Psychology of Popular Media

Papers
(The TQCC of Psychology of Popular Media is 4. 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 2021-10-01 to 2025-10-01.)
ArticleCitations
Supplemental Material for The Effect of Short-Form Video Usage on Self-Expansion42
Qualitative and quantitative investigations of Office fans’ connections with fictional and celebrity couples: Identification, parasocial relationships, and beyond.39
Me, myself, and my avatar: Self-discrepancy, embodiment, and narrative involvement in gaming experiences.34
Random app of kindness: Evaluating the potential of a smartphone intervention to impact adolescents’ empathy, prosocial behavior, and aggression.34
The psychology of likes: Relevance of feedback on Instagram and relationship to self-esteem and social status.33
What does the Cat in the Hat know about that? An analysis of the educational and unrealistic content of children’s narrative science media.30
Supplemental Material for Subtle Threat Cues in Marketing Horror and Children’s Entertainment26
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 Bod26
Supplemental Material for Other-Focus Versus Self-Focus: The Power of Self-Transcendent TV Shows25
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 Involvement23
A moderated mediation model of the relationship between passive social network usages and life satisfaction.23
Can the social network bridge social distancing? Social media use during the COVID-19 pandemic.22
Extensions of the proteus effect on intergroup aggression in the real world.20
From online to offline: Pathways from active social media use to proenvironmental behaviors through the lens of construal level theory.19
Social media usage is associated with lower knowledge about anxiety and indiscriminate use of anxiety coping strategies.18
“Using Comics and tweets to raise awareness about gender biases in STEM.” Correction to Freedman, Green, Kaufman, and Flanagan (2022).17
Black lives matter, Black stories matter, Black voices matter: Black Lives Matter protests, COVID-19, and streaming services.16
The portrayal of mental illness in popular children's programs on Netflix: A content and thematic analysis.13
Looking to the stars: Validating the existence of para-couple relationships among emerging adults.13
Rating heroes, antiheroes, and villains: Machiavellianism, grandiose narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism predict admiration for and perceived similarity to morally questionable characters.13
The effects of awe-inspiring nature videos on connectedness to nature and proenvironmental intentions.13
Dark personality traits and anger in cyber aggression perpetration: Is moral disengagement to blame?12
Testing the direct and indirect relationship between media violence exposure and cyberbullying perpetration.12
Supplemental Material for Physiological Stress Responses to Mental Illness Narratives12
Supplemental Material for Rage in Video Gaming, Characteristics of Loss of Control Among Gamers: A Qualitative Study11
Supplemental Material for Developing and Testing an Explanatory Model of Complete Mental Health in Tabletop Role-Playing Games11
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 Status10
Reviewer Acknowledgments 202410
Reviewer Acknowledgments 202510
Time for digital media but no time for school? An investigation of displacement effects among adolescents of gen X, Y, and Z.10
It's a “pattern” of time: Exploring flow experience in autonomous sensory meridian response videos.10
Supplemental Material for Perceptions of Fake News, Misinformation, and Disinformation Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Exploration10
"The fairest of them all: Representations of bodies across Disney animated films from 1937 to 2019": Correction.9
Media prescriptions for goal achievement: The differential effect of inspiring versus humorous content.9
The effects of autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) on modality, mood, and mindfulness (3Ms).9
Who stans celebrities on social media? The role of gender, sexual orientation, and political ideology.9
Supplemental Material for Rating Heroes, Antiheroes, and Villains: Machiavellianism, Grandiose Narcissism, Psychopathy, and Sadism Predict Admiration for and Perceived Similarity to Morally Questionab9
Achieving the ideal-self while harming my relationship: Examining associations between self-discrepancy, instagram photo manipulation, and romantic relationship outcomes.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
Connecting the pro-recovery eating disorder community: An analysis of the language on science, Twitter, and Reddit.8
Women’s exposure to sexualized TV, self-objectification, and consideration of cosmetic surgery: The role of age.8
Shared screens: Scripted television's communal space in a polarized nation.8
That’s not supposed to happen! Spoilers’ impact on experience of narratives with (un)expected endings.8
Keep your head in the game: Retrospective imaginative involvement with video game narratives.8
Supplemental Material for Social Media Addiction Moderates Links Between Perceptions of Freedom and Mental Health in the United States and Germany8
Losing parasocial friendships over celebrity politics: A cognitive discrepancies approach.8
The associations between parents’ technoference, their problematic use of digital technology, and the psychological state of their children.8
What is in a hashtag? A comparative content analysis of fitspiration, body positivity, and body neutrality posts on Instagram.8
SPACE to esc: Affective and motivational correlates to adaptive and maladaptive escapism among video gamers—A network analysis.8
