Dorothée Hefner

Player Performance, Satisfaction, and Video Game Enjoyment

An experiment (N = 74) was conducted to investigate the impact of game difficulty and player performance on game enjoyment. Participants played a First Person Shooter game with systematically varied levels of difficulty. Satisfaction with performance and game enjoyment were assessed after playing. Results are not fully in line with predictions derived from flow and attribution theory and suggest players to (1) change their view on their own performance with its implications for enjoyment with increasing game experience and (2) to switch strategically between different sources of fun, thus maintaining a (somewhat) positive experience even when performance-based enjoyment is low.

Implicit Measures and Media Effects Research: Challenges and Opportunities

Although implicit measures are now widely used in different areas of psychology, they have received only little attention in communication science. This paper discusses the potential benefits of implicit measures such as the Implicit Association Test (IAT) for media effects research. We first address more general theoretical and methodological issues and introduce some practical challenges that come along with implicit methods. The paper concludes by recommending that implicit measures should be added to the communication methods toolkit, but that researchers should carefully decide whether (and which) implicit measures really make sense in a particular case of research.

Mobile recovery? The impact of smartphone use on recovery experiences in waiting situations:

The proliferation of smartphones and their use in almost every social situation has led to controversial discussions about the smartphone’s potential impact on stress and recovery of its users. Some research has found detrimental effects of permanent availability and connectivity, other studies hint at beneficial effects resulting from users taking minibreaks from work. As there is some evidence for a recovery potential of mass media in general, the current study extends this line of research by examining whether smartphones also have such potential. To that end, we investigated the effects of smartphone use in fatiguing situations on recovery experiences and cognitive performance. After a fatigue-induction task, participants were observed in a waiting situation in order to check whether they used their mobile devices. Afterwards, data on their recovery experiences and cognitive performance were collected. The results demonstrate that smartphone use can be beneficial for some recovery dimensions but also detrimental for others. Smartphone use was positively related to cognitive performance, mediated through experiences of control. Results are discussed regarding the consequences of new mobile technologies and their potential to stay permanently Internet-connected.

Social capital in media societies: The impact of media use and media structures on social capital

Social capital refers to the resources inherent in social relationships; it is considered the foundation of economic, political, and social development. To explore the media’s impact on social capital, we analyze the impact of media consumption at the individual level and the effects of media system structures at the national level. Multilevel analyses were computed using individual data from the European Social Survey and national data on media structures. The results indicate that Internet use and informational media use increase social capital. Moreover, societies seem to benefit from open, free, and pluralistic media systems as they support the production of social capital. In sum, we argue for a dissociation from a culturally pessimistic, one-sided point of view when discussing media effects. In today’s societies, media imply potential rather than restrictions.

Permanently online and permanently connected: Development and validation of the Online Vigilance Scale

Smartphones and other mobile devices have fundamentally changed patterns of Internet use in everyday life by making online access constantly available. The present paper offers a theoretical explication and empirical assessment of the concept of online vigilance, referring to users’ permanent cognitive orientation towards online content and communication as well as their disposition to exploit these options constantly. Based on four studies, a validated and reliable self-report measure of online vigilance was developed. In combination, the results suggest that the Online Vigilance Scale (OVS) shows a stable factor structure in various contexts and user populations and provides future work in communication, psychology, and other social sciences with a new measure of the individual cognitive orientation towards ubiquitous online communication.

Rules? Role Model? Relationship? The Impact of Parents on Their Children’s Problematic Mobile Phone Involvement

ABSTRACT Parents can influence their children’s problematic mobile phone involvement (PMPI) by engaging in parental mediation activities, such as restrictions or co-use, by being a role model, and by their general and domain-unspecific parenting style that facilitates more or less attachment security of the child. This study tested the associations between these different routes of influence—parental mediation of the mobile phone, parental PMPI, and secure child-parent attachment—with children’s PMPI. Data was acquired from a quota-sample survey with 500 children, between 8 and 14 years of age, and one of their parents. Results point to the importance of open and empathic parent-child-communication, as well as a positive relationship quality, and demonstrate the detrimental effects of parents’ own PMPI on children’s PMPI.

Implizite Methoden in der Kommunikationswissenschaft

Implizite Methoden wurden in der Sozialpsychologie entwickelt, um spontane und automatische im Gegensatz zu deliberativen kognitiven Strukturen zu erfassen. Diese automatischen kognitiven Inhalte - wie beispielsweise Einstellungen zu bestimmten Gruppen von Menschen - sind Teilnehmenden von Studien haufig selbst nicht bewusst zuganglich oder der Wunsch nach einer positiven Selbstdarstellung oder Selbstwahrnehmung fuhrt zu einer verzerrten Darstellung. Implizite Methoden sind so konzipiert, dass Teilnehmenden das Untersuchungsziel entweder nicht bewusst ist oder sie das Ergebnis nicht kontrollieren konnen (De Houwer 2006). Sie eignen sich daher besonders fur die Erfassung sozial sensibler Themen, bei denen sozial erwunschtes Antwortverhalten zu erwarten ist. Der folgende Beitrag dient dazu, kommunikationswissenschaftliche Fragestellungen zu identifizieren, fur die sich der Einsatz impliziter Methoden lohnen kann. Durch die Vorstellung beispielhafter medienpsychologischer Studien sowie die Diskussion praktischer wie theoretischer Fragen soll eine Grundlage fur den Einsatz impliziter Methoden fur geeignete Forschungsfragen geschaffen werden.

Alte Theorie – neue Werte. Nachrichtenfaktoren in der Blog-Kommunikation

Die Nachrichtenwerttheorie hat sich in Studien als Ansatz erwiesen, der eine gute Erklärungskraft für Selektionsentscheidungen sowohl von professionellen Journalisten als auch von Rezipienten hat. Daher wurde ihre Erklärungskraft in dieser Studie für Blogkommunikation untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Relevanzzuschreibung in Blogs nur teilweise auf klassische Nachrichtenfaktoren zurückzuführen ist und Nachrichtenfaktoren auf den Umfang von Blogposts und die Ausstattung mit visuellen Elementen auch negative Einflüsse haben können. Die Kommentierung von Blogpost und deren Weiterempfehlung durch die Nutzer lässt sich durch Nachrichtenfaktoren praktisch überhaupt nicht erklären. Aus den teilweise inkonsistenten Einflüssen und den generell geringen Varianzaufklärungen wird geschlossen, dass entweder der Nachrichtenwertansatz durch zusätzliche blogspezifische Faktoren ergänzt werden muss, oder das grundlegend andere theoretische Ansätze zu entwickeln sind, um die Selektionsentscheidungen in der Blogkommunikation zu erklären.