Publications

On this page, we compile all peer-reviewed publications that our team has been involved in over the past five years.

Yeo, J., Classen, K. L., & Stein, J.-P. (2026). A window into the other side of the world: Predictors of viewers’ interest in culturally distant media. Journal of Media Psychology.

Breves, P. L., Boerman, S., van Berlo, Z., Ischen, C., & Stein, J.-P. (2025). The impact of body-positive and fitspirational influencers on body satisfaction: A longitudinal study of evolving parasocial relationships. Human Communication Research. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqaf029
Forner, L., Lutz, S., Zheng, X., & Stein, J.-P. (2025). The dark side of fandom: Exploring the association between parasocial relationships with celebrities and aggression. Media Psychology. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2025.2562009
Gnambs, T., Stein, J.-P., Appel, M., Griese, F., & Zinn, S. (2025). An economical measure of attitudes towards artificial intelligence in work, healthcare, and education (ATTARI-WHE). Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans, 3, 100106. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbah.2024.100106 Download
Gnambs, T., Stein, J.-P., Zinn, S., Griese, F., & Appel, M. (2025). Attitudes, experiences, and usage intentions of artificial intelligence: A population study in Germany. Telematics and Informatics, 98, 102265. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2025.102265 Download
Yeo, J., & Stein, J.-P. (2025). Digitally created body positivity: The effects of virtual influencers with different body types on viewer perceptions. Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbah.2025.100231

Grundke, A., Appel, M., & Stein, J.-P. (2024). Aversion against machines with complex mental abilities: The role of individual differences. Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans, 2(2). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbah.2024.100087 Download
Stein, J.-P., Breves, P. L., & Anders, N. (2024). Parasocial interactions with real and virtual influencers: The role of perceived similarity and human-likeness. New Media & Society, 26(6), 3433–3453. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221102900 Download

Liu, T., Pietschmann, D., & Ohler, P. (2022). Affecting explicit and implicit body image with thin-idealized avatars in virtual reality: The role of sense of embodiment. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2021.0091
Stein, J.-P., Koban, K., Joos, S., & Ohler, P. (2022). Worth the effort? Comparing different youtube vlog production styles in terms of viewers’ identification, parasocial response, immersion, and enjoyment. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 16(3), 426–436. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000374
Weber, S., Messingschlager, T., & Stein, J.-P. (2022). This is an Insta-vention! Exploring cognitive countermeasures to reduce negative consequences of social comparisons on Instagram. Media Psychology, 25(3), 411–440. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2021.1968440

Mara, M., Stein, J.-P., Latoschik, M. E., Lugrin, B., Schreiner, C., Hofstettler, R., & Appel, M. (2021). User responses to a humanoid robot observed in real life, virtual reality, 3D, and 2D. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.633178
Stein, J.-P. (2021). Conjuring up the departed in virtual reality: The good, the bad, and the potentially ugly. Psychology of Popular Media, 10(4), 505–510. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000315
Stein, J.-P., Krause, E., & Ohler, P. (2021). Every (Insta-)gram counts? Applying cultivation theory to explore the effects of Instagram on young users’ body image. Psychology of Popular Media, 10(1), 87–97. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000268
Stein, J.-P., & Appel, M. (2021). How to deal with researcher harassment in the social sciences. Nature Human Behavior, 5, 178–180. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01011-6
Stein, J.-P., & Yeo, J. (2021). Investigating meal-concurrent media use: Social and dispositional predictors, intercultural differences, and the novel media phenomenon of “mukbang” eating broadcasts. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 3(5), 956–968. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbe2.306

Stein, J.-P., Appel, M., Jost, A., & Ohler, P. (2020). Matter over mind? How the acceptance of digital entities depends on their appearance, mental prowess, and the interaction between both. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 142, 64–73. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2020.102463

Appel, M., Krisch, N., Stein, J.-P., & Weber, S. (2019). Smartphone zombies! Pedestrians’ distracted walking as a function of their fear of missing out. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 63, 130–133. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2019.04.003
Stein, J.-P., Liebold, B., & Ohler, P. (2019). Stay back, clever thing! Linking situational control and human uniqueness concerns to the aversion against autonomous technolog. Computers in Human Behavior, 95, 73–82. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.01.021

Koban, K., Stein, J.-P., Eckhardt, V., & Ohler, P. (2018). Quid pro quo in Web 2.0. Connecting personality traits and Facebook usage intensity to uncivil commenting intentions in public online discussions. Computers in Human Behavior, 79, 9–18. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.10.015
Stein, J.-P., Lu, X., & Ohler, P. (2018). Mutual perceptions of Chinese and German students at a German university: Stereotypes, media influence, and evidence for a negative contact hypothesis. Compare, 49(6), 943–963. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2018.1477579
Stein, J.-P., & Ohler, P. (2018). Saving face in front of the computer? Culture and attributions of human likeness influence users’ experience of automatic facial emotion recognition. Frontiers in Digital Humanities, 7, 18. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3389/fdigh.2018.00018
Stein, J.-P., & Ohler, P. (2018). Uncanny... but convincing? Inconsistency between a virtual agent’s facial proportions and vocal realism reduces its credibility and attractiveness, but not its persuasive success. Interacting with Computers, 30(6), 480–491. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/iwc/iwy023

Stein, J.-P., & Ohler, P. (2017). Venturing into the uncanny valley of mind – The influence of mind attribution on the acceptance of human-like characters in a virtual reality setting. Cognition, 160, 43–50. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2016.12.010