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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how influencers' visual content affects consumer attitudinal and behavioral responses to influencer advertising. The proposed model includes smile intensity of influencers as the independent variable, warmth and admiration as the mediators and product category (Study 1) and orientation of advertising messages (self vs social, Study 2) as the moderators.Design/methodology/approachTwo experimental studies (Study 1 and 2) were conducted. A total of 337 online panelists were collected via Qualtrics in Study 1 and responses from 409 online panelists were collected via Qualtrics in Study 2.FindingsThe results of two experimental studies showed that smiling influencers increased perceptions of warmth and feelings of admiration, thereby evoking positive consumer attitudes and behavioral intention. The strong positive impact of smiling on responses to influencer advertising was present regardless of product categories (Study 1) and the orientation of advertising messages (Study 2).Originality/valueThis study empirically examined the role of visual content on consumers' attitudinal, emotional and behavioral responses to influencer advertising by adopting theoretical models in social psychology. This paper also provides strong managerial implications for marketers who seek the most effective strategies for leading consumers to evaluate influencers positively and ultimately, accepting marketing messages favorably.

The current global pandemic has presented an opportunity to rethink how universities implement sexual assault prevention programs. The advantages and capabilities presented by technology such as digital gaming have not been fully utilized in sexual assault prevention programming. A user-centered design approach gives developers the opportunity to truly engage students in a learning process; a critical thinking required to explore sexual assault and contributing factors in a meaningful way. Digital gaming presents an active learning experience that engages students in a method of learning they may be more familiar with, and may actually prefer. By using digital gaming, sexual assault prevention can remain effective and accessible no matter the social and environmental circumstances.

The technology maintenance framework argues that digital access is unreliable and thus consequential for individual/social welfare. However, no one has demonstrated a causal effect of cell phone access on health and well-being. Using a 7-month longitudinal field experiment we investigated how stable cellphone access impacts health and quality of life of people experiencing poverty (N = 45, median annual income = $7,216). Participants received phone cards providing unlimited talk, text, and data (n = 23) or were given grocery store gift cards of the equivalent amount (n = 22). Over the course of the experiment, participants in the treatment group reported better health and quality of life compared to those in the control group. Emotional social support moderated this relationship in such a way that those with the least social support benefited the most from stable cellphone access (supporting a ‘poor-get-richer’ hypothesis). We present practical and theoretical implications in the discussion.

The implementation of body-worn cameras (BWC) by policing agencies has received widespread support from many individuals, including citizens and police officers. Despite their increasing prevalence, little is known about how the point-of-view (POV) of these cameras affects perceptions of viewers. In this research, we investigate how POV interacts with skin color of citizens in police use of force videos to affect perceptions of procedural justice. In an experimental study, participants watched eight police use of force videos—half recorded from BWC and half from an onlooker’s perspective—in which skin tone of the citizen varied. Results indicate that POV interacts with citizen skin tone such that, compared to the onlooker perspective, the BWC exacerbated viewer racial bias against dark skin tone citizens. Furthermore, identification with the police officer fully mediated this relationship. Results are discussed in relation to media theory and practical implications.

This research examines how visual representation of social media influencers affects perceptions and attitudes toward influencers and their persuasive messages. Using the theoretical frameworks of the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) and the Behaviors from Interpersonal Affect and Stereotypes (BIAS) Map, Study 1 demonstrated that influencers with broad smiles were perceived as warmer and more competent and evaluated more positively than those with closed smiles. Study 2 revealed that warmth and competence judgments led to admiration toward the smiling influencers, which in turn resulted in positive attitudinal and behavioral responses to their persuasive messages. By investigating the mediating effects of judgments and emotional responses toward influencers, this study reveals social cognitive mechanisms underlying psychological processing of influencer messaging.

This study investigates how news stories about models’ social identities, models’ actual social identities, and ease of categorization of models into societally predominant gender and racial categories affect processing and evaluation of persuasive messages. Participants read news stories about fashion companies that used transgender or biracial models in advertising campaigns or control stories and then viewed a series of still images edited to look like advertisements. Physiological responding and self-reported attitudes were recorded. Results indicated more positive evaluation of images preceded by news stories about models’ social identities compared to control stories. With a few exceptions, participants did not differ in their evaluation of images based on actual identity, although actual identity did affect processing. While participants responded positively to images with racially ambiguous models, they did not respond positively to images with androgynous models. Results are discussed in regard to theoretical and practical implications.

