Media Use, Exposure, and Effects

In the research area "Media Use, Exposure, and Effects", Prof. Dr. Andreas Fahr and his team investigate how and why people select and process media, and what effects these have. Key areas of focus include entertainment and the entertainment experience, health and political communication, the media portrayal of social groups and neurodiversity, the relationships between media users and media personalities (parasociality), and the interplay between media use and well-being in terms of digital resilience. Methodologically, quantitative and qualitative approaches are employed to investigate media selection, reception and impact, supplemented by psychophysiological measurements and observational methods. Prof. Fahr and his team also take care of the DCM Research Lab, where reception and impact processes are recorded experimentally and in real time. Prof. Dr. Thilo von Pape and his team examine the uses and effects of media in the light of changing technologies and communication practices and address current research questions particularly in the contexts of mobile communication, social media, the Internet of Things, and Human-Machine Communication.

DCM Research Lab

Current Projects

  • Pathways to Intergroup Interaction Agency: Portrayals of Autism in the Entertainment Media
    • Project team: Andreas Fahr, Anastasia Schnitzer
    • Duration: 2022-2026

     

    This research project examines how people on the autism spectrum are portrayed in entertainment media – such as TV series, films and reality TV programmes like *Atypical* or *Love on the Spectrum* – and how such portrayals can help shape societal perceptions, expectations and social interactions. The focus is on the question of under what conditions media portrayals of neurodiversity are understood and perceived as realistic and helpful, and what images they promote. Through reception and impact studies, the project investigates how viewers perceive autistic characters, their relationships and interactions; in addition, qualitative interviews with professionals and carers with regular experience of providing support provide experience-based perspectives. The aim is to identify the conditions necessary for more inclusive and socially responsible portrayals of neurodiversity in entertainment media.

  • Click. Sleep. Repeat.
    • Project team: Andreas Fahr, Björn Rasch, Michal Frackowiak, Sandrine Baselgia, Shaila Caspanello
    • Duration: 06/2026 – 12/2028
    • Funding: Mobiliar Center for Resilience

     

    The "Click. Sleep. Repeat." project aims to gain a sound understanding of the role of media consumption and its effects in promoting healthy sleep and rest patterns. In contrast to previous, often deficit-oriented research approaches, which primarily focus on the risks of digitalisation (e.g. sleep disturbances caused by screen time), we are investigating the effect of psychological capital (PsyCap) on media choice. In laboratory experiments, we use polysomnography (PSG) to measure physiological responses in order to gain precise insights into the emotional and cognitive processes during media use in the falling-asleep phase and throughout the night. In doing so, we pay particular attention to the potential of adaptive usage strategies, which enable resilient individuals to use media not as a stressor, but as a resource for their well-being and night-time recovery.

  • Smartphone Bans in Secondary Schools in German-speaking Switzerland
    • Project team: Andreas Fahr, Shaila Caspanello
    • Duration: 09/2025 – 10/2026
    • Funding: Mercator Foundation Switzerland

     

    This research project investigates the psychosocial and academic impacts of smartphone policies in secondary schools. A field experiment is being conducted to analyse how different levels of regulation – ranging from liberal approaches to strict bans – influence pupils’ well-being and the school climate. The study combines quantitative pupil surveys with qualitative interviews to obtain a comprehensive picture of well-being, concentration and social interaction. The aim is to provide empirical evidence to support future decisions on education policy.

  • Parasociality: Relationships between Media Characters and Audiences
    • Project team: Andreas Fahr et al.
    • Duration: ongoing

     

    The projects investigate how viewers form parasocial relationships and interactions with media characters, what patterns of attachment and relationship emerge in the process, and what significance these have for their experiences, well-being and subsequent communication.

  • Entertainment Research
    • Project team: Andreas Fahr et al.
    • Duration: ongoing

     

    This area of research analyses why people turn to entertaining media content and what experiences they derive from it – ranging from hedonistic pleasure to eudaimonic, meaningful experiences (e.g. emotional response, reflection) – and what effects result from this.

  • Reception Processes
    • Project team: Andreas Fahr et al.
    • Duration: ongoing

     

    This research examines how media content is processed whilst being consumed – for example, through attention, immersion, narrative engagement and identification – and how these processes shape perception, emotion and subsequent behaviour.

  • Emotion Research in Media Reception
    • Project team: Andreas Fahr et al.
    • Duration: ongoing

     

    An investigation into how media content triggers, regulates or intensifies specific emotions (mood management, emotion regulation through media) and what consequences this has for well-being and behaviour.

  • Digital Media Use and Well-being
    • Project team: Andreas Fahr, Shaila Caspanello
    • Duration: ongoing

     

    Links between (mobile/social) media use, usage patterns and mental well-being, including issues relating to self-regulation and problematic use.

