Bradley Bond, PhD
Chair and Professor, Communication
Communication Honors Faculty Liaison
- PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Communication
- MA, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Speech Communication
- BA, Bradley University, Communication
Bradley J. Bond, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Communication. His research examines the development and maintenance of parasocial relationships with media personae and the influence of media on identity and outgroup attitudes. Much of his current work focuses on the depiction of marginalized individuals in entertainment media and the effects of exposure on identity, stereotypes, and prejudices.
Areas of Expertise
media psychology, media effects, identity development, empirical research methods
Scholarly Work
Dr. Bond takes a social psychological approach to investigating the development, maintenance, and dissolution of audiences perceived parasocial relationships with fictional characters and celebrities. Dr. Bond's present research employs content analysis, survey, experimental, or physiological methods to better understand how marginalized populations are depicted in the media, and how individuals learn about themselves and others from those depictions. He utilizes the same social psychological methods to study how audiences develop parasocial relationships with fictional characters and how the strength of those relationships with fictional characters and how the strength of those relationships may influence learning from fictional characters and celebrities.
Dr. Bond’s work on media effects has received top paper awards from the National Communication Association and the International Communication Association. His research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes including the Journal of Communication, Communication Research, International Journal of Communication, Media Psychology, Mass Communication & Society, Journal of Children & Media, and Cyberpsychology, Behavior, & Social Networking, to name a few. Dr. Bond’s research has also garnered popular press attention, being covered in media outlets such TIME magazine, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, NPR, and the CBC.
Dr. Bond currently serves as the review and commentary editor of the Journal of Children & Media, and on the editorial boards of Media Psychology and Psychology of Popular Media.
Learn more about Dr. Bond's research, teaching, and consulting endeavors at his website: www.bradleyjbond.com.
Areas of Interest
Dr. Bond’s teaching interests include media history and effects, media audiences, communication theory, and research methods. He has been recognized for his experiential teaching by the Center for Educational Excellence, and he was the 2020 recipient of the Teaching Excellence Award from the Mass Communication Division of the National Communication Association. Dr. Bond has developed a course called Media and the Marginalized that he regularly teaches on-campus, and several other special topics courses for USD’s study abroad program. He regularly teaches Media Processes and Effects, Children and Media, Introduction to Media Studies, and Introduction to Research Methods at the University of San Diego.