The purpose of this research is to broaden the conceptualization of entertainment selection to identify not only pleasure‐seeking (hedonic concerns) as a motivator, but to also recognize that ...individuals may choose media as a means of “truth‐seeking” (eudaimonic concerns). This article conceptualized and developed measures to illustrate that entertainment can be used as a means of experiencing not only enjoyment, but also as a means of grappling with questions such as life's purpose and human meaningfulness. Four studies were conducted in the development of these measures, providing evidence for their validity in terms of entertainment preference and individual differences, and illustrating how these motivations predict preferences for entertainment that elicits unique affective experiences.
Le divertissement peut être agréable et significatif : distinguer les motivations hédonistes et eudémonistes derrière la consommation de divertissement
L’objectif de cette étude consiste àélargir la conceptualisation de la sélection du divertissement pour identifier non seulement la recherche de plaisir (une préoccupation hédoniste) comme élément de motivation, mais aussi pour reconnaître que des individus peuvent choisir les médias comme un moyen de « chercher la vérité» (une préoccupation eudémoniste). Cet article a conceptualisé et développé des mesures pour illustrer que le divertissement peut être utilisé non seulement comme un moyen de vivre du plaisir, mais aussi comme un moyen de réfléchir à des questions telles que le sens de la vie et ce que veut dire être humain. Quatre études furent menées au cours du développement de ces mesures, offrant des éléments prouvant leur validité en matière de préférences quant au divertissement et de différences individuelles, et illustrant les manières par lesquelles ces motivations permettent de prédire les préférences pour un divertissement qui suscite des expériences affectives uniques.
Mots clés : divertissement; psychologie des médias; émotion; motivations eudémonistes et hédonistes; affect mixte; plaisir contre appréciation
Mary Beth Oliver/Arthur A. Raney
Unterhaltung als vergnüglich und bedeutungsvoll: Über die Unterscheidung zwischen hedonischen und eudaimonischen Motiven bei der Nutzung von Unterhaltung
Vorliegende Arbeit verfolgte das Ziel, das Konzept der Unterhaltungsselektion zu erweitern, um nicht nur Motive wie Vergnügungssuche (hedonische Gründe) zu erfassen, sondern auch Personen gerecht zu werden, die ihre Medienwahl aus eudaimonischen Gründen, nämlich als Mittel zur ,,Wahrheitssuche“, treffen. In diesem Artikel konzeptualisieren und entwickeln wir deshalb Messinstrumente und zeigen auf, dass der Nutzen von Unterhaltung nicht nur im Erfahren von Enjoyment liegt, sondern gleichwohl ein Möglichkeit eröffnet, sich mit Fragen nach dem Sinn des Lebens und der Bedeutung des Menschseins auseinanderzusetzen. Im Zuge der Entwicklung dieser Messinstrumente wurden vier Studien durchgeführt, die Belege für die Validität mit Bezug zu Unterhaltungspräferenzen und individuellen Unterschieden liefern und aufzeigen, wie diese Motive die Präferenzen für Unterhaltung vorhersagen, die wiederum einzigartige affektive Erlebnisse auslösen.
Schlüsselbegriffe: Unterhaltung, Medienpsychologie, Emotion, eudaimonische und hedonische Motivation, gemischte Affekte, Enjoyment vs. Wertschätzung
Recent years have seen a growing amount of research effort directed toward what positive media psychologists refer to as self-transcendent emotions, such as awe, admiration, elevation, gratitude, ...inspiration, and hope. While these emotions are invaluable to promote greater human connectedness, prosociality, and human flourishing, researchers are constrained in terms of analyzing self-transcendent emotions as expressed in spoken and written languages. Drawing upon the word-counting approach of the text analysis paradigm, this project aimed at constructing a dictionary tool-Self-Transcendent Emotion Dictionary (STED)-which can be uploaded into mainstream, text analytic software (e.g., LIWC) to identify and analyze self-transcendent emotions in large corpora. This dictionary tool was then refined and validated via three studies, where individual words were first rated with regard to their fitness into the proposed construct (Step 1), and then used to analyze essays written to reflect the corresponding construct (Step 2). Finally, the refined dictionary was applied to examine words used in nearly 4,000 human-coded New York Times articles (Step 3). Results indicated that the final dictionary, consisting of 351 lexicons and phrases, exhibits acceptable face and construct validity, and possesses a reasonable level of external validity and applicability. Despite its shortcoming in accounting for the rhetorical techniques ingrained in natural human language, the STED could be instrumental for social scientific inquiry of positive emotions in textual narratives.
