Spoilers ahead, proceed with caution: How engagement, enjoyment, and FoMO predict avoidance of spoilers.

Abstract

Spoilers are defined as unwanted revelations that give away a plot twist or the ending of a story. Online articles, blogs, and news stories often contain a "spoiler alert" to let people know that plot points are being discussed within. However, previous research on spoilers has produced mixed results; some studies say that spoilers decrease enjoyment (Johnson & Rosenbaum, 2015), whereas others say that spoilers increase enjoyment (Leavitt & Christenfeld, 2011. The current study seeks to explicate the seemingly complex nature of spoilers from the mood management theory perspective-does engagement with a narrative play a role in whether or not people avoid spoilers? Survey data were used to examine whether the narrative experiences of engagement, hedonic enjoyment, appreciation, suspense, and lasting impression would have an effect on whether someone would avoid spoilers either through in-person interactions or online, or if they would avoid social media altogether to avoid spoilers. In addition, this study examined whether the personality trait fear-of-missing-out would have an effect on someone's likelihood to avoid spoilers. Through the use of an online convenience sample survey with 200 respondents from varying demographic groups, this study demonstrates that people are likely to avoid spoilers for their favorite TV show to maintain their positive mood. Increased narrative engagement, hedonic enjoyment, appreciation, lasting impression, suspense, and fear-of-missing-out all predicted that people would either avoid spoilers or avoid social media entirely. Implications for theory and viewers are discussed. Public Policy Relevance StatementPeople may be attempting to maintain positive moods by manipulating their media choices. In this study, that means that people may avoid spoilers for their favorite TV shows. These results should help to understand the role that positive moods play in the public's media consumption choices and help media consumers make more informed media choices. In addition, this research may help content producers decide if they will release spoilers for their stories.

Curiosity evolves as information unfolds

“…Expanding on recent work showing that curiosity encourages a preference for receiving partial information (hints) compared to immediately receiving the answer ( 26 ); here, we find that this preference for prolonging uncertainty persists throughout information gathering. Thus, curiosity experienced during information gathering can encourage prolonging the state of uncertainty, similar to how people prefer to experience movies, sports, or narratives that unfold across time ( 17 , 19 – 22 ). However, higher curiosity still predicted continuing a video even after participants made correct, highly confident guesses.…”

“…Theoretical accounts of curiosity as motivating an urgent need to resolve uncertainty (e.g., seeking outcomes or answers) stand in contrast with real-world examples where prolonged anticipation and uncertainty are paradoxically preferred ( 17 , 18 ), such as in narratives ( 17 ), close contests in sports, ( 19 ) and video games ( 20 , 21 ). In fact, people even specifically avoid early resolution ( 22 , 23 ) by adopting self-control mechanisms to decrease the likelihood of information exposure ( 24 , 25 ). Willingness to prolong uncertainty has been supported by recent experimental work showing that participants often preferred hints to the full answer when curious ( 26 ).…”