Inspiration for perspiration? Two experiments testing the psychological effects of fitspiration.8
Effects of self-objectification on viewers’ narrative engagement.8
Directional is the new null? A comment on Bushman and Anderson (2021).8
Solving the puzzle of null violent media effects.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 How Anthropomorphic Animal Representations in Nature Documentaries Are Related to Entertainment Experience and Persuasive Effects7
The effects of memes on perceptions and decision making: Insights from fuzzy-trace theory.7
Comparison of listening experiences by podcast styles: Monologue versus dialogue.7
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
Social media use and body image concerns for midlife and older women.6
Queer folklore: Examining the influence of fandom on sexual identity development and fluidity acceptance among Taylor Swift fans.6
Supplemental Material for Female-Oriented Dating Sims in China: Players’ Parasocial Relationships, Gender Attitudes, and Romantic Beliefs6
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.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
Parenting and tweens’ media use during the COVID-19 pandemic.6
Being asked to dance: Evidence of racial bias in audience voting behavior on the television show Strictly Come Dancing.6
Supplemental Material for The Costs of Sexualization: Examining Viewers’ Perceptions of Sexualized Profile Owners in Online Dating6
“I see dead people”: Exploring the associations between watching horror and belief in the paranormal.6
Exploring identity and coping among Black viewers of Marvel’s Black Panther.6
Time travels on Instagram: A longitudinal investigation of parasocial interaction with a historical person and the impact on followers’ morality.5
Judging characters by their cover? Surface-level similarities, deep-level similarities, and parasocial relationships.5
Supplemental Material for Strange New Worlds: Social Content in Popular Star Trek Fanfiction Versus Commercial Novels5
Supplemental Material for Can We Separate the Character From the Creator? An Exploratory Study on Parasocial Relationships5
Supplemental Material for Qualitative and Quantitative Investigations of Office Fans’ Connections With Fictional and Celebrity Couples: Identification, Parasocial Relationships, and Beyond5
Supplemental Material for Maternal Technology Distraction and Its Associations With Stress and Parenting During the COVID-19 Pandemic5
Measurement and correlates of celebrity culture hate.5
Recognizing the similarities and appreciating the differences? Content choices and perceived (dis)similarity with TV show characters among youth.5
A cognitive behavioral therapy-based microintervention to reduce the negative impact of Instagram use on well-being: A randomized controlled trial.5
Self-simming while Black: Examining a petition to improve black representation in Sims 4.5
Select your character: Individual needs and avatar choice.4
“Ur a freakin goddess!”: Examining appearance commentary on Instagram.4
Better than scrolling: Digital detox in the search for the ideal self.4
Exploring the association between Twitch use and well-being.4
Examining the postpartum period through social media: A content and thematic analysis of #postpartum Instagram posts.4
Why lurk, why join, and why post? The uses and gratifications of lurkers, infrequent posters, and frequent posters in the brand community context.4
Interventions to reduce the negative impact of online highly visual social networking site use on mental health outcomes: A scoping review.4
Supplemental Material for Amplify or Suppress the Inspiration? Comment Valence Influences the Reception of Inspirational COVID-19 Videos4
Navigating the social landscape of Instagram: Exploring the experiences, motivations, and perceptions of eating disorder recovery content creators.4
Exploring the motives for watching horror movies: A replication and extension.4
Young love on the big screen: A content analysis of romantic ideals, challenges, hookups, and long-term relationships in teen romantic drama movies.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
Linking adolescents’ exposure to and identification with reality TV to materialism, narcissism, and entitlement.4
The woman in the (rearview) mirror: Viewers’ attitudes toward objectified car selfies of Black and White women.4
Supplemental Material for Content of Social Media Fitspiration and Its Effect on Physical Activity-Related Behavior: A Systematic Review4
Character immersion in video games as a form of acting.4
Consuming memes during the COVID pandemic: Effects of memes and meme type on COVID-related stress and coping efficacy.4
Spoilers ahead, proceed with caution: How engagement, enjoyment, and FoMO predict avoidance of spoilers.4
Pressure, preoccupation, and porn: The relationship between internet pornography, gendered attitudes, and sexual coercion in young adults.4
A content analysis method for coding movie content using movie trailers.4
Uses of media representation in LGBTQ adults’ relationship with their parent: Individual, relational, and sociocultural contexts.4
Straw men, bogus claims, and misinformation about media violence: Reply to comment by Devilly et al. (2023).4
Who finds media violence funny? Testing the effects of media violence exposure and dark personality traits.4
Supplemental Material for Self-Compassion and Women's Experience of Social Media Content Portraying Body Positivity and Appearance Ideals4
Wine mom culture: Investigating social media influence on mothers’ alcohol norms.4
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