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James Druckman

Payson S. Wild Professor

B.A.: Northwestern University, 1993; Ph.D.: University of California, San Diego, 1999
Curriculum Vitae

Interests

Research Interest(s): Preference Formation; Political Communication; Experimental Methodology

Regional Specialization(s): United States

Subfield Specialties: Experimental Methods; Political Parties; Public Opinion, Political Communication, and Political Participation

Joint Appointment

Institute for Policy Research

Biography

James N. Druckman is the Payson S. Wild Professor of Political Science and Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. He is also an Honorary Professor of Political Science at Aarhus University in Denmark. His research focuses on political preference formation and communication. His work examines how citizens make political, economic, and social decisions in various contexts (e.g., settings with multiple competing messages, online information, deliberation). He also researches the relationship between citizens' preferences and public policy and the polarization of American society.

Druckman has published more than 150 articles and book chapters in political science, communication, economics, science, and psychology journals. He has authored, co-authored, or co-edited the books Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Political Science, Who Governs? Presidents, Public Opinion, and Manipulation, Advances in Experimental Political Science, and Experimental Thinking: A Primer on Social Science Experiments. He has served as editor of the journals Political Psychology and Public Opinion Quarterly as well as the University of Chicago Press's series in American Politics.

He currently is the co-Principal Investigator of Time-Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences (TESS) and the editor of the Cambridge Elements Series on Experimental Political Science. He also sits on numerous advisory boards, organizing committees, prize committees, and editorial boards.

Books

  • Experimental Thinking: A Primer on Social Science Experiments, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2022.
  • Advances in Experimental Political Science, edited with Donald P. Green, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2020.
  • Who Governs? Presidents, Public Opinion, and Manipulation, with Lawrence R. Jacobs, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015.
  • Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Political Science, edited with Donald P. Green, James H. Kuklinski, and Arthur Lupia, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Select Publications

  • “Elite Party Cues Increase Vaccination Intentions among Republicans,” with Sophia L. Pink, James Chu, David G. Rand, and Robb Willer, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 118: e2106559118, 2021.
  • “Motivated Reasoning and Climate Change,” with Robin Bayes, Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences 42: 27–35, 2021. “Publication Biases in Replication Studies,” with Adam J. Berinsky, and Teppei Yamamoto, Political Analysis 29: 370-384, 2021.
  • “The Role of Race, Religion, and Partisanship in Misperceptions about COVID-19,” with Katherine Ognyanova, Matthew A. Baum, David Lazer, Roy H. Perlis, John Della Volpe, Mauricio Santillana, Hanyu Chwe, Alexi Quintana, and Matthew Simonson, Group Processes & Intergroup Relations 24: 638-657, 2021.
  • “Affective Polarization, Local Contexts, and Public Opinion in America,” with Samara Klar, Yanna Krupnikov, Matthew Levendusky and John Barry Ryan, Nature Human Behavior 5: 28-38, 2021.
  • “Public Opinion, Crisis, and Vulnerable Populations: The Case of Title IX and COVID-19,” with Elizabeth A. Sharrow, Politics & Gender 16: 1084-1092, 2020.
  • “Political Sectarianism in America: A Poisonous Cocktail of Othering, Aversion, and Moralization,” with Eli J. Finkel, Christopher A. Bail, Mina Cikara, Peter H. Ditto, Shanto Iyengar, Samara Klar, Lilliana Mason, Mary C. McGrath, Brendan Nyhan, David G. Rand, Linda J. Skitka, Joshua A. Tucker, Jay J. Van Bavel, and Cynthia S. Wang, Science 370: 533-536, 2020.
  • “The Intersection of Racial and Partisan Discrimination: Evidence from a Correspondence Study of Four-Year Colleges,” with Richard M. Shafranek, The Journal of Politics 82: 1602-1606, 2020.
  • “When and How Different Motives Can Drive Motivated Political Reasoning,” with Robin Bayes, Avery Goods, Daniel C. Molden, Political Psychology 41: 1031-1052, 2020.
  • “What Do We Measure When We Measure Affective Polarization?,” with Matthew S. Levendusky, Public Opinion Quarterly 83: 114-122, 2019.
  • “The Evidence for Motivated Reasoning In Climate Change Preference Formation,” with Mary C. McGrath, Nature Climate Change 9: 111-119, 2019.
  • “How Private Politics Alters Legislative Responsiveness,” with Julia Valdes, Quarterly Journal of Political Science 14: 115-130, 2019.
  • “How Incivility On Partisan Media (De-)Polarizes the Electorate,” with S.R. Gubitz, Matthew S. Levendusky, and Ashley Lloyd, The Journal of Politics 81: 291-295, 2019.
  • “The Influence of Partisan Motivated Reasoning on Public Opinion,” with Toby Bolsen, and Fay Lomax Cook, Political Behavior 36: 235-262, 2014.
  • “Athlete Support for Title IX,” with Mauro Gilli, Samara Klar, and Joshua Robison, The Sport Journal, 2014.
  • “How Frames Can Undermine Support for Scientific Adaptations: Politicization and the Status Quo Bias,” with Toby Bolsen, and Fay Lomax Cook, Public Opinion Quarterly 78: 1-26, 2014.
  • “U.S. Congressional Campaign Communications in an Internet Age,” with Martin J. Kifer, and Michael Parkin, Journal of Elections, Public Opinion & Parties 24:  20-44, 2014.
  • “Stunted Policy Support,” Nature Climate Change 3: 617, 2013.
  • “Mobilizing Group Membership:  The Impact of Personalization and Social Pressure E-mails,” with Donald P. Green, SAGE Open 3: 1-6, 2013. 
  • “How Elite Partisan Polarization Affects Public Opinion Formation,” with Erik Peterson, and Rune Slothuus, American Political Science Review 170: 57-79, 2013.
  • “Counter-Framing Effects,” with Dennis Chong, The Journal of Politics 75: 1-16, 2013.

Courses taught

  • 312 Statistics
  • 410 American Politics
  • MMSS 211 Collective Decision Making and Political Economy

Awards

  • Associated Student Government Outstanding Faculty of the Year, 2012–3, Northwestern University.  Selected based on “quality of instruction and contribution to the academic lives of undergraduates.”
  • Panhellenic Faculty Appreciation Award, recognizing excellence in undergraduate teaching, 2013.
  • Award for Outstanding Freshman Advising, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Northwestern University, 2010-2011.