Soo Yun Shin

The present study investigated when and how the level of interactivity in politicians' Twitter communication affects the public's cognitive and affective reactions. In a Web-based experiment (n=264), participants viewed a high profile male politician's Twitter page, wherein he was either actively responding to his followers' questions (high interactivity) or mostly posting messages on his own (low interactivity). Exposure to the high-interactivity Twitter page induced a stronger sense of direct

The present experiment investigated (a) if exposure to a high profile politician’s Twitter page (vs. newspaper interview) affects the participants’ evaluations of him and his policies and (b) how their proclivity to get deeply immersed in a narrative and identify with the story characters (i.e., transportability) moderates such effects. Even though the messages were identical, exposure to the candidate’s Twitter page heightened the sense of direct conversation with him (i.e., social presence), w

While deepfake has emerged as a severe issue in the multimedia environment, most studies examined text-based false claims, leaving the question of what unique features of video-based deepfake news deceives recipients and how it can be corrected. By conducting two online experiments, we study perceived source vividness as a psychological mechanism of the effect of AI-enabled deepfake news on news credibility and engagement intentions. Furthermore, we test how an inserted false-tag onto the fake n

With rapid technical advancements, deepfakes—i.e., hyper-realistic fake videos using face swaps—have become more widespread and easier to create, challenging the old notion of “seeing is believing.” Despite raised concerns over potential impacts of deepfakes on people’s credibility toward audio-visual evidence in journalism, systematic investigation of the topic has been lacking. This study conducted an experiment (N = 230) that tested (1) how a news article using deepfake video (vs. real video)

With the rampant increase of misinformation produced and distributed online at an alarming rate, it has become more imperative than ever to understand what makes people fall for misinformation. Drawing on the literature on persuasion, credibility of online information, and digital deception, we first review a list of factors associated with the source, message, channel, and receiver that may alter the extent to which people judge information as truthful and believable. Based on critical assessme

Disinformation presented in multiple modalities (textual, visual, and auditory modes; multimodal disinformation) has become a serious concern. This study examines how disinformation, portrayed using an image or video format, may be more powerful than text-only disinformation. In particular, we examined the impact on affective mechanisms, as well as the moderating role of perceived issue relevance. Through an online experiment with modality conditions and a control group (text-only disinformation

A web-based experiment (<i>n</i> = 960) examined how debunking of publicly shared news on social media affects viewers' attitudes toward the source who shared the fake news, their agreement with the news position, and perceived credibility of social media as a news platform. Exposure to debunking information did not lower participants' agreement with the news position, but led them to derogate (1) the source who shared the misinformation and (2) social media as a news platform. However, particip

Online self-tracking groups were more effective than self-tracking alone in promoting fruit and vegetable consumption for early young adults. Low performance discrepancy from other group members lead to downward contrast, which in turn increased participants' fruit and vegetable consumption over time. The study highlighted social comparison processes in online groups that allow for sharing personal health information. Lastly, given the small scale of this study, nonsignificant results with small

The relationship between self-disclosure and liking another person is well-known, as is the prevalence and importance of self-disclosure in computer-mediated interactions. The effects of conversation partners’ responses to disclosures are an overlooked issue, implicated but not examined in most previous research. An original experiment examined whether different forms of response to self-disclosure in computer-mediated communication affect liking differently. Participants engaged in dyadic onlin

In computer-mediated communication (CMC) systems, the messages that a user types usually persist on the screen for some time, a feature that distinguishes CMC from face-to-face interaction. Persistence may activate psychological self-perception, leading communicators to infer from their persistent messaging how they feel about the subject more so than if messages did not persist. This study applies persistence and self-perception to the relationships between self-disclosure and liking. It identi

Abstract With the growing use of video chat in daily life, it is critical to understand how visual communication channels affect interpersonal relationships. A potentially important feature that distinguishes video chats from face-to-face interactions is the communicators’ ability to see themselves during the interaction. Our purpose was to determine the effects of self-viewing on the process and outcome of a workplace confrontation. A dyadic experiment with two (self-viewing vs. no self-viewing

Previous research found that computer-mediated communication (CMC) users affectively compensate for partners when they believe their partners’ negative demeanor to be malleable, but unlike in other media, they discount their own influence on their partner. This research examined attributions that chat users make when they influence their partners but do not recognize their own causal influence. Dyads conducted either online text-based conversations or audio interactions. Each male dyad member wa