How does media shape society over decades, and does its effect vary depending on the societal atmosphere or zeitgeist ? While theoretically important, there is a lack of systematic empirical evidence on conditional long-term macro-level media effects. We propose a broader framework to study such effects and demonstrate its applicability for the “Werther effect” in the UK. More specifically, we investigate whether media coverage of suicides in a newspaper of record is linked to suicide rates and whether this link changes during societal crises. For this, we combine suicide data with a large-scale automated content analysis of crisis and suicide reporting in The Times over a century (1861-2007). Our analysis shows that increased suicide reporting is associated with higher suicide rates, but only during crisis periods. The results are consistent with a conditional Werther effect and may offer one piece of the larger puzzle of long-term macro-level media influences on society.
Social stereotypes spread through biased language. Experiments in which participants freely generate language allow researchers to causally test how stereotypes affect language use and capture multiple linguistic variables simultaneously, offering high ecological validity. Despite this potential, it remains unclear how and to which extent this paradigm has been used to study linguistic biases. To address this gap, we conducted a systematic literature review ( k = 106 experiments) and found that most freely generated language experiments examined only one linguistic variable, leaving the interplay between linguistic variables largely underexplored. To advance our understanding of stereotype expression in everyday language, we recommend experiments to measure multiple linguistic variables simultaneously and in relation to each other. This knowledge is needed to address harmful stereotype communication in the real world through automated detection tools, communication interventions, and the fine-tuning of Large Language Models.
Sexual and romantic scripts are used to market cannabis products, now legal for adult-use in several U.S. states. We conducted an online experiment ( N = 747) examining the impact of viewing brand-generated social media posts promoting cannabis that included sexual, romantic, and non-sexual non-romantic recreational scripts among college students in Washington state. Increased perceptions that ads suggested cannabis enhances sex were associated with higher sex-related cannabis expectancies. Among men, wishful identification was associated with lower sexual risk expectancies among those who viewed sexual scripts and a greater likelihood of intending to use cannabis before sex among those who viewed sexual or romantic scripts. Among women, perceiving that ads suggested cannabis enhances sex was associated with a greater likelihood of intending to use cannabis before sex, whereas perceiving that ads suggested cannabis impacts sexual consent was associated with a lower likelihood of intending to use cannabis before sex. Additionally, wishful identification among women was associated with a greater likelihood of intending to use cannabis before sex. Findings highlight associations between perceptions of brand-generated social media posts, expectancies, and intentions to use cannabis before sex among college students and identify mechanisms through which effects may occur.
By analyzing 164 articles from communication journals published between 2002 and 2024, this scoping review systematically investigates temporal trends, conceptualizations, and operationalizations of transparency research within communication studies. The analysis identifies three primary conceptual dimensions of transparency: (1) information, encompassing both visibility and interpretation; (2) relations, functioning as an intermediary between dialogue and power; (3) values and norms, reflecting the tensions between ethical ideals and institutional constraints. Operationalization of transparency has predominantly relied on informational measures, whereas relational and value-based dimensions remain comparatively underdeveloped. Increasing attention has been directed toward subjective stakeholder perceptions, emphasizing transparency as a dynamic and context-dependent construct. Overall, the findings indicate that transparency extends beyond a stable informational attribute to incorporate relational and normative functions, while its enactment remains fluid, contextually shaped, and susceptible to unintended consequences.
The proliferation of misinformation has stimulated research into games and videos to reduce susceptibility to misinformation via psychological inoculation. This research field applies several recent extensions of inoculation theory in novel ways, posing the question of whether such interventions are indeed producing inoculation effects. We conducted a systematic review ( k = 72) to establish the strength of the links between inoculation theory and the outcomes of the tests. We found that the studies did not pose hypotheses relating to the core factors of inoculation theory: threat conferral and counterarguing. Moreover, empirical designs and analyses have introduced confounding factors. Therefore, links between psychological inoculation theory and the tests are weak, and the question of whether the interventions inoculate remains unbroached. We recommend that future research include theoretically relevant variables in improved empirical tests and that researchers exercise caution in interpreting the results of existing studies as representative of psychological inoculation effects.
