Svenja Schäfer
Biographic Data
| ID | 4208993 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Svenja Schäfer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Svenja |
| FAMILY NAME | Schäfer |
| SIGNATURE | SCHÄFER S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Vienna |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6401-1564 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 54 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
AI meets politics: Examining the effects of different targeting strategies across 15 countries
This study investigates the persuasive effects of messages generated with artificial intelligence in online political targeting, focusing on three distinct strategies: targeting based on political orientation, age, and personality traits. Through an experimental design conducted across 15 countries ( N = 7118), we uncovered that political targeting based on voters’ pre-existing political orientation, receiving messages from a party that is alread…
Solutions that Move Us? The Role of Responsibility Framing in Audience Reactions to Sustainability Stories
Research on the effectiveness of solutions journalism in influencing self-efficacy, responsibility perception, and behavioral intentions has produced mixed results. While emotional responses to solutions are generally strong, there is no clear evidence that solutions effectively motivate audiences. This study aims to explore whether solutions are effective in sustainability communication and whether the attribution of responsibility—whether to in…
A Matter of Perspective: An Experimental Study on Potentials of Constructive Journalism for Communicating a Crisis
Restorative narratives describe a new form of journalism that attempts to overcome the detrimental effects of the more prevalent negative and destructive tone of news coverage. This study investigates the potentials and risks of restorative narratives in the coverage of crises with a 2 (restorative/negative) × 2 (COVID-19/climate crisis) experimental online study ( n = 829) for emotional, cognitive, evaluative, and behavioral outcomes. For both c…
Can We Counteract Hate? Effects of Online Hate Speech and Counter Speech on the Perception of Social Groups
Hate speech can increase stereotyped thinking and social distancing in a society. However, there is still a lack of variety in the social groups under study and research into possible solutions to the problem. Thus, our aim is to (1) study effects of hate speech against Chinese people and transgender people and (2) to investigate if counter speech can offset the detrimental effects of hate speech. We conducted a pre-registered online experiment w…
I Do Not (Want To) Know! The Relationship Between Intentional News Avoidance and Low News Consumption
News avoidance is associated with misperceptions and lower political knowledge and participation. Synthetizing the research results in differentiating between intentional news avoidance, a conscious choice, and news avoidance as low news consumption. Although these two types seem to be driven by different factors and have distinct consequences, the current research has predominantly ignored to consider this distinction and the dimensions' interpl…
Zooming in on Topics: An Investigation of the Prevalence and Motives for Selective News Avoidance
Intentional news avoidance is a common behavior that can be influenced by individual, content, and contextual factors.However, prior studies have primarily focused on general news avoidance and neglected selective avoidance of specific topics.Therefore, our study aimed to determine which topics people tend to avoid and the reasons behind this behavior.We conducted an online survey (N = 1071) with open-ended questions to gather information on topi…
Incidental news exposure in a digital media environment: A scoping review of recent research
In digital news environments, incidental news exposure (INE) refers to coming across news when online for other reasons. In this systematic scoping review, conducted to summarize the current state of research on INE, I identified 88 scientific articles via Web of Science, Scopus, EBSCOhost and Google Scholar and systematically analyzed them. In quantitative analysis, trained coders coded categories such as year of publication, method, region of t…
Navigating the gray areas of content moderation: Professional moderators’ perspectives on uncivil user comments and the role of (AI-based) technological tools
Professional content moderators are responsible for limiting the negative effects of online discussions on news platforms and social media. However, little is known about how they adjust to platform and company moderation strategies while viewing and dealing with uncivil comments. Using qualitative interviews ( N = 18), this study examines which types of comments professional moderators classify as actionable, which (automated) strategies they us…
Give Me a Break!” Prevalence and Predictors of Intentional News Avoidance During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Intentional news avoidance describes an intermittent news use practice in which people deliberately turn away from the news. Previous findings point out that the level of intentional news avoidance has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. Since this might be related to negative consequences both with regard to compliance with measures and for the economic situation of journalism, the current study empirically investigates the prevalence and pre…
The double-edged sword of online deliberation: How evidence-based user comments both decrease and increase discussion participation intentions on social media
Deliberation theory posits that users’ willingness to participate in online comment sections should increase if the discussions are more evidence-based. However, extant empirical research does not clearly support this assumption. The current study argues that social comparison processes and the metacognitive perception of knowledge mediate the relationship between evidence in comments and participation intention in different ways. Findings from t…
