
Peter VordererUniversity of Mannheim · Department of Media and Communication Studies
Peter Vorderer
Doctor of Philosophy
About
168
Publications
263,491
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
9,135
Citations
Introduction
Skills and Expertise
Additional affiliations
February 2010 - present
April 2007 - April 2010
Publications
Publications (168)
This handbook provides a strong collection of communication- and psychology-based theories and models on media entertainment, which can be used as a knowledge resource for any academic and applied purpose. Its 41 chapters offer explanations of entertainment that audiences find in any kind of ‘old’ and ‘new’ media, from classic novels to VR video ga...
This handbook provides a strong collection of communication- and psychology-based theories and models on media entertainment, which can be used as a knowledge resource for any academic and applied purpose. Its 41 chapters offer explanations of entertainment that audiences find in any kind of ‘old’ and ‘new’ media, from classic novels to VR video ga...
Concerns have been expressed that permanent online connectedness might negatively affect media user’s stress levels. Most research has focused on negative effects of specific media usage patterns, such as media multitasking or communication load. In contrast, users’ cognitive orientation toward online content and communication has rarely been inves...
This entry offers an introduction to the model of complex entertainment experiences and some of its research applications, as well as later developments and future directions for research on entertainment. The model describes enjoyment as the main experience of exposure to entertainment media and provides an integrated view of entertainment. Enjoym...
Im vorliegenden Kapitel wird die Grundidee dieses Herausgeberwerkes vorgestellt. Ausgehend von einer Beschreibung zur Rolle des Internets für Radikalisierungsprozesse und Präventionsansätze werden die Entstehungsgeschichte und Grundidee des EU-Projektes CONTRA dargestellt. Drei wichtige Ansatzpunkte werden näher skizziert: 1) Der Fokus des Projekte...
In times of permanent connectedness via mobile devices, availability demands often occur even across the boundaries between work and private life. Based on work–family border theory, this study examined how so-called setting-inconsistent pressure to be available influences employees' emotional well-being. For this purpose, an experimental 2 × 2 bet...
This document contains the English Version of the Online Vigilance Scale (Reinecke et al., 2018). The scale can be freely used for non-commercial, scientific purposes. Further information concerning the construction and psychometric properties of the original scale can also be found in Reinecke et al. (2018).
This document provides a Chinese translation of the Online Vigilance Scale (Reinecke et al., 2018). The scale can be freely used for non-commercial, scientific purposes. Further information concerning the construction and psychometric properties of the original scale can also be found in Reinecke et al. (2018).
Das beigefügte Dokument listet die deutschsprachigen Items der Online Vigilance Scale (Reinecke et al., 2018). Die Skala darf für nicht-kommerzielle, wissenschaftliche Zwecke unter Nennung der Originalquelle (siehe unten) frei verwendet werden.
Weiter Angaben zum Skalenkonstruktionsprozess, den psychometrischen Eigenschaften und der Anwendung und...
Why do we entertain ourselves with media narratives? Although the most recent answer to this question (Oliver et al., 2018) provides a far more complex understanding of entertainment use compared to earlier theorizing, it still leaves important questions unanswered. Our primary ambition here is to introduce a new theoretical perspective that may be...
In times of being permanently online and permanently connected (POPC) via ubiquitous mobile devices, it is a pressing question if such a POPC lifestyle benefits or impairs a good life. To elaborate on this notion, we cast light on the general idea of salutogenesis (Antonovsky, 1979, 1987): not focusing on what makes us ill but on how we stay health...
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 communi...
Study 4 wide format.
(SAV)
Two studies were conducted to test the relation between hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment experiences as well as their respective influence on information processing while watching a political talk show on TV. Assumptions from entertainment theory and positive psychology served as theoretical basis. A curvilinear relationship between hedonic and...
As seen in social science research and in popular media, we are growing increasingly aware of the problematic aspects of the demands of ubiquitous smartphones upon our attention, particularly from electronic human communication such as social media apps. Recent research suggests that mindfulness, the deliberate, non-judgmental paying of attention t...
Through the connection of deliberative democracy and entertainment theory this article proposes a normatively grounded basis for research on political (entertainment) media. With regard to deliberation, it builds upon mediated deliberation research and a concept Goodin called “deliberation within.” As for media entertainment processes, it draws on...
