U.S. adults was conducted to examine the effect of the war on science frame on perceptions of scientists’ credibility. Because recent use of this frame is a response to the Trump Administration, those who politically align with him (e.g., conservatives) are likely to experience identity threat when confronted with the war on science frame. Results show that when viewed as aggressive, the war on science frame promp…
Exploring Societal and Ethical Views of Nanotechnology REUs
Pandemic as boundary condition in service to communication theory building
The coronavirus pandemic is a unique context that can allow researchers to address boundary conditions. This essay details four different types of boundary conditions and emphasizes they are not created equal. A review of pandemic-related research published in nine communication journals reveals a relative dearth of studies exploring moderation-based effects, with even fewer of the proposed conditional relationships stemming from pandemic-driven …
Media Narratives About Concussions: Effects on Parents’ Intention to Inform Their Children About Concussions
This study examined the effects of media narratives about concussions on parent’s intentions to inform their children about concussions. A randomized experiment of 600 parents whose children play football in middle school or high school were presented with one of the five narrative conditions or the control condition (where parents read a brochure). Results indicate that parents who read the narrative shared from the perspective of a high school …
The Effects of the “War on Science” Frame on Scientists’ Credibility
A randomized experiment of 1,024 U.S. adults was conducted to examine the effect of the war on science frame on perceptions of scientists’ credibility. Because recent use of this frame is a response to the Trump Administration, those who politically align with him (e.g., conservatives) are likely to experience identity threat when confronted with the war on science frame. Results show that when viewed as aggressive, the war on science frame promp…
Exploring Societal and Ethical Views of Nanotechnology REUs
Exploring Societal and Ethical Views of Nanotechnology REUs
Conversion messages and attitude change: Strong arguments, not costly signals
A conversion narrative recounts the process that led the speaker to reject one belief for a different, usually incompatible, alternative. However, researchers know little about whether, when, and, if so, how such messages affect audience attitudes about controversial science. Using a general US population-sample experiment, we assessed the attitudinal impact of three versions of a statement by Mark Lynas, an environmental activist who converted f…
The Effects of the “War on Science” Frame on Scientists’ Credibility
A randomized experiment of 1,024 U.S. adults was conducted to examine the effect of the war on science frame on perceptions of scientists’ credibility. Because recent use of this frame is a response to the Trump Administration, those who politically align with him (e.g., conservatives) are likely to experience identity threat when confronted with the war on science frame. Results show that when viewed as aggressive, the war on science frame promp…
Veterans’ Transition Out of the Military and Knowledge of Mental Health Disorders
There is a need for research to understand veteran’s mental health and how they use resources, like the Veteran’s Affairs and non-profit organizations. This study serves to further our understanding about veterans’ knowledge on this subject. This study adds to the literature by conducting semi-structured interviews with 15 veterans who had deployed on either United States military bases or ships, or peace-keeping missions, overseas after 9/11. Th…
Improving GM Consensus Acceptance Through Reduced Reactance and Climate Change-based Message Targeting
Public understanding of and support for GM foods in the U.S. are generally low and out of step with the scientific community, and particularly among those who identify as environmentalists. In order to communicate the scientific consensus on GM foods to these audiences, messages may need to be tailored to reduce reactance. We employ a messaging experiment that tests the potential for first-person narratives to link acceptance of the scientific ev…
Media Narratives About Concussions: Effects on Parents’ Intention to Inform Their Children About Concussions
This study examined the effects of media narratives about concussions on parent’s intentions to inform their children about concussions. A randomized experiment of 600 parents whose children play football in middle school or high school were presented with one of the five narrative conditions or the control condition (where parents read a brochure). Results indicate that parents who read the narrative shared from the perspective of a high school …
Exploring the role of parents’ sport orientations in the efficacy of concussion intervention materials
Investigations into parents’ role as health referents in the management of sport-related concussion (SRC) are on the rise. This study contributes to these efforts by exploring the efficacy of concussion intervention materials to promote conversational intentions because of parents’ orientations toward football and SRC management. Data collected from 600 parents of middle and high school football players offered support for an indirect effect of f…
