The Impact of Internet and Social Media Use on Well-Being

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 as TV use, self-esteem, and satisfaction with friends. We found that frequency of Internet use in general and use of SNS in particular is not substantially related subjective well-being. The explanatory power of general Internet use or SNS use to p…

What Drives Populist Styles? Analyzing Immigration and Labor Market News in 11 Countries

The success of populist political actors in Western democracies and the dramatization and emotionality of political communication in news media have been the object of several theoretical and empirical studies in the past decade. It has been argued that the mediatization of politics and the convergence of populist and tabloid communication styles foster these developments by mutual promotion in mass communication. This article uses a cross-national quantitative content analysis to disentangle associations among news genres, populist actors, content, and style. In spite of indisputable prevalence of populist styles in tabloid style media, populist ideology is identified as their strongest s…

sj-pdf-1-nms-10.1177_14614448211045666 – Supplemental material for Does the platform matter? Social media and COVID-19 conspiracy theory beliefs in 17 countries

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-1-nms-10.1177_14614448211045666 for Does the platform matter? Social media and COVID-19 conspiracy theory beliefs in 17 countries by Yannis Theocharis, Ana Cardenal, Soyeon Jin, Toril Aalberg, David Nicolas Hopmann, Jesper Strömbäck, Laia Castro, Frank Esser, Peter Van Aelst, Claes de Vreese, Nicoleta Corbu, Karolina Koc-Michalska, Joerg Matthes, Christian Schemer, Tamir Sheafer, Sergio Splendore, James Stanyer, Agnieszka Stępińska and Václav Štětka in New Media & Society

The effects of populism as a social identity frame on persuasion and mobilization: evidence from a 15-country experiment

This article investigates the impact of populist messages on issue agreement and readiness for action in 15 countries (N = 7,286). Specifically, populist communicators rely on persuasive strategies by which social group cues become more salient and affect people's judgment of and political engagement with political issues. This strategy is called ‘populist identity framing’ because the ordinary people as the in‐group is portrayed as being threatened by various out‐groups. By blaming political elites for societal or economic problems harming ordinary people, populist communicators engage in anti‐elitist identity framing. Another strategy is to blame immigrants for social problems – that is, …

Cognitive Responses to Populist Communication

This chapter investigates the cognitive effects of different populist messages on blame attributions and stereotyping in the 15 countries participating in the study. It first gives an overview about whether respondents blamed politicians, the wealthy, immigrants, or ordinary people for the future economic decline described in the experimental stimulus. In addition, general stereotypical perceptions of those groups among respondents are presented. With respect to populist message effects, the analyses show that these were generally rather weak. But the analyses were also able to show that left-wing anti-out-group cues blaming ‘the rich’ and economic elites were most influential in this exper…

The Polarizing Impact of News Coverage on Populist Attitudes in the Public: Evidence From a Panel Study in Four European Democracies

This study explores how news messages carrying parts of the populist ideology contribute to a polarization of public opinion about populism. It combines a content analysis of news coverage on two policy areas (N = 7,119 stories) with a two-wave panel survey (N = 2,338) in four European metropolitan regions (Berlin, Paris, London, and Zurich). In three regions, unopposed media messages with a populist stance have a conditional effect on populist attitudes that depends on prior convictions. A higher dose of exposure to populist news coverage enhances both prior agreement and disagreement with populism. Although the observed interaction patterns vary between regions, the general picture sugges…

Insights Into Aspects Behind Internet-Related Disorders in Adolescents: The Interplay of Personality and Symptoms of Adjustment Disorders

Abstract Purpose Problematic Internet use (PIU) that has recently been referred to as Internet-related disorder is a growing health concern. Yet, it is unclear why some adolescents are developing problematic use, whereas others sustain control. Based on previous research, we hypothesize that personality traits (low conscientiousness and high neuroticism) act as predispositions for PIU. We further hypothesize that PIU can be understood as a maladaptive reaction toward critical life events and that these maladaptive reactions are exacerbated by dysfunctional personality traits. Methods The study investigates the prevalence of distinct subtypes of PIU among a sample of adolescents (n = 1,489; …

