@phdthesis{Winkler2023,
  author    = {Winkler, Julia},
  title     = {The Experience of Emotional Shifts as a Narrative Process: Investigating the Relationship of Emotional Shifts and Transportation and Their Roles in Narrative Persuasion},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-32179},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-321794},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {Emotional shifts are often a fundamental part of the narrative experience and engrained into the schematic structures of stories. Recent theoretical work suggests that these shifts are key for narrative influence and are interconnected with transportation, a known mechanism of narrative effects. Empirical research examining this proposition is still scarce, inconclusive, and lacking measures that assess the experience of emotional shifts throughout a narrative to explain effects. This thesis aims to contribute to this research lacuna and investigates the link between emotional shifts, transportation, and story-consistent outcomes using different methods to measure emotional shifts in the moment they occur (Manuscript \#1 and \#2), and using various narrative stimuli (audiovisual, written, auditive). Manuscript \#1 uses real-time-response (RTR) measurement to examine the relationship of valence shifts experienced during film viewing with transportation and post-exposure self-reported emotional flow. Manuscript \#2 reports a pilot study and two experiments in which a self-probed emotional retrospection task is used to measure the number and intensity of emotional shifts during reading. I investigate the effect of reviews on transportation, the link between transportation and emotional shifts, and their respective associations with story-consistent attitudes, social sharing intentions, and donation behavior. In Manuscript \#3, narrative structures are manipulated. Two experiments examine the effects of audio stories with shifting (positive-negative-positive) vs. positive-only emotional trajectories on the experience of happiness- and sadness-shifts, transportation, and post-exposure emotional flow. Transportation was positively linked to valence shifts (M\#1), and the number and intensity of emotional shifts (M\#2), and emotional flow (M\#1, M\#3). In M\#3, transportation was predicted by shifts in happiness, but not sadness. Emotional flow was linked to shifts in happiness, sadness, and RTR valence (M\#1, M\#3). Emotional shifts and transportation were associated with social sharing intentions, but only transportation was linked to some story-consistent attitudes (affective attitudes in particular).},
  subject      = {Gef{\"u}hl},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Rudloff2023,
  author    = {Rudloff, Jan Philipp},
  title     = {Post-Truth Epistemic Beliefs Rooted in the Dark Factor of Personality Predict Irrational Cognition and Behavior},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-34478},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-344782},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {Conspiracy theories and fake news are receiving wide media coverage and their proliferation has motivated academic research on the driving factors irrational cognition and behavior. This dissertation focuses on individuals' beliefs about knowledge and knowing, which are commonly referred to as epistemic beliefs. The term post-truth epistemic beliefs is proposed and defined as a strong trust in one's intuition, a low need to align opinions with evidence, and the strong conviction that truth is a matter of power. Across six online studies, a mediation model is proposed and tested. It includes the core of all dark traits, the Dark Factor of Personality (D), as an antecedent of post-truth epistemic beliefs, and irrational cognition and behavior as consequences. Manuscript \#1 comprises four studies showing that post-truth epistemic beliefs are rooted in D and predict increased endorsement of COVID-19 conspiracy theories as well as less engagement in health-protective behavior against COVID-19. Manuscript \#2 includes a US nationally representative study suggesting that post-truth epistemic beliefs and D predict a lower probability of having been vaccinated against COVID-19. Manuscript \#3 presents a repeated measures experiment indicating that the nexus of D and post-truth epistemic beliefs also predicts less discernment between fake and accurate news. These findings highlight a major insight and a serious challenge for rational communication: Some individuals deliberately disregard (scientific) evidence and rational decision-making. Against this background, the need to foster the epistemological development of students and educators is emphasized.},
  subject      = {Verschw{\"o}rungstheorie},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Marker2020,
  author    = {Marker, Caroline},
  title     = {On a meta-level: Contributions of meta-analytic summaries in media psychological research},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-20917},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-209173},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2020},
