Mind, Media, and Networks

The increasing complexity of psychological phenomena in digital environments calls for innovative theoretical and methodological approaches. While psychology offers a rich body of established theories to study and interpret human behavior, it is not clear how they apply to contemporary digital contexts. In this thesis, I combine established frameworks with emerging approaches to examine how traditional concepts apply to the new, digital world. Across three empirical studies, I explore key mechanisms through which digital environments influence psychological outcomes. Chapter 1 examines the effects of news exposure on perceived and actual knowledge in a simulated social media environment, focusing on the illusion of knowledge and on topic involvement as a possible moderator of this effect. Chapter 2 shifts the focus to problematic patterns of digital engagement, investigating comorbidities between social media addiction and internet gaming disorder in adolescents using a network approach. Finally, chapter 3 evaluates the Attitudinal Entropy framework In the case of attitudes toward cryptocurrency, testing its sensitivity to value-based framing and intellectual humility. By integrating continuity with innovation, this work aims to contribute to the understanding of digital behavior and psychological functioning in the information age.