The Appeal of Tragedy: An Attitude Interpretation

Mills, Judson

doi:10.1207/s15324834basp1403_1

Cited by 36 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Based on this line of reasoning, Oliver (1993) predicted and found that "feelings of sadness elicited from viewing tearjerkers can be interpreted as pleasurable sensations among many viewers" (p. 336). A similar argument was made by Mills (1993) who interpreted the appeal of tragedy in terms of positive attitudes towards empathic sadness.…”

Section: Meta-emotionmentioning

confidence: 53%

“…The factors fun and thrill seem to reflect such well-researched entertainment gratifications as mood-management (Zillmann, 1988), and sensation seeking (Zuckerman, 1979), whereas the factor empathic sadness draws attention to more complex forms of affect regulation that cannot be explained in terms of positive valence and arousal alone. Rather, the appeal of empathic sadness seems to involve evaluative components such as attitudes towards empathy, or meta-emotions that merit further theoretical and empirical attention (Oliver, 1993;EMOTIONAL GRATIFICATIONS 27 Oliver et al, 2009;Mills, 1993).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Emotional Gratification in Entertainment Experience. Why Viewers of Movies and Television Series Find it Rewarding to Experience Emotions

2012

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Section: Meta-emotionmentioning

confidence: 53%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotional Gratification in Entertainment Experience. Why Viewers of Movies and Television Series Find it Rewarding to Experience Emotions

2012

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“…In this regard, scholars have considered a variety of potential explanations, including the idea that sad content may be gratifying because it provides the opportunity to enact empathy (Mills 1993), is ultimately cathartic (Cornelius 1997), allows viewers to enhance feelings of self-worth via comparison with others in more tragic situations (Mares and Cantor 1992), or helps individuals to cope with their problems (Grodal 2007;Nabi et al 2006;Zillmann 2000). Most of these explanations point to the idea that viewers retrieve something from sad movies that may not make the actual exposure a joyful experience, but that seems to be important and helpful in the long run.…”

Section: The Assumption Of Hedonism In Entertainment Psychologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Role of Meaningful Experiences in Users' Appreciation of “Good Movies”

Oliver¹,

Hartmann²

2010

Projections

117

145

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This article extends current theorizing in media psychology on audience responses to cinema by examining individuals' perceptions of meaningfulness. Specifically, it presents the results of a study designed to expand upon research on psychological and subjective well-being to experiences and memories of films that are perceived as particularly meaningful by viewers. Characteristics and themes of such films are examined and identified, as well as the specific emotional responses that accompany perceptions of meaningful cinema.Keywords: elevation, enjoyment versus appreciation, meaningfulness, eudaimonic and hedonic motivations, life stories, mixed affect To characterize a movie as a "good movie" can mean many things-that the movie was of high quality, that the movie was a "classic," or that the movie was memorable, among other things. However, within the social scientific community (e.g., Communication Sciences, Media Psychology), the notion of what makes for a "good movie" has typically been understood from the perspective of an audience that is assumed to be driven by hedonistic motivations. Yet this characterization obviously runs counter to many examples of films that are widely celebrated as particularly valuable or noteworthy but that may not be considered "pleasurable" in the hedonic sense of the term (e.g., Schindler's List; A Beautiful Mind). As a result, more recent research has considered additional characterizations of what makes for good films in terms of audiences' appreciation of meaningful cinematic experiences. However, this work, in its early stages, has yet to identify the specific types of portrayals, narrative "lessons," or audience perceptions of what is particularly meaningful. As a result, the purpose of this article is to present findings representing our first steps at articulating a conceptualization of "meaningful" cinematic experiences.

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“…The mood management theory provides no account for this tendency. Mills (1993) contends that people enjoy tragedy because it gives them an opportunity to exercise their belief that to empathize with another's suffering is good. In accordance with this, women who reported stronger attitudes toward the importance of sharing another's sadness also reported enjoying a tragic movie more than did those with weaker attitudes toward empathy (Mills, 1993).…”

Section: Why Do People Seek Dramatic Experience?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Watching Your Troubles Away: Television Viewing as a Stimulus for Subjective Self-Awareness

Moskalenko

Heine

2003

Pers Soc Psychol Bull

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Three studies explored the role of television viewing in eliciting subjective self-awareness and positive self-feelings. Study 1 assessed the effects of self-awareness manipulations via exposure to a neutral television program on actual-ideal discrepancies. Those who watched television showed significantly smaller self-discrepancies than those who did not, independent of mood. Study 2 demonstrated the ecological validity of this finding by replicating it with people watching television in their own homes. Study 3 investigated whether manipulations of self-feelings affected television watching. Results indicated that those who received failure feedback watched television longer than those in a control condition who likewise watched television longer than those who received success feedback. Television appears to be an effective stimulus to direct the focus away from oneself and to render people less aware of how they are falling short of their standards.

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The Appeal of Tragedy: An Attitude Interpretation

Cited by 36 publications

References 3 publications

Emotional Gratification in Entertainment Experience. Why Viewers of Movies and Television Series Find it Rewarding to Experience Emotions

Emotional Gratification in Entertainment Experience. Why Viewers of Movies and Television Series Find it Rewarding to Experience Emotions

Exploring the Role of Meaningful Experiences in Users' Appreciation of “Good Movies”

Watching Your Troubles Away: Television Viewing as a Stimulus for Subjective Self-Awareness

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