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Dr Judy Watts

@wattsupdoc.bsky.social
550 followers 403 following 68 posts

Asst. Professor at University of Kansas, Ph.D. The Ohio State University. Research on narrative persuasion, children and media, media effects, media psychology. Sometimes, I grow sunflowers (see pic) and tomatoes. Aspiring scuba diver.

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Reposted by Dr Judy Watts
Richard Huskey @richardhuskey.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Want to learn more? Check out this great @ucdlands.bsky.social piece by Alex Russell lettersandsciencemag.ucdavis.edu/media-choices-mental-health Article: doi.org/10.1007/s44382-026-00040-5 Big THANK YOU to @gongxuanjun.bsky.social & @aeden.bsky.social this wouldn't have been possible without you!
lettersandsciencemag.ucdavis.edu
How to Hack Media Choices to Improve Mental Health, According to New Research
New research in communication finds that college students who are lonely tend to choose media likely to make them feel worse while those who are depressed or anxious tend to choose media that might im...
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GESIS Training @gesistraining.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
🌍 Lost in translation? Take a closer look 👉 t1p.de/Questionnair... @gesis.org
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Neil Lewis, Jr. @neillewisjr.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I do think AI can help some people produce more. I remain skeptical, though, that producing more is inherently good. If you don't have a sense of why you're producing it, or which human would benefit from it...maybe don't. Unless you're just interested in producing more training data.
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Taylor & Francis Research @tandfresearch.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Webinar Alert! Preparing Future Math Teachers to Teach Data Science Sign up for webinar: spr.ly/63329B1CdaN Link to article: spr.ly/63324B1CdaC
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The Communication & Technology Division of ICA @icacat.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
#ICA26 Student & Early Career Reps from LGBTQ+; Children, Adolescents & Media; Communication & Technology; Mobile Comm; & Philosophy Theory & Critique divs are jointly organizing a workshop to help students & early-career scholars. May 8 8:00AM EDT, 12:00PM UCT Register: forms.gle/AryewUXumCsC...
Promotional flyer for the International Communication Association. At the top is a photo of a person writing in a notebook beside a laptop and coffee cup, with the International Communication Association logo in the upper right. Large headline: “READY FOR CAPE TOWN?” Text below reads: “Join the SEC Virtual Pre-Conference Workshop! An interactive session to help students and early-career scholars master presentations, network effectively, and confidently navigate the conference.” Event details: Friday, May 8th, 2026. Start at 08.00–9.00 AM (EDT) / 12.00–1.00 PM (UCT). Organized by the Student and Early Career Reps from: LGBTQ+ | Communication and Technology | Children, Adolescents & Media | Mobile Communication | Philosophy Theory and Critique. Bottom text: “ONLINE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.”
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DGPS: Media Psychology @mepsy.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
1) #ICA2026 Young Scholars Lunch in Cape Town! 🌍 Calling all members of the #MediaPsych division (DGPs) and #MiRezFo (DGPuK)—and anyone interested in our field! Join us for a casual Young Scholars Lunch at ICA. 🧵
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Julius Klingelhoefer @klingelhoefer.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Interested in intensive longitudinal studies (ESM, EMA, ...)? We will host a GESIS seminar in September that will teach you how to conduct and analyze these studies. Check it out here ⬇️
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Mor Naaman @informor.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Our paper (below) showed that AI auto-complete writing assistants can shift your attitude about the topics you write about. But @advaitmb.bsky.social was wondering: what in the writing process triggers this shift? He set out to investigate in our 🥁new #chi2026 paper🥁. Spoiler: mental hijacking. 1/
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Dr Judy Watts @wattsupdoc.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Narrative scholars will appreciate this study
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Katy Pearce @katypearce.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
I made AI-generated study songs for my research methods class. Measurement playlist: youtube.com/playlist?lis...
youtube.com
The Measurement Album | Module 3 Study Songs | COM 382 - YouTube
Six study songs covering the core measurement concepts from Module 3 of COM 382: Quantitative Research Methods in Communication at the University of Washingt...
