Conceptualizing Media Enjoyment as Attitude: Implications for Mass Media Effects Research

Abstract

Despite its popularity in mass media effects research, the concept of media enjoyment has yet to be clearly explicated or theoretically integrated into media effects theories. In this analysis, the authors begin to address these limitations by first reviewing terms that have been used to capture the concept of media enjoyment, considering their underlying common features. The authors then introduce a tripartite model of media enjoyment-as-attitude and examine how past research meshes with this perspective. Finally, they consider how enjoyment-as-attitude predicts volitional and spontaneous behavioral outcomes in terms of both media exposure and content-influenced action (e.g., imitation) from 3 theoretical perspectives (uses and gratifications, social cognitive theory, and cultivation). In this way, the article sheds light on how the concept of enjoyment might help to elaborate the understanding of those theoretical processes and, conversely, how extant theoretical perspectives might inform the study of media enjoyment.

Enjoyment of arousing television news: The role of age and sensation seeking

“…This procedure was repeated until the participant had watched four news stories. Nabi and Krcmar (2004) defined enjoyment as an attitude with respect to the extent to which both the content and experience of media use are evaluated positively. Accordingly, enjoyment was measured using the statements "this was an attractive story" and "I liked watching this story" (cf.…”

On the influence of individual characteristics and personality traits on the user experience with multi-sensorial media: an experimental insight

“…defined as Ba relatively enduring organization of beliefs, feelings, and behavioral tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events or symbols^ [32]. This approach is supported by a broad body of evidence on the influence of affective, cognitive and behavioral factors on individuals quality judgment of and emotional response to media [55,60,75,87,96,105].…”

“…Finally, the Behavior (B) dimension deals with the influence of attitude on behavior and encompasses forms as past or ongoing viewing experience and past behaviors or behavioral intentions in relation to the content [55]. The B dimension is frequently addressed under the assumption of consistency, which holds that an individual's behavior shall be consistent with his/her affective and cognitive attitudinal components.…”

Effectiveness of Narrative Persuasion on Facebook: Change of Attitude and Intention towards HPV

“…Liking: It refers to a positive evaluation of the character and reflects an affective, cognitive and behavioural reaction (Cohen, 2001;Giles, 2002;Hoffner andCantor, 1991, Nabi andKremar, 2004). Although, as Eagly and Chaiken (1993) indicate, this assessment can also be negative, manifesting as disapproval or rejection.…”

“…In two studies about PSI and its relationship to loneliness or grief in a forced break between the spectator and a character due to a writers' strike, or the disappearance of the character, it has been verified that these breaks can be compared with those in real-life relationships (Eyal and Cohen, 2006; Moyer-Gusé and Lather, 2011). PSI has also been shown to influence engagement and identification with the characters (Nabi and Kremar, 2004), which facilitates the acceptance of stigmatized groups through parasocial contact (Schiappa, Gregg, and Hewes, 2005) and increases satisfaction with the media (Hartmann and Goldhoorn, 2011).…”