Other Communication Commons^™

A Certainty-Weighted, Belief-Based Model Of Political Attitudes: A Bayesian Analysis Of American Public Attitudes Toward The Affordable Care Act, Gabriel Miao Li, Josh Pasek, Jon A. Krosnick

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This study proposes a novel, certainty-weighted account of the process by which political beliefs shape political attitudes. Building upon expectancy-value frameworks, this paper introduces belief certainty as a moderator of belief impact. A Bayesian partial-pooling approach is used to test a model positing how beliefs about what the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act does and does not do relate to overall attitudes toward the law. This analytic method manages the complexity of multiple potentially correlated beliefs and evaluations by imposing a structural constraint to avoid multicollinearity and enable accurate estimation of parameters. Data from a nationally representative sample survey …

From Digital Divide To Equity-Enhancing Diffusion: Generative Ai And Writing Quality, Rebecca Tukachinsky Forster, Kerk Kee, Gabriel Miao Li

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This study investigates whether generative AI can narrow the gap between stronger and developing writers and explores the mechanisms underlying these effects. In a within-subject experiment, students wrote two essays, with and without AI assistance. Computer-aided analysis of the writing quality confirmed that while all students benefited from AI, that less skillful writers gained more. There was also no evidence of skillful writers using AI in more sophisticated and beneficial ways. The study contributes to theorizing the digital divide and offers insights into maximizing the benefits of AI tools. Theoretically, we situate generative-AI use within Diffusion of Innovations, treating ChatGPT …

How Experiencing Eudaimonic Emotions Through Music Shapes Prosocial And Altruistic Behavior: Introducing A Unified Model Of Music-Listening-Induced Eudaimonia (Ummie), Rebecca Tukachinsky Forster, Daniel H. Spitz, Tal-Chen Rabinowitch, Roni Granot

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This paper introduces the Unified Model of Music-Listening Induced Eudaimonia (UMMIE), which offers an integrated novel theoretical framework to explain how music listening promotes prosocial and altruistic outcomes. Drawing on communication and psychology research, UMMIE maintains that elicitation of eudaimonic emotions can be appraised inwards, towards oneself, and thus contribute to the individual's personal growth, wellbeing, and development, or outwards, by connecting to something bigger than oneself, to humanity in general, which could possibly then lead to enhanced prosocial and altruistic attitudes and behaviors. The model specifies musical, situational, and individual variables that serve as moderators and increase the likelihood …

Cpec In The Shadows Of Fifth Generation Warfare And The Dynamics Of Propaganda Model, Muhammad Usman Sahibzada, Wenshan Jia

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose – The clear patterns of bias and propaganda such as narrative framing and selective reporting are severely affecting the public opinion and policymakers. Overall, the study shows that media depiction of CPEC conditioned by the propagandistic model and 5GW strategies carries deep meanings for global politics. In addition, there is the necessity to increase media literacy and strategic communication so as to direct the complications of these projects. Transparency and international cooperation become important for regional stability as well as informed public discourse.

Design/methodology/approach – The qualitative analysis of media content is carried out for this research across the …

Digital Inequalities And U.S. Undergraduate Outcomes Over The First Two Years Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Vikki Katz, Amy B. Jordan, Katherine Ognyanova

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated major and rapid changes to undergraduate student learning conditions, but the longer-term consequences of those changes have yet to be fully understood. We assess how digital inequality—defined as challenges in accessing or maintaining a broadband internet connection and functional digital devices—affected undergraduates’ advancement toward on-time graduation over the first two years of the pandemic (2020-2022). We utilize survey data from a representative sample of 1,106 undergraduates at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, a public, 4-year university located in New Jersey, USA. Respondents were undergraduates who had been enrolled in full-time student status throughout the first two years …

I Love You, But I’Ve Got To Cancel You: Psychological Determinants And Consequences Of Cancel Culture Participation, Rebecca Tukachinsky Forster, Daniel H. Spitz

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This study explores how individuals react to celebrities who take a political stance that contradicts and threatens their social identity. An online experiment examines these questions in the context of the Israeli war against Hamas in the wake of the October 7 terror attack. Israeli Jewish participants who were led to believe that a beloved celebrity fully embraced the Palestinian’s narrative and condemned Israel experienced more negative and less positive emotions and had a greater intention to cancel the celebrity. However, writing a comment or a social media post (particularly if the comment bashed the celebrity) partially buffered these emotional …

