Diana Rieger
Biographic Data
| ID | 169493 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Diana Rieger |
| GIVEN NAMES | Diana |
| FAMILY NAME | Rieger |
| SIGNATURE | RIEGER D |
| AFFILIATIONS | Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2417-0480 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 54 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 112 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 53 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Subtle cues, major shifts: Eye-tracking insights on how fear and humor legitimize hostility on social media
Expressions of hostility are widespread online, occurring not only in explicit but even more so in implicit forms. In this study, we trace the subtle yet lasting harmful potential of two prevalent implicit forms of online hostility—fear speech and derogatory humor—by examining their perceived acceptability and legitimacy. We argue that both forms are more compatible with mainstream discourse than explicit hate and function as manifestations of sy…
Protest movements and the mainstreaming of radical and extremist ideologies: The case of Covid-19 protests
Radicalization and the internet: 25 Years of (Online) Radicalization Research
The Remote Self-Confrontation Interview Method: Gaining Insights into Users' Perceptions of Digital Media Content from a Distance
For researchers interested in studying users' perceptions and immediate reactions to digital media content-even from a distance-this article introduces the remote self-confrontation interview method . This adapted version of the self-confrontation interview method uses videoconferencing software and combines four interrelated steps: First, participants are observed scrolling through/using a stimulus, which allows the assessment of attention, emot…
Empowerment Is Key? How Perceived Political and Critical Digital Media Literacy Explain Direct and Indirect Bystander Intervention in Online Hate Speech
Hate speech is widespread in digital media, and such incidents can harm individuals and fuel hostile discourses. Therefore, understanding the factors that shape bystander intervention is crucial. Despite frequent calls for more research, there is a need for greater understanding of how perceived political and digital media literacy are related to the frequency of various forms of online bystander intervention, such as counter-speech or reporting.…
Psychologie der Rechtsradikalisierung: Theorien, Perspektiven, Prävention
Wie radikalisieren sich Menschen und warum ist die Empfänglichkeit für rechte Radikalisierungsdynamiken aktuell besonders hoch? Dieses Buch bietet Einblicke in die psychologische Forschung zu diesen Fragen. Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler stellen in prägnanter und verständlicher Weise Erkenntnisse und Forschungslücken dar. Die Beiträge diskutieren insbesondere die motivationale Bedeutung von Verlust- und Benachteiligungserfahrungen, das …
Social Media and Radicalization: An Affordance Approach for Cross-Platform Comparison
To accentuate which platform characteristics particularly foster radicalization and extremist dynamics, this contribution investigates the affordances of social media as delineated in contemporary literature, conducting a platform comparison encompassing Telegram, WhatsApp, and X (formerly Twitter). Based on a scoping review, 17 affordances identified from studies researching radicalization dynamics on social media were extracted and categorized.…
Mainstreaming as a meta-process: A systematic review and conceptual model of factors contributing to the mainstreaming of radical and extremist positions
Over the past decade, extremists have increasingly aimed to integrate their ideologies into the center of society by changing the presentation of their narratives to appeal to a larger audience. This process is termed (strategic) mainstreaming. Although this phenomenon is not new, the factors that contribute to the mainstreaming of radical and extremist ideas have not been systematically summarized. To identify elements fostering mainstreaming dy…
Social Media Users' Motives for (Not) Engaging With Hate Speech: An Explorative Investigation
Despite extensive research on what causes social media users to recognize hate speech and what motivates their reactions to it, little is known about a crucial intermediate step that leads to users' engagement or non-engagement with hate speech online. In our study, drawing on the uses and gratifications approach, we theoretically derived motives representing affective and entertainment, personal identity and social-integrative as well as cogniti…
Who cares? How personal political characteristics are related to online counteractions against hate speech
Although many Internet users have encountered hate speech online, interventions against those incidents are unlikely. To learn more about online counteractions against hate speech, which we conceptualize as a form of online civic participation, we conducted an online survey representing adult German Internet users (N = 2,691). We investigated what distinguishes users who intervene against hate speech, focusing on associations between citizens' pr…
Interactive decision-making in entertainment movies: A mixed-methods approach
Too civil to care? How online hate speech against different social groups affects bystander intervention
A large share of online users has already witnessed online hate speech. Because targets tend to interpret such bystanders’ lack of reaction as agreement with the hate speech, bystander intervention in online hate speech is crucial as it can help alleviate negative consequences. Despite evidence regarding online bystander intervention, however, whether bystanders evaluate online hate speech targeting different social groups as equally uncivil and,…
