Psychology of Popular Media

Papers
(The TQCC of Psychology of Popular Media is 3. The table below lists those papers that are above that threshold based on CrossRef citation counts [max. 250 papers]. The publications cover those that have been published in the past four years, i.e., from 2021-09-01 to 2025-09-01.)
ArticleCitations
Supplemental Material for The Effect of Short-Form Video Usage on Self-Expansion40
Qualitative and quantitative investigations of Office fans’ connections with fictional and celebrity couples: Identification, parasocial relationships, and beyond.39
Supplemental Material for Who Finds Media Violence Funny? Testing the Effects of Media Violence Exposure and Dark Personality Traits32
What does the Cat in the Hat know about that? An analysis of the educational and unrealistic content of children’s narrative science media.31
Me, myself, and my avatar: Self-discrepancy, embodiment, and narrative involvement in gaming experiences.31
The psychology of likes: Relevance of feedback on Instagram and relationship to self-esteem and social status.30
Random app of kindness: Evaluating the potential of a smartphone intervention to impact adolescents’ empathy, prosocial behavior, and aggression.26
Black lives matter, Black stories matter, Black voices matter: Black Lives Matter protests, COVID-19, and streaming services.25
The portrayal of mental illness in popular children's programs on Netflix: A content and thematic analysis.25
Extensions of the proteus effect on intergroup aggression in the real world.22
Social media usage is associated with lower knowledge about anxiety and indiscriminate use of anxiety coping strategies.22
From online to offline: Pathways from active social media use to proenvironmental behaviors through the lens of construal level theory.21
“Using Comics and tweets to raise awareness about gender biases in STEM.” Correction to Freedman, Green, Kaufman, and Flanagan (2022).19
Can the social network bridge social distancing? Social media use during the COVID-19 pandemic.18
Supplemental Material for Subtle Threat Cues in Marketing Horror and Children’s Entertainment17
Supplemental Material for “To Be Yourself or Your Selfies, That Is the Question”: The Moderation Role of Gender, Nationality, and Privacy Settings in the Relationship Between Selfie-Engagement and Bod15
Looking to the stars: Validating the existence of para-couple relationships among emerging adults.13
Supplemental Material for Postexposure Engagement With More and Less Eudaimonic Films: 10-Year Patterns of Response and the Role of Parasocial Relationship and Retrospective Imaginative Involvement13
Supplemental Material for Other-Focus Versus Self-Focus: The Power of Self-Transcendent TV Shows13
Rating heroes, antiheroes, and villains: Machiavellianism, grandiose narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism predict admiration for and perceived similarity to morally questionable characters.12
The effects of awe-inspiring nature videos on connectedness to nature and proenvironmental intentions.12
A moderated mediation model of the relationship between passive social network usages and life satisfaction.12
Testing the direct and indirect relationship between media violence exposure and cyberbullying perpetration.11
Supplemental Material for Rage in Video Gaming, Characteristics of Loss of Control Among Gamers: A Qualitative Study11
Supplemental Material for Physiological Stress Responses to Mental Illness Narratives11
Dark personality traits and anger in cyber aggression perpetration: Is moral disengagement to blame?10
Reviewer Acknowledgments 202410
It's a “pattern” of time: Exploring flow experience in autonomous sensory meridian response videos.10
Supplemental Material for Developing and Testing an Explanatory Model of Complete Mental Health in Tabletop Role-Playing Games10
Supplemental Material for Fear of Missing Out and Compulsive Social Media Use as Mediators Between OCD Symptoms and Social Media Fatigue10
The effects of autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) on modality, mood, and mindfulness (3Ms).9
"The fairest of them all: Representations of bodies across Disney animated films from 1937 to 2019": Correction.9
#Instabod versus #BoPo: An experimental study of the effects of viewing idealized versus body-positive content on collegiate males’ and females’ body satisfaction.9
Supplemental Material for Perceptions of Fake News, Misinformation, and Disinformation Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Exploration9
Supplemental Material for Queer on TV: Using the Minority Stress Model to Explore the Role of LGBQ+ Television Exposure in LGBQ+ Audiences’ Psychological Well-Being and Identity Status9
Supplemental Material for Rating Heroes, Antiheroes, and Villains: Machiavellianism, Grandiose Narcissism, Psychopathy, and Sadism Predict Admiration for and Perceived Similarity to Morally Questionab9
Time for digital media but no time for school? An investigation of displacement effects among adolescents of gen X, Y, and Z.9
Achieving the ideal-self while harming my relationship: Examining associations between self-discrepancy, instagram photo manipulation, and romantic relationship outcomes.9
