My research is focused on the decision-making processes. I seek to understand the factors affecting how individuals decide to expose themselves to a certain message over another.
Why does one person prefer to watch an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine while another person prefers to watch multiple episodes? Or why do some people seek only hard news while others look for both soft and hard news? In my research, I aim to elucidate answers for such decision-making processes, as well as the outcomes of such decisions.
CURRENT PROJECTS
Continuous exposure to media messages, and dynamic decision-making models
Media exposure happens in a continuum rather than a point in time. My research aims to understand how and why these continuous exposures occur, and what types of differential effects they have on individuals.
Image: via Netflix
Ulusoy, E., Carnahan, D., Barry, R., Bergan, D. E., Ma, S., Ahn, S., & Mcgraw, J. (2021). Flooding the Zone: How Exposure to Implausible Statements Shapes Subsequent Belief Judgments. International Journal of Public Opinion Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edab022
Carnahan, D., Ulusoy, E., Barry, R., McGraw, J., Virtue, I., & Began, D. (2022) What Should I Believe? A Conjoint Analysis of the Influence of Message Characteristics on Belief in, Perceived Credibility of, and Intent to Share Political Posts. Journal of Communication. Advanced Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqac023
*TOP PAPER* – Gong, J., Huskey, R., Eden, A., & Ulusoy, E. (2021, November). Computationally Modeling Mood Management Theory: A Drift-Diffusion Model of People’s Preference for Valence and Arousal. Paper accepted for presentation to the 107th Annual National Communication Association Conference, Seattle, Washington.
Ulusoy, E., Wirz, D., Eden, A., & Ellithorpe, M. (2022). Boundaries on a Binge: Explicating the Role of Intentionality in Binge-Watching Motivations and Outcomes. Paper accepted for presentation at the National Communication Association’s 108th Annual Conference. New Orleans, LA.
Ulusoy, E. (2018, Nov). Binge vs Not Binge: The Content Analysis of the Common Features of the Binge-able TV Series. Proposal presented at Locus Mini-Symposium: Narrative. Michigan State University, Michigan.
Audience responses
My recent projects do not only look at the processes leading to selection/behavior but also the effect of such processes on audience responses, such as enjoyment, disposition, and retrospective thinking.
Image: StunningArt/shutterstock
Ulusoy, E., Sethi, N., Baldwin, J., Grady, S. M., & Ewoldsen, D. R. (2022). Can’t Stop Thinking about Star Wars and The Office: Antecedents of Retrospective Imaginative Involvement. Human Communication Research. Advanced Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqac019
Tamborini, R., Grizzard, M., Hahn, L., Kryston, K., & Ulusoy, E. (2021). The role of narrative cues in shaping ADT: What makes audiences think that good things happened to good people. In P. Vorderer and C. Klimmt (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Entertainment Theory (pp. 320–342). Oxford University Press
Ulusoy, E., & Lee, H. E. (2019). Effect of gender on character evaluation: Factors affecting enjoyment. International Journal of Advanced Smart Convergence, 8 (1), 214-221. https://doi.org/10.7236/IJASC.2019.8.1.214
Sethi, N., Grady, S. M., Ulusoy, E., Baldwin, J., & Ewoldsen, D. R. (2022). What do we do with narratives after the fact? Exploring dimensions of Retrospective Imaginative Involvement. Communication Reports. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/08934215.2022.2040558
Kryston, K., Ulusoy, E., Grady, S. M., Johnson, B. K., Rosenbaum, J. E., & Eden, A. (2022). Seeking Spoilage: The Impact of Content Challenge, Self-Control, and Traits on Spoiler Selection. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 66(3), 440-463. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2022.2110593
*TOP PAPER* – Ulusoy, E., Grady, S., Kryston, K., Rosenbaum, J., Johnson, B., & Eden, A. (2020, November). Challenge Accepted! The Role of Content Challenge and Self-Control in Spoiler Selection and Anticipated Enjoyment. Paper accepted for presentation to the 106th Annual National Communication Association Conference, Indianapolis, IN.
Ulusoy, E., & Eden, A. (2022, May). Can Mood and Self-control Explain It All? Testing the Role of State Self-Control in Mood Management Theory. Paper accepted for presentation at the 72nd meeting of the International Communication Association, Paris, France.