Introducing The Transcendent Media Experience Model (Tmem), Sophie H. Janicke-Bowles

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Eudaimonic media experiences are vast. A comprehensive theoretical model of inward- and outward-focused eudaimonic media outcomes, that can explain how they come about and how they can be discriminated, is still missing. The current manuscript introduces the Transcendent Media Experiences Model (TMEM) to categorize eudaimonic content and experiences as they pertain to healthy self-focus or outward-focused (transcendent) responses and outcomes using self-construal theory as a backbone. This model allows for a more cohesive understanding of when, how, and for whom inward- or outward focused eudaimonic media experiences develop and the mechanisms for why they do so. As such, the model …

Trajectories Of Digital Flourishing In Adolescence: The Predictive Roles Of The Developmental Changes And Digital Divide Factors, Jasmina Rosič, Lara Schreurs, Sophie H. Janicke-Bowles, Laura Vandenbosch

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Digital flourishing refers to the positive perceptions of digital communication use in five dimensions: connectedness, positive social comparison, authentic self-presentation, civil participation, and self-control. This three-wave panel study among 1081 Slovenian adolescents (M_age = 15.34 years, 53.8% boys, 80.7% ethnic majority) explored the trajectories of their digital flourishing dimensions over 1 year (2021–2022). Latent class growth analysis identified two classes. Adolescents in the first class reported high levels of digital flourishing, which remained stable over time, whereas those in the second class reported low levels of digital flourishing with decreased self-control over time. Autonomy-supportive restrictive, autonomy-supportive active, and …

Examining Active News Avoidance Across Countries: A Multilevel Moderation Analysis Of News Interests, News Trust, And Press Freedom, Gabriel Miao Li, Fan Liang, Qinfeng Zhu

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Previous studies have identified various individual factors explaining news avoidance, but the understanding of how these factors function within the broader political information environment is limited. This study, leveraging a large-scale cross-national survey, reveals that the relationships between individual news interests, news trust, and news avoidance differ across countries with varying levels of press freedom. In nations where the press is strong and free, personal preferences minimally influence individuals’ active avoidance of hard news. News avoidance is not solely a product of individual-level attributes. Rather, the impact of these individual factors is significantly shaped by the overarching political information environment.

The Role Of Organizational Messages About Mental Health In Disclosure And Support-Seeking Decisions Among First Responders: A Qualitative Investigation, Erin S. Craw, Michelle Miller-Day

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

First responders, especially those without adequate support, are at heightened risk for experiencing adverse mental health outcomes. Workplace mental health interventions for first responders are becoming more common. However, systematic research within the field of communication has not typically informed the development of these workplace interventions. The current study conducted interviews with 26 first responders to examine the messages they receive about mental health from their organizations and how those messages affect their support-seeking decisions. Analysis of the interviews revealed that first responders receive inconsistent messages from their departments about whether to seek support for mental health-related problems, creating confusion …

A Mixed Methodological Examination Of Older Adults’ Psychological Reactance Toward Caregiving Messages From Their Adult Children, Hannah Ball, Keith Weber, Alan K. Goodboy, Christine E. Kunkle, Christa L. Lilly, Scott A. Myers

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This study extends psychological reactance theory (PRT) to family caregiving by exploring autonomy-threatening messages adult child caregivers use to gain compliance from older adult parents. Results of focus groups and interviews with older adult care recipients (Study One) and caregivers (Study Two) corroborated three types of autonomy-threatening messages, which were used to test PRT (Study Three). Older adults (N = 281) were randomly assigned a caregiving message and answered reactance-related survey questions. Results supported serial mediation: relative to an autonomy-supporting message, two types of autonomy-threatening messages (i.e., offering directives, expressing doubt) triggered greater freedom threat, which amplified reactance. In …

Burnout In The Nursing Profession: Extant Knowledge And Future Directions For Research And Practice, Sara Labelle

