Not all norm information is the same: Effects of normative content in the media on young people's perceptions of e-cigarette and tobacco use norms.

Norm information in media can predict individuals' norm perceptions and, ultimately, their behavior. Little research has examined how descriptive norm information manifests in media and impacts beliefs in the real world. Previously, using automated content analysis, we measured and examined longitudinal trends in two types of descriptive norm information, individual use depictions and population norms, pertaining to tobacco and e-cigarette use across six media sources from 2014-2017. Here, we assess how this norm information affected norm perceptions over time by pairing these data with a rolling cross-sectional survey of young people's beliefs and intentions related to these behaviors. We found that individual use depictions predicted some norm perceptions, although the direction of effects varied depending on the source, behavior, and type of perceptions considered. Population norm content did not affect perceptions. These findings highlight that real-world media norm information has real-world effects, and moderators of these effects should be studied.

Examining Relations Between Sexualizing Media Exposure and Sexting Attitudes and Behaviors among U.S. Adolescents.

Based on social cognitive processes (Bandura, 2009), sexualizing media likely provide adolescents with credible role models for their own sexualized self-presentation in other mediated contexts, such as sexting. A survey of 6,093 US adolescents was conducted (Mage = 15.27 years, SD = 1.37; 69.1% cisgender girls; 26.8% cisgender boys, 4.2% gender-minority participants) to examine relations between three types of sexualizing media exposure (reality television, music videos, pornography) and active sexting behaviors (i.e., requesting and sending). Among cisgender boys, exposure to sexually oriented reality television was positively related to active sexting behaviors, but this link was not found for cisgender girls or gender-minority participants. Music video exposure was related to active sexting behaviors only among cisgender boys and pornography consumption was positively related to active sexting behaviors among all gender groups. A positive outcome expectancy (i.e., sexting is fun) consistently mediated these relations. A negative outcome expectancy (i.e., sexting is risky) only mediated the relations between pornography consumption and active sexting behaviors among cisgender girls. Results are discussed in light of social cognitive theory (Bandura, 2009) and the 3AM Model (Wright, 2011).

Seven points as an estimate of the smallest subjectively experienced decrease in body satisfaction on a one-item Visual Analogue Scale.

Visual Analogue Scales (VASs) are very commonly used to measure short-term effects on state body satisfaction, the in-the-moment subjective evaluation of one's own body. However, VASs lack easily understood metrics for comparing and interpreting the size of different effects, with the result that researchers often conclude that any statistically significant change on these 101-point scales is practically important. In addition to test-retest reliability and construct validity, here we estimate the smallest subjectively experienced difference for a one-item body satisfaction VAS. Seven points of change on the VAS was a useful cut-off for distinguishing participants who subjectively experienced no change (n = 603) versus those who experienced at least a little decrease in body satisfaction (n = 301) between two timepoints. With reference specifically to media influences on body satisfaction, we show how the smallest subjectively experienced difference may be used as an easily interpreted effect size metric when comparing and interpreting the size of different effects, as well as determining who is, and who is not, subject to those effects. We highlight how having this metric available to researchers can aid in the exploration and communication of different short-term influences on state body satisfaction.

Unpacking the effects of materialism on interpersonal relationships: A cognitive approach.

Materialism, or beliefs and values that link wealth and consumption to success and happiness, negatively affects interpersonal relationships. Prior work has typically explained these effects through the allocation of personal resources (such as time or money) within relationships, thus using a behavioural route. However, this research proposes an alternative cognitive pathway to understand the adverse effects of materialism on interpersonal relationships. Three studies (N = 1389) employing correlational and experimental methodologies showed that materialism leads to heightened expectations and standards for a significant other, which are associated with poorer interpersonal outcomes. Specifically, materialism heightens the ideal standards that one has for a close other around achievement (e.g., ambition) and positive image (e.g., attractiveness), which are linked to higher conflict and lower relational satisfaction. Therefore, this work contributes to deepening our understanding of how consumer-oriented values shape social perceptions and negatively affect interpersonal dynamics. Practical applications include informing relationship counselling practices, developing educational interventions, and guiding marketers and media content producers towards messages that do not increase individual's ideals and standards for themselves and others. Further research should explore other factors that might alter this mediation (e.g., mindfulness) and examine the short- and long-term effects through longitudinal and interventional-based research.

Associations between valenced news and affect in daily life: Experimental and ecological momentary assessment approaches.

