Autobiographical Memories for Seeing Romantic Movies on a Date: Romance Is Not Just for Women

Two autobiographical memory studies were conducted to better understand the social experience and memory for watching romantic movies on a date. In both studies, participants were primarily middle-class, White, young adults, who (a) recalled the experience of watching a romantic movie they had seen on a date and (b) were assessed for levels of sex-role traditionality and 4 kinds of dispositional empathy. Participants also reported with whom they watched the movie, who chose it, and the cognitions and emotions experienced during viewing. Finally, a fantasy measure asked participants to choose the types of scenes in which they and their dates might like to "stand in" for a character in the film. Results indicated that women more often than men selected the movie and liked it more, but, despite common stereotypes, men also reported favorable ratings for romantic movies seen on a date. However, both men and women thought that "most men" would not like the movie. On the fantasy measure, women underestimated men's preference for appearing in scenes of romance. For multiple measures, participants fell back on gender stereotyping when estimating what people in general, especially men, would like. Study 2 replicated Study 1 (N = 265) with a sample of 45 dating couples.     

The role of plausibility in influencing environmental attributions

The aim of the study was to examine how plausibility influences attributions about the cause of perceived arousal. Subjects watched one of three arousing (humorous, sexual, aggressive) or a nonarousing televised program under conditions of appropriate or inappropriate interpersonal spacing. The subjects then completed a questionnaire indicating how crowded they felt and rating the movie on a number of dimensions. The results indicated that under close interpersonal distances, subjects felt less crowded while watching the arousing movies than while viewing the nonarousing movie. There were no differences in the experience of crowding between the movie conditions under the far interpersonal distance conditions. In addition, subjects rated the arousing movies as more arousing under close as opposed to far interpersonal distance conditions. Further, the humorous movie was viewed as more funny, and the violent movie was rated more violent under the close as opposed to the far conditions. Finally, there was a tendency to enjoy the arousing movies more under the close conditions, while the reverse effect was found for the nonarousing movie. It was argued that the arousing movies reduced the experience of crowding under close interpersonal conditions because subjects attributed their arousal to the movies rather than to the spatial restrictions. It was further suggested that the results showed that individuals will attribute their arousal to salient stimuli in their environment that could plausibly be sources of arousal. The results not only offer support for an attribution model of crowding, but they also show that depending on the individual's attribution, spatial conditions that can give rise to crowding may increase enjoyment of events in the environment.     

Explicit Sexual Movie Viewing in the United States According to Selected Marriage and Lifestyle,Work and Financial,Religion and Political Factors

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate explicit sexual movie use among men and women in the United States according to relationship, lifestyle, work, financial, religious, and political factors. Analyses involved 11,372 adults who responded to questions about demographics and explicitly sexual movie use in the General Social Survey (GSS) from 2000 to 2014. Viewing of an explicit sexual movie in the previous year was significantly greater in men than women (35 vs. 16%); Blacks than Whites (33 vs. 22%); and never married (41 vs. 18% married, 31% separated, and 24% divorced). It also decreased with older age, higher education, and more children in the household. After model adjustment for these variables, viewing an explicit sexual movie was associated with a number of relationship, lifestyle, financial, religious, political, and other variables. For example, viewing such movies was related to less happiness in marriage, multiple sex partners in past year, less satisfaction with one’s financial situation, no religious preference, and a more liberal political orientation. The effect of some variables on pornography viewing differed between men and women. For example, out of men and women who consider themselves to be “not spiritual”, men were more likely to view pornography than women. Explicit sexual movie viewing is associated with factors from diverse domains, including poorer relationship quality, more liberal sexual views and practices, poorer economic conditions, lower religious orientation or commitment, and more liberal political views.     

电影观看过程中的字幕偏好性：声音的影响作用

字幕作为电影和电视节目的重要组成部分,在视频观看过程中起到辅助加工的作用。先前的研究认为字幕是视频语言的直接转译,字幕与声音信息具有很高的重叠性,所以关闭视频的声音不影响被试对字幕的加工。研究以电影视频作为刺激材料,采用眼动技术探讨了声音对电影观看过程中字幕偏好性的影响作用。实验通过控制视频的声音信息,探讨声音对字幕偏好性加工的影响作用。结果发现：视频的声音信息会对字幕的加工产生影响,关闭声音后被试对字幕的加工时间和次数会增加,无声条件下对字幕的注视次数和注视时间占总注视的比例超过了50%,说明声音和字幕对视频的理解具有相互辅助的作用。     