How Do University Students’ Web Search Behavior, Website Characteristics, and the Interaction of Both Influence Students’ Critical Online Reasoning
The Internet has become one of the main sources of information for university students’ learning. Since anyone can disseminate content online, however, the Internet is full of irrelevant, biased, or even false information. Thus, students’ ability to use online information in a critical-reflective manner is of crucial importance. In our study, we used a framework for the assessment of students’ critical online reasoning (COR) to measure university…
Illusion of knowledge through Facebook news? Effects of snack news in a news feed on perceived knowledge, attitude strength, and willingness for discussions
The Impact of Internet and Social Media Use on Well-Being: A Longitudinal Analysis of Adolescents Across Nine Years
The present research examines the longitudinal average impact of frequency of use of Internet and social networking sites (SNS) on subjective well-being of adolescents in Germany. Based on five-wave panel data that cover a period of nine years, we disentangle between-person and within-person effects of media use on depressive symptomatology and life satisfaction as indicators of subjective well-being. Additionally, we control for confounders such…
The Positive Side of Social Comparison on Social Network Sites: How Envy Can Drive Inspiration on Instagram
A growing body of research finds social network sites (SNS) such as Instagram to facilitate social comparison and the emotional experience of envy in everyday life, with harmful effects for users' well-being. Yet, previous research has exclusively focused on the negative side of social comparison and envy on SNS. Thereby, it has neglected two important aspects: (a) comparison processes can also elicit a beneficial emotional reaction to other user…
Selective attention in the news feed: An eye-tracking study on the perception and selection of political news posts on Facebook
Social networking sites such as Facebook are becoming increasingly important as a source for news. However, few studies have investigated what drives attention to content within the news feed and what influences the selection of news posts. We hypothesized that attitude consistency, the credibility of a source, and comments of other users raise interest in a news post in the news feed and influence the selection decision. A 2 × 2 × 2 laboratory e…
The special taste of snack news: An application of niche theory to understand the appeal of Facebook as a news source
Facebook has become an important source for political information since news posts are an essential part of the content that is shared and spread within the SNS. The present study applies the uses and gratifications approach and the theory of the niche to understand the specific appeal of Facebook as a source for political news. We compare the gratifications obtained from political Facebook news with those of political television news and newspap…
Any Publicity or Good Publicity? A Competitive Test of Visibility- and Tonality-Based Media Effects on Voting Behavior
When examining media effects on voting intentions, scholars of political communication have either focused on visibility- or tonality-based effects. Our study compares these effect models, asking whether the explanations are complementary or competitive; it goes beyond previous studies by considering interactions between media cues and voters’ attitudes. We draw on panel survey data from the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES) that is combi…
Any Publicity or Good Publicity? A Competitive Test of Visibility- and Tonality-Based Media Effects on Voting Behavior
When examining media effects on voting intentions, scholars of political communication have either focused on visibility- or tonality-based effects. Our study compares these effect models, asking whether the explanations are complementary or competitive; it goes beyond previous studies by considering interactions between media cues and voters’ attitudes. We draw on panel survey data from the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES) that is combi…
Selective attention in the news feed: An eye-tracking study on the perception and selection of political news posts on Facebook
Social networking sites such as Facebook are becoming increasingly important as a source for news. However, few studies have investigated what drives attention to content within the news feed and what influences the selection of news posts. We hypothesized that attitude consistency, the credibility of a source, and comments of other users raise interest in a news post in the news feed and influence the selection decision. A 2 × 2 × 2 laboratory e…
The Impact of Internet and Social Media Use on Well-Being: A Longitudinal Analysis of Adolescents Across Nine Years
The present research examines the longitudinal average impact of frequency of use of Internet and social networking sites (SNS) on subjective well-being of adolescents in Germany. Based on five-wave panel data that cover a period of nine years, we disentangle between-person and within-person effects of media use on depressive symptomatology and life satisfaction as indicators of subjective well-being. Additionally, we control for confounders such…
Navigating the gray areas of content moderation: Professional moderators’ perspectives on uncivil user comments and the role of (AI-based) technological tools
Professional content moderators are responsible for limiting the negative effects of online discussions on news platforms and social media. However, little is known about how they adjust to platform and company moderation strategies while viewing and dealing with uncivil comments. Using qualitative interviews ( N = 18), this study examines which types of comments professional moderators classify as actionable, which (automated) strategies they us…