  • Psychophysiological Research into Media Reception
    • Project team: Andreas Fahr et al.
    • Duration: ongoing

     

    Psychophysiological measurement methods (e.g. heartbeat, electrodermal activity, EMG, and, where appropriate, eye-tracking/EEG) are used to record emotional and cognitive reactions in real time whilst media is being used, in order to provide a valid picture of reception processes beyond mere self-reports.

Completed Projects

  • News Consumption and Infotainment on Social Media: Effects of entertaining features in digital news stories on exposure, engagement, knowledge and attitudes
    • Project team: Dominique Stefanie Wirz
    • Duration: 02/2022 - 01/2026
    • Funding: Swiss National Science Foundation
     

    More and more citizens rely on social media to get their news. Often, they don’t actively seek news, but stumble upon them while scrolling through their feeds for entertainment purposes. News media have reacted to this development; many news companies produce content for platforms such as Tiktok and Instagram. The aim of this research project is to investigate how much information such news offers convey, and which entertaining elements are used alongside the information. By means of surveys and experiments, it will further be investigated how different types of entertaining elements affect the processing of news. How should news stories on social media be designed in order to attract an entertainment-oriented audience, while succesfully conveying information?

  • Excessive Media Use in Times of Netflix - 'Binge watching': Motives, Experience, and its Effects on Sleep
    • Project team: Andreas Fahr, Björn Rasch, Dominique Wirz, Alexander Ort, Debora Castro-Mariño
    • Duration: 12/2018 - 11/2020
    • Funding: Swiss National Science Foundation
     
    Das Projekt nimmt Bezug auf die zunehmende Digitalisierung der Alltagswelt mit besonderem Blick auf exzessive Mediennutzung. Es untersucht Motive, Erleben und Wirkungen des exzessiven Konsums von Serien. Dazu werden Beobachtungsverfahren, physiologische Messungen und Befragungen entwickelt, kombiniert und validiert. Genauer werden umgesetzt (1) Fokusgruppen zur Definition und Identifizierung von Bedeutung, Motivationen, Nutzungsstilen und Gratifikationen im Zusammenhang mit extensivem TV-Serienkonsum; (2) At-home-Studien zur Erforschung von Zuschauermotivationen, emotionalem Erleben und physiologischen Reaktionen in der natürlichen Umwelt; (3) Laborstudien zur Beobachtung des Stresserlebens über längere Zeiträume des Fernsehkonsums sowie (4) eine Studie zur Untersuchung der Auswirkungen von physiologischer und kognitiver Erregung vor dem Schlafengehen durch exzessiven Serienkonsum auf die Schlafqualität.
  • Analyse des Entstehens und der Folgen von Themenverdrossenheit: Eine longitudinale Multi-Methoden-Studie
    • Projektteam: Julia Metag, Gwendolin Gurr
    • Laufzeit: 2018 bis 2021
    • Förderung: Schweizerischer Nationalfonds (SNF)

     

    Das Projekt untersucht die Ursachen, zeitliche Entwicklung und Folgen von Themenverdrossenheit. Themenverdrossenheit stellt sich im Zeitverlauf ein, in dem in den Medien lang und intensiv über ein Thema berichtet wird. Auch Personen, die sich eigentlich für das Thema interessieren, können im Verlauf der Zeit davon überdrüssig werden. Eine Folge dieser Themenverdrossenheit kann sein, dass sie die Medienberichterstattung über das Thema vermeiden. Das Projekt untersucht Themenverdrossenheit bei Schweizer BürgerInnen anhand von zwei Themen, von welchen eines voraussichtlich der Brexit 2019 sein wird. Dabei werden drei Ziele verfolgt: Erstens wird untersucht, wie stark Themenverdrossenheit in der Schweizer Bevölkerung bei den zu untersuchenden Themen ausgeprägt ist. Zweitens analysieren wir, welche Faktoren dazu führen, dass jemand themenverdrossen wird. Wir überprüfen drittens, welche Wirkungen Themenverdrossenheit auf das weitere Informationsverhalten der BürgerInnen hat. Abschliessend untersuchen wir, ob es Unterschiede bei den verschiedenen Themen gibt.

  • Media, Health Communication, and Well-being in Switzerland
    • Project team: Andreas Fahr, Perina Siegenthaler, Alexander Ort, Tanja Aegerter
    • Duration: 05/2017-02/2021
    • Funding: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)

     

    This project aims to foster the understanding about the role of media use and media exposure in the formation of health-related behavior. We expand current persuasion models in health communication (which are mainly concerned with fear appeals) with the perspective of positive emotions. Physiological measures will be employed in the laboratory experiments to indicate the immediate emotional as well as cognitive responses to the different emotional appeals. Furthermore, we analyse the potential of narrative media formats and investigate the role of parasocial relationships with media characters in health-related media communication.