Reviews,expectations, and the experience of stories

ABSTRACT

Theory suggests that information encountered prior to a story affects the actual experience of the story due to elicited expectations. In two experiments (N = 100; N = 167) short movies that were introduced with a positive review yielded higher transportation scores than the same movies introduced with a more negative (or neutral) review. Mediation analyses indicate that the reviews had an influence on recipients’ expectations, which in turn predicted the experience of the movie. Using the more fine-grained narrative engagement scale, we found evidence for a consistent effect on narrative presence, whereas the influence on emotional engagement, narrative understanding, and attentional focus varied between experiments. Moderation analyses (moderated mediation) showed that recipient’s opinion seeking and need for cognitive closure were unrelated to the influence of reviews on expectations and the link between expectations and narrative experience. Our findings add to the theory of story processing and they are of practical relevance for everyone who intends to influence recipients’ experience of narrative worlds.     

Effects of violent movies and trait hostility on hostile feelings and aggressive thoughts

The General Affective Aggression Model [Anderson CA, Deuser WE, DeNeve KM (1995): Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 21:434–448; Anderson CA, Anderson KB, Deuser WE (1996): Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 22:366–376] suggests that violent movies may increase aggression by increasing hostile feelings and the accessibility of aggressive thoughts. It also suggests that trait hostility may similarly influence affect and cognition. Experiment 1 explored the effects of viewing violent movie clips on affect and cognition. Participants who viewed a violent movie clip later reported higher levels of state hostility than did those who viewed a nonviolent clip. Experiment 2 added trait hostility to the design as a potentially important individual difference variable. The state hostility results of Experiment 1 were replicated. In addition, the relative accessibility of aggressive thoughts was increased by the violent clip, but only for low irritable participants. Discussion focused on the relevance to aggressive behavior. Aggr. Behav. 23:161–178, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Memory of movies by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

How do animals remember what they see in daily life? The processes involved in remembering such visual information may be similar to those used in interpreting moving images on a monitor. In Experiment 1, 4 adult chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) were required to discriminate between movies using a movie-to-movie matching-to-sample task. All chimpanzees demonstrated the ability to discriminate movies from the very 1st session onward. In Experiment 2, the ability to retain a movie was investigated through a matching-to-sample task using movie stills. To test which characteristics of movies are relevant to memory, the authors compared 2 conditions. In the continuous condition, the scenes comprising the movie progressed gradually, whereas in the discrete condition, the authors introduced a sudden change from one scene to another. Chimpanzees showed a recency effect only in the discrete condition, suggesting that composition and temporal order of scenes were used to remember the movies.     

文字熟悉度对电影字幕偏好性影响的眼动研究

字幕作为电影和电视节目的重要组成部分,在视频观看过程中起到辅助加工的作用。研究以电影视频作为刺激材料,设置了中文、英文、乱码三种字幕,采用眼动技术探讨了文字熟悉性对电影观看过程中字幕偏好性的影响作用。结果发现:虽然仅凭电影中的声音就完全可以理解电影内容,但是被试仍然对不同熟悉度的字幕表现出了字幕偏好性;字幕的偏好性受到文字熟悉性的影响,随着文字熟悉度的下降,字幕的偏好性也随之降低。     

Movie smoking exposure and smoking onset: a longitudinal study of mediation processes in a representative sample of U.S. adolescents.

The authors tested 2 mechanisms for the relation of movie smoking exposure with onset of cigarette smoking in adolescence. Longitudinal data with 8-month follow-up were obtained from a representative sample of 6,522 U.S. adolescents, ages 10-14 years. Structural modeling analysis based on initial nonsmokers, which controlled for 10 covariates associated with movie exposure, showed that viewing more smoking in movies was related to increases in positive expectancies about smoking and increases in affiliation with smoking peers, and these variables were both related to smoking onset. A direct effect of movie exposure on smoking onset was also noted. Mediation findings were replicated across cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. Tests for gender differences indicated that girls showed larger effects of movie exposure for some variables. Implications for policy and prevention research are discussed.     

Perceiving emotion in non-social targets: The effect of trait empathy on emotional contagion through art

This research examines the role of trait empathy in emotional contagion through non-social targets—art objects. Studies 1a and 1b showed that high- (compared to low-) empathy individuals are more likely to infer an artist’s emotions based on the emotional valence of the artwork and, as a result, are more likely to experience the respective emotions themselves. Studies 2a and 2b experimentally manipulated artists’ emotions via revealing details about their personal life. Study 3 experimentally induced positive vs. negative emotions in individuals who then wrote literary texts. These texts were shown to another sample of participants. High- (compared to low-) empathy participants were more like to accurately identify and take on the emotions ostensibly (Studies 2a and 2b) or actually (Study 3) experienced by the “artists”. High-empathy individuals’ enhanced sensitivity to others’ emotions is not restricted to social targets, such as faces, but extends to products of the human mind, such as objects of art.     

