Abstract: In light of the prolonged period of social distancing and highly mediated communication patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study sought to understand how pandemic-related fear affects social connectedness. Drawing from ...

Abstract: Event-related potentials (ERPs) capture neural responses to media stimuli with a split-second resolution, opening the door to examining how attention modulates the reception process. However, the relatively high cost and ...

Abstract: Why do people seek out frightening leisure activities such as horror films and haunted attractions, and does the experience benefit them in any way? In this article, we address these questions through two separate studies. In ...

Abstract: It is a popular notion that binge-watching – watching several episodes of a TV show in one sitting – enhances entertainment experiences compared to watching singular episodes. However, empirical results are contradictory, and the ...

Abstract: Direct persuasion (i.e., providing people with arguments in favor of a certain behavior) can activate resistance in the receiver and, thus, result in a hampered influence attempt. More promising techniques to influence people’s ...

Abstract: This study examined the role of motivation in processing sequentially coactive content (i.e., positive leading to negative or the reverse). A motivational inhibition hypothesis was proposed to predict the processing of ...