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Shivani T’gai Seth @shivaniswriting.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Hi all, its your friendly neighborhood retired therapist here to remind you that the horrors persist and so do we! Have you: -had a glass of water or something liquid that is not caffeinated recently? -used any calming or grounding techniques you like? -eaten a food? If not, do that now. 💜
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Daryl Cameron @dcameron.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
I'm excited to announce one of the two big Consortium on Moral Decision-Making conferences for spring 2026. In June, we're collaborating with Penn State Center for Social Data Analytics to host "AI and Social Research: Empathic AI, Metascience, and Methodology" here on campus and hybrid on Zoom.
Poster reads "AI and Social Research: Empathic AI, Metascience, and Methodology." The QR code links to the webinar registration. Sponsors are listed at bottom. Wed June 3 and Thurs June 4, Penn State Innovation Hub. Image shows a pair of eyes looking out at the user amidst various graphical images.
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Dr Judy Watts @wattsupdoc.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
My university had a nice write up of my recent research investigating audience enjoyment of easter eggs. Check it out here #commsky news.ku.edu/news/article...
news.ku.edu
Popcorn and Easter eggs
KU study finds when people spot Easter eggs in their movies, their enjoyment and fan behaviors are heightened.
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Dr Judy Watts @wattsupdoc.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
My students are conducting a survey for a class project to understand perceptions of media literacy and training they may have received. Please take this short survey, which closes today. #medialiteracy #AI #tech #phonebans #digitalliteracy kusurvey.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
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Dr Judy Watts @wattsupdoc.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Thanks to the research cultivation grant from the National Communication Association, my latest study investigates the relationship between anthropomorphic characters & socioemotional lessons, which are often found in children's media. Read the study for more info www.tandfonline.com/eprint/7SNG9...
tandfonline.com
Interracial vs. Interspecies Interactions: Parent and Child Responses to Anthropomorphic vs. Human Characters Involving Racially Coded Themes
A preregistered online experiment was conducted with Black and White parent–child dyads (N = 381) to investigate children’s (ages 4–7) and parents’ evaluations of storybook content with human vs. a...
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Dr Judy Watts @wattsupdoc.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
This is the reality behind every CV. I recently received two rejects in one day. Onwards and upwards!
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Dr Judy Watts @wattsupdoc.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Please consider taking this survey about your opinions on media literacy and social media use for my senior students who are designing a campaign to increase the visibility of media literacy week. #medialiteracy #ai #socialmedia kusurvey.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
kusurvey.ca1.qualtrics.com
Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management
The most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account today.
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Lena Hahn @lenahahn.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
How strong is the threat to academic freedom? If you are a publishing psychologist, please help us get a better understanding of the threats due to external pressure and self-censorship in the publication process by taking our 5-10 min anonymous survey: t1p.de/t1qof Results will be shared here!
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Morgan Quinn Ross @mqrmobile.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Please consider submitting to our special issue on mobile disconnection in @mobilemediacomm.bsky.social! Check out the call for papers below, with extended abstracts due on 31 July 2026. With Mora Matassi and @trinesy.bsky.social 📴📵🪩 journals.sagepub.com/page/mmc/mob...
journals.sagepub.com
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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Robert McDonald @lacanmunist.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
Kansas City locals! I'm giving a talk tomorrow, February 15, 2pm, at the KC Public Library Plaza Branch on Get Out, through the GKCPI "Searching the Psyche through Cinema" series. I'll be talking about Frantz Fanon, "letter-perfect" racism, and the logic of fantasy. Get Out of the house and come by.
"Searching the Psyche through Cinema: Get Out" Sunday, February 15, 2pm, Kansas City Public Library Plaza Branch
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Dr Judy Watts @wattsupdoc.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Check out my latest research conducted with the wonderful and brilliant Hannah Wing. We examined whether audiences search for "easter eggs" in entertainment and whether finding them contributes to their enjoyment. journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
journals.plos.org
Harvesting easter eggs: An exploratory study of enjoying transnarrative media
Transnarrative storytelling, or fragmented narratives, has been undertheorized yet is increasingly more common in entertainment. An exploratory study guided by entertainment enjoyment theories explore...
