Welcome!
As a part of the Department of Communication of the University of Vienna, the Vienna Advertising and Media Psychology (AdMe) Research Group deals with the impact of modern media environments on people's thinking, behavior, and opinions. The research focus of our group includes areas such as marketing communication, advertising effectiveness, hybrid forms of advertising, political advertising, as well as the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral effects of mass media more generally. Working with quantitative and qualitative social science methods, we integrate scholarship from communication science, social psychology, political science, and marketing.
NEWS
- August 18, 2025
Article of the Yeard Award! The paper When are fact-checks effective? An experimental study on the inclusion of the misinformation source and the source of fact-checks in 16 European countries, published in Mass Communication & Society (doi:10.1080/15205436.2024.2321542) and involving Jörg Matthes as a co-author, was awarded the Article of the Year Award by AEJMC's Mass Communication & Society Division.
- August 13, 2025
Award wins at AEJMC 2025! A total of five papers by our group have been awarded Top Paper Awards at this year's AEJMC annual convention, which was held last week in San Francisco, CA.
Maryam Khaleghipour, Kevin Koban, and Jörg Matthes received the First Place Top Paper Award by the Communication Theory and Methodology Division (Open Paper Competition) for their contribution Over-time relationships of direct and indirect digital hate victimization on fundamental needs and bystander intervention.
Selina Noetzel, Andreas Nanz, Ye Sun, Alice Binder, and Jörg Matthes were awarded the Second Place Top Faculty Paper Award by the Political Communication Division (Open Paper Competition) for their work on From head to toe? A meta-analysis on the cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral effects of online political microtargeting.
Further, the submission Does social media use make us more environmentally knowledgeable or more eco-anxious? A multi-country investigation was honored with both the OMGC Top Faculty Paper Award as well as the 2nd place in the ICD Robert L. Stevenson Paper Competition. This paper, led by Jörg Matthes, also involved Ariadne Neureiter, Thomas Kirchmair, Alice Binder, and Christina Brandstetter from our team.
Last but not least, Sofie Vranken, Jaroslava Kaňková, and Jörg Matthes were awarded a Top Method Paper Award by the Communication Theory and Methodology Division for their research titled Artificial Influencers, artificial designs? A systematic review of experimental research on virtual influencers.
- August 12, 2025
Publications galore! During our very brief summer break, a host of new publications have been published and are now available online. For further details, please check the references below.
Matthes, J., Neureiter, A., & Seiffert-Brockmann, J. (2025). Coping with greenwashed ads. Greenwashing perceptions, eco-label confusion, and the willingness to pay more. Journal of International Consumer Marketing. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/08961530.2025.2530395
Bojić, L., Matthes, J., Samala, A. D, & Čabarkapa, M. (2025). The dual impact of virtual reality: Examining the addictive potential and therapeutic applications of immersive media in the metaverse. Information, Communication & Society. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2025.2520005
Zoizner, A., Matthes, J., Corbu, N., de Vreese, C. H., Esser, F., Koc-Michalska, K., Schemer, C., Theocharis, Y., & Zilinsky, J. (2025). Can AI-attributed news challenge partisan news selection? Evidence from a conjoint experiment. The International Journal of Press/Politics. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612251342679
- August 11, 2025
New team role! We are excited to announce that our former teaching assistant Christina Brandstetter will continue her academic path within our team and take up a position as predoctoral researcher, supervised by Jörg Matthes. Christina joined AdMe in September 2023 and has supported the group as well as Professor Matthes's teaching activities ever since. Have a good start to your predoc life, dear Christina!
- July 4, 2025
New paper available! Social Science & Medicine just published the article "Don't vape, nobody uses these poisonous sticks": A content analysis of adolescents' self-generated anti-smoking and anti-vaping messages (doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118342) by a group of authors led by Sofie Vranken.
- July 4, 2025
Another AdMe position! We are currently looking to fill a second teaching assistant position to support Professor Matthes's teaching activities. If you are interested in joining us, please check UNIVIE's Recruiting Portal here for further details.
- June 30, 2025
New AdMe position! We are currently looking to fill the position of a teaching assistant to support Professor Matthes's teaching activities. If you are interested in joining us, please check UNIVIE's Recruiting Portal here for further details.
- June 24, 2025
Awards at ICA 2025 in Denver! For their submission entitled "What are you looking at?!?" An eye-tracking experiment on anti-LGBTQIA+ online hostility under prototypical mobile information consumption conditions, Kevin Koban and Melanie Saumer received a Top Faculty Paper Award by ICA's Mobile Communication Division.
Further, our former team member Ruta Kaskeleviciute was honored with the prestigious 2025 ICA Kyoon Hur Dissertation Award by the Mass Communication Division. Ruta received the award for her outstanding dissertation Perceptions and effects of mediated terrorism: An intergroup approach, completed in 2024 and supervised by Jörg Matthes.
- June 24, 2025
New paper out now! Kathrin Karsay's, Marina F. Thomas's, and Jörg Matthes's work on Inspiration for perspiration? Two experiments testing the psychological effects of fitspiration (doi:10.1037/ppm0000605) has now been published in Psychology of Popular Media.