Something Very Fishy: An Informal STEAM Project Making a Case for Ocean Conservation and Climate Change
This paper reports about an informal learning experience – Something Very Fishy (SVF) – which is focused on ocean conservation and climate change. Results from 49 elementary school student workbooks indicated that experiencing SVF improved their understanding of ocean conservation, increased their interest in pursuing science careers, but did not affect their actions towards conservation. Survey results from 40 undergraduate students who helped r…
The moderating role of interest in politics and news consumption in the relationship between political ideology and beliefs about science and scientists in the United States
In the United States, an ideological and partisan divide in beliefs about science is well documented. In this study, we further examine this partisan divide and how this relationship is conditioned on levels of political interest and news consumption. Analyzing data from three nationally representative U.S. surveys, we replicate past research and find ideological divisions in evaluations of, and beliefs about, science and scientists. We then show…
“Balancing Field-General and Subfield-Specific Contributions When Addressing, Utilizing, or Assessing a Theory’s Explanatory Power”
Explanatory power is a key criterion for assessing the strength of a theory. This essay provides an expanded detailing of explanatory power’s three components: Plausibility, range, and postdiction. In addition, a case is made for how plausibility advancements signal field-general contributions, range-based works gravitate toward subfield-specific offerings, and postdiction assessments can be field-general or subfield-specific. This discussion is …
Pandemic as boundary condition in service to communication theory building
The coronavirus pandemic is a unique context that can allow researchers to address boundary conditions. This essay details four different types of boundary conditions and emphasizes they are not created equal. A review of pandemic-related research published in nine communication journals reveals a relative dearth of studies exploring moderation-based effects, with even fewer of the proposed conditional relationships stemming from pandemic-driven …
Contributing to the explanatory power of the stigma management communication theory: A study in handling colorist and racist comments
This study enhances the explanatory power of the stigma management communication theory [SMCT] while providing practical communication techniques for people who may want to respond to racist/colorist comments. Using the typology of SMCT, we propose a predictive model that includes two new variables– perceived agency and perceived efficacy to verbally respond to racist/colorist comments. Results from a survey (N = 655) and in-depth interviews (N =…
Issue ownership of science in the United States
This study assesses whether the Democratic Party holds issue ownership over science in the United States. We analyze data from a national survey that asked 1041 adults questions specifically designed to measure perceptions of science ownership. While the results suggest that the Democratic Party does hold a significant advantage in ownership of science in an abstract sense, perceptions of ownership of specific types of science vary across the two…
When Visual-Verbal Overlap Matters: Examining Its Boundary Conditions in Communicating Innovations
Using abstract-concrete cognition, dual coding theory, and exemplification theory, we conducted two online experiments assessing public perceptions of ongoing research aimed at developing reduced-gluten wheat and reduced-allergen peanuts using crossbreeding and genome-editing techniques. Visual-verbal overlap messages generated emotions and moral acceptability of the techniques, which then enhanced support for both products, and even intentions t…
Using the Theory of Planned Behavior in Considering the Efficacy of Encountering Concussion Intervention Materials Online
This study employs the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to consider the efficacy of sport-related concussion (SRC) education materials among collegiate club sport athletes. In particular, variations in the targeted behavior (i.e. self-reporting SRC symptoms or other reporting SRC signs in teammates), format (i.e. digital text or video), and the presence of a personal narrative were considered. Data obtained from 443 club sport athletes in contact…
Metacognitive AI literacy: Findings from an interactive AI fair
Public understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) is essential for navigating the increasingly significant impacts of AI on society. Existing research provides guidance, but more work is needed to develop effective strategies for promoting AI literacy. The authors are part of a multidisciplinary team that organized an “Interactive AI Fair” at a large university. The authors conducted multi-method research during and after the Fair, including e…
Testing a sport-related concussion intervention among high school athletes
Psychology (14 works) · Political science (9 works) · Social Psychology (8 works) · Climate Change Communication and Perception (7 works) · Medicine (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · Concussion (4 works) · Epistemology (4 works) · Injury prevention (4 works)