Marie-Louise Mares

I teach courses in media effects, mass media and youth, interethnic communication, and research methods. I find media effects research fascinating and I welcome queries or comments from anyone who also has an interest in this area. My general focus is on how life span development alters the way we use and are affected by media content.
I have two main current areas of interest – one to do with prosocial effects of television, and the other to do with aging and television. Some specific current research questions are:

How well do children understand Educational/Information (E/I) television programming, and how can comprehension be improved?
How does exposure to television programs about tolerance interact with children’s home and school environments to predict their attitudes toward people of other racial and ethnic groups?
How does growing older affect the types of emotional experiences we seek out from media? Do younger viewers like different sorts of experiences than middle-aged or older viewers?
How does media use affect adult viewers’ attitudes toward aging and their perceptions of their body?