In 203 (mean age = 38.04 years, SD=12.05) participants, we tested the association between valenced news and affect using a 14-day, smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment protocol consisting of two components: 1) a once-per-day experimental protocol in which participants were exposed to good news and bad news stories and 2) a four-times-per-day protocol capturing ecological fluctuations in news consumption. Across both protocols, we replicate findings that consumption of positively valenced news is associated with increased positive affect and decreased negative affect while consumption of negatively valenced news is associated with increased negative affect and decreased positive affect. By integrating the ecological momentary assessment data with network science methodologies, news selection and news effects were modeled simultaneously, uncovering selection processes whereby current positive affect, but not negative affect, predicted future valenced news consumption. Altogether, findings indicate that everyday news consumption influences positive and negative affect and may serve mood management functions for positive but not negative affect.

Is Seeing Believing? Hallmark Movie Viewership and Relationship Beliefs.

The Hallmark Channel, a highly watched cable network, is known for its consistently idealistic portrayals of romantic relationships. Despite its popularity, no research has examined whether increased viewership of Hallmark movies covaries with endorsement of relationship beliefs. According to cultivation theory, what we watch impacts our beliefs and perceptions of reality. Additionally, the Differential Susceptibility to Media Effects Model (DSMM) proposes that certain variables, such as developmental (i.e., age, relationship length) and dispositional factors (e.g., attachment style, gender), may make certain viewers more or less susceptible to the effects of media viewership. Based on this grounding, the main purpose of this study was to determine if watching more Hallmark movies is associated with endorsing certain beliefs about romantic relationships and opposite-sex friendships when controlling for several susceptibility factors. A nationwide sample of heterosexual, married participants (N = 279) completed measures of Romantic Beliefs, Implicit Theories of Relationships, and beliefs about opposite-sex friendships and reported on their media consumption. More frequent Hallmark movie viewership was associated with increased endorsement of several relationship beliefs, above and beyond susceptibility factors (e.g., attachment, relationship length) and daily television consumption. Specifically, greater Hallmark movie viewership was positively associated with greater endorsement of multiple unrealistic relationship beliefs, destiny beliefs, and believing that opposite-sex friendships are problematic. The findings of the current study provide further support for cultivation theory and DSMM.

Carry-over effects of priming viewers with pro and anti-establishment messages in video content.

In many civic domains we witness "video exchanges" between citizens and the establishment; for example, when citizens upload documentation of police violence, and the police uploads documentation from body cameras providing different takes of the incident. Can such videos influence public opinion? We studied if viewing visual content (of a murder reenactment) with pro-prosecution, pro-defense, and no-narration- affects viewers' opinions. We found that not only were viewers' opinions of innocence/guilt and police functioning were affected, but the experience carried over to change opinions about the functioning of the state attorney's office and the courts-which were not referenced in the videos. We conclude by discussing the implications for opinion formation in the contemporary media environment.

Google effects on memory: a meta-analytical review of the media effects of intensive Internet search behavior.

People are increasingly using the web for fact-checking and other forms of information seeking. The "Google effects" refers to the idea that individuals rely on the Internet as a source of knowledge rather than remembering it for themselves. However, few literature review have yet comprehensively examined the media effects of this intensive Internet search behavior. In this study, by carrying out meta-analysis, we found that google effects is closely associated with cognitive load, behavioral phenotype and cognitive self-esteem. And this phenomenon is also more likely to happen while using a mobile phone to browse the Internet rather than a computer. People with a larger knowledge base are less susceptible to the consequences of Internet use than those with a smaller knowledge base. The media effect was stronger for persons who had used the Internet before than for those who had not. And meta-analyses show that participants in North America (parameter = -1.0365, 95%CI = [-1.8758, -0.1972], p < 0.05) are more susceptible to frequent Internet search behavior relative to other regions. Overall, google effects on memory challenges the way individuals seek and read information, and it may lead to changes in cognitive and memory mechanisms.

Advertising creativity: Its influence on media response states towards the Hierarchy of effects.