Navigating high-choice European political information environments : a comparative analysis of news user profiles and political knowledge

The transition from low- to high-choice media environments has had far-reaching implications for citizens’ media use and its relationship with political knowledge. However, there is still a lack of comparative research on how citizens combine the usage of different media and how that is related to political knowledge. To fill this void, we use a unique cross-national survey about the online and offline media use habits of more than 28,000 individuals in 17 European countries. Our aim is to (i) profile different types of news consumers and (ii) understand how each user profile is linked to political knowledge acquisition. Our results show that five user profiles – news minimalists, social m…

Does the platform matter? Social media and COVID-19 conspiracy theory beliefs in 17 countries

While the role of social media in the spread of conspiracy theories has received much attention, a key deficit in previous research is the lack of distinction between different types of platforms. This study places the role of social media affordances in facilitating the spread of conspiracy beliefs at the center of its enquiry. We examine the relationship between platform use and conspiracy theory beliefs related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Relying on the concept of technological affordances, we theorize that variation across key features make some platforms more fertile places for conspiracy beliefs than others. Using data from a crossnational dataset based on a two-wave online survey cond…

The European media discourse on immigration and its effects: a literature review

To understand public opinion about immigration in Europe, one has to understand the media’s role in it. We present a literature review on research on media discourse on immigration and their effects. Despite differences in the way immigration and migrant groups are represented in European media, we can observe common patterns. Migrants are generally under-represented and shown as delinquents or criminals. Although, media framing differs based on specific migrant groups the discourse is focusing on, immigration coverage is often negative and conflict-centred. Frequent exposure to such media messages leads to negative attitudes towards migration, may activate stereotypical cognitions of migra…

Die Bedeutung der sozial-kognitiven Theorie für die Gesundheitskommunikation

Der Beitrag gibt einen Uberblick uber die Bedeutung der sozial-kognitiven Theorie fur die Gesundheitskommunikation. Dabei werden insbesondere das symbolische Lernen und die Bedeutung von Selbstwirksamkeit fur gesundheitsbezogene Verhaltensanderungen intensiver betrachtet. Nach einer eingehenden Thematisierung der jeweiligen Grundlagen werden ausgewahlte empirische Studien aus unterschiedlichen Bereichen der Gesundheitskommunikation vorgestellt, die zeigen, inwieweit die psychosozialen Determinanten und Mechanismen der sozial-kognitiven Theorie Verhaltensanderungen bewirken konnen. Schlieslich werden auch die Grenzen der vorgestellten Theorien und Implikationen fur die Gestaltung von Kampagn…

Mobile (Self-)Socialization: The Role of Mobile Media and Communication in Autonomy and Relationship Development in Adolescence

Two of the most important developmental tasks in adolescence are developing autonomy and establishing relationships (i.e., friendships and romantic relationships). Self-socialization processes are ...

Media Effects on Positive and Negative Learning

While educational science in the past mainly focused on students’ formal or intentional learning from courses, textbooks, or online tutorials in university contexts, communication science usually deals with ordinary citizens’ informal or unintentional learning from the mass media in everyday life. One of the general aims of the PLATO project is to bring these research traditions together. Therefore, this paper sums up research on media effects on positive and negative learning recently conducted; our studies show that media coverage is often biased and news media, therefore, contribute to negative as well as positive learning. Which kind of learning occurs, heavily depends on the way inform…

How populist crisis rhetoric affects voters in Switzerland

Right-wing populism has a long tradition in Switzerland. Nevertheless, only little is known about how populist messages in the media contribute to the success of the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) and to the acceptance of the party’s anti-immigration policies. In this study, we combine data from a large media content analysis (including newspapers and TV news shows) with data from a panel-survey in order to address this research gap. Thereby we differentiate between effects driven by the content and the form of right-wing populist communication. While right-wing populist content depicts immigrants and the political elite as a threat to the Swiss people, populist style evokes the sense of a cris…

