Media Psychology Research Research Articles

Mapping attention across multiple media tasks

ABSTRACT Paying attention to media requires continuously selecting and processing relevant information while filtering out numerous competing stimuli. Although the factors that drive attention toward or away from a single media task are relatively well characterized, there is a lack of understanding regarding how attention to media functions in the presence of multiple, concurrent tasks. In this manuscript, we report findings from four experiments investigating this question. Results indicate that, rather than attention being based on a strict hierarchy between “primary” and “secondary” tasks, attentional resources are distributed across concurrent media tasks based on the (relative) rewardingness and effortfulness of each task. More rewarding tasks elicited more attention, and the attention-capturing influence of rewarding “secondary” tasks was magnified when the “primary” task was more cognitively effortful. These results provide support for recent theoretical advancements in media psychology research and point to promising future directions using updated models of motivated attention to predict the allocation of attentional resources across multiple concurrent tasks.

Mechanisms by which narrative media facilitates practical wisdom in audience members: Insights from media psychology

ABSTRACT Philosophers and moral educators have examined the potential for narrative media (e.g., novels or films) to influence the development of practical wisdom (the forms of perception and reasoning necessary for virtuous living). Interest in studying this relationship using social scientific methodology is growing. One social science discipline with relevant insights that have not yet been explored is media psychology, a subdiscipline in communication that empirically studies the effects of narrative media. Drawing on media psychology research, this paper proposes a model of one process by which narratives can help us develop practical wisdom. Developing certain functions of practical wisdom involves increasing our sensitivity to types of morally relevant features (MRFs) that we normally miss (i.e., increasing the accessibility of those features). The proposed model explains how, under the right conditions, narratives can influence the accessibility of a given type of MRF. Implications for operationalizing narrative effects on practical wisdom are discussed.

A Practical Introduction to Network Neuroscience for Communication Researchers

ABSTRACT The increasing adoption of brain imaging methods has greatly augmented our understanding of the neural underpinnings of communication processes. Enabled by recent advancements in mathematics and computational infrastructure, researchers have begun to move beyond traditional univariate analytic techniques in favor of methods that consider the brain in terms of evolving networks of interactions between brain regions. This network neuroscience approach is a potential boon to communication and media psychology research but also requires a careful look at the complications inherent in adopting a novel (and complex) methodological tool. In this manuscript, we provide an overview of network neuroscience in view of the needs of communication neuroscientists, discussing considerations that must be taken into account when constructing networks from neuroimaging data and conducting statistical tests on these networks. Throughout the manuscript, we highlight research domains in which network neuroscience is likely to be particularly useful for increasing theoretical clarity in communication and media psychology research.

Validating a Set of Retribution Narratives for Use in Media Psychology Research

ABSTRACT Witnessing characters enact and receive punishment for transgressions – that is, narrative retribution – is central to affective disposition theory. Despite its centrality, a standardized set of retribution narratives is absent from the literature. The current study seeks to provide validation evidence for a set of retribution narratives used in a previous study. Based on theoretical conceptualizations of narrative retribution, we examined the validity of 15 narratives that include three different endings which vary the level of retribution in terms of under-retribution (i.e., forgiveness), equitable-retribution (i.e., tit-for-tat punishment), and over-retribution (i.e., punishment that exceeds the original transgression). Consistent with hypotheses, we show that the three endings fit (a) a positive linear trend with regard to the perceived severity of the retribution, (b) an inverted-U trend with regard to ending preference, (c) a positive linear trend with regard to anticipated enjoyment, and (d) a decreasing quadratic trend with regard to anticipated appreciation. We also link findings to trait variables identified by previous research, namely biological sex, punitiveness, vigilantism, media moral disengagement, and empathy. Findings suggest that three trait variables – vigilantism, empathy, and sex – are the most useful as potential moderators and should be considered first for inclusion in future studies. Findings also specify theoretical relationships of these variables to narrative retribution processes. Based on the evidence provided here and in earlier research, the 15 narratives with their alternative endings seem to be the best candidate for a standardized stimulus set for exploring the impact of narrative retribution on media psychology-relevant processes.

Violent video games increase voice stress: An experimental study.

In most violent video games, players are put in stressful situations where enemies are trying to kill them. This is reflected by the results of previous research showing that violent video games increase physiological arousal (e.g., heart rate, blood pressure, galvanic skin response). In this study, I investigate the effect of playing violent video games on emotional stress detected by a new methodology: voice analysis. Because changes and disturbances in vocal responses can be understood as reactions to emotional stress, I expected that violent videogames would increase voice stress. Participants (N 87 French university students; 40% female; Mage 21.2) played either a violent or nonviolent game for 20 min. After game play, participants read a stressprovoking story aloud while their voices were recorded. Voice recordings were analyzed to determine the amount of emotional stress in participants’ voices using Automated Voice Stress Analysis. As hypothesized, voice stress was higher among violent video game players than among nonviolent video game players. Voice stress was also higher for men than for women. No interaction between video game content and the gender of participants was observed. This study confirms that violent video games have physiological consequences on players, as predicted by the General Aggression Model and also introduces a promising nonobtrusive physiological measure in media psychology research.

Translating social media psychological research.

Translating social media psychological research.

Bridging Media Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience

Abstract. Media neuroscience has emerged as a new area of study at the intersection of media psychology and cognitive neuroscience. In previous work, we have addressed this trend from a methodological perspective. In this paper, we outline the progression of scholarship in systematic investigations of mass communication phenomena over the past century, from behaviorism and environmental determinism to biological and evolutionary paradigms. These new paradigms are grounded in an emergentist perspective on the nature of psychological processes. We discuss what it means to ask valid research questions in media neuroscience studies and provide recent examples in the areas of interpersonal and intergroup processes, morality, and narratives as well as in persuasion and health communication. We conclude with a selection of innovative methodological avenues that have the potential to accelerate the integration of cognitive neuroscience into media psychology research.

Social Psychology and Media: Critical Considerations

AbstractIn this paper, we argue that media saturate everyday living, and that people engage with and are engaged by media in diverse and complex ways. We suggest a need for an informed social psychology of media that conceptualises media as social practice, and attends to media practices as they occur. We propose that much media psychology research is limited because it: (i) focuses too strongly on documenting causal, and usually negative, media effects; (ii) continues to apply unsuitable research methodologies and theories to investigating media and ignores advances in media research and theory arising outside the discipline; and (iii) largely ignores the social contexts in which media engagements occur. These arguments are illustrated by studies that take a more social and critical approach to media research and that show possibilities for overcoming these limitations and developing insights into psychological concerns enmeshed in media practices.