  abstract  = {The rising use of new media has given rise to public discussions about their possible negative consequences. The social sciences have answered these concerns, providing many studies investigating different media types (e.g., social media, video games) and different related variables (e.g., psychological well-being, academic achievement). Within this big body of research, some research results have confirmed negative associations with frequent media use; other studies have found no or even positive relationships. With heterogeneous results, it is difficult to obtain a clear picture of the relationships and causalities of new media. The method of meta-analysis allows a synthesis of all existing data, providing an overall effect size as well as moderator and mediator analyses which might explain the heterogeneity. Three manuscripts present meta-analytic evidence related to a) the relationship between social media use and academic achievement, b) the relationship between video gaming and overweight, and c) the relationship between social media and psychological correlates. Manuscript \#1 found small relationships which depend on the usage pattern of social media. The relationship is positive, as long as social media use is related to school. Manuscript \#2 showed that children's and adolescents' video gaming is independent from their body mass, while adults who play more have a higher body mass. Manuscript \#3 summarized existing meta-analytic evidence that links social media with psychological wellbeing, academic achievement, and narcissism with small to moderate effect sizes. All three manuscripts underscore the potential of meta-analyses to synthesize previous research and to identify moderators. Although meta-analyses are not necessarily superior to other approaches because of their limitations (e.g. limited information or quality of primary studies) they are very promising for media psychology. Meta-analyses can reduce complexity and might be helpful for the communication of research results to the general public.},
  subject      = {Medienkonsum},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Krause2020,
  author    = {Krause, Stefan},
  title     = {How stories influence the self: Antecedents, processes and consequences},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-20761},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-207611},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2020},
  abstract  = {The impact of stories in their ability to shape our view on the world has long been a central topic in communication science and media psychology. While reading a book or watching a movie, we are transported into story worlds and we identify with depicted protagonists. Several studies showed that high levels of transportation lead to greater story-consistent beliefs. Similar effects were found for identification. However, much less is known how and in which direction stories could affect the self. Five experimental studies were conducted and summarized in three manuscripts. Manuscript \#1 explored the moderating role of transportation that could shift one's self-perception towards traits of a depicted story character (assimilation) or away from him/her (contrast). Manuscript \#2 focused on downward social comparisons with a protagonist and possible contrast effects on participants' self-perception in relation to others, their motives and behavior. Thereby, the mediating role of transportation and identification were investigated. Finally, upward social comparison with a protagonist and related emotions (e.g., envy) that mediate possible effects on one's self perception and behavioral intentions were investigated in manuscript \#3. This dissertation project contributes to the literature on stories and the self. Consistent with previous work, assimilation effects were found for highly transported recipients. However, stories might also elicit contrast effects on recipients' selves and behavioral intentions that are opposite to a depicted character. Extending prior research, there were evidence that transportation and envy are important process variables explaining assimilation vs. contrast effects.},
  subject      = {Selbst},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Grundke2023,
  author    = {Grundke, Andrea},
  title     = {Head and Heart: On the Acceptability of Sophisticated Robots Based on an Enhancement of the Mind Perception Dichotomy and the Uncanny Valley of Mind},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-33015},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-330152},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {With the continuous development of artificial intelligence, there is an effort to let the expressed mind of robots resemble more and more human-like minds. However, just as the human-like appearance of robots can lead to feelings of aversion to such robots, recent research has shown that the apparent mind expressed by machines can also be responsible for their negative evaluations. This work strives to explore facets of aversion evoked by machines with human-like mind (uncanny valley of mind) within three empirical projects from a psychological point of view in different contexts, including the resulting consequences. In Manuscript \#1, the perspective of previous work in the research area is reversed and thus shows that humans feel eeriness in response to robots that can read human minds, a capability unknown from human-human interaction. In Manuscript \#2, it is explored whether empathy for a robot being harmed by a human is a way to alleviate the uncanny valley of mind. A result of this work worth highlighting is that aversion in this study did not arise from the manipulation of the robot's mental capabilities but from its attributed incompetence and failure. The results of Manuscript \#3 highlight that status threat is revealed if humans perform worse than machines in a work-relevant task requiring human-like mental capabilities, while higher status threat is linked with a higher willingness to interact, due to the machine's perceived usefulness. In sum, if explanatory variables and concrete scenarios are considered, people will react fairly positively to machines with human-like mental capabilities. As long as the machine's usefulness is palpable to people, but machines are not fully autonomous, people seem willing to interact with them, accepting aversion in favor of the expected benefits.},
  subject      = {Humanoider Roboter},
  language  = {en}
}