{"title":"Angry and Alerted, Happy and Informed? An Experience Sampling Study on the Relationship Between Sentiment, Affect, and Attention Toward Campaign Communication","authors":"Lukas P. Otto, Fabian Thomas, Michaela Maier","doi":"10.1177/00936502261443864","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502261443864","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines how emotional reactions to campaign communication relate to attentional processes and, ultimately, to general interest in a political campaign. Drawing on appraisal theories of emotion and the broaden-and-build theory, we argue that emotional responses to political communication play a central role in shaping different forms of attention and elaboration. Specifically, emotions may foster a narrow attentional focus directed at the stimulus itself or a broader attentional orientation characterized by a willingness to seek additional information. To test these assumptions, we conducted a mobile experience sampling study during the 40 days preceding the 2021 German federal election. Participants repeatedly reported the perceived sentiment of campaign communication, their emotional reactions while encountering it, and their attentional focus toward political information immediately after exposure to campaign communication. Between-person analyses indicate that both negative affect (particularly anger) and positive affect are associated with attentional processes, while happiness is specifically linked to a broadened attentional focus. At the within-person level, both negative and positive emotions predicted momentary attentional focus. Campaign interest, however, was related to (situational) attention rather than to affective processes. We conclude by discussing the role of positivity and positive affect in research on political media effects.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2026-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148286612","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Amanda J. Holmstrom,Junwen M. Hu,Samantha J. Shebib,Jong In Lim,Yue Zhang,Andrew Bredland,Allison P. Mazur,Adam J. Mason,Amanda Allard,Josephine K. Boumis,Hailey Schulte,Ji Hyun Ha,Brooke H. Wolfe,Megan Szczypka,Ping-Hsu Wu,Yidi Zhang,Xiaoran Cui,Lu Zhang
{"title":"Theoretical Distinctions Between Emotion and Cognition Content in Supportive Messages: Examining Effects and Mediating Mechanisms","authors":"Amanda J. Holmstrom,Junwen M. Hu,Samantha J. Shebib,Jong In Lim,Yue Zhang,Andrew Bredland,Allison P. Mazur,Adam J. Mason,Amanda Allard,Josephine K. Boumis,Hailey Schulte,Ji Hyun Ha,Brooke H. Wolfe,Megan Szczypka,Ping-Hsu Wu,Yidi Zhang,Xiaoran Cui,Lu Zhang","doi":"10.1177/00936502261426538","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502261426538","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"64 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149210872","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Seeking Help May Enhance Perceptions of Competence: Examining Direct and Indirect Help Seeking in the Workplace","authors":"Ningxin Wang, Guanjin Zhang","doi":"10.1177/00936502261428827","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502261428827","url":null,"abstract":"In an increasingly challenging workplace, help from colleagues is essential for employees’ performance and development. Yet, individuals often hesitate to seek help at work, fearing that they may appear incompetent. The current research examined how verbal strategies used to seek help at work would affect helpers’ perceptions of the help seekers’ competence. Guided by the sensitive interaction systems theory, we focused on the directness and indirectness of help seeking communication. Through two studies employing complementary methodologies, we found that helpers judged the competence of help seekers based on their inferred causes for the help requests. Specifically, helpers evaluated seekers as more competent when they attributed the help seeking to a high motivation to succeed rather than a lack of ability. Additionally, direct help seeking was associated with higher perceived competence of the help seeker, which was mediated by the helpers’ inferences of a high motivation to succeed as the cause of help seeking.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147641402","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jörg Matthes, Andreas Nanz, Marlis Stubenvoll, Ruta Kaskeleviciute
{"title":"Disentangling the Longitudinal Relationship Between Social Media Use, Political Expression and Political Participation: What Do We Really Know?","authors":"Jörg Matthes, Andreas Nanz, Marlis Stubenvoll, Ruta Kaskeleviciute","doi":"10.1177/00936502261430387","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502261430387","url":null,"abstract":"The reciprocal associations between social media use, political expression, and political participation are central to communication scholars. The cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) represents a common and widely advocated analytic approach to test these relationships. However, it fails to separate within- from between-person effects. In this paper, we propose a random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) disaggregating within-person and between-person effects. Using three-wave panel data, we demonstrate positive associations between social media use, political expression and online as well as offline participation consistently across waves using the CLPM. However, these relations could not be observed at the within-person effects level with the RI-CLPM. This suggests that the associations between social media use, political expression and political participation are mainly driven by trait-like differences and not by individual changes over time, fundamentally challenging some of the key conclusions of previous research. Implications for communication scholarship are discussed.