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Center for Open Science @cos.io · 29/01/2026
Developed by political scientist Andrew Cesare Miller & now available on OSF, the new Theory-Based Predictions in Social Science template helps researchers document theories, variables, outcomes, & conditions—making predictions transparent & testable. Learn more in our Q&A:
cos.io
Introducing the Theory-Based Predictions in Social Science Preregistration Template: Q&A with Andrew Cesare Miller
Interview with Andrew Cesare Miller, developer of the new Theory-Based Predictions in Social Science preregistration template on the Open Science Framework (OSF).
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Nick Bowman (包尼克) he/him/his @bowmanspartan.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
I need to say this so very, very loudly: 👏 null 👏results 👏 are 👏 not 👏 no 👏 results 👏 👏 null 👏 findings 👏 are 👏 not 👏 unfortunate 👏 👏 null 👏 results 👏 are 👏 not 👏 errors 👏 👏 null 👏 findings 👏 do 👏 not 👏 need 👏 to 👏 be 👏 "fixed 👏 with 👏 "more data" 👏 We really need to sort this, y'all.
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Richard Huskey @richardhuskey.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Sometimes you see a new paper and stop everything you are doing to read it. This is one of those papers. All-star work by an all-star team!
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Dr Judy Watts @wattsupdoc.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
When you're digging around into the history of a theory and come across an interesting note about the origins of the academic who developed the theory. My goodness, mental models indeed!
The screenshot reads, "Craik would have developed his sketch into a thoroughgoing theory and tested its empirical consequences. But, on the eve of VE day in 1945, he was cycling in Cambridge when a car door opened in front of him and he was thrown into the path of a lorry. He was 31 years old. It was left to others to follow up his ideas.
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Social Media Lab @socialmedialab.ca · 01/12/2025
"Ban harmful content from social media instead of us, say Australian teens" www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Australia social media ban: Get rid of harmful content instead of us, say teens
From 10 December, social media firms must ensure Australians aged under 16 cannot have accounts.
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Neil Lewis, Jr. @neillewisjr.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Happy "let's circle back in the New Year" season to all who celebrate.
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Claes de Vreese @claesdevreese.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Call for papers: IJPOR has a call for a special issue on AI, public opinion and democratic resilience. 1000 word initial abstract submission 🗓️: deadline February 15, 2026 @ddc-sdu.bsky.social @aimediademlab.bsky.social @algosoc.org @polcomm.bsky.social #commsky academic.oup.com/ijpor/pages/...
academic.oup.com
Call for Papers: AI, Public Opinion, and Democratic Resilience
Special Issue of the International Journal of Public Opinion Research Guest Editors: Homero Gil de Zuñiga and Hugo Marcos-Marne Editor-In-Chief: Porismita Bora
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Michal Frackowiak, PhD @mfrackowiak.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Uses and gratifications theory (2025 update)
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Joshua Foust 🪖🎮 @joshuafoust.com · 12/11/2025
#commsky
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Heba Gowayed هبة جويد @hebagowayed.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Friends— here it is. Updated & expanded thanks to the space afforded to me in the @therumpus.net & the guidance of the brilliant @roxanegay.bsky.social’s edits. The win centers Muslims humanity — but what does that mean in a country that rejects that? therumpus.net/2025/11/05/z...
therumpus.net
Zohran Mamdani’s Campaign and the Radical Idea that Muslims are Human - The Rumpus
It is against this background of a country that has reduced Muslims into a dark, foreign, terrorist “other,” that Mamdani ran a campaign that centers the affordability of the city for all who live wit...