First aid in the pocket: The psychosocial benefits of smartphones in self-threatening situations
Increasing knowledge about cognitive biases: An evaluation study of a radicalization prevention campaign targeted at European adolescents and young adults
Confrontation with radical online content has been empirically linked to the facilitation of radicalization processes. Therefore, building a presence of information about potential prevention of radicalization through an online campaign may be particularly relevant to limit the activities and appeals of radical actors. In this study, we thus examine the effectiveness of campaign material focused on cognitive biases (i.e., when people's cognitive …
Adolescents’ Remembering of Sexual Television Narratives and Their Relations with Positive Sexuality Components: A Biographic Resonance Perspective
info:eu-repo/semantics/published
Ambassadors of ideology: A conceptualization and computational investigation of far-right influencers, their networking structures, and communication practices
Increasingly, influencers are employed to market not only products but also ideas and beliefs. The far right has recognized the strategic potential of influencer communication to tap into new target groups and mobilize supporters. This paper provides insights into the little-explored field of far-right influencers. We conceptualize them as individual actors characterized by far-right ideology, positioned as political influencers, actively advocat…
Understanding the role of participatory-moral abilities, motivation, and behavior in European adolescents’ responses to online hate
Researchers have repeatedly discussed how to strengthen supportive and pro-social responses to online hate, such as reporting and commenting. Researchers and practitioners commonly call for the promotion of media literacy measures that are believed to be positively associated with countermeasures against online hate. In this study (conducted in 2021), we examined relationships between media literacy proficiencies of (1) moral-participatory motiva…
Social Media Literacy Among Adolescents and Young Adults: Results From a Cross-Country Validation Study
When being online, young users are often confronted with insulting, hateful, or misleading messages. To handle these dark forms of participation, it is essential to equip them with resources that support their social literacy in today's complex online environments. In the present article, we deployed a previously established scale on self-perceived participatory-moral literacy and conducted a broad online survey study with 1,489 adolescents and y…
Testing the Tebots model in self-threatening situations: The role of narratives in the face of ostracism and mortality
The TEBOTS model predicts that narratives are sought after more often in times of depletion. The present study aimed at expanding this idea by testing whether engagement with narratives is also intensified under self-threatening conditions. Further, we examined whether narratives can serve coping functions. In a 3(Threat: mortality salience vs. ostracism vs. control condition) × 2(Review of the narrative: positive vs. negative) online experiment …
Far-right conspiracy groups on fringe platforms: A longitudinal analysis of radicalization dynamics on Telegram
Societal crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, produce societal instability and create a fertile ground for radicalization. Extremists exploit such crises by distributing disinformation to amplify uncertainty and distrust among the public. Based on these developments, this study presents a longitudinal analysis of far-right communication on fringe platforms, demonstrating radicalization dynamics. Public Telegram communication of three movements …
I don’t care, ’cause I don’t trust them!” The impact of information sources, institutional trust, and right-wing populist attitudes on the perception of the Covid-19 pandemic during the first lockdown…
Wie Bürgerinnen und Bürger soziale Krisen wahrnehmen, wird stark von den Informationsquellen, die sie nutzen, und von ihren individuellen Eigenschaften beeinflusst. Diese wirken sich stark darauf aus, wie die erhaltenen Informationen verarbeitet und interpretiert werden. Dies dürfte auch für die COVID-19-Pandemie gelten, die Anfang 2020 die Welt zu erschüttern begann. Auf der Grundlage neuerer Forschungen zur politischen Kommunikation stellen wir…
From solidarity to blame game: A computational approach to comparing far-right and general public Twitter discourse in the aftermath of the Hanau terror attack
Terror attacks are followed by public shock and disorientation. Previous research has found that people use social media to collectively negotiate responses, interpretations, and sense-making in the aftermath of terror attacks. However, the role of ideologically motivated discussions and their relevance to the overall discourse have not been studied. This paper addresses this gap and focuses specifically on the far-right discourse, comparing it t…
How social media users perceive different forms of online hate speech: A qualitative multi-method study
Although many social media users have reported encountering hate speech, differences in the perception between different users remain unclear. Using a qualitative multi-method approach, we investigated how personal characteristics, the presentation form, and content-related characteristics influence social media users’ perceptions of hate speech, which we differentiated as first-level (i.e. recognizing hate speech) and second-level perceptions (i…