Interest in the meaningful sides of media entertainment has blossomed over the last decade, with numerous scholars examining how certain media content can enhance social good and well-being. Because social scientific work in this area is relatively new and is rapidly evolving, numerous conceptualizations of meaningful media experiences have been in...
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...
In times of being permanently online and permanently connected (POPC) via ubiquitous mobile devices, it is a pressing question if such a POPC lifestyle benefits or impairs a good life. To elaborate on this notion, we cast light on the general idea of salutogenesis
(Antonovsky, 1979, 1987): not focusing on what makes us ill but on how we stay healt...
Being constantly connected to others via e-mail and other online messages is increasingly typical for many employees. In this paper, we develop and test a model that specifies how interruptions by online messages relate to negative and positive affect. We hypothesize that perceived interruptions by online messages predict state negative affect via...
Drawing on the affect infusion model and on affective disposition theory, this study aims to explain the influence of viewers’ affective disposition toward the guests of political TV talk shows on their information processing and judgments. The affective disposition was manipulated in an experiment. Results suggest that this affective disposition r...
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...
Der Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit Angebot und Wirkung extremistischer
Internetpropaganda. Es skizziert sowohl Erkenntnisse zur Wirkung
rechtsextremistischer als auch islamistischer Internetvideos.
Darüber hinaus werden aktuelle Ansätze zu Gegenbotschaften und
deren Wert als Präventionsmaßnahme, vor allem aufgrund der hochgeschätzten
Möglichkeit ihre...
Der Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit Angebot und Wirkung extremistischer Internetpropaganda. Er skizziert sowohl Erkenntnisse zur Wirkung rechtsextremistischer als auch islamistischer Internetvideos. Darüber hinaus werden aktuelle Ansätze zu Gegenbotschaften und deren Wert als Präventionsmaßnahme, vor allem aufgrund der hochgeschätzten Möglichkeit ihre...
The odds in stumbling over extremist material in the internet are high. Counter speech videos, such as those of the German campaign Begriffswelten Islam (Concepts of Islam; Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, 2015a) published on YouTube, offer alternative perspectives and democratic ideas to counteract extremist content. YouTube users may discus...
In times of being always online and connected, cyberostracism—the feeling of being ignored or excluded over the Internet—is a serious threat to fundamental human needs: belonging, self-esteem, control, and meaningful existence. According to the temporal need-threat model, responses to ostracism lead to immediate and universal experiences of negativ...
The motivational question in media research tries to reach beyond the simple description of who is doing what in which kind of situation; it rather attempts to explain why things are done as they are done. This entry systematizes various answers to the question of why users turn to media, how they differ with regard to the circumstances under which...
Background With the availability of mobile smart devices, many adolescents have developed the habit of being online and connected with other users almost all the time. Objective The aim of this paper is to provide a definition of being permanently online (PO) and permanently connected (PC) and to explore students' current PO/PC behaviors. Methods A...
Free download link (up to 50 copies): http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/Z9t6GuRWkjgH9ZrkKvT3/full
The aim of this study is to investigate the measurement invariance of media users’ entertainment experiences as conceptualized by two-process models of entertainment (i.e., enjoyment and appreciation) across different media formats. With this purpose,...
One rather dramatic change in people’s media-related behavior that has taken place during roughly the last decade is the penetration of everyday life with internet communication: Mobile devices and broadband connection give individuals – at least in industrial countries – the possibility to use the internet almost anywhere and anytime. Obviously, a...
In contrast to the prominent individualistic view on self-disclosure, this study focuses on self-disclosure in groups of prior acquaintances that both meet offline and communicate online. It compares within-group self-disclosure between offline face-to-face (FtF) interactions and online communication via mobile messaging applications (MMAs). An onl...
Based on assumptions from entertainment theory, an online-study (N = 419) was conducted to investigate the differential relationships between enjoyment and appreciation of a video clip that dealt with the features of natural gas as fuel for cars, objective and subjective knowledge about the content of that clip, and behavioral intentions of dealing...
