Chris Cascio

Dr. Chris Cascio is an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison's School of Journalism and Mass Communication. His interdisciplinary research combines communication studies with social neuroscience to examine how persuasive messages and social influences affect behavior change across different developmental stages and socioeconomic contexts.

Research investigates neural mechanisms underlying responses to mass media and interpersonal persuasion, examining how situational context, socioeconomic status, and developmental stage moderate these processes. Current projects include studies on how intervention strategies like self-affirmations alter neural processing related to persuasion. Recent publications explore neural correlates of conformity (2023), effects of warning labels on cannabis-related social media (2025), and relationships between neural responses to social media content and health behaviors (2025).