The Promises and Pitfalls of Inspirational Media: What do We Know, and Where do We Go from Here
This editorial introduces the thematic issue on inspirational media; including its role in the elicitation of meaning and self-transcendence, audience responses to inspirational narratives, and the potential for inspirational media to be used for manipulative purposes. We first set the stage for the thematic issue by describing an organizing framework by Thrash and Elliot (2003) to study inspiration. We then situate the seven articles published i…
Two sides of the same coin? The persuasiveness of one-sided vs. two-sided narratives in the context of radicalization prevention
Societal organizations aim at challenging online extremist messages by counterposing with different narratives such as alternative narratives (one-sided narrative) and counter-narratives (two-sided narratives). The current study examined which type of narrative is more efficient in changing attitudes accounting for narrative involvement and reactance regarding the narrative. We employed a 2(one-sided vs. two-sided narrative) × 2 (ease of identifi…
How social media users perceive different forms of online hate speech: A qualitative multi-method study
Although many social media users have reported encountering hate speech, differences in the perception between different users remain unclear. Using a qualitative multi-method approach, we investigated how personal characteristics, the presentation form, and content-related characteristics influence social media users’ perceptions of hate speech, which we differentiated as first-level (i.e. recognizing hate speech) and second-level perceptions (i…
Ambassadors of ideology: A conceptualization and computational investigation of far-right influencers, their networking structures, and communication practices
Increasingly, influencers are employed to market not only products but also ideas and beliefs. The far right has recognized the strategic potential of influencer communication to tap into new target groups and mobilize supporters. This paper provides insights into the little-explored field of far-right influencers. We conceptualize them as individual actors characterized by far-right ideology, positioned as political influencers, actively advocat…
Permanently on Call: The Effects of Social Pressure on Smartphone Users’ Self-Control, Need Satisfaction, and Well-Being
While many smartphone users experience social pressure to be available, only some perceive this as a burden. It was hypothesized that this form of social pressure is especially detrimental when it reduces self-control and hinders need satisfaction. Study 1 experimentally tested whether the fulfillment of intrinsic needs (i.e., autonomy, competence, and relatedness) in mobile communication mediates these associations. Results show that social pres…
Assessing the Extent and Types of Hate Speech in Fringe Communities: A Case Study of Alt-Right Communities on 8chan, 4chan, and Reddit
Recent right-wing extremist terrorists were active in online fringe communities connected to the alt-right movement. Although these are commonly considered as distinctly hateful, racist, and misogynistic, the prevalence of hate speech in these communities has not been comprehensively investigated yet, particularly regarding more implicit and covert forms of hate. This study exploratively investigates the extent, nature, and clusters of different …
The daily dose of digital inspiration: A multi-method exploration of meaningful communication in social media
Research on eudaimonic media has so far predominantly focused on audiovisual offerings: movies or YouTube video clips. However, much meaningful and inspiring content nowadays is uploaded on social media in so-called memes. Three exploratory studies therefore investigated the occurrence, content, and effects of inspiring and meaningful memes in social media: The hashtags of eudaimonic memes were analyzed in semantic networks (study 1), a content a…
I don’t care, ’cause I don’t trust them!” The impact of information sources, institutional trust, and right-wing populist attitudes on the perception of the Covid-19 pandemic during the first lockdown…
Wie Bürgerinnen und Bürger soziale Krisen wahrnehmen, wird stark von den Informationsquellen, die sie nutzen, und von ihren individuellen Eigenschaften beeinflusst. Diese wirken sich stark darauf aus, wie die erhaltenen Informationen verarbeitet und interpretiert werden. Dies dürfte auch für die COVID-19-Pandemie gelten, die Anfang 2020 die Welt zu erschüttern begann. Auf der Grundlage neuerer Forschungen zur politischen Kommunikation stellen wir…
Eating ghosts: The underlying mechanisms of mood repair via interactive and noninteractive media
Mood repair is a well-established function of media usage implying distraction from negative mood and the modification of unpleasant arousal states. Recent studies have found interactive media, in particular computer games, to be more effective in repairing mood than noninteractive media. It has been suggested that this is due to the higher task demand of interactive media distracting the players from negative feelings. Yet interactive media have…
Blissed by the past: Theorizing media-induced nostalgia as an audience response factor for entertainment and well-being
The daily dose of digital inspiration 2: Themes and affective user responses to meaningful memes in social media