The study of spatial presence is currently receiving increased attention in both media psychology and communication research. The present paper introduces the Spatial Presence Experience Scale (SPES), a short eight-item self-report measure. The SPES is derived from a process model of spatial presence (Wirth et al., 2007, Media Psychology, 9, 493–52...
In recent years, entertainment theory has undergone a paradigmatic shift: The traditional conceptualization of entertainment as an exclusively pleasurable affective state has been significantly extended by recent two-factor models. These models have introduced a second dimension of entertainment that incorporates more complex nonhedonic experiences...
This article addresses whether the discipline of communication can contribute answers to the question what a "good life" could be, particularly regarding recent developments in new communication technologies. It starts with the assumption that much of human striving results from 3 fundamental needs that new technologies promise to satisfy as they a...
Für die Theorie und Praxis der Verkehrssicherheitskommunikation gibt es gute Gründe, sich mit den Folgen des Gebrauchs von Computer- und Videospielen intensiv zu befassen. Zum einen wird jedem Betrachter, vor allem aber jedem Nutzer von bestimmten Computerspielen bereits nach wenigen Augenblicken deutlich, welche bemerkenswerten Parallelen zwischen...
An online survey (N = 207) investigated how the seen-function influences users’ answering behavior in Facebook chatting. The seen-function is a chat-feature that provides more transparency over the course of a chat conversation and thus may also intensify the mutual awareness of chat partners. Based on the need to belong and fear of ostracism as mo...
Technische Innovation und der kommunikative Alltag permanenter Vernetzung Die Verfügbarkeit von mobilem Breitbandinternet versetzt mittlerweile wachsende Bevölkerungsanteile – in einigen Segmenten wie den hochgebildeten und einkom-mensstarken jungen urbanen Eliten sogar die dominierende Mehrheit – in die Lage, Dienste und Funktionen der Online-Komm...
The systematic description and explanation of people spending time with video (or computer) games is a relatively new topic for communication research. Theories, models, concepts, and the theoretical constructs that have been used in order to describe and explain these player experiences are not entirely new. They have been developed in different a...
The study of spatial presence is currently receiving increased attention in both media psychology and communication research. The present paper introduces the Spatial Presence Experience Scale (SPES), a short eight-item self-report measure. The SPES is derived from a process model of spatial presence (Wirth et al., 2007, Media Psychology, 9, 493–52...
While intrinsic motivation has received broad attention in recent entertainment research, the effects of extrinsic motivation, such as social pressure to use media, on media enjoyment remain unknown. Based on an online-survey (N = 230), this study tested the effects of intrinsic need satisfaction and perceived social pressure on the enjoyment of Fa...
This study's purpose is twofold: to introduce a new format into existing political entertainment research (‘serious’ political talk shows) and to establish a more specific definition of entertainment in a political context. To do so, the authors rely on a two-process-model of entertainment experiences. A telephone survey (N = 230) was conducted to...
The purpose of this study is to explain viewers’ entertainment and feelings of being informed when watching political talk shows on German TV, depending on their viewing motivations. First, an exploratory survey (N = 189) aims to identify the motivation. Results show that some participants had a strong interest in gaining political information by f...
This study examined the potential of entertainment-education (E-E) for promoting engagement with a science issue. It was assumed that certain entertaining features of a media experience increase viewers’ perceived knowledge about an issue. Drawing on different theoretical models of E-E and on persuasive effects of narrative media messages, three hy...
The question of how media use affects the psychological well‐being of media users has received attention from a number of communication scholars since the early days of the field. However, research has primarily tended to emphasize the risks and negative effects of media use on well‐being, such as detrimental consequences of escapist or excessive m...
Throughout the last decades, research has generated a substantial body of theory about Spatial Presence experiences. This chapter reviews some of the most important existing theoretical explications. First, building on notions offered in literature, the core of the construct will be explicated: What exactly is meant by the term “Spatial Presence”?...
The investigation at hand describes the role of the trait need to belong in the use of social networking services. People vary in their individual need for positive and frequent social contact, a social preference captured by the need to belong. 286 German undergraduate students took part in a questionnaire study gathering comprehensive social netw...
Abstract Interactive storytelling (IS) is a promising new entertainment technology synthesizing preauthored narrative with dynamic user interaction. Existing IS prototypes employ different modes to involve users in a story, ranging from individual avatar control to comprehensive control over the virtual environment. The current experiment tested wh...