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Melanie Walsh @mellymeldubs.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
Computationally, whitespace gets little attention—it’s usually standardized or stripped. But in poetry, whitespace matters! Yet actually *preserving* that poetic whitespace is v tough. Its slipperiness points to bigger issues w/ text processing & LLMs. New paper ⬜️ aclanthology.org/2025.emnlp-m...
aclanthology.org
so much depends / upon / a whitespace: Why Whitespace Matters for Poets and LLMs
Sriharsh Bhyravajjula, Melanie Walsh, Anna Preus, Maria Antoniak. Proceedings of the 2025 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing. 2025.
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Dr Judy Watts @wattsupdoc.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
Everyone of a certain age will say the bees in My Girl
media.tenor.com
a young boy wearing glasses and a striped shirt is smiling while standing in a park .
ALT: a young boy wearing glasses and a striped shirt is smiling while standing in a park .
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Jaclyn A. Siegel, PhD @jacasiegel.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
Hey folks! The Violence Prevention Center at UNC Charlotte is looking for a postdoc in suicide prevention training! Great opportunity to work with a talented group on important research related to mental health jobs.charlotte.edu/postings/64918
jobs.charlotte.edu
Postdoctoral Fellow in Suicide Prevention Training
This position is not remote-eligible. The holder of the postdoctoral fellowship will:Coordinate multi-site team meetings and communication.Oversee feasibility/acceptability data collection efforts in coordination with Ohio State University partners.Prepare datasets for and support the execution of data analysis.Co-author project-related institutional review board (IRB) and other regulatory documents.Co-author project-related scholarly and other outputs.Co-develop training materials and recordings the suicide prevention training program.Participate in weekly supervision and mentoring meetings with the project PI Dr. Cramer.Participate in periodic co-supervision meetings with project Co-Is (Dr. Sam Cacace, Dr. Jessamyn Moxie, Dr. Annelise Mennicke).Conduct an individualized mentoring plan (IMP) to establish their own research agenda within the Violence Prevention Center.Support Violence Prevention Center research and operations.Participate in other interprofessional team science research in areas such as suicide prevention, military health, sexual and gender minority (SGM) health, violence prevention, and/or other areas.Participate in the UNC Charlotte Department of Public Health and Health Administration meetings and professional development opportunities.As an EOE/AA employer and an ADVANCE Institution that strives to create an academic climate in which the dignity of all individuals is respected and maintained, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte encourages applications from all underrepresented groups. Applicants subject to criminal background check.The candidate chosen for this position will be required to provide an official transcript of their highest earned degree.
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Taylor & Francis Research @tandfresearch.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
Men tend to stick to music they love in their teens, whilst women constantly adapt tastes, suggests a new study🎵 Findings show the deepest musical attachments hit men aged 16, but women 19; and this is why older songs sink their claws in deep for men🎸 spr.ly/601471cRw
Quote by Dr. Iballa Burunat reads: Music unfolds over time. Its rhythm, melody, and structure provide a kind of sequential framework, a timeline.
Image is of the back of a head of a man listening to music through his headphones as he looks at a train going past him.
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Caleb Carr @calebtcarrphd.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
@adrianmeier.bsky.social turned me on to "jingle" and "jangle" fallacies while at #MediaPsych, giving me some verbiage for things we talk about more frequently. There's a fuller look at these phenomena here: www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...
frontiersin.org
Frontiers | Detecting jingle and jangle fallacies by identifying consistencies and variabilities in study specifications – a call for research
Over the past few years, more attention has been paid to jingle and jangle fallacies in psychological science. Jingle fallacies arise when two or more distin...
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Richard Huskey @richardhuskey.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
We say we want uplifting media, but our revealed preferences tell another story. We often pick darker, more intense content. This @npr.org piece covers our lab’s research on why, and includes great advice from @aeden.bsky.social on building intentional media habits.
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Dr Judy Watts @wattsupdoc.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
For once not feeling FOMO
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Rebekka Kreling @rkreling.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
Interested in… a) taking theories out of the lab (and try to specify them to work irl) b) computational methods (data donations, LLM content analysis) c) media coping d) all of the above? Then our new HCR-paper is *just* for you! doi.org/10.1093/hcr/...