The study investigates the influence of Advertising Creativity (AC) on Ad effectiveness in the context of Interactive Digital Media (IDM). The inquiry seeks to bridge a somewhat limited regard for AC in the context of IDM and provide insight into AC's place in audience communication processes as opposed to generally outcome-based perspectives. The study extends the process of AC effects towards the stages of the Hierarchy of Effects (HOE) by the inclusion of conditional media effects and media response states, which are major components of the Differential Susceptibility to Media Effects Model (DSMM), to elucidate dynamic audience processes especially in the context of interactive media. This study was limited to Filipino Millennials (born between 1980 and 1994) residing in the National Capital Region (NCR), Philippines. Data was collected from 326 respondents through a questionnaire survey, with PLS-SEM utilized for the analysis. The results show that AC effects occur through engaging immediate responses as manifested by the media response states at the time of exposure to ad stimuli rather than moderating relationships between conditional and response media effects, positively influencing all HOE stages. However, the strengths of these effects vary, with stages related to experiential responses such as Awareness, Learning/Memory, and Brand Liking reflecting more practical implications compared to more rationally involved HOE stages of accepting or rejecting ad claims and brand intentions. By its very nature, advertising is designed to disrupt original motivations and activities. Furthermore, media response is immediate upon introducing AC stimuli despite conditional dispositions. These results provide potential practical use in campaign development and conceptualization related to consumer demographics, as customized ad outputs addressing different audience traits or motivations can equate to higher production costs. Awareness, memory, and brand liking are posited to benefit the most from AC, allowing for better allocation of resources when developing outputs throughout campaigns. The study provides a practical view of AC's benefits to specific HOE stages enabling advertisers to develop strategies given the value and limitations of AC within integrated marketing campaigns keeping us abreast with the dynamic consumer processing of ad communications constantly developing in line with emerging media technology.

The Affective Dynamics of Everyday Digital Life: Opening Computational Possibility.

Up to now, there was no way to observe and track the affective impacts of the massive amount of complex visual stimuli that people encounter "in the wild" during their many hours of digital life. In this paper, we propose and illustrate how recent advances in AI-trained ensembles of deep neural networks-can be deployed on new data streams that are long sequences of screenshots of study participants' smartphones obtained unobtrusively during everyday life. We obtained affective valence and arousal ratings of hundreds of images drawn from existing picture repositories often used in psychological studies, and a new screenshot repository chronicling individuals' everyday digital life from both N = 832 adults and an affect computation model (Parry & Vuong, 2021). Results and analysis suggest that (a) our sample rates images similarly to other samples used in psychological studies, (b) the affect computation model is able to assign valence and arousal ratings similarly to humans, and (c) the resulting computational pipeline can be deployed at scale to obtain detailed maps of the affective space individuals travel through on their smartphones. Leveraging innovative methods for tracking the emotional content individuals encounter on their smartphones, we open the possibility for large-scale studies of how the affective dynamics of everyday digital life shape individuals' moment-to-moment experiences and well-being. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-023-00202-4.

The world around us and the picture(s) in our heads: The effects of news media use on belief organization.

Since Converse [1964. The nature of belief systems in mass publics. Critical Review, 18(1-3), 1 - 74 https://doi.org/10.1080/08913810608443650] asked "What goes with what?", research tries to answer this question. How individuals perceive the world around them depending on media use has been an endeavor of studying societal beliefs of societal issues separately. Building upon literature on cognitive architecture, we study how media use shapes the formation and stability of belief structures across issues in public opinion reflected in groups of individuals. Using a three-wave panel study, we found (1) that individuals' perceptions of different issues are interconnected, (2) translating into aggregate-stable, concurring groups in public opinion, and that (3) differential media use affects the formation and stability of these groups.

Integrating media content analysis, reception analysis, and media effects studies.

Every day, the world of media is at our fingertips, whether it is watching movies, listening to the radio, or browsing online media. On average, people spend over 8 h per day consuming messages from the mass media, amounting to a total lifetime dose of more than 20 years in which conceptual content stimulates our brains. Effects from this flood of information range from short-term attention bursts (e.g., by breaking news features or viral 'memes') to life-long memories (e.g., of one's favorite childhood movie), and from micro-level impacts on an individual's memory, attitudes, and behaviors to macro-level effects on nations or generations. The modern study of media's influence on society dates back to the 1940s. This body of mass communication scholarship has largely asked, "what is media's effect on the individual?" Around the time of the cognitive revolution, media psychologists began to ask, "what cognitive processes are involved in media processing?" More recently, neuroimaging researchers started using real-life media as stimuli to examine perception and cognition under more natural conditions. Such research asks: "what can media tell us about brain function?" With some exceptions, these bodies of scholarship often talk past each other. An integration offers new insights into the neurocognitive mechanisms through which media affect single individuals and entire audiences. However, this endeavor faces the same challenges as all interdisciplinary approaches: Researchers with different backgrounds have different levels of expertise, goals, and foci. For instance, neuroimaging researchers label media stimuli as "naturalistic" although they are in many ways rather artificial. Similarly, media experts are typically unfamiliar with the brain. Neither media creators nor neuroscientifically oriented researchers approach media effects from a social scientific perspective, which is the domain of yet another species. In this article, we provide an overview of approaches and traditions to studying media, and we review the emerging literature that aims to connect these streams. We introduce an organizing scheme that connects the causal paths from media content → brain responses → media effects and discuss network control theory as a promising framework to integrate media content, reception, and effects analyses.

