Editors:
Eva Telzer and Mitch Prinstein, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
Theme of the Special Issue:
This special issue will focus on the role of affect and social media, broadly defined. With the proliferation of social media sites in recent years, use of social media has become nearly ubiquitous. This topic is sorely under-represented in emotion journals, especially given the important role of social media in the lives of contemporary adolescents and adults. The field is in need of empirical articles and reviews that unify this multidisciplinary s0cholarship, synthesizes and critiques research to date, and provides a roadmap for future research efforts in this area. Our goal is to provide a nuanced perspective on the role of social media in the daily emotional experiences of children, adolescents, and adults, including both positive and negative aspects of use, as well as a consideration of how, why, and for whom social media may lead to positive or negative emotional experiences.
The goals of this special issue are to showcase novel theoretical ideas and empirical evidence on the interactions between emotional processes and social media across a range of (inter)disciplinary areas. We invite submissions from multiple disciplines, including – but not limited to – psychology (social, developmental, cultural, cognitive, etc.), sociology, communication science, computer science, and neuroscience. We are especially interested in research on social media use within marginalized and underrepresented populations. In addition, we are interested in studies that examine specific social media behaviors, functions, and content as research demonstrates these factors may be more important than “screen time” overall. At Affective Science, affective processes are broadly construed, and include emotion, mood, stress, motivation, reward processes, and affective evaluations. This call is directed at empirical articles, but theoretical articles may be considered in exceptional cases.
- Specifications for the research article: limit to 2,000 words (including all introductory and discussion material in the main text, any footnotes, and acknowledgements). Abstract to be no longer than 150 words. Method and Results have no word limits. There are no limits on figures, tables, or references.
- Specifications for the brief report: limit to 750 words (including all introductory and discussion material in the main text, any footnotes, and acknowledgements). Abstract to be no longer than 150 words. Method and Results have no word limits. Maximum of two figures or tables and 20 references.
- Specifications for the theoretical article: limit to 4,000 words (including all main text, any footnotes, and acknowledgements). Abstract to be no longer than 150 words. They are no limits on figures, tables, or references.
- Supplemental materials/results may be submitted with the article and will be part of the review process. We will not publish supplemental material that is un-reviewed (SOM-U).
Proposals are due by May 1, 2023. Authors who will be invited to submit a full article will be notified by June 1st. Full manuscripts will be due by December 1, 2023, with the plan to finalize the special issue by mid-2024.
Proposals should be one-page double spaced. For research articles a description of the question, participants, design, methods, and results are required. Data collection must be completed and data must be fully analysed at the time of submission. For theoretical articles, include a synopsis of the major themes of the paper. Proposals can be submitted through teentechunc@gmail.com. Any questions can be directed to Eva Telzer (ehtelzer@unc.edu) or Mitch Prinstein (mitch.prinstein@unc.edu)