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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 09/10/2025
Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE
nyti.ms
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Center for Media Engagement - UT Austin @engagingnews.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
An important reminder that technology doesn’t exist outside of culture. When AI misses social context, it risks misunderstanding, harm, and reinforcing bias — showing why cultural nuance must be part of responsible design.
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Nora Newcombe @noranewcombe.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Thrilled to see this paper out! It's the culmination of a project begun in the depths of the pandemic with Sabrina Karjack and @zoengo.bsky.social . We continue our exploration of how children generalize when their episodic memory is not yet mature. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
The dependence of children’s generalization on episodic memory varies with age and level of abstraction - Nature Communications
Children’s ability to generalize from episodic memories varies by both age and the level of abstraction. Here, the authors show that lower level generalization increasingly depends on episodic memory with age, whereas higher level generalization shows no such relationship.
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Teresa Völker @tevoelker.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
New paper out with @dasalgon.bsky.social: “Far-Right Agenda Setting: How the Far Right influences the Political Mainstream” doi.org/10.1017/S1475676525100066 #openaccess in @ejprjournal.bsky.social🧵
Abstract
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Christian Roth @christianroth.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
Hey there! Interested in the connection between HCI & Interactive Narrative Design? Join our CHI PLAY 2025 hybrid workshop (Oct 13) --> Remote & in-person! Register by Oct 3 → waterloo-touchlab.github.io/hcni/call-fo... #CHIPLAY2025 #HCI #NarrativeDesign
waterloo-touchlab.github.io
Call for Participation
Welcome to the First Interdisciplinary Workshop on Human-Computer Narrative Interactions (HCNI) at CHI PLAY 2025! We’ll engage in hands-on exploration of player-game interactivity for impactful digita...
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Ullrich Ecker @ulliecker.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
Why Misinformation Must Not Be Ignored Quite proud of this paper, which just received the journal's APA Editor's Choice award 😊 Big thanks to my coauthors Li Qian Tay, Jon Roozenbeek, @profsanderlinden.bsky.social, John Cook, @naomioreskes.bsky.social, and @lewan.bsky.social
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Morgan Quinn Ross @mqrmobile.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
First up in the @icamobile.bsky.social student and early career scholar event calendar is How to Submit to the Mobile Communication Division, featuring International Liaison @luytioco.bsky.social and former chair Keri Stephens. Details here:
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Center for Media Engagement - UT Austin @engagingnews.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
With true crime media like the Dahmer series rising in popularity, creators and consumers must ask themselves..,when does storytelling become exploitation?
TEXT: My Murder, Your Entertainment True crime media has skyrocketed over the past few years. How ethical is its production and consumption?TEXT: Intent vs. Impact The Netflix docuseries “Dahmer-Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” portrayed a graphic, detailed retelling of Jeffrey Dahmer’s crimes, including real 911 calls and recreated sets of the crime scenes. While writer Ryan Murphy and actor Evan Peters claimed they had the victims in mind, families of the victims claimed they felt retraumatized.
TEXT: Public Reactions The series remained in Netflix’s Top 10 shows for seven weeks. People dressed up as Dahmer for Halloween and made insensitive comments and videos on social media. 

These reactions signal to some that the series is part of a larger cultural shift towards a society desensitized to violence.TEXT: Entertainment or Exploitation As more true crime content is released, consumers and creators should be critical in how they engage with the genre. 

Can true crime media creators be responsible for audience reactions?

How might artistic urges blur the lines between fact and fiction?

Have families given consent for the project?
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Sami Yousif @samiyousif.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
I am recruiting graduate students for Fall 2026 through both the cognitive and developmental areas at Ohio State. If you are interested in spatial cognition, visual perception, and/or mental representation -- please reach out! I'd love to hear from you. www.cogdevlab.org
cogdevlab.org
PCDL @ OSU
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