Social Media Use May Not Be As Bad As Some Suggest: Implication for Older Adults.

Background and Objectives: Social media use (SMU) has increased over the past decade among older adults. Cross-sectional studies report SMU is related to negative mental health outcomes (i.e., depression). Given depression is the most common mental health issue for older adults and increases the risk of morbidity and mortality, determining longitudinally whether SMU is related to increased depression is critical. This study examined the longitudinal relationship between SMU and depression. Research Design and Methods: Data from 6 waves (2015-20) of the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) were analyzed. Participants included a nationally representative sample of U.S. older adults, aged 65 years and older (N = 7,057). We used a Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Modeling (RI-CLPM) framework to examine the relationship between primary outcomes of SMU and depression symptoms. Results: No pattern was found of SMU predicting depression symptoms, or depression symptoms predicting SMU. The major driver of SMU in each wave was SMU in the previous wave. On average, our model accounted for 3.03% of the variance in SMU. The major predictor of depression in each wave was the pre-existing depression. Our model accounted for an average of 22.81% of the variance in depressive symptoms. Discussion and Implications: The results suggest that SMU and depressive symptoms are driven by the previous patterns of SMU and depression, respectively. We did not find any patterns of SMU and depression influencing each other. NHATS measures SMU with a binary instrument. Future longitudinal research should employ measures that account for SMU duration, type, and purpose. These findings suggest that SMU may not be related to negative health outcomes, in this case, depression, for older adults.

Global heart warming: kama muta evoked by climate change messages is associated with intentions to mitigate climate change.

Concern about climate change is often rooted in sympathy, compassion, and care for nature, living beings, and future generations. Feeling sympathy for others temporarily forms a bond between them and us: we focus on what we have in common and feel a sense of common destiny. Thus, we temporarily experience communal sharing relationships. A sudden intensification in communal sharing evokes an emotion termed kama muta, which may be felt through tearing up, a warm feeling in the chest, or goosebumps. We conducted four pre-registered studies (n = 1,049) to test the relationship between kama muta and pro-environmental attitudes, intentions, and behavior. In each study, participants first reported their attitudes about climate change. Then, they received climate change-related messages. In Study 1, they saw one of the two moving video clips about environmental concerns. In Study 2, participants listened to a more or less moving version of a story about a typhoon in the Philippines. In Study 3, they listened to a different, also moving version of this story or an unrelated talk. In Study 4, they watched either a factual or a moving video about climate change. Participants then indicated their emotional responses. Finally, they indicated their intentions for climate mitigation actions. In addition, we measured time spent reading about climate-related information (Studies 1, 2, and 4) and donating money (Study 4). Across all studies, we found that feelings of kama muta correlated positively with pro-environmental intentions (r = 0.48 [0.34, 0.62]) and behavior (r = 0.10 [0.0004, 0.20]). However, we did not obtain evidence for an experimental effect of the type of message (moving or neutral) on pro-environmental intentions (d = 0.04 [-0.09, 0.18]), though this relationship was significantly mediated by felt kama muta across Studies 2-4. The relationship was not moderated by prior climate attitudes, which had a main effect on intentions. We also found an indirect effect of condition through kama muta on donation behavior. In sum, our results contribute to the question of whether kama muta evoked by climate-change messages can be a motivating force in efforts at climate-change mitigation.

The relationship between psycho-environmental characteristics and wellbeing in non-spending players of certain mobile games.

Revenue generation in modern digital games is often dependent on in-game continuous player spending. This brings concerns that games may be including features which drive player spending in potentially harmful ways. Moreover, it is unknown what types of individuals may be vulnerable to these design-driven harms. We used player-donated, objective data of playtime and in-game spending from a sample of 295 players of games previously identified as 'designed to drive spending'. We combined this with psycho-environmental characteristics and wellbeing measures administered to the players. Quantile regression analyses did not show an interaction between player characteristics and playtime/spend as predictors of wellbeing outcomes; nor did we find a difference in wellbeing between players of these games and games with alternative monetization models. This is discussed in light of a low proportion of spenders in the sample, which may affect results pertaining to the moderating role of spend. However, it suggests that while design features in games aiming to drive player spend may be unethical and problematic, they may not necessarily cause harm to the normative player.

The Relationship Between Social Media Use and Beliefs in Conspiracy Theories and Misinformation.