Losing parasocial friendships over celebrity politics: A cognitive discrepancies approach.9
Solving the puzzle of null violent media effects.8
Supplemental Material for How Anthropomorphic Animal Representations in Nature Documentaries Are Related to Entertainment Experience and Persuasive Effects8
Shared screens: Scripted television's communal space in a polarized nation.8
Media prescriptions for goal achievement: The differential effect of inspiring versus humorous content.8
Keep your head in the game: Retrospective imaginative involvement with video game narratives.8
Directional is the new null? A comment on Bushman and Anderson (2021).8
Effects of self-objectification on viewers’ narrative engagement.8
That’s not supposed to happen! Spoilers’ impact on experience of narratives with (un)expected endings.8
What is in a hashtag? A comparative content analysis of fitspiration, body positivity, and body neutrality posts on Instagram.8
The associations between parents’ technoference, their problematic use of digital technology, and the psychological state of their children.8
Who stans celebrities on social media? The role of gender, sexual orientation, and political ideology.8
Inspiration for perspiration? Two experiments testing the psychological effects of fitspiration.7
Children’s vocabulary, math, and social-emotional learning from interactive media: The role of choice, agency, and repetition in app design.7
Supplemental Material for Social Media Addiction Moderates Links Between Perceptions of Freedom and Mental Health in the United States and Germany7
Supplemental Material for Female-Oriented Dating Sims in China: Players’ Parasocial Relationships, Gender Attitudes, and Romantic Beliefs6
SPACE to esc: Affective and motivational correlates to adaptive and maladaptive escapism among video gamers—A network analysis.6
Supplemental Material for Investigating the Effect of Full and Partial Social Media Abstinence on Fear of Missing Out and Well-Being Outcomes: A Daily Diary Experimental Approach6
Supplemental Material for The Costs of Sexualization: Examining Viewers’ Perceptions of Sexualized Profile Owners in Online Dating6
Being asked to dance: Evidence of racial bias in audience voting behavior on the television show Strictly Come Dancing.6
Women’s exposure to sexualized TV, self-objectification, and consideration of cosmetic surgery: The role of age.6
Stuck in the DMs: The association between introversion/extraversion and self-confidence through text-based communication.6
Supplemental Material for Personality Perception in Game of Thrones: Character Consensus and Assumed Similarity6
Comparison of listening experiences by podcast styles: Monologue versus dialogue.6
Connecting the pro-recovery eating disorder community: An analysis of the language on science, Twitter, and Reddit.6
Supplemental Material for Big Data, Actually: Examining Systematic Messaging in 188 Romantic Comedies Using Unsupervised Machine Learning6
The green side of parasocial romantic relationships: An exploratory investigation of parasocial jealousy.5
“I see dead people”: Exploring the associations between watching horror and belief in the paranormal.5
Self-simming while Black: Examining a petition to improve black representation in Sims 4.5
Supplemental Material for Strange New Worlds: Social Content in Popular Star Trek Fanfiction Versus Commercial Novels5
Supplemental Material for Escaping the Pandemic Present: The Relationship Between Nostalgic Media Use, Escapism, and Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic5
Parenting and tweens’ media use during the COVID-19 pandemic.5
Queer folklore: Examining the influence of fandom on sexual identity development and fluidity acceptance among Taylor Swift fans.5
Time travels on Instagram: A longitudinal investigation of parasocial interaction with a historical person and the impact on followers’ morality.5
Measurement and correlates of celebrity culture hate.5
Exploring identity and coping among Black viewers of Marvel’s Black Panther.5
Social media use and body image concerns for midlife and older women.5
Select your character: Individual needs and avatar choice.5
Supplemental Material for Qualitative and Quantitative Investigations of Office Fans’ Connections With Fictional and Celebrity Couples: Identification, Parasocial Relationships, and Beyond5
“Ur a freakin goddess!”: Examining appearance commentary on Instagram.4
Correction to “limiting social media use decreases depression, anxiety, and fear of missing out in youth with emotional distress: A randomized controlled trial” by Davis and Goldfield (2024).4
A cognitive behavioral therapy-based microintervention to reduce the negative impact of Instagram use on well-being: A randomized controlled trial.4
Linking adolescents’ exposure to and identification with reality TV to materialism, narcissism, and entitlement.4
Uses of media representation in LGBTQ adults’ relationship with their parent: Individual, relational, and sociocultural contexts.4
A content analysis method for coding movie content using movie trailers.4
Better than scrolling: Digital detox in the search for the ideal self.4
