معرفی
Dr. Mira Mayrhofer serves as a Senior Lecturer in Advertising at the University of Vienna's Department of Communication within the Faculty of Social Sciences. Currently on maternal leave, she maintains her office at Währinger Straße 29 (Room 7.43) in Vienna and continues research through the Advertising and Media Psychology Research Group (AdMe) led by Prof. Jörg Matthes. Her academic profile spans health communication, advertising research with focus on food and alcohol, product placement in digital media, and quantitative methodology.
Her educational background includes:
- Ph.D. in Journalism and Communication Studies (2019, University of Vienna)
- M.Sc. in Marketing (2015, Vienna University of Economics and Business)
- B.A. in Journalism and Communication Studies (University of Vienna)
- B.Sc. in Business, Economics & Social Sciences (2013, Vienna University of Economics and Business)
Mayrhofer's research centers on the psychological mechanisms of media effects, particularly examining how alcohol and food are portrayed in entertainment media and social platforms. Her work investigates observational learning of drinking behaviors, the impact of product placements on children's eating habits, and the persuasive dynamics of user-generated brand content. She employs rigorous quantitative methods to analyze audience responses across demographic variables, with significant contributions to understanding how perceived similarity influences alcohol consumption modeling.
Her publication trajectory reveals evolving expertise from early studies on alcohol portrayal in comedy series (2016-2018) toward broader health communication applications including pandemic response analysis (2022). Key thematic clusters include alcohol risk communication, children's food marketing, and social media persuasion mechanics, with methodological strengths in experimental design and content analysis.
Award highlights:
- Top Faculty Paper Award, AEJMC (2018) for observational learning research
- Top Student Paper Award, International Communication Association (2017) for alcohol education studies
Research leadership includes serving as postdoctoral researcher (2021-2022) for the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK)-funded project 'Concept for Marketing/Communication for the Disease Management Program Chronic Heart Failure' under Prof. Matthes. She previously contributed to the 'Food Product Placements in Children’s Movies' project (2015) and has mentored numerous junior researchers within the AdMe group. Current collaborative work examines pandemic-era healthcare delivery through qualitative GP interviews.
As core faculty in the Advertising and Media Psychology Research Group, Mayrhofer contributes to the department's international reputation in media effects research. Her team collaborates across disciplines including public health and nutrition science, with ongoing projects analyzing social media's impact on health behaviors and the effectiveness of disease management communications.