Recent work on eudaimonic media entertainment has demonstrated that not only movies carry meaningful or inspiring topics but also content that is usually uploaded online, such as YouTube videos or memes in social media. Although past research found beneficial effects of eudaimonic movies for psychosocial well-being and motivational intentions, the daily audience of eudaimonic online fare has not been investigated yet. This article reports first f…
Watching Online Videos at Work: The Role of Positive and Meaningful Affect for Recovery Experiences and Well-Being at the Workplace
This study extends research on the relationship between hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment and its potential for recovery experiences and aspects of well-being (e.g., Rieger, Reinecke, Frischlich, & Bente, 2014). With the broad notion of what hedonic and eudaimonic media can entail, this research focused on unique affective experiences—namely, positive affect—and an expanded concept of meaningful affect (including elevation and gratitude). An o…
Meet Joe Black? The effects of mortality salience and similarity on the Desire to Date in-group versus out-group members online
Online dating has become an important resource for building intimate relationships. Similarity and group membership have been found to be as important for online and off-line dating. Research on terror management theory has shown that both factors shield against death anxieties, indicating difficulties for dissimilar and intergroup couples. Yet, no study-so far-has investigated both factors simultaneously after mortality salience (MS). To close t…
Understanding the role of participatory-moral abilities, motivation, and behavior in European adolescents’ responses to online hate
Researchers have repeatedly discussed how to strengthen supportive and pro-social responses to online hate, such as reporting and commenting. Researchers and practitioners commonly call for the promotion of media literacy measures that are believed to be positively associated with countermeasures against online hate. In this study (conducted in 2021), we examined relationships between media literacy proficiencies of (1) moral-participatory motiva…
Dealing with the dark side: The effects of right-wing extremist and Islamist extremist propaganda from a social identity perspective
Right-wing extremists and Islamist extremists try to recruit new followers by addressing their national (for instance, German) or religious (Muslim) social identity via online propaganda videos. Two studies examined whether capitalizing on a shared group-membership affects the emotional and cognitive response towards extremist propaganda. In both studies, Germans/ non-migrants , Muslim migrants and control participants ( N = 235) were confronted …
Hate and counter-voices in the Internet: Introduction to the special issue
The Internet creates a space in which hate, negativity and the derogation of certain individuals or social groups (e.g., homosexuals, migrants, or women) can be found in various facets-be it in hateful comments of single users under journalistic online articles or below YouTube videos, propagandistic messages of extremists, or populist speech of political parties. At the same time, the Internet can also empower voices against online hate. The art…
How Movies Can Ease the Fear of Death: The Survival or Death of the Protagonists in Meaningful Movies
Many media entertainment products address the fragility of life by portraying the severe illness or death of the protagonist. According to terror management theory, people need to create meaning in their lives when they are reminded of their own mortality, for instance, by engaging in close relationships with others. Meaningful films may provide recipients with an anxiety buffer that helps them to cope with existential fear. The results of an exp…
Who cares? How personal political characteristics are related to online counteractions against hate speech
Although many Internet users have encountered hate speech online, interventions against those incidents are unlikely. To learn more about online counteractions against hate speech, which we conceptualize as a form of online civic participation, we conducted an online survey representing adult German Internet users (N = 2,691). We investigated what distinguishes users who intervene against hate speech, focusing on associations between citizens' pr…
From solidarity to blame game: A computational approach to comparing far-right and general public Twitter discourse in the aftermath of the Hanau terror attack
Terror attacks are followed by public shock and disorientation. Previous research has found that people use social media to collectively negotiate responses, interpretations, and sense-making in the aftermath of terror attacks. However, the role of ideologically motivated discussions and their relevance to the overall discourse have not been studied. This paper addresses this gap and focuses specifically on the far-right discourse, comparing it t…
Discourse patterns used by extremist Salafists on Facebook: Identifying potential triggers to cognitive biases in radicalized content
Understanding how extremist Salafists communicate, and not only what, is key to gaining insights into the ways they construct their social order and use psychological forces to radicalize potential sympathizers on social media. With a view to contributing to the existing body of research which mainly focuses on terrorist organizations, we analyzed accounts that advocate violent jihad without supporting (at least publicly) any terrorist group and …
