What is a good social scientific theory? How can we construct it?
@adrianmeier.bsky.social and I discussed these questions and presented hand’s-on-methods in our “Theory Construction”-workshop at #RezFo2025.
Many thanks @uschwertberger.bsky.social, @annaschorn.bsky.social & Jana Keil for having us!

How do nature documentaries entertain us hedonically & eudaimonically? What's the role of awe & suspense? Do they inspire conservation or travel, increasing CO2 footprint? Findings from our experiments are now published in Mass Comm & Society (open access): www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Excited to share that I've rejoined @hmtmh.bsky.social as a Postdoc! I am grateful for the amazing 1.5 years at the Uni Wuerzburg and already miss the team, but I am also thrilled to be back in Hannover, collaborating with old friends, and spending more time with family thanks to less commuting.

Results: Dual-message clips evoked less fun, more appreciation and slightly higher pro-environmental intentions. Appreciation seemed to mediate this effect on pro-env. intentions. This potential indirect effect was further broken down as intensified mixed affect leading to reflection. 5/6

We were interested in the effects of such a dual-message strategy on viewers' entertainment experience, i.e., fun & appreciation. Moreover, we assumed that this strategy promotes pro-environmental intentions via eliciting appreciation (i.e., mixed affect & reflection). 3/6