Voters using Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) often struggle with comprehension, leading to satisficing behavior. Conversational Agent VAAs (CAVAAs) aim to improve understanding by allowing users to ask a chatbot comprehension questions. While early research shows positive effects, studies have only compared CAVAAs to basic VAAs, not to enhanced VAAs (VAA+s) with clickable information buttons. Current study compares four versions: a basic VAA, a VAA+, a CAVAA, and a CAVAA+, tested on desktop (Study 1) and smartphone (Study 2). Results show that all three information-rich versions reduce non-directional answers and positively impact political and tool evaluation measures, suggesting that added information, regardless of format, improves response quality and user experience. Interestingly, users request more information in the enhanced web-based VAA+ than via the chatbot. We discuss these and other findings in the paper.
How people consume information and understand facts is an inherently multilevel problem, but inquiry frequently stops at the individual-level. We highlight how disparities in local newspaper availability across communities influence individuals’ partisan selective exposure and congruent political misperceptions. Using a quasi-experimental design enabling comparisons of individuals living in counties with different local newspaper availability but otherwise matched features, we found that lacking a local newspaper in one’s county is associated with a decrease in national mainstream media use. Moreover, lacking a local newspaper amplifies partisan selective consumption of liberal media, but not conservative media. Beliefs in falsehoods disseminated by elites from both major parties in the U.S. are influenced by selective exposure and amplified by local newspaper context, while liberal media use is more sensitive to the contextual variances in local news environments than conservative media use. Findings from this unique dataset are robust against various tests of confounding effects.
This study addressed how communication about retirement fits in the communicative ecology model of successful aging (CEMSA). U.S. American older adults ( N = 294, M Age = 59.27 years) reported on a memorable message they heard about retirement, as well as on their own talk about how they can be financially prepared for retirement. Older adults who wrote a memorable message with a theme of (a) saving money for retirement or (b) relaxing or enjoying life during retirement reported talking about how they can be financially prepared for retirement more than did older adults who did not write a memorable message with one of these themes. Older adults’ talk about how they can be financially prepared for retirement was indirectly associated with successful aging, via the serial mediators of positive affect about aging and aging efficacy. Talking about how one can be financially prepared for retirement may be a worthwhile theoretical addition to the CEMSA.
This study explored trends of diversity in Communication and Media Studies (CMS) between 1974 and 2023 through an automated content analysis of journal publications. An increasing proportion of first-authors from non-WEIRD countries and non-U.S. WEIRD countries was found alongside a declining proportion of U.S.-based scholars (WEIRD refers to “Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic”). The visibility of women first-authors grew markedly to 54% in the 2020s, although still a bit below the benchmark. A growing prevalence of qualitative methods was found relative to quantitative methods and conceptual work. Interestingly, these trends were intertwined. Qualitative studies were more likely to be authored by women, by scholars from non-U.S. WEIRD countries, and based on non-WEIRD populations. Women authorship was less likely among the increasingly visible non-WEIRD and non-U.S. WEIRD first-authors. Furthermore, less diversity—in particular, geographic and methodological diversity (but not gender diversity)—was found in journals with higher impact-factor.
The relationship between trust in the news media and news use has been studied extensively, yet findings remain inconsistent. We argue that a key source of this inconsistency is the conflation of two distinct forms of media distrust: skepticism and cynicism. Additionally, prior research largely relies on self-reported news use, which is prone to bias. To address both issues, we link survey data with web-tracking data from 739 participants during the 2021 German federal election. We show that skeptics and cynics differ in personality traits, political orientations, and news-use motivations, and - crucially - in their actual news consumption behavior. While skepticism is associated with broader and more intense news exposure, cynicism is linked to lower exposure, particularly to established journalistic mainstream media. These results demonstrate that different forms of media distrust are associated with distinct patterns of news exposure, underscoring the importance of conceptual and behavioral precision in media trust research.
