Welcome to my homepage!

I'm Mingxuan (Elaine) Liu, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Macau. My research focuses on:

Emerging Information and Communication Technology (ICT): Investigating how emerging technologies shape user engagement, behavior, health, and well-being, with a focus on the video game, streaming, and journalism industry;
Causal Inference: Leveraging observational data, natural experiments, randomized experiments, psychophysiology experiments, and panel self-reports to understand the causal mechanisms underlying user behavior change.

My work has been published in flagship peer-reviewed journals in Communication, including New Media & Society, Media Psychology, Health Communication, Computers in Human Behavior, Mobile Media & Communication, Media and Communication, among others.

I earned my Ph.D. in the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism with a cognate area in Psychology at the University of Southern California. After that, I worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Spiegel Research Center in Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University. I hold an M.A. degree from the Department of Communication at UC Davis and USC, and obtained a B.S.S. degree from the University of Macau, where I majored in Communication and minored in Psychology.

I am currently recruiting PhD students to join my research team at UM. If you have an interest in digital media, user psychology, and behavior, with a focus on quantitative methods, I encourage you to apply. No prior publications are required, but academic integrity and commitment are essential. Master's and undergraduate students are also welcome to email me to inquire about research opportunities.

Disclaimer: I have not authorized any grad school application agencies to use my information or recruit graduate students for me. The information these agencies share on social media is often inaccurate and contains misinformation. I strongly discourage students from using these services for their applications. Originality and innovation are fundamental in research. If you can't write your own application materials, you might not be ready for academia.

Research

Media Psychology | Communication Technology | Causal Inference

PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES

Yin, S., Huang, S., Xue, P., Xu, Z., Lian, Z., Ye, C., Ma, S., Liu, M., ... & Li, C. (2025). Generative artificial intelligence (GAI) usage guidelines for scholarly publishing: a cross-sectional study of medical journals. BMC Medicine, 23, 77. (5-Year IF: 8.8)

Liu, M., Tang, L., Williams, D. (2025). Sympathy for the Devil: Serial Mediation Models for Toxicity, Community and Retention. Media and Communication. (5-Year IF: 3.5)

Liu, M., Sun, Q., Williams, D. (2024). With Great Power Comes Great Accountability: Network Positions, Victimization, Perpetration, and Victim-Perpetrator Overlap in an Online Multiplayer Game. New Media & Society. (5-Year IF: 7.244)

Williams, D., Liu, M., Choi, S., Bowman, N., Shaikh, S. (2024). Playing Through The Pandemic: Gaming Usage as a Buffer During COVID-19. Games and Culture, 15554120241236531. (5-Year IF: 2.6)

Choi, S., Liu, M., Sun, J., Huang, K. (2023). Who benefits from directed communication? Communication directionality, network structures, and perceived social capital in an MMOG. Computers in Human Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2023.107825 (5-Year IF: 8.582)

Kim, S. S., Liu, M., Qiao, A., & Miller, L. C. (2022). “I want to be Alone, but I don’t want to be lonely”: Uncertainty management regarding social situations among college students with social anxiety disorder. Health Communication, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2021.1912890 (5-Year IF: 3.585)

Liu, M., Yegiyan, N., Lai, M. (2022). Appetitive food, aversive warning: Interaction effects of visual and verbal cues on psychophysiological and attitudinal responses to food PSAs. Media Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2022.2082982 (5-Year IF: 5.497)

Liu, M., Choi, S., Kim, D. O., & Williams, D. (2021). Connecting in-game performance, need satisfaction, and psychological well-being: A comparison of older and younger players in World of Tanks. New Media & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211062545 (5-Year IF: 7.244)

Wang, L., Christensen, J. L., Smith, B. J., Gillig, T. K., Jeong, D. C., Liu, M., ... & Miller, L. C. (2021). User-Agent bond in generalizable environments: Long-term risk-reduction via nudged virtual choices. Frontiers in Psychology, 3354. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.695389 (5-Year IF: 4.214)

Zhang, J., Calabrese, C., Ding, J., Liu, M., & Zhang, B. (2018). Advantages and challenges in using mobile apps for field experiments: A systematic review and a case study. Mobile Media & Communication, 6(2), 179-196. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050157917725550 (5-Year IF: 4.107)

Chang, W., Chen, Z., Tian, L., Liu, M., Ma, L., & Li, W. et al. (2014). Studying the indiscriminate media coverage of celebrity suicide and the potential influence of prevention in China. Chinese Journal of Health Education.

BOOK CHAPTER

Choi, S., Liu, M., & Williams, D. (Forthcoming). Relationship Formation and Maintenance in and through Video Games. J. Nussbaum & M. Schmierbach (eds.), The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. Oxford University Press.

SELECTED WORKING PAPERS

Liu, M., Choi, J., Malthouse, E., Viswanathan, V., DeGaris, L. Title removed for blind review. Topics: streaming industry, social media, and user retention (Under Review)

Tang, L., Liu, M., Williams, D. Title removed for blind review. Topics: social identity and virtual avatar selection (Under Review).

Malthouse, E., Choi, J., Liu, M., et al. Title removed for blind review. Topics: Forecasting future news deserts (Under Review).

Malthouse, E., Liu, M. Meta-Analysis on Narratives and Consumer Engagement (Invited Submission for Journal of Marketing Management)

Liu, M. Birds of a Feather Flock Together? The Coevolution of Friendship Networks and Toxic Behaviors in a Multiplayer Online Game (Dissertation chapter preparing for submission)

Liu, M. From Isolation to Compassion: A Natural Experiment of How Stay-at-Home Orders Unleashed a Wave of Virtual Altruism (Dissertation chapter preparing for submission)

Teaching

Instructor

Year: 2022 Summer

Where: University of Southern California

Course: Understanding Social Science Research (undergraduate-level)

Responsibilities: Designed, developed, and instructed a class introducing basic social science concepts, methodology, statistics, and data analysis using R for beginners. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods are covered. Also included are literature review, research design, research execution, quantitative and qualitative data analysis, and reporting of findings.

Ph.D. Lab Instructor

Year: 2022 Spring

Where: University of Southern California

Course: Quantitative Research Methods in Communication (A compulsory course for Ph.D. students at USC Annenberg)

Responsibilities: Led lab training on R for first-year Ph.D. students at USC Annenberg once per week, designed lab exercises and homework, and graded students’ weekly R assignments. Topics covered: data screening and pre-processing, parameter estimation, testing assumptions, t-test, ANOVA, correlation and inter-coder reliability, multiple regression and moderation, and logistic regression

Graduate Teaching Assistant

Year: 2020 Fall, 2021 Fall, 2022 Fall

Where: University of Southern California

Course: Uses of Communication Research (A compulsory course for Master's students in the Communication Management Program at USC Annenberg)

Responsibilities: Tutored four research methodologies: interview, content analysis, survey, and experiment. Provided guidance and feedback on corresponding SPSS assignments and academic papers associated with each of the four research methods.

Undergraduate Lab Instructor

Year: 2016-2018 Spring

Where: University of California, Davis

Course: Public Speaking

Responsibilities: Led training and discussions on public speaking skills twice per week, graded students’ papers and speeches