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Summary of Media psychology
Project 2
Creative Business | IMEM
Breda University of Applied Sciences
Week 1: Psychology of entertainment (2006), CH9 The psychology of disposition-based theories of media enjoyment
Week 2: Communication theory (2004), Enjoyment: At t...
Media psychology | PRJ 2
WEEK 1 | Psychology of Entertainment (2006)
CH 9 The Psychology of Disposition-Based Theories of Media Enjoyment
- Disposition theories: explain how individuals judge and connect (affiliate) with media characters
➢ & how their enjoyment is influenced by what happens to those characters
▪ Enjoyment = individual level phenomenon – subjective
➢ Disposition = how you feel about a character
- First theory by Zillmann and Cantor (1972): disposition theory of Humor
➢ Later applied to other media content, try to develop a general disposition theory
Disposition theory of humor – by Zillmann and Cantor (1972)
- Until early 1970s works focuses upon humorous situations containing disparagement of another
➢ Concluded people find disparagement funny as long as they don’t belong to the insulted party
➢ Did not research if it became funnier if people had a potential dislike for the insulted party
- First limitation: question if disparagement jokes become funnier if people dislike the insulted party
➢ Zillmann and Cantor (1972) stated that we form affective dispositions towards characters
➢ Continuum of affective dispositions = scale on how we feel about a character
▪ Ranging from extreme negative trough a neutral point (no feeling) to extreme positive
➢ Enjoyment higher the more negative disposition held towards disparaged character, and/or more
positive disposition held towards the character responsible for the disparagement
▪ E.g. maximal humor appreciation when our friends embarrass our enemies
- Second limitation: we respond to quickly to make use of cognitive effort to understand a disparaging joke
➢ Takes too much time to first assign insulted person to a group and then compare to own group
➢ Researchers contended that we first identify the roles and activity of a character
▪ When associated with positive experiences: react with empathy
▪ When associated with negative experiences: react with counter empathy
➢ So empathy governs reaction to characters in humorous situations containing disparagement
- Third: stated that affiliations were based on personality and therefor stable and consistent
➢ Zillmann and Cantor argued that responses to humorous situations vary across time
▪ Emotional state plays a significant role – dynamics of an individual’s effect
- Why jokes that offers no or little description of its characters still funny? – no affective disposition
➢ Argued that we react in situation because of affective dynamics
➢ React with negative emotions towards insulted group: can therefore enjoy the joke
- Lots of other studies support the disposition theory of humor
Disposition theory of drama – by Zillmann and Cantor (1976)
- Enjoyment increases when liked characters experience positive outcomes and/or when disliked
characters experience negative outcomes – and decreases when the other way around
- Just like the disposition theory of humor, form affective dispositions with the characters
Danique de Haas | 180947
, ➢ However, selection of (un)favored characters cannot be capricious, must be morally justified
▪ Joke offers excuse to find humor in the misfortune of others, drama does not
➢ Positive dispositions with character whose actions and motivation we judge as morally correct
- Emotional involvement in drama is governed by moral judgement and affective dispositions
➢ Ones characters are liked, able to empathize with them and hope for their triumph
➢ The stronger the positive feelings, the stronger our empathic reaction – empathy is key
➢ When no feelings towards character, no emotional response and consequently no enjoyment
- Individuals have a unique moral composition, therefor their dispositions will vary
➢ People think/respond to characters differently – enjoyment of one program varies per person
- Support of this theory is found in the early studies of Zillmann and Cantor (1972)
➢ Zillmann and Bryant (1975) established the role of moral judgement – three fairy tale versions
▪ Children of different levels of moral judgement making different decisions
➢ Raney (2002) further examined the role of moral judgement – two crime-punishment videos
Disposition theory of sports spectatorship – by Zillmann, Bryant, & Sapolsky (1989)
- Developed by applying disposition-based principals to sporting events
- Dedication for a team/player can be seen as a continuum of affect – intense liking through disliking
- Enjoyment will increase the more the viewer like the winning team and/or dislikes the losing team
- Several studies have found support
➢ Zillmann, Bryant, and Sapolsky (1989) – measured enjoyment of National Football League watchers
➢ Zillmann – measured enjoyment of Olympic basketball game between US and Yugoslavia
▪ US students enjoyed when US team scored, even more enjoyment from former student players
➢ Sapolsky (1980) – high-school basketball competition between all-black and all-white team
Psychological factors associated with disposition-based theories
1. Enjoyment or appreciation of media content
- Theories cannot predict whether a character will be liked or disliked
➢ However, it serves at an understanding of the process of how people enjoy
- Additional research is needed as not yet everything is fully determined
➢ Need to better understand wat enjoyment really is – is it the same as appreciation?
➢ Vorderer, Klimmt, and Ritterfeld (2004) developed a conceptual model – more info needed
➢ Escapism motivation expressed – how does the disposition theory influence escapism
2. Emotional responses to media
- Individuals differences in empathy influence the extent and manner in which they respond to characters
- Cognition, particularly moral judgement, are key in the disposition-formation process
- Distinctions between affect (empathy) and cognition (moral) hard to measure in reality
3. Media enjoyment starts with and is driven by the viewer’s feelings about characters
- Identify psychological factors influencing feelings about characters
➢ Such as level of empathy, moral judgement, content features (camera movements, music), or age
➢ Could also be prior exposure to an actor: prior attitudes towards media characters
➢ Viewers not encountering narratives empty minded because of existing story schemes
4. Affiliations towards characters are formed and maintained on a continuum from 😊 through 😐 to ☹
- Early humor theories conceptualizing affiliations as dichotomous were proved ineffective
Danique de Haas | 180947
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