The occurrence of severe and extreme weather events that have been attributed to a changed climate system and the widespread dissemination of the impacts of these events in the media can lead people to experience concern, worry, and anxiety, which we examined in two studies. In Study 1, we observed that people more frequently expressed worry than anxiety about the impacts of climate change in six areas. People were more frequently worried and anxious about the effects of climate change on future generations and about societal responses (or lack of a response) to climate change. The levels of anxiety that people expressed were significantly higher than the worry people reported when anxiety was their modal response. In Study 2, we observed that both climate change worry and anxiety were negatively correlated with psychological distance from climate change. Overall, climate change worry and psychological distance significantly predicted climate-sustainable behaviors. Our study was among the first to use developed measures of climate change worry, anxiety, and psychological distance to examine peoples’ responses across some of the possible impact and consequence areas of climate change.

To support users’ media selection, streaming services increasingly rely on algorithmic recommender systems that provide personalized media curation based on various sources of user information (e.g., previously watched content). The utilization of recommender systems has led to concerns over how such systems might influence an individual’s aesthetic choices. Recommender systems and increased accessibility to media content have, after all, changed the way users engage with entertainment media. This paper examines the relationship between recommender systems and individuals’ aesthetic choices by exploring literature from disparate fields such as modern media and algorithms, aesthetic choice, entertainment preferences, and well-being. We explore the notion that aesthetic choice can be considered a “low-stake” decision process and is part of a fulfilling aesthetic life, influencing the individual through incremental and cumulative decisions. The paper provides considerations for future directions for exploration as this burgeoning field leaves us with more questions than answers.

People are inundated with readily accessible entertainment media choices. Recommender systems are frequently utilized to support people's media selection and engagement. The psychological factors that influence people's engagement with recommender systems and entertainment content is an under-explored area. This paper reports the findings of an exploratory study where users’ explicit experiences of audiovisual media services (e.g., Netflix, TikTok, YouTube, HBO Max) and their recommender systems were examined through an online survey (n = 339). Thematic analysis, factor analysis, and path analysis were used to evaluate the data. The results indicate that (1) recommender systems influence users’ emotions and media use, (2) people prefer personalized compared to generic recommendation lists, (3) the temporal length of recommended content influences people's interest, and (4) perceived utility leads to the endorsement of recommender systems and may influence users’ well-being. The findings point to wider psychological implications associated with user awareness of recommender systems.

Objective: The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness, version 2 (MAIA-2) is a commonly utilized self-report instrument to assess individuals’ ability to perceive bodily sensations. The MAIA-2 has displayed variable psychometric properties across samples. Thus, we examine the psychometric properties of the MAIA-2 in a Southeastern United States college sample. Participants: Our studies consisted of 710 (study 1) and 66 (study 2) college students. Methods: Study 1 used a cross-sectional research design where we investigated the factor structure, and measurement invariance (e.g., measured similarly across genders). Study 2 examined the test-retest reliability across a three-week period. Results: The MAIA-2 displayed adequate to good internal consistencies and factor loadings, strict invariance, and questionable temporal stability. Conclusion: The MAIA-2 demonstrates adequate psychometric properties in this college sample that were similar to the original MAIA sample characteristics. Contextual and cultural factors may influence the subjective experience of interpreting bodily sensations.

People have access to varied entertainment choices through online audiovisual media. Uses and Gratification Theory postulates viewers as active participants in their entertainment selection who watch media for a variety of reasons. Both hedonic and eudaimonic motivations drive user engagement. This paper focuses on how users’ implicit psychological factors (e.g., curiosity, need for affect) influence their motivations for watching online audiovisual media (n = 339). We employed multiple regression to examine predictors of eudaimonic and hedonic motivations alongside information, social interaction, and entertainment uses. The results indicate (1) people's awareness of AI recommender systems does not influence their media engagement, (2) people's need for affect underlies all types of media engagement, and (3) the effect of people's curiosity on their media engagement motivations were dimension-specific (i.e., dependent on the subtype). Our findings are in line with entertainment gratification models and reveal curiosity's unique role in people's motivations for audiovisual entertainment.

A wide array of scholarship has revealed the somewhat paradoxical relationship between creativity and mental health. On the one hand, substantial evidence demonstrates that certain forms of mental illness are associated with enhanced creativity. On the other hand, considerable evidence also confirms that engagement in creative pursuits improves wellbeing. In this paper, we examined the associations between creative potential, the pursuit of creative hobbies, wellbeing, and schizotypy in young people aged 16–22 years. Frequentist and Bayesian approaches revealed that a higher degree of disorganized schizotypal traits was associated with greater ideational fluency and more engagement in creative hobbies, and that a higher degree of interpersonal schizotypal traits was associated with lower wellbeing. The potential drivers of this dynamic association are discussed in this paper.