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Burnout is a psychological state resulting from prolonged psychological or emotional job stress, and is a culmination of three factors: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. Due to the nature of the “people-work” they must constantly perform, along with a highly stressful and unpredictable work environment, nurses have alarmingly high rates of burnout among members of their profession. Given the importance of research on burnout to understanding the context-specific stressors and challenges of nursing, this review offers a synthesis of research published in the last decade in both nursing and communication journals, with an emphasis on discussing opportunities for …

Online Daters’ Sexually Explicit Media Consumption And Imagined Interactions, Megan A. Vendemia, Kathryn D. Coduto

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Individuals oftentimes turn to interpersonal and mass media content to cope and satisfy their sexual needs in absence of offline interpersonal connection. Online dating platforms enable virtual and physical connections between users. The literature on imagined interactions suggests that people may play out these interpersonal scenarios in their minds; however, it is less clear the role sexually explicit media exposure and sexual mediated interactions may serve in facilitating imagined interactions. We conducted a survey to examine U.S. online daters’ relationship preferences, sexually explicit media consumption practices (pornography and sexting), and imagined interactions with potential mates focusing on three primary functions: …

How Music Awakens The Heart: An Experimental Study On Music, Emotions, And Connectedness, Rebecca N. H. De Leeuw, Sophie Janicke-Bowles, Qihao Ji

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Many studies in the field of positive media psychology have investigated the effects of meaningful film on viewer’s feelings and openness to others, all the while music is the number #1 media source for feeling moved, touched or inspired. Therefore, the current study examined the role of meaningful compared to pleasurable music on listeners emotional experiences, feelings of connectedness, and altruistic behaviors. In a pre-posttest experiment, 105 participants (M_age = 23.800; SD = 6.082; 77.3% female) listened to either their favorite meaningful music or their favorite pleasurable music. Findings revealed that listening to meaningful music leads to stronger …

Visual Framing Effects Of News Coverage Of Police Use Of Deadly Force On Intergroup Relationships, Lucile Henderson, Riva Tukachinsky Forster, Leora Kalili, Simone Guillory

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

The study examines the effects of visual framing in news coverage of law enforcement use of lethal force. In a 2X2 online experiment, participants read one of four versions of a news story that included visual racial cues (images depicting a Black vs. a White victim) and a delinquent/normative frame—depicting the victim wearing attire that signifies either normative or delinquent behavior (regalia vs. a hooded sweatshirt). Both race and delinquency framing influenced the readers’ stereotype endorsement and feelings toward Black Americans. However, judgment of the police officer’s behavior solely depended on the victim’s race. These findings demonstrate the importance of …

Introduction To The Special Issue: Relationships In The Time Of Covid-19, Jennifer L. Bevan, Pamela J. Lannutti

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This introduction describes the background for the special issue entitled “Relationships in the Time of COVID-19: Examining the Effects of the Global Pandemic on Personal Relationships.” It also examines reasons for conducting interdisciplinary research on COVID-19 and personal relationships, and previews first articles published in the special issue.

Why Do Some Americans Resist Covid-19 Prevention Behavior? An Analysis Of Issue Importance, Message Fatigue, And Reactance Regarding Covid-19 Messaging, Hannah Ball, Tayah Renea Wozniak

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Despite the rapid transmission of and death toll claimed by COVID-19, there is evidence of resistance toward behaviors shown to effectively prevent and slow the spread of the disease, such as mask wearing and social distancing. This study applies psychological reactance theory to examine COVID-19 message factors (i.e., message fatigue, issue importance) that may be linked to nonadherence to CDC recommendations via the experience of reactance. Participants (N = 268) were current U.S. residents over the age of 18 who completed an online survey about their perceptions of COVID-19 messaging in general as well as toward a specific COVID-19 …

Us Media’S Coverage Of China’S Handling Of Covid-19: Playing The Role Of The Fourth Branch Of Government Or The Fourth Estate?, Wenshan Jia, Fangzhu Lu

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

The present study is an analysis of a sample of reports on China’s handling of COVID-19 by several major US media with a focus on a controversial op-ed by the Wall Street Journal. It is found that instead of covering it objectively as a public health crisis, these media reports tend to adopt the strategy of naming, shaming, blaming, and taming against China. In other words, they seize the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan as an opportunity to serve Trump’s “America First” doctrine by a coordinated attempt to destroy the Chinese dream and arresting China’s ascendency. First, the naming/shaming …