Ulusoy, E., Grady, S., Bente, G., Goble, H., & Ozuch, C. (2021, May). Investigating the Physiological and Subjective Experiences of Completion versus Revelatory Suspense. Paper accepted for presentation to the 71st meeting of the International Communication Association, Denver, CO, USA.
Social cues in decision-making
Decision-making is a complex process that is affected by not only intrapersonal but interpersonal factors as well.
Understanding the role of the group is important to predict individuals’ behavioral patterns.
Image: Grace HeeJung Kim (via KQED)
Carnahan, D., Bergan, D. E., Ulusoy, E., Ahn, S., & Barry, R. (2022). Assessing the Potential of Partisan Group Cues in Promoting Accurate Beliefs. Mass Communication and Society. Advance Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2022.2127367
Park, H. S., Ulusoy, E., Choi, S. Y., & Lee, H. E. (2020). Temporal Distance and Descriptive Norms on Environmental Behaviors: A Cross-Cultural Examination of Construal-Level Theory. SAGE Open. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020914576
Rathjens, B., Van Der Heide, B., Pham, D., Earle, K., Ulusoy, E., Mason, A. J., Zhang, Y., & Bredland, A. (Forthcoming). Negative Online Reviews and Manager Response: Applying Expectancy Disconfirmation Theory in a CMC Context. Communication Reports.
*TOP PAPER* – Carnahan, D., Bergan, D., Ahn, S., Ulusoy, E., & Barry, R. (2020, November). The Beliefs of Others: The Influence of Normative Information about the Partisan In-Group on Citizens’ Factual Beliefs about Politics. Paper accepted for presentation to the 106th Annual National Communication Association Conference, Indianapolis, IN.
Van Der Heide, B., Ulusoy, E., Ma, S., Earle, K., Mason, A., & Dai, Y. (2020, May). Interpersonal Media Effects: Two Studies of the Effects of Observing Communication with Content Creators on YouTube. Paper presented at the 70th annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Gold Coast, Australia.
*TOP PAPER* – Park, H. S.,Kim, M., Lee, H. E., & Ulusoy, E. (2017, November). The role of gender identity at workplace: Comparative study of Korean women attending women’s schools and coeducational schools. Paper presented at the 103rd annual convention of the National Communication Association, Dallas, TX.
Health and media
Individuals seek entertainment media not only to simply entertain themselves. Instead, they can also benefit from media, both socially and psychologically.
My recent research specifically focuses on the effect of media exposure on physical and psychological health.
Image: via Albuquerque Journal
Ellithorpe, M., Ulusoy, E., Eden, A., Hahn, L., Yang, C., & Tucker, R. (2022). The complicated impact of media use before bed on sleep: Results from a combination of objective EEG sleep measurement and media diaries. Journal of Sleep Research, 31(5), e13551. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13551
Eden, A., Ellithorpe, M. E., Meshi, D., Ulusoy, E., & Grady, S. M. (2021). All night long: Problematic media use is differentially associated with sleep quality and depression by medium. Communication Research Reports, 38(3), 143-149. https://doi.org/10.1080/08824096.2021.1902798
Meshi, D., Ulusoy, E., Ozdem-Mertens, C., Grady, S., Eden, A., & Ellithorpe, M. (2020). Problematic social media use is associated with increased risk-aversion in response to negative outcomes in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 34(4), 549–555. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000558
Ellithorpe, M. E., Eden, A., Hahn, L., Ulusoy, E., Yang, C., & Tucker, R. M. (2019). Meal-concurrent media use is associated with increased dietary intake with no evidence of compensation in free-living adults. Obesity, 27 (9), 1418- 1422. https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.22577
Ulusoy, E., Eden, A., & Ellithorpe, M. (2022). To sleep, or not to sleep? That is the question: The effect of self-control on sleep delay due to media use. Paper accepted for presentation at the National Communication Association’s 108th Annual Conference. New Orleans, LA.
Eden, A., Ellithorpe, M., Ulusoy, E., Wirz, D., & Hofer, M. (2021, May). Social disadvantage, media use motivations and effects on well-being. Paper presented at the 71st meeting of the International Communication Association, Virtual.
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Ezgi Ulusoy 