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"124 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147641450","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Daniel Loughnan, Aart van Stekelenburg, J. Loes Pouwels, Marieke L. Fransen, Mariska Kleemans
{"title":"An Analysis of Studies Testing Digital Interventions to Inoculate Against Misinformation: A Systematic Review","authors":"Daniel Loughnan, Aart van Stekelenburg, J. Loes Pouwels, Marieke L. Fransen, Mariska Kleemans","doi":"10.1177/00936502251411467","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502251411467","url":null,"abstract":"The proliferation of misinformation has stimulated research into games and videos to reduce susceptibility to misinformation via psychological inoculation. This research field applies several recent extensions of inoculation theory in novel ways, posing the question of whether such interventions are indeed producing inoculation effects. We conducted a systematic review ( <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">k</jats:italic> = 72) to establish the strength of the links between inoculation theory and the outcomes of the tests. We found that the studies did not pose hypotheses relating to the core factors of inoculation theory: threat conferral and counterarguing. Moreover, empirical designs and analyses have introduced confounding factors. Therefore, links between psychological inoculation theory and the tests are weak, and the question of whether the interventions inoculate remains unbroached. We recommend that future research include theoretically relevant variables in improved empirical tests and that researchers exercise caution in interpreting the results of existing studies as representative of psychological inoculation effects.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147578415","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Darian Harff, Ellen Van Houtven, Heleen Dekoninck, Desiree Schmuck
{"title":"Adolescents’ Trust in Political Content From Influencers: The Roles of Motive Attribution and Parental Mediation","authors":"Darian Harff, Ellen Van Houtven, Heleen Dekoninck, Desiree Schmuck","doi":"10.1177/00936502261425708","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502261425708","url":null,"abstract":"In today’s fragmented media landscape, social media influencers (SMIs) have emerged as popular political information sources among young audiences—despite often lacking political expertise. However, we have limited knowledge about factors that predict trust in SMIs’ political content during early and middle adolescence, a critical period during which political attitudes are formed. This study proposes two novel theoretical pathways to explain varying trust perceptions between and within adolescents: a source-centered pathway, focusing on observed SMI-audience interactions and motive attribution, and an audience-centered pathway, emphasizing adolescents’ digital literacy and parental mediation. A three-wave panel survey ( <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\"> N <jats:sub>W3</jats:sub> </jats:italic> = 799 parent-child dyads) shows that trust in SMIs’ political information is higher among those adolescents who view SMIs as involved with their audiences and altruistically motivated, and among adolescents with high digital literacy and whose parents engage in active mediation. However, changes in these variables do not predict deviations from adolescents’ usual trust levels.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147536321","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Role of Relationship Parameters in Emotion Experiences During Interactions Between Romantic Partners: Testing Relational Turbulence Theory in a Dyadic, Lab Study","authors":"Kellie St.Cyr Brisini, Ningyang “Ocean” Wang","doi":"10.1177/00936502261427071","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502261427071","url":null,"abstract":"Relational turbulence theory explains the mechanisms whereby relationship parameters influence partners’ emotion, cognition, and communication during specific episodes. Using dyadic, collaborative interactions, this study tested three understudied claims proposed by the theory to shed light on the antecedents and consequences of emotion during everyday conversations between romantic partners. Seventy-one couples completed a pre-test survey that included measures of relationship parameters, were video-taped participating in two planning discussions (randomly ordered), and completed post-tests after each discussion. The conversations were then evaluated for communication engagement and valence by outside observers. Results point to relationship uncertainty as a predictor of emotion during communication and add nuance to our understanding of how happiness and annoyance associate with communicative valence and engagement during everyday interactions.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"76 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147536318","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tamara D. Afifi, Veronica Wilson, Chloe Gonzales, Chantel Haughton, Abdullah S. Salehuddin