Does a Crisis Change News Habits? A Comparative Study of the Effects of COVID-19 on News Media Use in 17 European Countries

Abstract: Exogenous shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic unleashes multiple fundamental questions about society beyond public health. Based on the classical concept of 'need for orientation' and the literature on the role of the media in times of crisis, we investigate to what extent the COVID-19 pandemic affected news consumption in comparative perspective. Based on a two-wave panel survey in 17 mostly European countries, our study targets the role of both legacy news brands (TV, radio, newspapers) and so-called contemporary news media (Internet-based and social media) during this global health crisis. Our results show an overall rise of news use across countries, but only for some types of n…

The relationship between trait procrastination, Internet use, and psychological functioning : results from a community sample of German adolescents

Adolescents with a strong tendency for irrational task delay (i.e., high trait procrastination) may be particularly prone to use Internet applications simultaneously to other tasks (e.g., during homework) and in an insufficiently controlled fashion. Both Internet multitasking and insufficiently controlled Internet usage may thus amplify the negative mental health implications that have frequently been associated with trait procrastination. The present study explored this role of Internet multitasking and insufficiently controlled Internet use for the relationship between trait procrastination and impaired psychological functioning in a community sample of N = 818 early and middle adolescent…

Measuring populism across nations: testing for measurement invariance of an inventory of populist attitudes

Abstract The rising voter support for populist parties in Western Democracies in recent years has incited academic interest in populist voters and attitudes connected to the voting propensity of populist actors. In line of this research, numerous scales to measure populist attitudes among voters have been proposed. In most cases, however, the measurement of populist attitudes was tailored to specific countries and its applicability to cross-national research on populism was not assessed. This article uses a cross-national survey to assess the measurement invariance, reliability, and validity of a deductively developed inventory for populist attitudes. The findings suggest that there is a co…

Online_Appendix – Supplemental material for The Effects of Right-Wing Populist Communication on Emotions and Cognitions toward Immigrants

Supplemental material, Online_Appendix for The Effects of Right-Wing Populist Communication on Emotions and Cognitions toward Immigrants by Dominique S. Wirz, Martin Wettstein, Anne Schulz, Philipp Müller, Christian Schemer, Nicole Ernst, Frank Esser and Werner Wirth in The International Journal of Press/Politics

Online Hate Does Not Stay Online – How Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Mediate the Effect of Civil Negativity and Hate in User Comments on Prosocial Behavior

Abstract Incivility and hateful language in user comments are met with growing concern among politicians, the general public, and scholars. There are fears that such comments may decrease social cohesion and ultimately result in less prosocial behavior among citizens. We investigate whether hate, or even civil negativity in user comments alone, inhibit actual prosocial behavior through recipients’ explicit and implicit attitudes. In an online experiment, 253 participants read user comments (neutral, civil-negative, hateful) about refugees and received five Euros which they could donate for a refugee aid organization or keep for themselves. The results show that participants confronted with …

Book Reviews: Emotions, Media and Politics, by Karin Wahl-Jorgensen

Frames – Framing – Framing-Effekte: Theoretische und methodische Grundlegung des Framing-Ansatzes sowie empirische Befunde zur Nachrichtenproduktion

In seiner breit angelegten Aufarbeitung der fruhen Literatur zum Framing-Ansatz stellt Bertram Scheufele viele einflussreiche Studien erstmals in deutscher Sprache in einen groseren Zusammenhang und entwickelt vielversprechende Ansatze fur eine koharente, schematheoretisch ausgerichtete Framing-Theorie. Ein wichtiger Aspekt sind dabei Scheufeles Uberlegungen zu Framing-Effekten, deren kognitive Wirkungsmechanismen er praziser konzeptualisiert als es viele andere Autoren bis dahin getan hatten. Die in der Arbeit enthaltene empirische Studie befasst sich jedoch mit einem anderen Aspekt: Sie untersucht mittels Kombination von qualitativer und quantitativer Inhaltsanalyse die Auswirkungen der M…