Spoilers ahead, proceed with caution: How engagement, enjoyment, and FoMO predict avoidance of spoilers.4
Exploring the association between Twitch use and well-being.4
Exploring the motives for watching horror movies: A replication and extension.4
Supplemental Material for Amplify or Suppress the Inspiration? Comment Valence Influences the Reception of Inspirational COVID-19 Videos4
Young love on the big screen: A content analysis of romantic ideals, challenges, hookups, and long-term relationships in teen romantic drama movies.4
Judging characters by their cover? Surface-level similarities, deep-level similarities, and parasocial relationships.4
Navigating the social landscape of Instagram: Exploring the experiences, motivations, and perceptions of eating disorder recovery content creators.4
Supplemental Material for Maternal Technology Distraction and Its Associations With Stress and Parenting During the COVID-19 Pandemic4
Wine mom culture: Investigating social media influence on mothers’ alcohol norms.4
Recognizing the similarities and appreciating the differences? Content choices and perceived (dis)similarity with TV show characters among youth.4
Character immersion in video games as a form of acting.4
Pressure, preoccupation, and porn: The relationship between internet pornography, gendered attitudes, and sexual coercion in young adults.4
“His fight or flight kicked in and here we are”: Investigating the construction of a perpetrator within a dark fandom.3
Belongingness needs mediate the link between attachment anxiety and parasocial relationship strength.3
Supplemental Material for The Portrayal of Mental Illness in Popular Children's Programs on Netflix: A Content and Thematic Analysis3
Straw men, bogus claims, and misinformation about media violence: Reply to comment by Devilly et al. (2023).3
Supplemental Material for Interventions to Reduce the Negative Impact of Online Highly Visual Social Networking Site Use on Mental Health Outcomes: A Scoping Review3
Why lurk, why join, and why post? The uses and gratifications of lurkers, infrequent posters, and frequent posters in the brand community context.3
Erratum to “The effect of TikTok body neutrality content on young women’s self-compassion” by Seekis and Lawrence (2024).3
If your girl only knew: The effects of infidelity-themed song lyrics on cognitions related to infidelity.3
Understanding social media appearance preoccupation: The role of body image emotions.3
Supplemental Material for One Fit(Spiration) for All? Gender Differences in Body Satisfaction3
The impact of spatiotemporal and sociocultural Heimat associations in entertaining television programs on social identity, positive affect, and intergroup relations.3
Empathy, narcissism, alexithymia, and social media use.3
Is it painful? Playing violent video games affects brain responses to painful pictures: An event-related potential study.3
Supplemental Material for Content of Social Media Fitspiration and Its Effect on Physical Activity-Related Behavior: A Systematic Review3
Interventions to reduce the negative impact of online highly visual social networking site use on mental health outcomes: A scoping review.3
Examining the postpartum period through social media: A content and thematic analysis of #postpartum Instagram posts.3
Enhancing brand equity through branded content experience on social media: Developing and testing a moderated mediation model.3
The woman in the (rearview) mirror: Viewers’ attitudes toward objectified car selfies of Black and White women.3
Supplemental Material for Problematic Social Media Use Increases With Fear of Missing Out Among Young Adults: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study3
Social networking sites use exacerbates appearance anxiety in young Chinese women: The moderating role of self-concept clarity.3
Supplemental Material for Romantic Ideas and Ideals in Popular Music: A Content Analysis of the Taylor Swift Musical Catalog3
A continuous-space description of video games: A preliminary investigation.3
Mood repair following eudaimonic media selection.3
Problematic video gaming is associated with poor sleep quality, diet quality, and personal hygiene.3
Subtle threat cues in marketing horror and children’s entertainment.3
Consuming memes during the COVID pandemic: Effects of memes and meme type on COVID-related stress and coping efficacy.3
Fitspiration, related risks, and coping strategies: Recent trends and future directions.3
Who finds media violence funny? Testing the effects of media violence exposure and dark personality traits.3
Supplemental Material for Self-Compassion and Women's Experience of Social Media Content Portraying Body Positivity and Appearance Ideals3
Adolescents’ perceptions of nicotine vaping-related social media content.3
An examination of viewers’ mental model drawings after they watched a transgender-themed TV narrative.3
Unfulfilled romantic needs: Effects of relationship status, presence of romantic partners, and relationship satisfaction on romantic parasocial phenomena.3
Sensing the media character: The experience of parasocial interaction, but not identification, as a real physical occurrence.3
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