Zooming in on Topics: An Investigation of the Prevalence and Motives for Selective News Avoidance
Intentional news avoidance is a common behavior that can be influenced by individual, content, and contextual factors.However, prior studies have primarily focused on general news avoidance and neglected selective avoidance of specific topics.Therefore, our study aimed to determine which topics people tend to avoid and the reasons behind this behavior.We conducted an online survey (N = 1071) with open-ended questions to gather information on topi…
I Do Not (Want To) Know! The Relationship Between Intentional News Avoidance and Low News Consumption
News avoidance is associated with misperceptions and lower political knowledge and participation. Synthetizing the research results in differentiating between intentional news avoidance, a conscious choice, and news avoidance as low news consumption. Although these two types seem to be driven by different factors and have distinct consequences, the current research has predominantly ignored to consider this distinction and the dimensions' interpl…
Give Me a Break!” Prevalence and Predictors of Intentional News Avoidance During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Intentional news avoidance describes an intermittent news use practice in which people deliberately turn away from the news. Previous findings point out that the level of intentional news avoidance has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. Since this might be related to negative consequences both with regard to compliance with measures and for the economic situation of journalism, the current study empirically investigates the prevalence and pre…
The double-edged sword of online deliberation: How evidence-based user comments both decrease and increase discussion participation intentions on social media
Deliberation theory posits that users’ willingness to participate in online comment sections should increase if the discussions are more evidence-based. However, extant empirical research does not clearly support this assumption. The current study argues that social comparison processes and the metacognitive perception of knowledge mediate the relationship between evidence in comments and participation intention in different ways. Findings from t…
The special taste of snack news: An application of niche theory to understand the appeal of Facebook as a news source
Facebook has become an important source for political information since news posts are an essential part of the content that is shared and spread within the SNS. The present study applies the uses and gratifications approach and the theory of the niche to understand the specific appeal of Facebook as a source for political news. We compare the gratifications obtained from political Facebook news with those of political television news and newspap…
Any Publicity or Good Publicity? A Competitive Test of Visibility- and Tonality-Based Media Effects on Voting Behavior
When examining media effects on voting intentions, scholars of political communication have either focused on visibility- or tonality-based effects. Our study compares these effect models, asking whether the explanations are complementary or competitive; it goes beyond previous studies by considering interactions between media cues and voters’ attitudes. We draw on panel survey data from the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES) that is combi…
The Positive Side of Social Comparison on Social Network Sites: How Envy Can Drive Inspiration on Instagram
A growing body of research finds social network sites (SNS) such as Instagram to facilitate social comparison and the emotional experience of envy in everyday life, with harmful effects for users' well-being. Yet, previous research has exclusively focused on the negative side of social comparison and envy on SNS. Thereby, it has neglected two important aspects: (a) comparison processes can also elicit a beneficial emotional reaction to other user…
Selective attention in the news feed: An eye-tracking study on the perception and selection of political news posts on Facebook
Social networking sites such as Facebook are becoming increasingly important as a source for news. However, few studies have investigated what drives attention to content within the news feed and what influences the selection of news posts. We hypothesized that attitude consistency, the credibility of a source, and comments of other users raise interest in a news post in the news feed and influence the selection decision. A 2 × 2 × 2 laboratory e…
How Do University Students’ Web Search Behavior, Website Characteristics, and the Interaction of Both Influence Students’ Critical Online Reasoning
The Internet has become one of the main sources of information for university students’ learning. Since anyone can disseminate content online, however, the Internet is full of irrelevant, biased, or even false information. Thus, students’ ability to use online information in a critical-reflective manner is of crucial importance. In our study, we used a framework for the assessment of students’ critical online reasoning (COR) to measure university…
Illusion of knowledge through Facebook news? Effects of snack news in a news feed on perceived knowledge, attitude strength, and willingness for discussions
The Impact of Internet and Social Media Use on Well-Being: A Longitudinal Analysis of Adolescents Across Nine Years
The present research examines the longitudinal average impact of frequency of use of Internet and social networking sites (SNS) on subjective well-being of adolescents in Germany. Based on five-wave panel data that cover a period of nine years, we disentangle between-person and within-person effects of media use on depressive symptomatology and life satisfaction as indicators of subjective well-being. Additionally, we control for confounders such…