This article presents an analysis of media effects articles published in JMCQ from 1954 to 2020. Although the primary focus of our sample of articles focused on news, a wealth of additional topics ...were also examined, including attitude change, media selection, and sharing of media content. While some of this body of scholarship reflects more “traditional” conceptualizations of media effects research, others point to a broader conceptualization that reflects individuals as active in their selection, processing, evaluation, and even creation of media content.
Despite the increased attention to eudaimonic media experiences, to date scholars have paid little attention to the specific portrayals responsible for those experiences. Study 1 of this project ...reports the first systematic content analysis of self‐transcendent media—a particular type of eudaimonic media—using a sample of 100 “inspirational” YouTube videos. The presence of 20 specific elicitors associated with self‐transcendent emotions was examined and reported. In Study 2, respondents provided real‐time self‐transcendent emotional reactions while viewing 3 “inspirational” videos. As expected, ratings significantly increased immediately following exposure to each specific elicitor. Thus, this project reports the first empirical evidence directly linking specific representations to content identified as “inspirational” and directly linking those representations to self‐transcendent emotional reactions.
This study examined the effects of semi-fictional biographical political films on political learning and attitude change in audiences of fictionalized accounts of female politicians. Data from 310 ...participants indicated that content-related political learning significantly increased and attitude toward female politicians positively changed after exposure. A conceptual model of the political entertainment effects indicated that initial political learning transported the audience into the biographical narrative, which led to greater enjoyment, as well as learning gain and a positive attitude toward female politicians. Our findings provide important clarification to existing research and offer both theoretical, methodological, and practical implications.
Abstract
Interest in the meaningful sides of media entertainment has blossomed over the last decade, with numerous scholars examining how certain media content can enhance social good and well-being. ...Because social scientific work in this area is relatively new and is rapidly evolving, numerous conceptualizations of meaningful media experiences have been introduced. In this paper we argue for the importance of recognizing a unique form of media experience that causes us to look beyond our own concerns, to recognize moral beauty, and to feel unity with humanity and nature—what we label here as “self-transcendent media experiences.”
Affective disposition theory (ADT), which nicely explains enjoyment of traditional hero narratives, appears somewhat limited in its ability to explain antihero narratives, primarily because of the ...moral complexity of the protagonists. Recent work proposes that viewers over time develop story schema that permit antihero enjoyment, despite character immorality. This article reports results from three studies that support this claim. Specifically, the findings indicate that moral judgment may be less important to antihero enjoyment than ADT would predict, that previous exposure to an antihero narrative alters responses to similar narratives, and that moral disengagement cues impact the enjoyment process. Ultimately, the studies offer empirical evidence of how antihero narratives are enjoyed differently than their traditional hero counterparts.
In an attempt to expand the scope of the disposition theory of drama and to further explore the enjoyment of media entertainment, this article reexamines how viewers form and maintain strong feelings ...toward media characters. To that end, schema‐theory literature is employed to offer possible alternative processes by which these bonds are first formed. Secondly, the article investigates the ways that viewers seek to perpetuate and defend those strong feelings for the sake of enjoyment. Several attitude and perception theories are examined to further inform our understanding of enjoyment. Finally, the article considers the potential implications on the disposition theory of drama and on our understanding of media enjoyment in general.
Although a great deal of research has examined the potential negative effects of Facebook, studies also show that Facebook use can lead to various positive effects. This study builds on this positive ...effects scholarship: together, the two studies presented herein aim to provide an understanding of the inspirational content available on Facebook and the way social media users in the United States encounter, recall, and interact with this content. Results from the quantitative content analysis in Study 1 show that inspirational Facebook posts contain similar frequencies of hope and appreciation of beauty and excellent elicitors when compared with other forms of media and social media. Results from the national survey conducted in Study 2 show that social media users are most often inspired by portrayals of kindness and overcoming obstacles and that Facebook users did not report different sharing behavior as compared with users of other social media sites.
Self-transcendent media experiences are thought to involve cognitive engagement and mixed affect, leading to psychological well-being. The current study investigated whether these characteristics ...were reflected in viewers' psychophysiological responses and sharing intentions. Multilevel model analyses revealed that viewers (n = 57) allocated more cognitive resources to encoding (heart rate), experienced greater physiological arousal (skin conductance level), and less positive but greater negative affect (facial electromyography), and were more motivated to share content (prosociality) when exposed to self-transcendent videos relative to humorous videos. Moreover, specific self-transcendent portrayals (appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, and hope) elicited greater cognitive effort and mixed affect relative to the average response of these videos. In line with emotional flow, cognitive resources increased after the transformational scene in each self-transcendent video, which was accompanied by a negative-to-positive emotional trajectory shift wherein negative emotion remained statistically the same but positive emotion increased. The current study provides initial evidence for theoretical development into the ways that self-transcendent content and narrative structure influence cognitive and affective responses and prosocial intentions.
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