I’m Sara Grady, a media psychologist interested in entertainment and its functional uses in our everyday lives.
That is, how stories make us think and feel – and how we use them in our daily lives and relationships.
My research explores questions such as:
- What media do we turn to in times of stress and adversity?
- How do we use narratives to feel connected and signal affiliation in our social groups?
- Why do we care about fictional characters and events enough to revisit them time and again, or talk about them with friends?
- What motivates narrative entertainment processing and how is it so intrinsically rewarding?
I examine both media messages and the effects they have on people using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods. This includes content analysis and experimental procedures as well as non-invasive and behavioral measures of processing, selection and effects.
My research has won several awards and appeared in peer-reviewed journals including Journal of Communication, Human Communication Research and Journal of Media Psychology.
About
I came to research via media publishing & production, campaign design, organizational development, and informal science education.
Interested in knowing more about Sara Grady and her path as a scholar? Click here
Contact
grady.367 [at] osu [dot] edu
I’m also sometimes on Bluesky
Sara Grady Sara Grady Sara Grady Sara M Grady