Mobile recovery? The impact of smartphone use on recovery experiences in waiting situations
The proliferation of smartphones and their use in almost every social situation has led to controversial discussions about the smartphone’s potential impact on stress and recovery of its users. Some research has found detrimental effects of permanent availability and connectivity, other studies hint at beneficial effects resulting from users taking minibreaks from work. As there is some evidence for a recovery potential of mass media in general, …
Fast and Not Furious: Reduction of Cognitive Dissonance in Smokers
Three studies explored whether cognitive dissonance in smokers is reduced immediately or remains constant due to the perceived health risk. Because dissonance-reducing strategies might occur very quickly and previous research has focused only on ratings concerning health risk, we additionally analyzed response latencies and psychophysiological arousal as more implicit measurements. In Study 1, 2, and 3, participants rated their smoking-related he…
Adolescents’ Remembering of Sexual Television Narratives and Their Relations with Positive Sexuality Components: A Biographic Resonance Perspective
info:eu-repo/semantics/published
Social Media Literacy Among Adolescents and Young Adults: Results From a Cross-Country Validation Study
When being online, young users are often confronted with insulting, hateful, or misleading messages. To handle these dark forms of participation, it is essential to equip them with resources that support their social literacy in today's complex online environments. In the present article, we deployed a previously established scale on self-perceived participatory-moral literacy and conducted a broad online survey study with 1,489 adolescents and y…
Two sides of the same coin? The persuasiveness of one-sided vs. two-sided narratives in the context of radicalization prevention
Societal organizations aim at challenging online extremist messages by counterposing with different narratives such as alternative narratives (one-sided narrative) and counter-narratives (two-sided narratives). The current study examined which type of narrative is more efficient in changing attitudes accounting for narrative involvement and reactance regarding the narrative. We employed a 2(one-sided vs. two-sided narrative) × 2 (ease of identifi…
Meaningful entertainment experiences and self-transcendence: Cultural variations shape elevation, values, and moral intentions
Previous research reported that meaningful entertainment experiences are associated with elevation, mixed affect, physical indicators, and moral motivations. The importance of values, particularly altruistic values and self-transcendence, was thought to play a central role. Although the importance of values has been found to vary across cultures, little research so far has examined cultural variations in the response towards meaningful entertainm…
The memory remains: How heavy metal fans buffer against the fear of death
Heavy metal music is often associated with death and dying by nonfans whereas members of this subculture report that listening to metal music is their escape from depression and even helpful against death-related thoughts. According to terror management theory, self-esteem and cultural worldview serve as a symbolic, 2-component buffer system working against the fear of death. What remains unclear in recent research on terror management theory is …
Fast and Not Furious: Reduction of Cognitive Dissonance in Smokers
Three studies explored whether cognitive dissonance in smokers is reduced immediately or remains constant due to the perceived health risk. Because dissonance-reducing strategies might occur very quickly and previous research has focused only on ratings concerning health risk, we additionally analyzed response latencies and psychophysiological arousal as more implicit measurements. In Study 1, 2, and 3, participants rated their smoking-related he…
Media Entertainment and Well-Being-Linking Hedonic and Eudaimonic Entertainment Experience to Media-Induced Recovery and Vitality: Media Entertainment and Well-Being
This paper explores the impact of hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment experience on well-being. We propose that the satisfaction of recovery needs can provide an important link that connects recent 2-factor models of entertainment with well-being after media consumption. Using path modeling, relationships between hedonic/eudaimonic entertainment experiences, media-induced recovery experience, and vitality as a recovery outcome were explored in a…
Awareness of Risk Factors for Digital Game Addiction: Interviewing Players and Counselors
Eating ghosts: The underlying mechanisms of mood repair via interactive and noninteractive media
Mood repair is a well-established function of media usage implying distraction from negative mood and the modification of unpleasant arousal states. Recent studies have found interactive media, in particular computer games, to be more effective in repairing mood than noninteractive media. It has been suggested that this is due to the higher task demand of interactive media distracting the players from negative feelings. Yet interactive media have…
Appreciation in the Face of Death: Meaningful Films Buffer Against Death-Related Anxiety
Entertainment media are found to evoke appreciation when they deal with topics such as moral virtues, values, or questions of sense in life. Drawing upon terror management theory, we question whether meaningful media can also serve as anxiety buffer shielding against the threat of death, as they transport cultural worldviews and enhance self-esteem among recipients. Results of an experimental study (N = 122) confirmed that participants under mort…