Give Me a Break!” Prevalence and Predictors of Intentional News Avoidance During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Intentional news avoidance describes an intermittent news use practice in which people deliberately turn away from the news. Previous findings point out that the level of intentional news avoidance has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. Since this might be related to negative consequences both with regard to compliance with measures and for the economic situation of journalism, the current study empirically investigates the prevalence and pre…
The double-edged sword of online deliberation: How evidence-based user comments both decrease and increase discussion participation intentions on social media
Deliberation theory posits that users’ willingness to participate in online comment sections should increase if the discussions are more evidence-based. However, extant empirical research does not clearly support this assumption. The current study argues that social comparison processes and the metacognitive perception of knowledge mediate the relationship between evidence in comments and participation intention in different ways. Findings from t…
Incidental news exposure in a digital media environment: A scoping review of recent research
In digital news environments, incidental news exposure (INE) refers to coming across news when online for other reasons. In this systematic scoping review, conducted to summarize the current state of research on INE, I identified 88 scientific articles via Web of Science, Scopus, EBSCOhost and Google Scholar and systematically analyzed them. In quantitative analysis, trained coders coded categories such as year of publication, method, region of t…
Navigating the gray areas of content moderation: Professional moderators’ perspectives on uncivil user comments and the role of (AI-based) technological tools
Professional content moderators are responsible for limiting the negative effects of online discussions on news platforms and social media. However, little is known about how they adjust to platform and company moderation strategies while viewing and dealing with uncivil comments. Using qualitative interviews ( N = 18), this study examines which types of comments professional moderators classify as actionable, which (automated) strategies they us…
A Matter of Perspective: An Experimental Study on Potentials of Constructive Journalism for Communicating a Crisis
Restorative narratives describe a new form of journalism that attempts to overcome the detrimental effects of the more prevalent negative and destructive tone of news coverage. This study investigates the potentials and risks of restorative narratives in the coverage of crises with a 2 (restorative/negative) × 2 (COVID-19/climate crisis) experimental online study ( n = 829) for emotional, cognitive, evaluative, and behavioral outcomes. For both c…
Can We Counteract Hate? Effects of Online Hate Speech and Counter Speech on the Perception of Social Groups
Hate speech can increase stereotyped thinking and social distancing in a society. However, there is still a lack of variety in the social groups under study and research into possible solutions to the problem. Thus, our aim is to (1) study effects of hate speech against Chinese people and transgender people and (2) to investigate if counter speech can offset the detrimental effects of hate speech. We conducted a pre-registered online experiment w…
I Do Not (Want To) Know! The Relationship Between Intentional News Avoidance and Low News Consumption
News avoidance is associated with misperceptions and lower political knowledge and participation. Synthetizing the research results in differentiating between intentional news avoidance, a conscious choice, and news avoidance as low news consumption. Although these two types seem to be driven by different factors and have distinct consequences, the current research has predominantly ignored to consider this distinction and the dimensions' interpl…
Zooming in on Topics: An Investigation of the Prevalence and Motives for Selective News Avoidance
Intentional news avoidance is a common behavior that can be influenced by individual, content, and contextual factors.However, prior studies have primarily focused on general news avoidance and neglected selective avoidance of specific topics.Therefore, our study aimed to determine which topics people tend to avoid and the reasons behind this behavior.We conducted an online survey (N = 1071) with open-ended questions to gather information on topi…
Solutions that Move Us? The Role of Responsibility Framing in Audience Reactions to Sustainability Stories
Research on the effectiveness of solutions journalism in influencing self-efficacy, responsibility perception, and behavioral intentions has produced mixed results. While emotional responses to solutions are generally strong, there is no clear evidence that solutions effectively motivate audiences. This study aims to explore whether solutions are effective in sustainability communication and whether the attribution of responsibility—whether to in…
AI meets politics: Examining the effects of different targeting strategies across 15 countries
This study investigates the persuasive effects of messages generated with artificial intelligence in online political targeting, focusing on three distinct strategies: targeting based on political orientation, age, and personality traits. Through an experimental design conducted across 15 countries ( N = 7118), we uncovered that political targeting based on voters’ pre-existing political orientation, receiving messages from a party that is alread…
Psychology (14 works) · Social Media and Politics (12 works) · Computer Science (11 works) · Social Psychology (11 works) · Political science (10 works) · Social Psychology (8 works) · Business (7 works) · Misinformation and Its Impacts (7 works) · Advertising (6 works) · Impact of Technology on Adolescents (6 works)