Sara M Grady
Biographic Data
| ID | 193605 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sara M Grady |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sara M |
| FAMILY NAME | Grady |
| SIGNATURE | GRADY S M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Michigan State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5592-8944 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 2 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
The Impact of Comparative Moral Superiority on Protagonist Appeal
Four studies examine the appeal of protagonists who are sometimes immoral in real-world (Studies 1 & 2) and fictional (Studies 3 & 4) settings. In both, character appeal is influenced by the combination of moral/immoral behaviors a protagonist performs and their moral/immoral behavior relative to another person’s (i.e., their moral superiority/inferiority). Additionally, Study 2 examines the effect of character behavior (moral/immoral vs. highly …
Theory of Mind Negatively Predicts Reflection and Positively Predicts Moral Understanding
A key determinant of viewers’ ability to derive moral understanding from movies may be their ability to understand and reflect upon the beliefs that underlie behavior. We therefore tested whether a measure of theory of mind would predict reflection on a movie and viewers’ moral understanding of the film. We asked participants to write expressively about a lesson they derived from a film they had previously seen or were shown. Two studies demonstr…
Meaning-Making from Films: A Multi-Method Exploration of Meaning-Making in Self-Selected Meaningful Films
Two studies examine meaning-making as a collection of cognitive and affective processes for understanding film messages and extrapolating these lessons to one's own life. Study 1 used a quantitative codebook drawing on existing conceptualizations of meaning-making in psychology to examine the frequency of these themes in open-ended responses about a self-selected film and its impact. Study 2 drills deeper by using qualitative interviews to analyz…
Is Bedtime Media Use Good or Bad? A Competitive Analysis Between the Sleep Displacement Hypothesis and the Media Recovery Hypothesis
Bedtime media use is often maligned in research and pop culture. However, the evidence for the relationship between bedtime media use and sleep for adults has been mixed – sometimes sleep quality is negatively affected by media use, sometimes it is positively affected. Competing explanations include the sleep displacement hypothesis (i.e. media use leads to later sleep onset, less total sleep, and lower sleep quality) and the media recovery hypot…
Intellectual television harms relaxation, games help us detach? Different attributes of bedtime media are associated with multiple types of recovery
People use media in a variety of ways, including as a tool for recovery after stress and strain. This study examines how different kinds of media can support recovery outcomes (like relaxation), and how guilt about media use can negatively impact the potential positive effects of use. This helps us better understand how people use media and which kinds of media may be most useful for self-regulation in daily life
Examining Comfort Media: A Tool for Self-Regulation and Refuge
Early Adolescents Can Extract Distinct Moral Lessons from Narrative Media Content
Extant research suggests that young audiences often misinterpret narratives’ moral messages, potentially limiting the ability of narratives to serve as effective purveyors of moral lessons. Yet questions remain regarding whether young audiences’ inability to extract moral messages from narratives is due to limitations in their moral comprehension, the types of values emphasized by the stimuli in previous studies, or variance from study to study i…
Does ostracism/rejection impact self-disclosures? Examining the appeal of perceived social affordances after social threat
Two studies examine how experiencing a social need threat (ostracism and rejection) impacts subsequent preferences for self-disclosure to various digital audiences. Findings consider how contextual/situational factors like need threats may impact the appeal of two established perceived social affordances of media: personalization and privacy/visibility. Participants took part in a (bogus) social media activity to elicit feelings of inclusion/ostr…
The social factors and functions of media use
A heuristic model aims to organize and synthesize the substantial body of work examining the social influences that shape media selection, experiences, and effects. The Social Influences and Media Use (SIMU) model describes three broad social forces (users’ internal social needs, their social environment, and the social affordances of media) and their recursive association with media use. This article (a) brings together diverse subdisciplines in…
Defining a Flexible Notion of “Good” STEM Writing Across Contexts: Lessons Learned From a Cross-Institutional Conversation
We respond to a surging interest in science communication training for graduate scientists by advocating for a focus on rhetorically informed approaches to STEM writing and its assessment. We argue that STEM communication initiatives would benefit by shifting from a strategic focus on products to a flexible understanding of writing as a practice worthy of attention and study. To do that, we use our experience across two universities and two disti…
Examining the Relationship between Story Structure and Audience Response: How Shared Brain Activity Varies over the Course of a Narrative