Everyday dynamics in generalized social and political trust

Abstract We applied the traits as density distributions of states approach to generalized expectations of trustworthiness, namely, social trust and trust in politicians. Using an experience sampling study (N = 47), we assessed state social trust and trust in politicians four times a day for 2 weeks. Within-person variability was found to be low but meaningful as it was predicted by variations in affect, interactional trust, and prior experiences. There was high stability in interindividual differences in the mean levels of state trustworthiness expectations and in the levels of within-person variability. Our study provides a comprehensive understanding of stability and variability in genera…

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 students’ ability to critically use information from online sources and to reason on contentious issues based on online information. In addition to analyzing students’ COR by evaluating their open-ended short answers, we also investigated the stude…

The Effects of Right-Wing Populist Communication on Emotions and Cognitions toward Immigrants

The persuasiveness of right-wing populist communication has become a widely discussed topic; it is often assumed that such messages might foster anti-immigrant attitudes among citizens. The present study explores the effects of the different components of right-wing populist communication—anti-immigrant messages, populist content, and populist style—on attitudes toward immigrants. By combining a media content analysis ( N = 605 articles) with a panel survey ( N = 1,968) in metropolitan areas of four Western European countries (France, Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), this study analyzes how citizens’ attitudes toward immigrants are influenced by the right-wing populist commun…

Positive and Negative Media Effects on University Students’ Learning: Preliminary Findings and a Research Program

Research in communication science highlights positive as well as negative effects of news and social media on learning but focuses predominantly on the largely unintended knowledge acquisition of the overall population. Research in educational science deals with students’ knowledge acquisition but is largely limited to formal learning such as in university courses. In this paper, we report findings of a pilot study combining both approaches by dealing with mass and social media effects on university students’ learning. While this study reveals several effects, their influences and causality remain largely unclear. Therefore, we propose a research program to explain positive and negative med…

ONLINE_APPENDIX_(1) – Supplemental material for Start Spreading the News: A Comparative Experiment on the Effects of Populist Communication on Political Engagement in Sixteen European Countries

Supplemental material, ONLINE_APPENDIX_(1) for Start Spreading the News: A Comparative Experiment on the Effects of Populist Communication on Political Engagement in Sixteen European Countries by Michael Hameleers, Linda Bos, Nayla Fawzi, Carsten Reinemann, Ioannis Andreadis, Nicoleta Corbu, Christian Schemer, Anne Schulz, Tamir Shaefer, Toril Aalberg, Sofia Axelsson, Rosa Berganza, Cristina Cremonesi, Stefan Dahlberg, Claes H. de Vreese, Agnieszka Hess, Evangelia Kartsounidou, Dominika Kasprowicz, Joerg Matthes, Elena Negrea-Busuioc, Signe Ringdal, Susana Salgado, Karen Sanders, Desirée Schmuck, Jesper Stromback, Jane Suiter, Hajo Boomgaarden, Keren Tenenboim-Weinblatt and Naama Weiss-Yani…

Media effects on policy preferences toward free movement: evidence from five EU member states

In a time when freedom of movement is being challenged by an increasing number of European Union member states, and where immigration has been dominating public debate for years, this study investi...

sj-pdf-1-nms-10.1177_14614448211045666 – Supplemental material for Does the platform matter? Social media and COVID-19 conspiracy theory beliefs in 17 countries

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-1-nms-10.1177_14614448211045666 for Does the platform matter? Social media and COVID-19 conspiracy theory beliefs in 17 countries by Yannis Theocharis, Ana Cardenal, Soyeon Jin, Toril Aalberg, David Nicolas Hopmann, Jesper Strömbäck, Laia Castro, Frank Esser, Peter Van Aelst, Claes de Vreese, Nicoleta Corbu, Karolina Koc-Michalska, Joerg Matthes, Christian Schemer, Tamir Sheafer, Sergio Splendore, James Stanyer, Agnieszka Stępińska and Václav Štětka in New Media & Society