Media-induced recovery: The effects of positive versus negative media stimuli on recovery experience, cognitive performance, and energetic arousal
Recent research has demonstrated that the use of hedonically positive interactive media content contributes to the satisfaction of recovery needs and is associated with recovery outcomes such as higher levels of cognitive performance and increased energetic arousal. The recovery effects of noninteractive media stimuli as well as of media content with negative affective valence, however, are less clear. The present investigation addressed this lim…
The memory remains: How heavy metal fans buffer against the fear of death
Heavy metal music is often associated with death and dying by nonfans whereas members of this subculture report that listening to metal music is their escape from depression and even helpful against death-related thoughts. According to terror management theory, self-esteem and cultural worldview serve as a symbolic, 2-component buffer system working against the fear of death. What remains unclear in recent research on terror management theory is …
Meet Joe Black? The effects of mortality salience and similarity on the Desire to Date in-group versus out-group members online
Online dating has become an important resource for building intimate relationships. Similarity and group membership have been found to be as important for online and off-line dating. Research on terror management theory has shown that both factors shield against death anxieties, indicating difficulties for dissimilar and intergroup couples. Yet, no study-so far-has investigated both factors simultaneously after mortality salience (MS). To close t…
Medienpsychologie: Schlüsselbegriffe und Konzepte
In diesem Lehrbuch und Nachschlagewerk werden 61 zentrale Konzepte der Medienpsychologie in kurzen Texten vorgestellt, die das aktuelle Wissen zu spezifischen Annahmen und Theorien bündeln. In der Neuauflage werden vor allem aktuelle Konzepte aus dem Bereich der Social Media integriert. Die einzelnen Kapitel sind nach einem einheitlichen Schema gestaltet und enthalten eine kurze Darstellung des jeweiligen Konzepts, eine detaillierte Erläuterung d…
Mobile recovery? The impact of smartphone use on recovery experiences in waiting situations
The proliferation of smartphones and their use in almost every social situation has led to controversial discussions about the smartphone’s potential impact on stress and recovery of its users. Some research has found detrimental effects of permanent availability and connectivity, other studies hint at beneficial effects resulting from users taking minibreaks from work. As there is some evidence for a recovery potential of mass media in general, …
How Movies Can Ease the Fear of Death: The Survival or Death of the Protagonists in Meaningful Movies
Many media entertainment products address the fragility of life by portraying the severe illness or death of the protagonist. According to terror management theory, people need to create meaning in their lives when they are reminded of their own mortality, for instance, by engaging in close relationships with others. Meaningful films may provide recipients with an anxiety buffer that helps them to cope with existential fear. The results of an exp…
Watching Online Videos at Work: The Role of Positive and Meaningful Affect for Recovery Experiences and Well-Being at the Workplace
This study extends research on the relationship between hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment and its potential for recovery experiences and aspects of well-being (e.g., Rieger, Reinecke, Frischlich, & Bente, 2014). With the broad notion of what hedonic and eudaimonic media can entail, this research focused on unique affective experiences—namely, positive affect—and an expanded concept of meaningful affect (including elevation and gratitude). An o…
Permanently online and permanently connected: Development and validation of the Online Vigilance Scale
Smartphones and other mobile devices have fundamentally changed patterns of Internet use in everyday life by making online access constantly available. The present paper offers a theoretical explication and empirical assessment of the concept of online vigilance, referring to users' permanent cognitive orientation towards online content and communication as well as their disposition to exploit these options constantly. Based on four studies, a va…
Counter-messages as Prevention or Promotion of Extremism?! The Potential Role of YouTube
In order to serve as an antidote to extremist messages, counter-messages (CM) are placed in the same online environment as extremist content. Often, they are even tagged with similar keywords. Given that automated algorithms may define putative relationships between videos based on mutual topics, CM can appear directly linked to extremist content. This poses severe challenges for prevention programs using CM. This study investigates the extent to…
Self-transcendent Media Experiences: Taking Meaningful Media to a Higher Level
Interest in the meaningful sides of media entertainment has blossomed over the last decade, with numerous scholars examining how certain media content can enhance social good and well-being. Because social scientific work in this area is relatively new and is rapidly evolving, numerous conceptualizations of meaningful media experiences have been introduced. In this paper we argue for the importance of recognizing a unique form of media experience…