Situated in a creative crowdsourcing challenge organizational community, this research examines how different types of homophily affect network formation among ideators, the challenge innovators. Longitudinal analysis of comment network events among ideators was conducted with relational event models. Status homophily was examined based on ideators’ self-reported public profiles. Findings show that ideators’ location by country significantly influences relational events, but occupational homophily did not. Value homophily was examined based on the content similarity of ideators’ idea submissions. Results indicate that ideator’s choices of platform content categories, those that are designed by the challenge management, significantly influenced ideators’ communication patterns. Specifically, long-term needs were a salient homophily factor among platform categories, whereas short-term needs were heterophilous factors. Finally, a multidimensional homophily measurement using latent class analysis on idea-category-submission patterns predicted the occurrences of communication relational events and achieved an improved model fit compared to modeling all platform categories together.
During their daily media use, youth interact with algorithms. Drawing on the algorithm responsiveness process framework, this paper examines the co-construction of identity between youth and algorithmic media, focusing on perceived algorithm responsiveness (PAR), perceived algorithm insensitivity (PAI), and algorithm training as sociotechnical processes that structure how LGBTQ+ youth perceive themselves. Study 1 ( N = 335), using six weekly diaries among LGBTQ+ youth, showed that affirming LGBTQ+ representations curated by algorithms predicted higher PAR and lower PAI, especially when less algorithm training was needed. In turn, higher PAR and, unexpectedly, higher PAI predicted greater identity pride. Study 2 ( N = 664), a cross-sectional survey, found that LGBTQ+ youth reported lower PAR than non-LGBTQ+ youth. An indirect effect of algorithm training on self-concept clarity via PAR emerged for non-LGBTQ+ participants but not for LGBTQ+ participants. These findings highlight social identity in algorithmic media as a relational, dynamic process, and LGBTQ+ youth can shape content recommendations for identity-related needs.
This study compared individual and communal coping messages to highly person-centered support in the context of depression management within romantic relationships. The sample included 138 adults who had been diagnosed with depression, and they evaluated messages that were manipulated to vary in coping strategies and person-centeredness. Results showed that communal coping messages led to greater emotional improvement than individual coping and highly person-centered messages through an indirect effect conveyed by increased perceptions of joint efforts between partners. Cognitive reappraisal, relational connectedness, and shared appraisal did not significantly mediate the relationships between message features and emotional improvement. In addition, highly person-centered messages corresponded with more emotional improvement than individual coping messages. The discussion highlights the implications of partners’ coping-oriented versus supportive approaches to depression management.
The death of a parent/partner represents a significant and traumatic transition for surviving families. Guided by relational turbulence theory, this longitudinal and dyadic study examines how relationship characteristics in surviving parent-emerging adult child dyads correspond with communal coping and relational turbulence during bereavement. Data were collected from 45 parent-emerging adult child dyads for 6 weeks. Results highlight relational uncertainty and interdependence as factors that shape cognitive, emotional, and communicative features of coping episodes. Communal coping behaviors, when enacted, emerged as a protective mechanism, helping mitigate relational turbulence. Actor-partner effects demonstrated the interdependent nature of coping and relational turbulence. This study extends relational turbulence theory to parent-child relationships and underscores the importance of communal coping during transitions. Practical implications suggest the need to help families enact coping and manage interdependence during bereavement to mitigate relational turbulence and improve relationship outcomes.
This study examines the effects of corrective information and self-affirmation on evaluating political claims in two contexts: the Russian invasion of Ukraine and migration to Germany. In a two-wave online experiment in Germany (N = 1,275), participants were randomly assigned to receive corrective information, a self-affirmation task, both, or neither. Using signal detection theory, we distinguish sensitivity to truth (discernment) from response bias (general skepticism or credulity). Exposure to corrective information significantly improved participants' truth discernment, with stronger effects for those with higher cognitive reflection test scores. At the same time, corrective information was associated with a shift in response bias for the Ukraine topic, indicating an increased tendency to classify statements as false overall. The self-affirmation intervention corrected an initially credulous response bias in the Ukraine topic, bringing evaluations closer to a balanced position around zero, while leaving responses in the migration domain unchanged. Overall, the findings highlight both the benefits and potential side effects of corrective information interventions and illustrate how psychological interventions can impact evaluative thresholds.