Drawing upon the theoretical framework of social identity theory and literature on physical intimacy, consumer neuroscience, and social cognitive and affective neuroscience, responses to images featuring same-gender and other-gender pairs are explored through examination of self-reported attitudes and neural activity associated with attention, memory, and emotion. Under the pretense of pretesting the effectiveness of images to be used in a national advertising campaign, participants viewed still images while neuroelectric brain responses were recorded. Each image featured two women, two men, or a man and a woman presented in positions of physical intimacy. Results indicated that event-related brain potentials (ERPs) associated with attention did not differ overall based on couple composition. However, ERPs associated with working memory and emotion were enhanced when processing images with two men. Preference for these images was reflected in self-reported attitudes.

Research on information and communication technologies conducted with a vulnerable sample consists of a unique host of challenges not experienced in research with oft-used student samples. This art...

This research examined how implicit attitudes are associated with cognitive processing and self-reported evaluation of advertisements featuring same-sex couples. Hypotheses were posited using the t...

The present study investigated how task demand (cognitive load and interactivity) and avatar sexualization in a video game influenced rape myth acceptance (RMA), hostile sexism, and self-objectification. In a between-subjects design, 300 U.S. college students either played or watched someone else play a videogame as either a sexualized or non-sexualized female avatar under high (memorize 7 symbols) or low (memorize 2 symbols) cognitive load. Hypotheses were derived from the limited capacity model of motivated mediated message processing (LC4MP) and perspectives on stereotype processing. Results contradicted hypotheses that greater task demands and sexualization would produce greater RMA, hostile sexism, and self-objectification. Instead, we found that sexualization did not affect these variables. Greater cognitive load reduced rape myth acceptance and hostile sexism for those in the sexualized avatar condition, but it did not affect self-objectification. We discuss these results with respect to the LC4MP and suggest that the processing of stereotype-inconsistent information might be the underlying cause of these unexpected findings. These results provide tentative evidence that cognitively demanding video game environments may prompt players to focus on stereotype-inconsistent, rather than stereotype-consistent, social information.

Face-ism describes a phenomenon in which men are presented with more facial prominence in images than are women. Previous theorists have ascribed this phenomenon to social causes. However, occurrence of face-ism across historical and cultural contexts suggests the possibility of biological influence. The current study aimed to explore face-ism through the intersection of social influence and biological factors via the investigation of photographs of women of different ages and social standing within the context of academia. Results show that graduate students displayed the face less prominently than both tenured and nontenured faculty. Additionally, younger women displayed the face less prominently than older women.

The results of research investigating the effects of violent videogames have been inconsistent. Some evidence suggests that exposure to violent videogames decreases physiological arousal and results in desensitization to subsequent exposure to violent stimuli. Other research does not support these findings. This study examined physiological and affective desensitization to violent videogame play. Participants played a violent or non-violent videogame and then viewed aggressive, pleasant, and neutral images. Participants' negative affect in response to the images was assessed by examining activity in the brow muscle region (i.e., corrugator supercilii), heart rate (HR), self-reported affect, and self-reported arousal. Based on previous research regarding the General Aggression Model (GAM), we expected that participants who played the violent videogame would demonstrate desensitization as evidenced by less reactivity in the corrugator supercilii region and less HR reactivity in response to violent images than participants who played the nonviolent videogame. We also expected that participants who played the violent videogame would rate the aggressive images as less aversive than those who played the nonviolent game. Contrary to our expectations, the findings were not consistent with the hypotheses based on the GAM. Examined physiological and affective desensitization to one violent videogame.Participants played a (non)violent videogame then looked at aggressive images.Examined physiological and affective desensitization to one violent video game.Participants did not differ in self-reported affect or arousal.The violent, compared to the nonviolent, videogame did not produce desensitization.

Using a hierarchy of effects theoretical framework, the present study investigates psychological responses to positive and negative publicity about athlete endorsers. Furthermore, this research addresses the role of brand novelty on these processes. Participants were exposed to an ad for a soft drink brand (either novel or well-established) that featured an athlete endorser. Each ad was paired with a news story that contained either positive or negative information about the athlete’s off-field behavior. Participants’ cognitive, affective, and conative responses were assessed. Results indicate more cognition, affect, and conation to ads associated with positive publicity about the athletes and for established brands. Unexpectedly, publicity and brand novelty interacted such that established brands were more susceptible to the effects of publicity than were novel brands. Results are discussed in regard to furthering theory and practical implications.