Running Head: Video Game Nostalgia and Retro Gaming
This article conceptually integrates research on the experience of nostalgia—defined as a predominantly positive, social, and past-oriented emotion—into the fold of video game research. We emphasize the role of nostalgia as an explanation for contemporary retro gaming trends, and suggest that nostalgia towards gaming events is a necessary area of research. To those ends, we broadly review existing literature on nostalgia before specifically focus…
Hate and counter-voices in the Internet: Introduction to the special issue
The Internet creates a space in which hate, negativity and the derogation of certain individuals or social groups (e.g., homosexuals, migrants, or women) can be found in various facets-be it in hateful comments of single users under journalistic online articles or below YouTube videos, propagandistic messages of extremists, or populist speech of political parties. At the same time, the Internet can also empower voices against online hate. The art…
Watching down cortisol levels? Effects of movie entertainment on psychophysiological recovery
Research on recovery from stress demonstrated that entertaining movies increase psychological detachment and relaxation. In addition, entertainment experiences foster feelings of vitality and thereby contribute to well-being. The current study tested whether movies can be beneficial after stressful situations in order to recover. Saliva cortisol was assessed to relate a physiological measure to experiences of recovery and vitality. In an experime…
Meaningful entertainment experiences and self-transcendence: Cultural variations shape elevation, values, and moral intentions
Previous research reported that meaningful entertainment experiences are associated with elevation, mixed affect, physical indicators, and moral motivations. The importance of values, particularly altruistic values and self-transcendence, was thought to play a central role. Although the importance of values has been found to vary across cultures, little research so far has examined cultural variations in the response towards meaningful entertainm…
The daily dose of digital inspiration: A multi-method exploration of meaningful communication in social media
Research on eudaimonic media has so far predominantly focused on audiovisual offerings: movies or YouTube video clips. However, much meaningful and inspiring content nowadays is uploaded on social media in so-called memes. Three exploratory studies therefore investigated the occurrence, content, and effects of inspiring and meaningful memes in social media: The hashtags of eudaimonic memes were analyzed in semantic networks (study 1), a content a…
Blissed by the past: Theorizing media-induced nostalgia as an audience response factor for entertainment and well-being
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger? The Relationship between Cognitive Task Demands in Video Games and Recovery Experiences
Research has repeatedly demonstrated that the use of interactive media is associated with recovery experiences, suggesting that engaging with media can help people to alleviate stress and restore mental and physical resources. Video games, in particular, have been shown to fulfil various aspects of recovery, not least due to their ability to elicit feelings of mastery and control. However, little is known about the role of cognitive task demand (…
Dealing with the dark side: The effects of right-wing extremist and Islamist extremist propaganda from a social identity perspective
Right-wing extremists and Islamist extremists try to recruit new followers by addressing their national (for instance, German) or religious (Muslim) social identity via online propaganda videos. Two studies examined whether capitalizing on a shared group-membership affects the emotional and cognitive response towards extremist propaganda. In both studies, Germans/ non-migrants , Muslim migrants and control participants ( N = 235) were confronted …
The daily dose of digital inspiration 2: Themes and affective user responses to meaningful memes in social media
Recent work on eudaimonic media entertainment has demonstrated that not only movies carry meaningful or inspiring topics but also content that is usually uploaded online, such as YouTube videos or memes in social media. Although past research found beneficial effects of eudaimonic movies for psychosocial well-being and motivational intentions, the daily audience of eudaimonic online fare has not been investigated yet. This article reports first f…
Permanently on Call: The Effects of Social Pressure on Smartphone Users’ Self-Control, Need Satisfaction, and Well-Being
While many smartphone users experience social pressure to be available, only some perceive this as a burden. It was hypothesized that this form of social pressure is especially detrimental when it reduces self-control and hinders need satisfaction. Study 1 experimentally tested whether the fulfillment of intrinsic needs (i.e., autonomy, competence, and relatedness) in mobile communication mediates these associations. Results show that social pres…
Psychology (41 works) · Social Psychology (31 works) · Computer Science (25 works) · Sociology (20 works) · Media Influence and Health (19 works) · Social Psychology (19 works) · Political science (17 works) · Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection (16 works) · Impact of Technology on Adolescents (14 works) · Social media (14 works)