Melfi’s Choice: Morally Conflicted Content Leads to Moral Rumination in Viewers

Abstract

This study investigates if morally conflicted and controversial content, which is often denounced as morally desensitizing, may play an important role in leading to moral rumination in viewers. The results of a quasiexperiment reveal that moral rumination was predicted by transportation into the narrative and was related to increased appreciation for the episode. The results support the notion that media potentially function as a "morality sandbox" in which to play with or test out moral concerns, even regarding controversial and violent content.

All the reasons why: Exploring the relationship between morally controversial content in 13 Reasons Why and viewers' moral rumination

“…Controversial media content, like 13 Reasons Why, has been at the core of the discipline of communication science since its inception. This type of content, often tied to depictions of graphic violence, sex, or a combination, has mainly been dealt with-in both societal debate and scholarly work-in relation to concerns about how the media we consume might be detrimental to its viewers as individuals as well as society at large (Eden et al, 2011(Eden et al, , 2017Raney et al, 2020). The debate has been rather consistent over time.…”

“…On the one hand, the debate focuses on a cluster of adverse effects on the individual level, such as an increase in (potential for) aggressive behavior and a decrease in empathy and prosociality. On the other hand, it discusses concerns on the societal level, particularly the decay of public morality and social norms (Bartsch et al, 2016;Eden et al, 2017).…”

“…Quite recently, researchers have started to take a different approach to controversial media content, showing that it might lead to processes of reflective appropriation, meaning-making, and moral rumination (Bartsch et al, 2016;Eden et al, 2017). Beginning from the assumption that the consumption of (some of the) controversial media content could be based on more than mindless thrill-seeking, violent fantasies, and escapism, and might even be tied to personal wellbeing and growth (cf.…”

“…Furthermore, a study by Eden et al (2017) explored if controversial and conflicted content-specifically a controversial narrative from The Sopranos that depicted an act of unpunished and graphic rape-could lead to moral rumination in viewers. In that study, moral rumination was defined as "the capacity and process by which a person evaluates several perspectives on a moral issue, through which it becomes clear which moral value is the most important in a specific situation and what the preferred moral action is going to be" (Eden et al, 2017, p. 143).…”

The Storytelling Brain: How Neuroscience Stories Help Bridge the Gap between Research and Society

“…Evoking emotions and wonder is sometimes achieved by not telling a straightforward story. Research shows that a story with fictional characters that act in a morally or emotionally ambiguous fashion leads to a deeper (moral) evaluation in the reader or viewer (e.g., Eden et al, 2017). Thus, if one wants to evoke (moral) reflection via a science narrative, it may be better to not make the moral content of the narrative too straightforward, but rather more ambiguous.…”