When audiences watch a movie, we can examine the similarities among their brain activity via inter-subject correlation (ISC) analysis. This study examines how the strength of ISC (how similarly brains respond) varies over the course of a Pixar short film: specifically comparing this across the exposition, rising action, climax/fall out, and resolution sections of the story. We focus on ISC in the mentalizing network, often linked to social-cognit…
Seeking Spoilage: The Impact of Content Challenge, Self-Control, and Traits on Spoiler Selection
Two experiments examined whether perceived content challenge, self-control, and trait variables predicted participants’ choice of a spoiled/unspoiled movie review. Study 1 found that perceived content challenge influenced spoiler selection as a function of need for cognition. Self-control had no effect. In Study 2, participants chose spoilers when content was perceived to be cognitively challenging but not affectively challenging. Need for affect…
Can’t stop thinking about Star Wars and The Office: Antecedents of retrospective imaginative involvement
Retrospective imaginative involvement (RII) is a concept that encapsulates how audiences reflect back on a narrative’s characters and events after the story has ended. The current study aims to explicate the antecedents of RII in order to provide initial steps toward creating a theory of RII. Through two studies, we tested the role of familiarity, traits (e.g., curiosity), entertainment experiences broadly (e.g., parasocial relationships), and co…
All night long: Problematic media use is differentially associated with sleep quality and depression by medium
Media use appears to adversely affect sleep quality. Yet, findings remain inconsistent based on medium, duration, and manner of use. Given the recent, widespread rise in consumption of video-on-demand services and social media platforms, problematic use of these media has become of interest to media and sleep researchers. Although research has looked at the correlation between problematic media use and sleep, to date no studies have compared diff…
Media for Coping During Covid-19 Social Distancing: Stress, Anxiety, and Psychological Well-Being
In spring 2020, COVID-19 and the ensuing social distancing and stay-at-home orders instigated abrupt changes to employment and educational infrastructure, leading to uncertainty, concern, and stress among United States college students. The media consumption patterns of this and other social groups across the globe were affected, with early evidence suggesting viewers were seeking both pandemic-themed media and reassuring, familiar content. A gen…
Examining Comfort Media: A Tool for Self-Regulation and Refuge
Does ostracism/rejection impact self-disclosures? Examining the appeal of perceived social affordances after social threat
Two studies examine how experiencing a social need threat (ostracism and rejection) impacts subsequent preferences for self-disclosure to various digital audiences. Findings consider how contextual/situational factors like need threats may impact the appeal of two established perceived social affordances of media: personalization and privacy/visibility. Participants took part in a (bogus) social media activity to elicit feelings of inclusion/ostr…
Media for Coping During Covid-19 Social Distancing: Stress, Anxiety, and Psychological Well-Being
In spring 2020, COVID-19 and the ensuing social distancing and stay-at-home orders instigated abrupt changes to employment and educational infrastructure, leading to uncertainty, concern, and stress among United States college students. The media consumption patterns of this and other social groups across the globe were affected, with early evidence suggesting viewers were seeking both pandemic-themed media and reassuring, familiar content. A gen…
All night long: Problematic media use is differentially associated with sleep quality and depression by medium
Media use appears to adversely affect sleep quality. Yet, findings remain inconsistent based on medium, duration, and manner of use. Given the recent, widespread rise in consumption of video-on-demand services and social media platforms, problematic use of these media has become of interest to media and sleep researchers. Although research has looked at the correlation between problematic media use and sleep, to date no studies have compared diff…
The social factors and functions of media use
A heuristic model aims to organize and synthesize the substantial body of work examining the social influences that shape media selection, experiences, and effects. The Social Influences and Media Use (SIMU) model describes three broad social forces (users’ internal social needs, their social environment, and the social affordances of media) and their recursive association with media use. This article (a) brings together diverse subdisciplines in…
Defining a Flexible Notion of “Good” STEM Writing Across Contexts: Lessons Learned From a Cross-Institutional Conversation
We respond to a surging interest in science communication training for graduate scientists by advocating for a focus on rhetorically informed approaches to STEM writing and its assessment. We argue that STEM communication initiatives would benefit by shifting from a strategic focus on products to a flexible understanding of writing as a practice worthy of attention and study. To do that, we use our experience across two universities and two disti…
Examining the Relationship between Story Structure and Audience Response: How Shared Brain Activity Varies over the Course of a Narrative