Identifying with video game characters is one potentially important process in game enjoyment. Based on a theoretical model of video game identification as transformed self-perception, cognitive processes in video game identification were explored. An experiment with N = 60 male players revealed that increased cognitive accessibility of character-r...
The purpose of the current paper is to develop a theoretical model that identifies why people blog personal content and explains the effects of blogging in “real life.” Data from an online survey are analyzed using maximum likelihood procedures in LISREL 8.75 to test the structural model. Among 531 respondents from Cyworld, a popular social network...
While replay value is a common term in interactive entertainment, psychological research on its meaning in terms of user experiences is sparse. An exploratory experiment using the interactive drama "Façade" was conducted (n=50) to examine shifts and continuities in entertainment-related user experiences between first and second exposure to the same...
“Exposure to communication content” describes one of the most recent areas of specialization within the communication discipline. It is located at the intersection of → media effects research and audience research, two academic traditions that have remained relatively separate. Over the past half a century, the well‐established tradition of media e...
Advances in gaming and other entertainment technologies are evolving rapidly and create new conceptual challenges for understanding and explaining the user experiences they can facilitate. The present article reports a prospective study on a particularly promising entertainment technology of the future: Interactive storytelling (IS). Integrating va...
The present study explores the role of intentions, habits, and addictive tendencies in people’s video game use. Although both habits and addictive tendencies may determine higher amounts of video game use, the present study examines whether the impact of habits and addictive tendencies on video game use may also be lower the less users intend to pl...
The investigation at hand describes the role of the trait need to belong in the use of social networking services. People vary in their individual need for positive and frequent social contact, a social preference captured by the need to belong. 286 German undergraduate students took part in a questionnaire study gathering comprehensive social netw...
The increasing availability of modern information technology offers new opportunities for teaching and learning, but has also become “primarily, if ironically, a distraction from what matters most—effective learning and good teaching” (Kearsley, 1998, p. 47). The current investigation examined the prevalence of engaging in other activities during c...
This workshop has been dedicated to discussing the user experience of Interactive Digital Stories (IDS) and the empirical measurement of it. Although technology development has made substantial progress, theory and empirical studies on the user perspective have not received much attention in the community so far. The workshop has introduced a measu...
At the intersection of multimedia, artificial intelligence, and gaming technology, new visions of future entertainment media arise that approximate the “Holodeck” ® idea of interactive storytelling. We report exploratory experiments on the user experience in a ‘classic', foundational application of interactive storytelling, “Façade” (Mateas & Stern...
This workshop is dedicated to discussing the user experience of an emerging new type of entertainment computing: Interactive stories. Technology development in Interactive Storytelling (IS) has made substantial progress recently, but theory and empirical studies on the user perspective have not received much attention in the entertainment computing...
We argue that entertainment experiences as individual responses to literary texts have not been sufficiently studied in the past. Literary scholars have long regarded entertainment as an inappropriate response to literature. Likewise, psychologists and communications scholars have been hesitant to study entertainment as an effect of literary readin...
This paper points to new developments in the context of entertainment theory. Starting from a background of well-established theories that have been proposed and elaborated mainly by Zillmann and his collaborators since the 1980s, a new two-factor model of entertainment is introduced. This model encompasses “enjoyment” and “appreciation” as two ind...
Two experiments tested the prediction that video game players identify with the character or role they are assigned, which leads to automatic shifts in implicit self-perceptions. Video game identification, thus, is considered as a kind of altered self-experience. In Study 1 (N = 61), participants either played a first-person shooter game or a racin...
With the increasing number of prototypes and market applications of interactive storytelling, the understanding and optimization
of how end users respond to computer-mediated interactive narratives is of growing importance. Based on a conceptual model
of user experiences in interactive storytelling, a measurement instrument for empirical user-base...
What makes virtual violence enjoyable rather than aversive? Two 2×2 experiments tested the assumption that moral disengagement cues provided by a violent video game's narrative and game play lessen users' guilt and negative affect, which would otherwise undermine players' enjoyment of the game. Experiment 1 found that users' familiarity with the vi...