J. Hendrix MSc (Joël)

Joël Hendrix is PhD candidate in the Communication and Media group at the Behavioural Science Institute. Her main research interests lie in media psychology, entertainment media, narratives, diversity, equity and inclusion, and openness towards underrepresented groups.

Together with Prof. Dr Marieke Fransen (promotor), Dr Rebecca de Leeuw (co-promotor and daily supervisor) and Dr Gijs Bijlstra (co-promotor) Joël is working on the project titled: Somewhere over the rainbow: How entertainment media narratives can influence openness towards the LGBTQ+ community. Media can fuel, maintain or change stereotypical ideas or prejudice viewers already have about underrepresented groups. Not being prejudiced but being accepting and feeling positively towards a group can be called the openness towards that group. This project aims to answer the question how narratives in entertainment media can influence people’s openness towards underrepresented groups, specifically the LGBTQ+ community. Moreover, the aim is to identify the cognitive and affective mechanisms underlying the influence of narratives on viewers’ openness.