Numerous studies find associations between social media use and beliefs in conspiracy theories and misinformation. While such findings are often interpreted as evidence that social media causally promotes conspiracy beliefs, we theorize that this relationship is conditional on other individual-level predispositions. Across two studies, we examine the relationship between beliefs in conspiracy theories and media use, finding that individuals who get their news from social media and use social media frequently express more beliefs in some types of conspiracy theories and misinformation. However, we also find that these relationships are conditional on conspiracy thinking--the predisposition to interpret salient events as products of conspiracies--such that social media use becomes more strongly associated with conspiracy beliefs as conspiracy thinking intensifies. This pattern, which we observe across many beliefs from two studies, clarifies the relationship between social media use and beliefs in dubious ideas. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11109-021-09734-6.

Association of 7 million+ tweets featuring suicide-related content with daily calls to the Suicide Prevention Lifeline and with suicides, United States, 2016-2018.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess associations of various content areas of Twitter posts with help-seeking from the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Lifeline) and with suicides. METHODS: We retrieved 7,150,610 suicide-related tweets geolocated to the United States and posted between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2018. Using a specially devised machine-learning approach, we categorized posts into content about prevention, suicide awareness, personal suicidal ideation without coping, personal coping and recovery, suicide cases and other. We then applied seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average analyses to assess associations of tweet categories with daily calls to the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Lifeline) and suicides on the same day. We hypothesized that coping-related and prevention-related tweets are associated with greater help-seeking and potentially fewer suicides. RESULTS: The percentage of posts per category was 15.4% (standard deviation: 7.6%) for awareness, 13.8% (standard deviation: 9.4%) for prevention, 12.3% (standard deviation: 9.1%) for suicide cases, 2.4% (standard deviation: 2.1%) for suicidal ideation without coping and 0.8% (standard deviation: 1.7%) for coping posts. Tweets about prevention were positively associated with Lifeline calls (B = 1.94, SE = 0.73, p = 0.008) and negatively associated with suicides (B = -0.11, standard error = 0.05, p = 0.038). Total number of tweets were negatively associated with calls (B = -0.01, standard error = 0.0003, p = 0.007) and positively associated with suicide, (B = 6.4 × 10-5, standard error = 2.6 × 10-5, p = 0.015). CONCLUSION: This is the first large-scale study to suggest that daily volume of specific suicide-prevention-related social media content on Twitter corresponds to higher daily levels of help-seeking behaviour and lower daily number of suicide deaths. PREREGISTRATION: As Predicted, #66922, 26 May 2021.

Evaluation of Consumer Health Information Available to Patients on Twitter About Bariatric Surgery.

INTRODUCTION: Patients are increasingly utilizing social media to help them make medical decisions. Previous studies have examined Facebook for the quality of bariatric-related content; however, no research has examined Twitter, a globally favored platform, in this context. The goal of this study is to investigate the quality of bariatric-related content on Twitter that patients use to inform their decisions regarding bariatric surgery. METHODS: Six comprehensive terms were searched on six Twitter accounts for 4 wk. Each keyword generated corresponding tweets that were classified as being either informational or noninformational. The top ten informational posts for each search term were categorized based on content type, tweet posters, and type of evidence used. A DISCERN score was calculated for each tweet to determine its quality of consumer health information. RESULTS: A total of 7531 tweets about bariatric surgery were collected over the course of approximately 1 mo. We found that 58.9% of tweets pertained to surgical interventions, 16.2% were nutrition-related, 11.3% were progress posts, 7.8% were inspirational posts, and 5.9% pertained to lifestyle. Of the tweets pertaining to surgical interventions, 26% were posted by physicians, and 13.7% of those physicians used scientific evidence. The relationship between the average total DISCERN scores and each variable was statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Even though physicians posted the highest quality consumer information, that information still correlated with an average DISCERN score of "very poor". Twitter may provide a good way to foster community and get anecdotal information but is not a place to gather high-quality scientific consumer health information.

Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction on a Molybdenum Complex Bearing a PNP Pincer Ligand.

Electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction (N2R) mediated by well-defined molecular catalysts is poorly developed by comparison with other reductive electrocatalytic transformations. Herein, we explore the viability of electrocatalytic N2R mediated by a molecular Mo-PNP complex. A careful choice of acid, electrode material, and electrolyte mitigates electrode-mediated HER under direct electrolysis and affords up to 11.7 equiv of NH3 (Faradaic efficiency < 43%) at -1.89 V versus Fc+/Fc. The addition of a proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) mediator has no effect. The data presented are rationalized by an initial electron transfer (ET) that sets the applied bias needed and further reveal an important impact of [Mo] concentration, thereby pointing to potential bimolecular steps (e.g., N2 splitting) as previously proposed during chemically driven N2R catalysis. Finally, facile reductive protonation of [Mo(N)Br(HPNP)] with pyridinium acids is demonstrated.