Self-Centeredness As A Response To Narratives With Few Self-Transcendent Elicitors, Sophie Janicke-Bowles

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Recently scholars argued to broaden the concept of eudaimonic entertainment experiences and introduced two conceptualizations: 1. self-focused experiences, including mixed affect, contemplation and need satisfaction, and 2. other-focused experiences, including self-transcendent emotions and prosociality. The goal of the study was to investigate how the two dimensions of meaningful media experiences (self-focused vs. other-focused) are elicited from inspiring films that contain self-transcendent elicitors and explore the connection and differentiation between the two. Results of a Qualtrics experiment (N = 328) revealed that films with a large amount of transcendent portrayals lead to greater experiences of mixed affect and less self-centeredness than …

Playing A Bad Character But Endorsing A Good Cause: Actor-Character Fundamental Attribution Error And Persuasion, Riva Tukachinsky

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

The study examines the implications of fundamental attribution error, wherein viewers misattribute qualities of the fictional characters onto the actors who portray them. In an experiment, individuals watched an actor playing a role of either a hero or a villain. Then, participants watched the same actor in a public service announcement. In line with the attribution theory, viewers rated the actor’s personality less positively, reported a weaker parasocial relationship with the actor, and listed more negative thoughts about the advertisement after exposure to the actor playing a villain.

The Influence Of Self-Generated And Third-Party Claims Online: Perceived Self-Interest As An Explanatory Mechanism, David C. Deandrea, Megan A. Vendemia

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Over the past two decades, communication technology scholars have examined how viewers evaluate the authenticity of information online, with particular attention given to how self versus third-party claims differ in their degree of influence. We examine how self-interest perceptions serve an important explanatory function in the logic of warranting theory and help account for how people evaluate content online. Our results document how the source and valence of a message can interact to affect perceptions of source self-interest, which, in turn, affect perceptions of source trustworthiness, message accuracy, and, ultimately, evaluations of an online target. The findings establish boundary conditions …

A Meta-Analytic Examination Of The Continued Influence Of Misinformation In The Face Of Correction: How Powerful Is It, Why Does It Happen, And How To Stop It?, Nathan Walter, Riva Tukachinsky

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

A meta-analysis was conducted to examine the extent of continued influence of misinformation in the face of correction and the theoretical explanations of this phenomenon. Aggregation of results from 32 studies (N = 6,527) revealed that, on average, correction does not entirely eliminate the effect of misinformation (r = –.05, p = .045). Corrective messages were found to be more successful when they are coherent, consistent with the audience’s worldview, and delivered by the source of the misinformation itself. Corrections are less effective if the misinformation was attributed to a credible source, the misinformation has been repeated multiple …

An E-Learning Adaptation Of An Evidence-Based Media Literacy Curriculum To Prevent Youth Substance Use In Community Groups: Development And Feasibility Of Real Media, Anne E. Ray, Kathryn Greene, Michael L. Hecht, Sarah C. Barriage, Michelle Miller-Day, Shannon D. Glenn, Smita C. Banerjee

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Background: There is a need for evidence-based substance use prevention efforts that target high school-aged youth that are easy to implement and suitable for dissemination in school and community groups. The Youth Message Development (YMD) program is a brief, four-lesson, in-person curriculum that aims to prevent youth substance use through the development of youth media literacy. Specifically, YMD aims to increase understanding of advertising reach and costs, along with the techniques used to sell products; develop counterarguing and critical thinking skills in response to advertisements; and facilitate application of these skills to the development of youth-generated antisubstance messages. Although …

The Adoption Of Collaborative Robots Toward Ubiquitous Diffusion: A Research Agenda, Yuhua (Jake) Liang, Seungcheol Austin Lee

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This paper proposes a framework to study the adoption of collaborative robots (co-robots or cobots) as an innovation and their diffusion into the larger population. Collaborative robots are only starting to appear in our society, yet challenges such as fear and distrust may impede their further adoption. This paper discusses the foundational work necessary to understand collaborative robot adoption and the core elements to achieve ubiquitous diffusion, with a focus on human users and the communication processes.

