Simal B. Gerot

Simal B. Gerot

Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science and CLAS Dissertation Writing Fellow at the University of Iowa

Research Overview

I am a scholar of American Politics and Political Communication whose research examines how habitual political news consumption influences citizens’ attitudes, the accuracy of their beliefs, and their emotional well-being. Drawing on surveys, typological analyses, time-series modeling, and diary-based methods, I develop a dual-dimensional framework that captures both the frequency and automaticity of political news engagement. This approach shifts the focus from what people consume to how they consume it, helping explain why individuals with similar exposure to political news often arrive at very different beliefs, levels of trust, or emotional responses. My work contributes to urgent conversations on misinformation and affective polarization by offering a behavioral perspective on how deeply embedded media routines shape political cognition and affect in a fragmented information environment. It also underscores the growing emotional toll of contemporary political life—and what this means for citizens’ capacity and willingness to participate in democracy. To advance this agenda, I designed a 15-day digital diary study to track daily news consumption and its connections to well-being, which received national support through the APSA/NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG) and is now in the process of being launched as a national pilot in late Fall 2025.

Publications and Ongoing Projects

Peer-Reviewed Publications
  • Binici, Simal, Choi, J., Mitchell, S.M., and Pizzi, E. (2025). “A Text Analysis of News Media Framing of Government Response to the 2023 Türkiye–Syria Earthquake.” Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5973.70023
Manuscripts Under Review
  • Gerot, Simal. “How We Watch and What We Align With: A Dual Measure of Political News Habits.”
  • Gerot, Simal. “Everyday News Habits and Civic Competence: A Typological Approach.”
  • Gerot, Simal. “Habit, Identity, and Cognitive Vulnerability: Alignment Profiles and Susceptibility to Distorted Political Beliefs.”
  • Gerot, Simal, Caroline Tolbert, and Melissa Tully. “Filtering the Influence of Social Media: Increased (Decreased) Political Knowledge for Social Groups in the U.S.”
  • Gerot, Simal and Caroline Tolbert. “Evaluating the Online Processing Model Using the Washington Post’s Fact-Checking Database of Trump’s Misleading Claims.”
  • Gerot, Simal. “News, on Repeat: Examining the Relationship Between Habitual Media Use and Affective Polarization.”
Works in Progress
  • Gerot, Simal. “When the News Becomes Habit: The Emotional Toll of Political News.”
  • Gerot, Simal. “Keeping Up with News: The Impact of News Valence and Media Habits on Mental Health.”
  • Gerot, Simal and Julianna Pacheco. “Battling the Pandemic: Governors as Heads of State and COVID-19 Rhetoric – A Text Analysis Approach.”
  • Gerot, Simal. “American Society Revisited: A Bayesian Belief Network Approach to Egalitarianism, Moral Traditionalism, and Ideology in a Hyperpolarized Era.”
  • Gerot, Simal. “A New Menu of Choice? Social Media as a Regime-Serving Apparatus in Competitive Authoritarian Regimes.”
Ongoing Projects

News Habits and Emotional Well-Being: Investigating Political News Consumption and Mental Health.

A 15-day digital diary study exploring how habitual political news consumption impacts stress, anxiety, and emotional well-being. This project is supported by multiple research grants and is currently in progress.

Awards, Grants, and Fellowships

Grants
  • External: American Political Science Association/NSF, Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant. “News Habits and Emotional Well-Being: Investigating Political News Consumption and Mental Health.” PI: Simal Gerot (Nominal PI: Julianna Pacheco), 2025–2026. $14,749.
  • External: American Political Science Association, Conference Travel Grant, 2025. $1,000.
  • Internal: Graduate & Professional Student Government Research Grant, University of Iowa, 2025. $950.
  • Internal: Departmental Research Grant, University of Iowa, 2025. $1,000.
  • Internal: Departmental Conference Travel Grants, University of Iowa, 2020–2025.
Awards & Fellowships
  • Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, Council on Teaching, University of Iowa, 2025
  • CLAS Dissertation Writing Fellowship, University of Iowa, 2025
  • Post-Comprehensive Research Fellowship, Graduate College, University of Iowa, 2025
  • Lowenberg and Mans Scholarship, University of Iowa, 2024