Media psychology including: psychology of narrative, psychology of entertainment media, and, psychology of narrative health and risk messages. Current research focuses on how audiences process and understand story characters in a variety of entertainment and persuasive messages.
Education
Doctorate University of Wisconsin--Madison 1987
Master's Degree University of Michigan 1976
Bachelor of Arts Wayne State University 1971
Interests
Communication Theory
Media Psychology
Psychology Of Attitude
Recent Research
My current focus is on the psychological processes involved in understanding characters in stories across a broad spectrum of media and stories including health messages, commercial messages and entertainment. Other scholarly work is aimed at the role of theory in creating generalizable knowledge.
Zhou, S., & Shapiro, M. A. (2022). Impacts of character morality on egocentric projection and identification. Poetics, 95, 101731. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2022.101731
Zhou, S., & Shapiro, M. A. (2021). Effects of Egocentric Projection and Identification on Narrative Persuasion in Foodborne Illness Messages. Journal of Health Communication, 25(12), 931-942. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2020.1868627
Zhou, S., Shapiro, M. A., & Wansink, B. (2017). The audience eats more if a movie character keeps eating: An unconscious mechanism for media influence on eating behaviors. Appetite, 108(1), 407-415. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2016.10.028
Zhou, S., & Shapiro, M. A. (2017). Reducing resistance to narrative persuasion about binge drinking: The role of self-activation and habitual drinking behavior. Health Communication, 32(10), 1297-1309. doi:10.1080/10410236.2016.1219931
Kim, H. K., & Shapiro, M. A. (2016). When bad things happen to a protagonist like you: The role of self in resistance to negatively framed health narratives. Journal of Health Communication, 1227-1235 doi:10.1080/10810730.2016.1240268
Lee, T. K., & Shapiro, M. A. (2016). Effects of a story character’s goal achievement: modeling a story character’s diet behaviors and activating/deactivating a character’s diet goal. Communication Research, 43(6), 863-891. doi:10.1177/0093650215608236
Steinhardt, J., & Shapiro, M. A. (2015). Framing Effects in Narrative and Non-Narrative Risk Messages. Risk Analysis, 35(8), 1423-1436. doi:10.1111/risa.12368
Niederdeppe, J., Roh, S., & Shapiro, M. A. (2015). Acknowledging individual responsibility while emphasizing social determinants in narratives to promote obesity-reducing public policy: A randomized experiment PLoS ONE, 10(2). doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0117565
Lee, T. K., & Shapiro, M. A. (2014). The interaction of affective dispositions, moral judgments, and intentionality in assessing narrative characters: Rationalist and intuitionist sequences. Communication Theory, 24, 146–164. doi: 10.1111/comt.12031
Shapiro, M. A., & Kim, H. K. (2012). Realism judgments and mental resources: A cue processing model of media narrative realism. Media Psychology, 15(1), 93-119. doi: 10.1080/15213269.2011.649666
Zhou, S., & Shapiro, M. A. (2024). The role of self in narrative processing. Paper presented at the International Communication Association, Boulder CO.
Seipel, M. S., Michael A. . (2022). Audience Understanding of and Allegiance to Fictional Antihero Characters in Television and Film. Paper presented at the IGEL: International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature.
Shapiro, M. A., & Seipel, M. (2020). How Audiences Distinguish between Interesting and Uninteresting Fictional Story Characters. Paper presented at the IGEL: International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature, Liverpool, UK.
Shapiro, M. A., & Zhou, S. (2020). Actor-Observer Perspective Taking and Egocentric Projection in Audience Processing of Story Characters. Paper presented at the IGEL: International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature, Liverpool, UK.
Zhou, S., & Shapiro, M. A. (2020). Exploring Factors Influencing Egocentric Projection in Narrative Processing. Paper presented at the International Communication Association, Gold Coast Australia.
Zhou, S., & Shapiro, M. A. (2019). How Audiences Think about a Character Depends on Whether They Take an Actor or an Observer Perspective. Paper presented at the International Communication Association, Washington, D.C.
Shapiro, M. A., & Zhou, S. (2018). The Effect of Character Morality on Perceptions of Interest and Unusualness of Story Characters. Paper presented at the International Communication Association, Prague.
Shapiro, M. A. (2020). Memory, Measurement of. In J. Van den Bulck (Ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Media Psychology: Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119011071.iemp0028
Shapiro, M. A. (2020). Cognitive Biases and Heuristics. In J. Van den Bulck (Ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Media Psychology: Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119011071.iemp0066
Shapiro, M. A. (2017). Generalizability. In J. Matthes, C. S. Davis, & R. F. Potter (Eds.), The International Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
