Recent Publications

Magical thinking describes beliefs and reasoning processes that defy generally accepted principles of logic and causality. Researchers have identified a link between strength of identification with a favorite sports team and superstition, an expression of magical thinking. Research on fans of fictional narratives has suggested magical thinking more broadly may play a role in being a fan. The authors posed the question, what is the link between sports fanship and two specific types of magical thinking: magical ideation and sympathetic magic?

Fans of fictional texts engage with the texts of which they are fans in ways that are powerful and complex. What motivates fans to attend to their preferred texts, however, is as yet unclear. In a survey of U.S. adults, participants answered questions about their fan behaviors, the degree to which they identify as fans, and the motives that drive their attention to their preferred texts. Results indicate that fans are motivated by both hedonic and eudaimonic motives, and that stronger motives are associated with stronger fan identification.

Vaccine misinformation online may contribute to the increase of anti-vaccine sentiment and vaccine-hesitant behaviors. Social network data was used to identify Twitter vaccine influencers, their online twitter communities, and their geolocations to determine pro-vaccine and vaccine-hesitant online communities. We explored 139,433 tweets and identified 420 vaccine Twitter influencers—opinion leaders and assessed 13,487 of their tweets and 7,731 of their connections. Semantic network analysis was employed to determine twitter conversation themes.

Public polling indicates that vaccine uptake will be suboptimal when COVID-19 vaccines become available. Formative research seeking an understanding of weak vaccination intentions is urgently needed.

Nationwide online survey of 804 U.S. English-speaking adults. Compensated participants were recruited from the U.S. through an internet survey panel of 2.5 million residents developed by a commercial survey firm. Recruitment was based on quota sampling to produce a U.S. Census-matched sample representative of the nation with regard to region of residence, sex, and age.

We hypothesized that magical thinking, a persistent constellation of beliefs about causality that defy logic and reason, is a driver of fanship among fans of fictional texts. In a survey of 259 adults’ fanship for fictional narratives, links were observed between a tendency to engage in magical thinking and strength of fan identification, text-based fan behavior, and fan community-based fan behavior.