When audiences watch a movie, we can examine the similarities among their brain activity via inter-subject correlation (ISC) analysis. This study examines how the strength of ISC (how similarly brains respond) varies over the course of a Pixar short film: specifically comparing this across the exposition, rising action, climax/fall out, and resolution sections of the story. We focus on ISC in the mentalizing network, often linked to social-cognit…
Seeking Spoilage: The Impact of Content Challenge, Self-Control, and Traits on Spoiler Selection
Two experiments examined whether perceived content challenge, self-control, and trait variables predicted participants’ choice of a spoiled/unspoiled movie review. Study 1 found that perceived content challenge influenced spoiler selection as a function of need for cognition. Self-control had no effect. In Study 2, participants chose spoilers when content was perceived to be cognitively challenging but not affectively challenging. Need for affect…
Can’t stop thinking about Star Wars and The Office: Antecedents of retrospective imaginative involvement
Retrospective imaginative involvement (RII) is a concept that encapsulates how audiences reflect back on a narrative’s characters and events after the story has ended. The current study aims to explicate the antecedents of RII in order to provide initial steps toward creating a theory of RII. Through two studies, we tested the role of familiarity, traits (e.g., curiosity), entertainment experiences broadly (e.g., parasocial relationships), and co…
Early Adolescents Can Extract Distinct Moral Lessons from Narrative Media Content
Extant research suggests that young audiences often misinterpret narratives’ moral messages, potentially limiting the ability of narratives to serve as effective purveyors of moral lessons. Yet questions remain regarding whether young audiences’ inability to extract moral messages from narratives is due to limitations in their moral comprehension, the types of values emphasized by the stimuli in previous studies, or variance from study to study i…
Does ostracism/rejection impact self-disclosures? Examining the appeal of perceived social affordances after social threat
Two studies examine how experiencing a social need threat (ostracism and rejection) impacts subsequent preferences for self-disclosure to various digital audiences. Findings consider how contextual/situational factors like need threats may impact the appeal of two established perceived social affordances of media: personalization and privacy/visibility. Participants took part in a (bogus) social media activity to elicit feelings of inclusion/ostr…
Theory of Mind Negatively Predicts Reflection and Positively Predicts Moral Understanding
A key determinant of viewers’ ability to derive moral understanding from movies may be their ability to understand and reflect upon the beliefs that underlie behavior. We therefore tested whether a measure of theory of mind would predict reflection on a movie and viewers’ moral understanding of the film. We asked participants to write expressively about a lesson they derived from a film they had previously seen or were shown. Two studies demonstr…
Meaning-Making from Films: A Multi-Method Exploration of Meaning-Making in Self-Selected Meaningful Films
Two studies examine meaning-making as a collection of cognitive and affective processes for understanding film messages and extrapolating these lessons to one's own life. Study 1 used a quantitative codebook drawing on existing conceptualizations of meaning-making in psychology to examine the frequency of these themes in open-ended responses about a self-selected film and its impact. Study 2 drills deeper by using qualitative interviews to analyz…
Is Bedtime Media Use Good or Bad? A Competitive Analysis Between the Sleep Displacement Hypothesis and the Media Recovery Hypothesis
Bedtime media use is often maligned in research and pop culture. However, the evidence for the relationship between bedtime media use and sleep for adults has been mixed – sometimes sleep quality is negatively affected by media use, sometimes it is positively affected. Competing explanations include the sleep displacement hypothesis (i.e. media use leads to later sleep onset, less total sleep, and lower sleep quality) and the media recovery hypot…
Intellectual television harms relaxation, games help us detach? Different attributes of bedtime media are associated with multiple types of recovery
People use media in a variety of ways, including as a tool for recovery after stress and strain. This study examines how different kinds of media can support recovery outcomes (like relaxation), and how guilt about media use can negatively impact the potential positive effects of use. This helps us better understand how people use media and which kinds of media may be most useful for self-regulation in daily life
Examining Comfort Media: A Tool for Self-Regulation and Refuge
The Impact of Comparative Moral Superiority on Protagonist Appeal
Four studies examine the appeal of protagonists who are sometimes immoral in real-world (Studies 1 & 2) and fictional (Studies 3 & 4) settings. In both, character appeal is influenced by the combination of moral/immoral behaviors a protagonist performs and their moral/immoral behavior relative to another person’s (i.e., their moral superiority/inferiority). Additionally, Study 2 examines the effect of character behavior (moral/immoral vs. highly …
Psychology (14 works) · Media Influence and Health (12 works) · Social Psychology (9 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · Impact of Technology on Adolescents (4 works) · Political science (4 works) · Psychiatry (4 works) · Social media (4 works) · Sociology (4 works) · Art (3 works)