{"title":"Using the Theory of Resilience and Relational Load to Examine the Impact of Couples’ Financial Conflict on Relational Load and (Hair and Salivary) Cortisol","authors":"Tamara D. Afifi, Veronica Wilson, Chloe Gonzales, Chantel Haughton, Abdullah S. Salehuddin","doi":"10.1177/00936502261428553","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502261428553","url":null,"abstract":"This study examined whether romantic partners’ relationship maintenance and communal orientation predict their financial conflict, and, in turn, their relational load and physiological stress. Eighty-two heterosexual, cohabitating couples participated in a conversation about their financial stress, completed surveys, and provided saliva and hair samples for cortisol. Overall, greater communal orientation and ongoing relationship maintenance were associated with less conflict about financial stress, as well as lower relational load. The findings revealed partner and actor effects. For women, feeling communally oriented was associated with less of their own and their partner’s relational load after the conversation by lessening both of their perceptions of conflict. Even though relationship maintenance and communal orientation did not significantly affect men’s physiological stress, women’s HCC and salivary cortisol (at <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">p</jats:italic> < .10) were mediated through their own and their partner’s perceptions of their financial conflict.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147536320","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Responses to Position-Disconfirming Meta-Advice in the Context of Conflicting Vs. Consistent Co-Presenting Messages: The Role of Reactance and Perceived Norms","authors":"Yanmengqian Zhou, Shu Scott Li","doi":"10.1177/00936502261430977","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502261430977","url":null,"abstract":"Advice is a vital form of interpersonal influence, and some advice concerns advising others (i.e., meta-advice). In today’s competitive information environment, individuals often encounter both recommendations that support their stance and those that challenge it. Drawing on psychological reactance and normative influence theories, this study examines how people respond to position-disconfirming meta-advice when it is presented in different message contexts—either paired with another position-disconfirming message (consistent) or with a position-confirming message (conflicting). In an experiment, U.S. participants who were either pro- or anti-advising others to get vaccinated received position-disconfirming meta-advice under consistent or conflicting conditions. Results revealed two countervailing effects: pairing position-disconfirming with position-confirming meta-advice mitigated reactance, leading to more favorable responses to the position-disconfirming message, but it also lowered perceived norms, which in turn undermined favorable responses. These findings illuminate how context shapes responses to position-disconfirming meta-advice, with theoretical and practical implications for interpersonal influence in multi-message environments.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"58 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147524140","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Christine Liebrecht, Naomi Kamoen, Rieke van Lieshout
{"title":"From Buttons to Bots: Exploring the Impact of Enhanced Features in Voting Advice Applications on Desktops and Smartphones","authors":"Christine Liebrecht, Naomi Kamoen, Rieke van Lieshout","doi":"10.1177/00936502261425713","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502261425713","url":null,"abstract":"Voters using Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) often struggle with comprehension, leading to satisficing behavior. Conversational Agent VAAs (CAVAAs) aim to improve understanding by allowing users to ask a chatbot comprehension questions. While early research shows positive effects, studies have only compared CAVAAs to basic VAAs, not to enhanced VAAs (VAA+s) with clickable information buttons. Current study compares four versions: a basic VAA, a VAA+, a CAVAA, and a CAVAA+, tested on desktop (Study 1) and smartphone (Study 2). Results show that all three information-rich versions reduce non-directional answers and positively impact political and tool evaluation measures, suggesting that added information, regardless of format, improves response quality and user experience. Interestingly, users request more information in the enhanced web-based VAA+ than via the chatbot. We discuss these and other findings in the paper.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147489903","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}