Biography
Dr. Chrysalis L. Wright joined the UCF psychology department in 2011 and is currently a Senior Lecturer. Dr. Wright earned her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Florida International University. She is currently a Psychology Representative for the Council on Undergraduate Research. She is also a Faculty Senate Representative for the College of Sciences, a member of the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning Advisory Committee, and a Graduate Faculty Scholar. Dr. Wright serves as the Honors Undergraduate Theses Liaison for the department of psychology. She also directs the Media & Migration Undergraduate Research lab, which examines media and technological influences on developmental processes, attitudes, and behavior. She has provided more than forty media interviews and appearances related to her work.
MM Lab website: https://sciences.ucf.edu/psychology/mmlab/
Psychology HUT Website: https://sciences.ucf.edu/psychology/him/
Awards & Honors
2022 Presidential Citation for Contributions and Service to Division 46, Division 46 Society for Media Psychology & Technology, American Psychological Association
2022 Teaching Incentive Program Award recipient, University of Central Florida 2016-2021
2022 Champion of Undergraduate Research Faculty Award, Office of Undergraduate Research, University of Central Florida
2021 Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Media Psychology & Technology, Division 46: Society for Media Psychology & Technology, American Psychological Association
2019 Women’s History Month Awardee, UCF Faculty Excellence, University of Central Florid
Recent Publications
Wright, C. L., & Rivera, J. M. C. (2025). Pandemic Social Media Use, Loneliness and Social Skills Among Emerging Adults. Media Watch, 16(3), 341–361. https://doi.org/10.1177/09760911251333362
Wright, C. L., Coelho, B., Koerner, C., Ferrer, C., Rechdan, C., & Larson, D. (2023). Examining Partisan Reporting of Critical Race Theory Using Meta’s CrowdTangle. Journal of Media Research, 16(45), 5–32. https://doi.org/10.24193/jmr.45.1
Wright, C., Gatlin, K., Acosta, D., & Taylor, C. (2023). Portrayals of the Black Lives Matter Movement in Hard and Fake News and Consumer Attitudes Toward African Americans. The Howard Journal of Communications, 34(1), 19–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/10646175.2022.2065458
Wright, C. L., Gatlin, K., & Rivera, R. (2022). College Student’s Distrust in Hard News and Exposure to Fake News During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Media Research, 15(1), 5–28. https://doi.org/10.24193/jmr.42.1
Wright, C. L., Branch, R., Ey, L., Hopper, K. M., & Warburton, W. (2022). Popular music media literacy: A pilot study. The Journal of Media Literacy Education, 14(3), 29–38. https://doi.org/10.23860/JMLE-2022-14-3-3
Wright, C. L., & Duong, H. (2021). COVID-19 Fake News and Attitudes toward Asian Americans. Journal of Media Research, 14(39), 5–29. https://doi.org/10.24193/jmr.39.1
Wright, C., Brinklow-Vaughn, R., Johannes, K., & Rodriguez, F. (2021). Media Portrayals of Immigration and Refugees in Hard and Fake News and Their Impact on Consumer Attitudes. The Howard Journal of Communications, 32(4), 331–351. https://doi.org/10.1080/10646175.2020.1810180
Wright, C. L., DeFrancesco, T., Hamilton, C., & Machado, L. (2020). The Influence of Media Portrayals of Immigration and Refugees on Consumer Attitudes: A Experimental Design. The Howard Journal of Communications, 31(4), 388–410. https://doi.org/10.1080/10646175.2019.1649762
Wright, C. L., & Rubin, M. (2020). Sexualized Popular Music and Risky Sexual Behaviors Among Emerging Adults from the United States and Australia. The Howard Journal of Communications, 31(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/10646175.2019.1567407
Wright, C. L., Ball, T., Kambour, K., Machado, L., Defrancesco, T., Hamilton, C., Hyatt, J., & Dauk, J. (2020). Music and substance use: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 19(2), 208–237. https://doi.org/10.1080/15332640.2018.1494657
Wright, C. L., Dillman Carpentier, F., Ey, L.-A., Hall, C., Hopper, K. M., & Warburton, W. (2019). Popular Music Media Literacy: Recommendations for the Education Curriculum. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 6(2), 186–193. https://doi.org/10.1177/2372732219858631