This experiment tests the communicative ecology model of successful aging (CEMSA) to determine how viewing positive aging TikTok videos impacts aging outcomes for young (n = 306), middle-aged (n = 225), and older (n = 233) women. We also extend the CEMSA to include ageism and positive attitudes toward older adults. Watching positive aging TikTok videos had an indirect effect on aging efficacy through positive aging affect for all age groups. There was also a positive indirect effect on successful aging through positive affect and aging efficacy for middle-aged and older women. For all three age groups, viewing positive aging TikTok videos increased positive attitude toward older adults through positive affect about aging. Watching positive aging videos was not associated with aging uncertainty in any group. Additional associations and implications for the CEMSA and attitudes toward older adults are discussed.
What constitutes effective supportive message content is a topic of intense interdisciplinary scholarly interest and has palpable real-world implications for individuals' well-being. Emotion and cognition content are two commonly theorized supportive message forms. Although both are theorized to operate through conversationally induced reappraisal, their relative effects, underlying mediating mechanisms, and boundary conditions for effectiveness are underexplored in experimental research. Three studies (Study 1: N = 852; Study 2: N = 343; Study 3: N = 512) compared the effects of emotion and cognition content, and one tested mediating mechanisms (Study 3). Situational esteem threat was manipulated to examine self-conscious emotion as a moderator. Cognition content was more effective than emotion content when esteem threat was high; differences narrowed when esteem threat was low. Differences were explained, in part, by reappraisal and interpersonal perceptions. Findings suggest message effects depend on degree of esteem threat, and content impacts outcomes via different routes.
Individuals process persuasive campaign messages intra- and interpersonally with the goal of either accurately evaluating the advocacy or defending against it. In an experiment, messages that argued for reducing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages were presented to regular drinkers (N = 275). They were then forbidden to interact, allowed to interact, or directed to interact by discussion prompts with either a critical or a collective focus. The no-talk condition data showed persuasion whereas unguided talk yielded counter-persuasion (i.e., a boomerang), which was mitigated to an equal degree by the two prompts. Exploration of potential mediating mechanisms revealed that the prompt effects could be attributed to variations in the quantity of on-topic talk, sentence length, cognitive process words, and negations. As all of these findings were strongest among heavy drinkers, the study demonstrated the promise of prompts for promoting campaign-consistent talk and salutary effects among at-risk individuals.
This study examines how emotional reactions to campaign communication relate to attentional processes and, ultimately, to general interest in a political campaign. Drawing on appraisal theories of emotion and the broaden-and-build theory, we argue that emotional responses to political communication play a central role in shaping different forms of attention and elaboration. Specifically, emotions may foster a narrow attentional focus directed at the stimulus itself or a broader attentional orientation characterized by a willingness to seek additional information. To test these assumptions, we conducted a mobile experience sampling study during the 40 days preceding the 2021 German federal election. Participants repeatedly reported the perceived sentiment of campaign communication, their emotional reactions while encountering it, and their attentional focus toward political information immediately after exposure to campaign communication. Between-person analyses indicate that both negative affect (particularly anger) and positive affect are associated with attentional processes, while happiness is specifically linked to a broadened attentional focus. At the within-person level, both negative and positive emotions predicted momentary attentional focus. Campaign interest, however, was related to (situational) attention rather than to affective processes. We conclude by discussing the role of positivity and positive affect in research on political media effects.
One appealing explanation for the dismal state of digital politics in the U.S. is that social media offer abundant threats to users' political identities. This paper provides a theoretical and empirical foundation for studying political identity threats on social media. A pilot study (N = 931) established that individuals can recognize both realistic and symbolic threats when they explicitly appear in TikTok videos, but that, (a) threat types are not as discrete as theory suggests and (b) sensitivity to symbolic threat depends on strength of partisan identity. A second, pre-registered experimental study (N = 1,279) found that the presence of explicit threats to political ingroups/outgroups influenced emotions and willingness to engage politically on social media. These effects were mediated by threat recognition and often larger for those with stronger partisan identities. This research sets an agenda for studying the presence and effects of explicitly identity-threatening social media content.
