Response speed in digital communication serves as a signal of availability, yet past research has overlooked how speed expectations in specific relationships translate into social connection. This study addresses this oversight by integrating theoretical perspectives on constant connectivity and chronemics to test the implications of perceived response speed for parent-adolescent relationships. Using a 28-day dyadic daily diary design of 142 parent-adolescent dyads, we examined how one’s own and one’s partner’s perceived response speed were associated with feelings of connection. Results revealed asymmetric and interdependent patterns. Faster response speed perceptions predicted greater connection, but these associations were more pronounced for parents. Additionally, parents’ perceptions of adolescents’ response speed predicted adolescents’ feelings of connection. These findings indicate that response speed perceptions can act as a mechanism that links connectivity to social connection in everyday life, but this depends on relational role.
Although mass-mediated persuasive messages often feature images of people, their impacts are surprisingly understudied. We tested whether attributes of human imagery influence psychological reactance to a health promotion PSA, either alone or combined with language style. Participants ( N = 1,100) viewed a message promoting sun safety that contained a forceful (vs. courteous) appeal and featured a model with forceful (vs. neutral) body language. The model’s physical characteristics (gender and skin tone) also varied. Both forceful text and forceful body language indirectly lowered protective behavioral intentions via reactance, and male-model messages had this effect for female participants. Our findings demonstrate the potential for features of human imagery to inadvertently hinder persuasion. Study results also highlight the value in measuring perceived visual freedom threat alongside traditional reactance measures. We discuss implications for reactance theory and measurement and highlight important directions for research on reactance to visuals.
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.