Theorizing Development Of Parasocial Engagement, Riva Tukachinsky, Gayle S. Stever

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

The article proposes a theoretical model of the development of parasocial relationships (PSRs) building on Knapp’s model of relationship development. Through synthesis of research across disciplines, the model conceptualizes the relational goals and parasocial interactions (PSIs) specific to the PSR. The model identifies variables that predict engagement at that level, describes the stage’s outcomes/effects, and considers the utility of existing measures to assess these stages. The conceptualization of PSRs as a dynamic process rather than intensity of a monolithic experience offers new directions worthy of empirical examination.

Spreading The Good News: Analyzing Socially Shared Inspirational News Content, Qiaho Ji, Arthur A. Raney, Sophie Janicke-Bowles, Katherine R. Dale, Mary Beth Oliver, Abigail Reed, Jonmichael Seibert, Arthur A. Raney Ii

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Past research indicates that people often share awe-inspiring news online. However, little is known about the content of those stories. In this study, more broadly defined “inspirational” articles shared through The New York Times website over a 6-month period were analyzed, with the goals of describing the content and identifying characteristics that might predict inspirationality and measures of retransmission. The results provided a snapshot of content found within inspirational news stories; they also revealed that self-transcendent language use predicted the inspirationality of a news story, as well as how long an article appeared on a most shared list.

Meta-Analysis Of Anger And Persuasion: An Empirical Integration Of Four Models, Nathan Walter, Riva Tukachinsky, Ayellet Pelled, Robin Nabi

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Despite the increasing use of anger in persuasive messaging, such as political ads and health campaigns, very little is known about when and how anger affects persuasion. Building on theoretical propositions derived from four theoretical models that have addressed the link between anger and persuasion, the current meta-analysis (k = 55, N = 6,805) finds a weak impact of anger on behavior (r = .15, p = .04) and nonsignificant effects on attitudes (r = −.03, p = .30) and intent (r = .06, p = .13). Yet a closer look reveals a more complicated reality, where positive effects are …

Social Media For Good? A Survey On Millennials’ Inspirational Social Media Use, Sophie Janicke-Bowles, Ava Nayaran, Anja Seng

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

There is no doubt about the extensive use of social media by the millennial generation, but the study of the effects of such use is only in its infancy. Though most studies so far focus on the negative effects of overall time spent on social media, the current study investigated the relationship between exposure to a specific type of content on social media and well-being outcomes: namely, inspirational content. Results of an online survey with a total of 146 students revealed that inspiring social media and online video use, but not overall time spent on social media was related to …

Parasocial Romantic Relationships, Romantic Beliefs, And Relationship Outcomes In Usa Adolescents: Rehearsing Love Or Setting Oneself Up To Fail?, Riva Tukachinsky, Sybilla M. Dorros

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

The study examines the associations between adolescents’ emotional and physical aspects of parasocial romantic relationships with media figures, idealized romantic beliefs, perceptions of a current dating partner, and relationship satisfaction. A two-study design included concurrent data from 153 adolescents ages 13–17 (55.6% female), and retrospective data from 274 college students ages 18–22 (79.8% female). Across both samples, emotional involvement in a PSRR was related to more idealized romantic beliefs. The intensity of emotional involvement with the media figure during adolescence was associated with lower relationship satisfaction and less favorable perceptions of a current romantic partner in college students. However, there …

Trends Of Parent-Adolescent Drug Talk Styles In Early Adolescence, Youngju Shin, Jonathan Pettigrew, Michelle Miller-Day, Michael L. Hecht, Janice L. Krieger

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

The present study seeks to understand how parents as prevention agents approach substance use prevention messages during the period of early adolescence. Students (N = 410) in a drug prevention trial completed surveys from 7th to 9th grade. Using longitudinal data, a series of latent transition analyses was conducted to identify major trends of parent–adolescent drug talk styles (i.e., never talked, situated direct, ongoing direct, situated indirect, and ongoing indirect) in control and treatment conditions. Findings demonstrate a developmental trend in drug talk styles toward a situated style of talk as youth transitioned from 7th grade to 9th grade. …