Dr. Susann Kohout

Emotional User Comments: The Importance of Emotions in the Reception of User Comments on Online News

How public issues from politics and science are perceived and evaluated is closely linked to personal concern and emotional assessment by the recipient. Triggered emotions can be discharged in public discourses and thereby affect an objective negotiation process. In the social web, recipients become producers and sometimes express uninhibited opinions, spread untruths and act insultingly. As part of her dissertation, she deals with emotions and emotionalization processes in connection and network communication.

The aim of the dissertation is to explain the development of emotions in and through online comments using a theoretical model. The model aims to combine psychological and sociological processes in online environments. The assumption is that the emergence of emotions can be justified by well-known social scientific theories and concepts and does not have to be understood as a new phenomenon.

The focus of the work is an extensive interdisciplinary examination of theories and research on social behavior and emotions as well as the theorizing of online comment columns as an (emotional) form of communication. The project is justified by the need for theory development by different authors from the discipline.

• Taddicken, M., Kohout, S., & Hoppe, I. (2019). How Aware Are Other Nations of Climate Change? Analyzing Germans' Second-Order Climate Change Beliefs About Chinese, US American and German People. Environmental Communication, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2018.1561483

• Kohout, S. & Taddicken, M. (2018). Wer spricht da eigentlich mit mir? Zur Einschätzung von Kommunikationspartner'innen in Online-Kommunikation. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the DGPuK Unit Digital Communication from the 7^th to the 9^th November of 2018 in Erfurt.
• Wolff, L., Kohout, S. & Taddicken, M. (2018). Neue Theorien(aus)bildung in der Kommunikationswissenschaft. Student Debates as a research-oriented teaching-learning-concept. Presentation at the pre-conference as part of the Annual Meeting of the DGPuK on the 9^th of May 2018 at the University of Mannheim.
• Taddicken, M., Akin, H., Kohout, S., Brossard, D., Hoppe I. & Scheufele D. A. (2017). Exploring differences in perceptions of others' knowledge and concern about climate change in Germany and the U.S.. Presentation at the "Conference on Communication and Environment (COCE)" in June/July 2017 in Leicester, UK.
• Taddicken, M., Kohout, S. & Hoppe, I. (2017). How do other nations think about climate change? Explaining differences in the assessments of climate change concern and knowledge somparing China, USA and Germany. Presentation at the ICA in May 2017 in San Diego, USA.
• Kohout, S., Schumann, C. & Wolling, J. (2017). Five Days Without a Smartphone: The Paradox Association Between Smartphone Use and Subjective Well-Being: Results From a Deprivation Study. Presentation at the ICA in May 2017 in San Diego, USA.
• Kohout, S. & Taddicken, M. (2017). Online-Diskurse differenziert betrachtet - Eine inhaltsanalytische Studie zur emotionalen Ansteckung von NutzerInnenkommentaren. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the DGPuK "Vernetzung. Stabilität und Wandel gesellschaftlicher Kommunikation" in March/April 2017 in Düsseldorf.
• Kohout, S. & Taddicken, M. (2016). "UND WOHIN DAMIT???" - Eine inhaltsanalytische Betrachtung von Emotionen und Emotionalisierung in Online-Diskursen zur Geflüchtetenthematik. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the DGPuK Unit Digital Communication from the 3^rd to the 5^th of November 2016 in Brunswick.
• Kohout, S., Schumann, C. & Wolling, J. (2016). Fünf Tage ohne Smartphone. Der Einfluss von Smartphonenutzung auf das subjektive Wohlbefinden - Ergebnisse einer Verzichtsstudie. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the DGPuK Unit Digital Communication from the 3^rd to the 5^th of November 2016 in Brunswick.
• Taddicken, M., Kohout, S. & Reif, A. (2016). Science 2.0: Online Media Use and Attitudes towards Climate Change. Presentation at the General Online Research (GOR) on the 3^rd of March 2016 in Dresden.
• Taddicken, M., Reif, A. & Kohout, S. (2016). Zur Rolle/Zum Einfluss der Wahrnehmung von Wissenschaft(lerInnen) auf Einstellungen zu Wissenschaftsthemen (am Beispiel des Klimawandels). Presentation at the WissKomm, in February 2016 in Dresden.