New Regionalism—Not Too Complex for the Media Watchdog

As cities grow and expand, governance networks advocated by the “new regionalism” have become increasingly important for policy making in metropolitan areas. This article examines media reporting about governance networks and the effect this reporting has on democratic accountability and legitimacy. We use data from a standardized content analysis of newspaper coverage about metropolitan policy making in four European metropolitan areas (Zurich, Berlin, Paris, and London), as well as survey data on citizens’ attitudes. We find that the leading newspapers adequately cover governance processes and pay attention to both governmental and nongovernmental actors. Media content is correlated with…

„Das wird man doch noch sagen dürfen…“ – Wahrgenommene Sprechverbote und ihre Korrelate

Die Aufregung ist gros und relativ unabhangig von der politischen Couleur der Aufgeregten: Am 21.10.2019 verhindern Demonstranten eine Lesung des ehemaligen Bundesinnenministers Thomas de Maiziere beim Literaturherbst in Gottingen. Diese wird spater unter Polizeischutz nachgeholt. AfD-Grundungsmitglied Bernd Lucke kann seine Vorlesung zur Makrookonomik II erst nach mehrfachen Anlaufen im Herbst 2019 an der Universitat Hamburg tatsachlich halten.

The Impact of Negative Parasocial and Vicarious Contact with Refugees in the Media on Attitudes toward Refugees

Contact with members of outgroups is an important factor for ingroup members’ attitudes toward these groups. Ingroup members can also come into contact with outgroups in the media. This media conta...

Measuring Populist Attitudes on Three Dimensions

Theoretically, populism has been conceptualized as a political ideology with three sub-dimensions: anti-elitism attitudes, a preference for popular sovereignty, and a belief in the homogeneity and virtuousness of the people. However, empirical research to date has treated populist attitudes as a unidimensional construct. To address this issue, we propose to conceptualize populist attitudes as a latent higher-order construct with three distinct first-order dimensions. A 12-item inventory was developed using two survey studies conducted in Switzerland in 2014 and 2015. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to test the construct validity of this measure of populist attitudes. …

sj-docx-1-hij-10.1177_19401612211012572 - Supplemental material for Navigating High-Choice European Political Information Environments: a Comparative Analysis of News User Profiles and Political Knowledge

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-hij-10.1177_19401612211012572 for Navigating High-Choice European Political Information Environments: a Comparative Analysis of News User Profiles and Political Knowledge by Laia Castro, Jesper Strömbäck, Frank Esser, Peter Van Aelst, Claes de Vreese, Toril Aalberg, Ana S. Cardenal, Nicoleta Corbu, David Nicolas Hopmann, Karolina Koc-Michalska, Jörg Matthes, Christian Schemer, Tamir Sheafer, Sergio Splendore, James Stanyer, Agnieszka Stępińska, Václav Štětka and Yannis Theocharis in The International Journal of Press/Politics

Does News Frame Affect Free Movement Attitudes? A Comparative Analysis

The policy of free movement—one of the core principles of the European Union—has become increasingly politicized. This makes it more important to understand how attitudes toward free movement are shaped, and the role of the media. The purpose of this study is therefore to investigate how news frames affect attitudes toward free movement, and whether education moderates framing effects. The findings from a survey experiment conducted in seven European countries show that the effects are few and inconsistent across countries. This suggest that these attitudes are not easily shifted by exposure to a single news frame.

Start Spreading the News: A Comparative Experiment on the Effects of Populist Communication on Political Engagement in Sixteen European Countries

Although populist communication has become pervasive throughout Europe, many important questions on its political consequences remain unanswered. First, previous research has neglected the differential effects of populist communication on the Left and Right. Second, internationally comparative studies are missing. Finally, previous research mostly studied attitudinal outcomes, neglecting behavioral effects. To address these key issues, this paper draws on a unique, extensive, and comparative experiment in sixteen European countries (N = 15,412) to test the effects of populist communication on political engagement. The findings show that anti-elitist populism has the strongest mobilizing eff…