Dating apps are designed to facilitate partner-seeking, yet, users can also experience different forms of social exclusion, such as being ghosted or unmatched. Ghosting—dissolving relationships by abruptly withdrawing from communication—leaves individuals uncertain about whether their match will reply at some point or not. In contrast, unmatching is more easily detectable, as the chat either disappears from the inbox (e.g., Tinder) or a direct notification is sent (e.g., Bumble: “Looks like [Name] ended the chat”). Even though such notifications reduce the ambiguity surrounding relationship dissolution, they do not clarify *why* the unmatching occurred. Prior research on comparable social media features, such as “unfriending” on Facebook, suggests adverse psychological effects. However, the consequences of unmatching in the dating context remain unexplored. Addressing this research gap, we examine the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral effects of this explicit relationship dissolution strategy, focusing on those outcomes commonly studied in social exclusion research: Threatened needs (i.e., belonging, self-esteem, meaningful existence, control), negative affect, rumination, and coping behavior (i.e., prosocial, antisocial, withdrawal). Additionally, we consider prior findings indicating that the effects of relationship dissolution depend on the stage of relationship formation. As ghosting effects intensify with relationship length, we explore whether a similar pattern emerges for unmatching. Furthermore, we examine whether rejection sensitivity—the tendency to anxiously expect, readily perceive, and overreact to potential social exclusion—moderates these effects. To test our pre-registered hypotheses (see https://aspredicted.org/96n2-m29j.pdf), we conducted a 2 (dating experience: dissolving vs. maintaining the match) × 2 (chat history: small talk vs. planning a date) between-subjects online experiment. 285 participants were first exposed to a simulated dating environment and selected the most appealing profile. Then, they watched a video of a chat conversation with “Your Match,” varying per experimental condition (see https://t1p.de/t2g8z for all materials).

Nowadays, we all are confronted with different media modalities. Yet, the impact of multimodal framing on attitudes, emotions, and behavioral intentions remains largely unexplored, as most framing studies have focused on textual communication. Since previous research has shown that videos can be superior to other media (such as texts, images, or audio only) in terms of their comprehension, credibility, and memorability, the present project examines whether and how this superiority affects framing effects.

To this end, we tested whether metaphorical framing effects (presented as text) can be replicated in other communication modalities. Specifically, we exposed individuals to information about Wilson’s disease in one of three framing conditions using a militaristic metaphor, a spatial metaphor or neutral non-metaphorical phrases (control condition). Additionally, we varied whether they received the information via video compared to audio. This results in a 3 x 2 between subjects design for which at least N = 350 participants were preregistered.

We hypothesized a framing effect as well as a modality effect. Specifically, we expected (a) more fear towards the disease, (b) more support for a preventive medical examination and (c) a greater willingness to undergo the preventive examination for the militaristic (vs. spatial) framing as well as for the video (vs. audio) modality. Additionally, we explored the interaction between framing and modality.

In a world of constant connectivity via mobile communication, people increasingly report to engage in digital disconnection, temporarily limiting their digital media use (Nassen et al., 2023). Yet, existing research has rarely examined the moment-to-moment processes underlying disconnection in daily life. Mobile messaging can serve as a relevant case as it represents a central gateway to connection that is often highly habitualized and driven by availability norms. In turn, messaging is subject to commonly applied disconnection strategies (e.g., muting notifications).

In this study, we apply the connection cues framework (Bayer et al., 2016) to investigate connection and disconnection via mobile messaging as two separate, potentially co-existing behaviors across everyday situations. Accordingly, we postulate that social norms and media habits influence subsequent connection and disconnection behaviors, respectively. Acknowledging the relevance of need experiences in context of mobile communication (Schneider et al., 2022), we add relatedness need satisfaction and frustration as potential predictors – allowing us to directly compare the roles of (dis)connection norms, habits, and needs. We will collect in-situ data with a preregistered experience sampling design (https://osf.io/ky5m6/?view_only=938c63977bd24e378156a8750a402f02), for which we recruit 200 participants and prompt six daily surveys across two weeks. Connection behavior will be operationalized as the number of messages sent or responded to during the last half hour, whereas disconnection behavior will be measured as the amount of time during the last half hour that participants have deliberately limited their messaging. For exploratory purposes, we will assess additional messaging behaviors including checking for, glancing at, and reading messages. We will test our hypotheses with random-slope within-between models, specifying predictor variables at t0 and outcome variables with a lag of t+1.

We believe that our study will provide new insights into daily patterns of connection and disconnection shaped by both individual (habits, needs) and social (norms) factors.

Recent research indicates that the way people estimate, evaluate or feel about their social media use (i.e., social media use perceptions) has a significant impact on their lives and affects, for example, their wellbeing. However, we do not yet fully understand how these media use perceptions are formed. The Social Influence Model of Media Use and Media Effects (SIM-MUME) provides insights into the formation of media use perceptions: it argues that media use perceptions are socially constructed, meaning that they are influenced by processes such as norms, communication, and media reporting. Initial studies support this idea and show that communication with others and social norms influence, for example, how guilty people feel about their social media use and how problematic they perceive their use to be. Despite this preliminary empirical support, research is still limited. Extant studies mainly used qualitative designs and examined specific user groups (e.g., mothers). It is therefore unclear whether existing findings can be generalized to larger populations and whether some user groups (e.g., certain generational cohorts) are more susceptible to social influence than others.

To extend previous research, we conducted a large quantitative cross-sectional survey study and examined generational differences in the impact of three social influence processes (i.e., social norms, direct communication, media reporting around social media use) on three types of social media use perceptions (i.e., guilt, perceived problematic use, estimated usage time). Based on an a-priori power simulation, we recruited a gender and generation (Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z) balanced quota sample of adult social media users living in the UK (N = 2,442) via Prolific. Results were obtained using structural equation models and multigroup comparisons. The pre-registration, materials, data and code are available at https://osf.io/up3dz/?view_only=9e88d70c504846f8959246e8e1efcf30.

Solitude – the absence of social interaction – allows individuals to calm their mind (i.e., recover) and to consider matters on their mind (i.e., reflect). This so-called mental restoration is vital for psychological well-being and growth. Yet when physically in solitude (i.e., not interacting in-person), individuals can still receive input from others on digital platforms. Indeed, most digital platforms have some “capacity” for social interaction, enabling non-interactive one-way communication (e.g., streaming), reactive two-way communication (e.g., commenting), and/or interactive two-way communication (e.g., messaging). Critics, therefore, argue that the use of digital platforms in physical solitude disrupts the mental restoration that solitude traditionally provides. The present study aimed to test this claim. Using social presence theory, we expected that individuals experience less recovery and reflection on platforms with a higher capacity for social interaction. We also explored whether these relationships varied as a function of individuals’ trait-level need for solitude (NFS). To this end, we conducted a pre-registered online survey study among emerging adults in the United Kingdom (N=1297; aged 18-25). In the survey, participants rated their NFS and were exposed to four hypothetical vignettes (situations), each asking participants to imagine themselves in physical solitude while using a digital platform with a specific capacity for social interaction, ranging from: no communication (i.e., the baseline vignette where the content is one’s own thoughts: e.g., any notes or journaling app), to non-interactive one-way communication (e.g., Netflix, Spotify), to reactive two-way communication (e.g., YouTube, Reddit), and to interactive two-way communication (e.g., Instagram, TikTok). For each vignette, participants rated the likelihood that they would recover and reflect (using validated scales). Data were analyzed using multilevel modeling, using Helmert contrasts to compare recovery and reflection scores between (subsets of) vignettes. Ultimately, our findings will add a nuanced perspective to the current debate on digital technology and solitude.