EntCom lecture 1
Introduction to media entertainment
Entertainment can be defined as the action of providing or being provided with amusement
or enjoyment. Basically entertainment is described as something that is enjoyable to
someone.
• Entertainment can be defined as a complex, dynamic and multifaceted experience that
one goes through while being exposed to this type of media (Vorderer, 2001).
• Entertainment has been understood not so much as a product (movie, game or tv show)
or as a feature of such a product (action, comedy) but rather as a response to it (Zill-
mann & Bryant, 1994).
• At the heart of the entertainment experience lies enjoyment, a product of numerous inter-
actions between conditions on both the user’s and the media’s side (Vorderer, Klimmt, &
Ritterfeld, 2004).
• Entertainment is ‘any market offering whose main purpose is to provide pleasure to con-
sumers, versus offering primarily functional utility’ (Hennig- Thurau & Houston, 2019
p41).
• Entertainment is any mediated product created for the purpose of entertainment
• The opposite of entertainment is boredom; if we are not entertained, we are bored
(Stromberg, 2009).
• Painters make paintings, but it takes a representative of the art-world to make a work of
art (Wollheim, 1980).
Different communication models
Theoretical models are often used as conceptual representations of the system of ideas
and processes that help us identify and understand underlying patterns. Models provide a
simplified
representation of a
complex situation.
Lasswell’s linear
model of
communication
(1948)
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,Differential susceptibility to media effects model - DSMM (Valkenburg & Peter, 2013)
• Three factors predict media use : preference, developmental level and social
environment.
• Media effects are transactional, meaning that effect of media use also influence media
use.
Model of
Vorderer, Klimmt,
& Ritterfeld
(2004)
Media entertainment model (users)
The three previous mentioned models form the basis for the media entertainment model. It
is a cycle of media entertainment and its users. The media entertainment model, there are
entertainment products on the left in green, and users on the right in red. Entertainment
products consists of two concepts: a label and the design. The users consists also of two
concepts: preference and response. It's a circular process model in which your preference
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,for entertainment determines which entertainment products are selected. This entertain-
ment product can have all sorts of design elements that provide users with the experience
and your response to this experience will then affect your preference for this or similar
types of entertainment, and the cycle will go on and on and on.
Preference
Preference describes what forms of entertainment you like and thereby define to a large
extent to what you want to watch, play, or listen to. Preference for specific types of
entertainment can be influenced by;
• Demographic (gender, age, income, education, location, ethnicity)
• Social (culture, family, friends, peers, society)
• Trait and state (psychosocial traits, cognitive capabilities, attitudes, values, beliefs, state,
mood)
• Media entertainment (experience, knowledge)
Popular culture
The core of any culture is a set of attitudes, values, and beliefs that is shared by a group of
people. Culture provides members of the group the norms for their behavior (Deshpande &
Webster, 1989). Popular culture (or pop culture) is the domain of entertainment products
created in mass quantities for a mass audience. It is generally recognized as a constantly
evolving set of practices, beliefs, and values that are dominant or ubiquitous in a society at
a given point in time.
Cultural congruence
A nation transmits the values of what is to be appreciated (and what is not) to its members,
as part of a continuous and often lifelong socialization process. Consumers’ entertainment
choices show their personal values, ambitions beliefs, and perceptions of the world and
themselves (Schäfer & Sedlmeier, 2009). The ‘cultural congruence’ between a movie and
the audience influences how much consumers like the movie (Song et al. 2018).
Zeitgeist (defining mood of a particular period in history)
Cultural trends can make consumers “ripe” for a product. The fit of any entertainment prod-
uct’s genres and themes with people’s interests and desires may be high or low during
certain periods. History provides examples that entertainment can become an embodiment
of a certain cultural zeitgeist, capturing and reflecting the life style of a certain period. En-
tertainment products are more attractive in bleaker economic times, despite consumers
having less money at their disposal.
Selection
Preference influences the process of selection. Out of the overload on entertainment prod-
ucts that you are bombarded with on a daily basis, many of which are appealing, which will
you select to spend your time and possibly resources on? That selection describes your
motivations and the process of choosing entertainment (product). The selection is often re-
lated to expect to the expected response. You are motivated to select products based on
how you expect this product will make you feel.
Escapism
The tendency to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realities, especially by seeking
entertainment or engaging in fantasy (Katz & Foulkes, 1962). Escapism attempts to expli-
cate how media, particularly narratives presented through media may provide some sort of
transient mental retreat for users who feel uncomfortable in their actual lives and social
worlds. This escapism motivation can relate to a person’s immediate social environment,
his or her general work and life situation or simply the sense of emptiness that is perceived
when there is nothing to do (Henning & Vorderer, 2001).
The mood management theory
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, Mood management theory describes that the use of entertainment serves the regulation of
positive mood states (Zillmann, 1984). Based on the hedonistic premise that individuals
are motivated to experience pleasure and avoid pain, individuals tend to select entertain-
ment in order to maximize or maintain a good mood, and/or diminish or alleviate a bad
mood. Empirical evidence for mood management exists for music consumption (Schäfer &
Sedlmeier, 2009), as well as TV viewing patterns (e.g., Lee & Lee, 1995), and for movie
preferences (Hirschman, 1987).
Familiarity
Familiarity refers to a consumer perceiving a sense of connection with an entertainment
product and/or its elements and characters (Bohnenkamp et al. 2015; Green et al. 2004).
• Nostalgia involves preferences for things or experiences that were more common when
one was younger (Kalinina, 2016).
• The reminiscence bump effect: we recall early-life memories most readily (Jansari &
Parkin, 1989). We like songs, movies an television programs the most that were popular
when we were between 16 and 24 (Holbrook & Schindler, 1989; Janssen et al., 2007;
Peltoniemi, 2015).
• The moderate-discrepancy hypothesis, means that anything that is slightly different from
what we are very familiar with tends to get our attention more than when we encounter
something that is greatly diverse or extremely similar to what we are very familiar with
(McCall & McGhee, 1977).
Social cognitive theory
Social Cognitive Theory: Children’s behavior is learned by watching what others do and
will not do in the environment in which one grows up. By imitating the observed behavior
(e.g., family, friends) the observer solidifies that behavior and is rewarded with positive re-
inforcement (Bandura, 1986).
The Bandwagon effect
The Bandwagon effect is a phenomenon whereby the probability of individual adoption in-
creases with respect to the proportion of those who have already done so.
Social conformity
Asch (1951) indicated the power of social conformity and normative social influence; the
willingness to conform to public opinion to attain social acceptance and/or avoid social ex-
clusion.
Media habits
Media Habits are a form of automatic and non-conscious media consumption behavior that
develops as people repeat frequent media consumption behavior (LaRose, 2010). Enter-
tainment media expands and reinforces associations among consumption behaviors and
cultural symbols. Through these rich networks of associations, infrequent media consump-
tion behaviors (e.g., playing holiday music) may also become habitual.
Media addition
Media Addition is excessive, obsessive and compulsive media use that cannot be con-
trolled despite negative consequences (Griffits, 2006; Lemmens, Valkenburg & Peter,
2009)
• Obsessions are thoughts are person cannot stop from having
• Compulsions are behaviors a person cannot stop enacting
Media entertainment model (media entertainment)
Mediated products created for the purpose of entertaining its users. Entertainment prod-
ucts are ‘information goods’ - economic offerings that are valued mostly because of the in-
formation they carry (Wang & Zhang, 2009). Because the attributes of the experience
dominate consumers’ quality judgements for these products, they are also referred to as
‘experience goods ‘ (Nelson, 1970).
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