Research

Department V is dedicated to the general research of selection, reception and effects from a communication scientific and media psychological perspective. The main research concentrates on the following:

Persuasion and Social Cognition

Main issues: political persuasion, effects of infotainment, attitude formation, advertising research (e.g. effects of product placements)

Media and Emotion

Entertainment Research

Main issues: sport and media, music and media, infotainment, affective media effects, mood management, parasocial interaction, presence ("feeling of being there"), suspension of disbelief, parental mediation of children's media usage

Online & mobile communication

Main issues: online newspaper, non-mediation (presence), hypertext research, search machines, diffusion and appropriation of new communication technologies (mobile, chat, short message services, ...)

Higher education research

Main issues: research concerning the situation and career advancement of doctoral students and assistant professors in the field of communication science, debate of self-conception, didactics of teaching measuring methods

Methods research

Main issues: Principles and logics of research in content analysis, survey and experiment; Conceptualization and operationalization of constructs