The influence of an audience upon the reactions to filmed violence

In order to examine audience effects when viewing firmed violence, 5 to 6 year old pre-school boys who had been rated as submissive by their teachers watched an aggressive or a neutral movie either alone, accompanied by another submissive classmate, or a dominant one. Subsequent aggression against a frustrating, unknown and unseen boy was delivered via a modified Buss machine, especially adapted for children. Subjects accompanied by a dominant peer were more aggressive than the others but did not react differentially to the movies. Subjects tested alone were more aggressive after the violent film than after the neutral one and the opposite pattern occurred for the boys accompanied by a submissive classmate. These findings stress the importance of the social context when viewing filmed violence. It is suggested that the quality of the audience can have different directional (e.g. fear and aggression) as well as energizing properties. Links with the literature on social facilitation and audience effects are underlined.     

Is Viewing Ostracism on Television Distressing?

ABSTRACT

Being ostracized can be a painful and distressing experience and can lead to subsequent aggression by the victim. However, it is unknown whether watching someone else be ostracized either in real life or on television is similarly distressing. The purpose of the current study was to examine what type of distress (if any) is induced after viewing ostracism on television. The study consisted of 50 participants, half who viewed a movie clip containing ostracism and half who viewed a control clip. Physiological and self-report data revealed that viewing ostracism was distressing to participants. In particular, participants who viewed the ostracism clip reported a lower sense of belonging, self esteem, and mood, and a greater increase in heart rate and skin conductivity than those who viewed the control clip.     

Is viewing ostracism on television distressing?

Being ostracized can be a painful and distressing experience and can lead to subsequent aggression by the victim. However, it is unknown whether watching someone else be ostracized either in real life or on television is similarly distressing. The purpose of the current study was to examine what type of distress (if any) is induced after viewing ostracism on television. The study consisted of 50 participants, half who viewed a movie clip containing ostracism and half who viewed a control clip. Physiological and self-report data revealed that viewing ostracism was distressing to participants. In particular, participants who viewed the ostracism clip reported a lower sense of belonging, self esteem, and mood, and a greater increase in heart rate and skin conductivity than those who viewed the control clip.     

How content and co‐viewers elicit emotional discomfort in moviegoing experiences: Where does the discomfort come from and how is it handled?

Although watching movies is typically enjoyable, they also can elicit discomfort. The present studies investigated what makes some moviegoing experiences emotionally uncomfortable. Using autobiographical memory (Study 1) and scenarios/vignettes methodology (Study 2), young adults remembered watching a movie that had made them uncomfortable or responded to scenarios about watching a particular type of movie with particular co‐viewers (e.g. violent movie with one's spouse). Movies eliciting discomfort were most often dramas (39%) or comedies (26%). Discomfort most often arose from content, particularly fairly explicit sex or violence, and secondarily from the presence of co‐viewers. Often the two interacted, for example, being uncomfortable watching explicit sex with one's parents. In terms of dealing with the discomfort, women were overall more direct and men more avoidant. A sizable minority was glad they had seen the film, in spite of the discomfort, and was open to seeing it again. Arguing from converging evidence, these different methodologies produced consistent results. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of movie violence on aggression in a field setting as a function of group dominance and cohesion.

In this quasi-experimental field study, delinquent members belonging to two cottages viewed aggressive commercial movies every evening for a week, while at the same time, subjects from two other cottages were exposed to neutral commercial movies. Behavioral observations were obtained through a nonhier-archical, minimally inferential procedure of a time-sampling nature; they were taken during a baseline week (at noon and in the evening), a treatment week (noon and evening) and a posttreatment week (noon). The main immediate effects of the violent films were an overall increase of both active behaviors and physical aggression; the effects on verbal aggression were more persistent but limited to one of the two cottages. On the other hand, more interactions occurred as an immediate consequence of viewing the films in both neutral treatment cottages; moreover, one of these two cottages also decreased its level of physical (short-term effect) and verbal (short- and long-term effects) aggression. In the aggressive treatment cottage, which was most affected, subjects who were most dominant, most popular, and least popular were influenced the most: an opposite effect was exhibited by those subjects who were judged as least aggressive by their peers. Complementary data are presented and discussed; the difference between the single individual laboratory paradigm and the existing group field paradigm is especially stressed.     

Merleau-Ponty and Carroll on the Power of Movies

Movies have a striking aesthetic power: they can draw us in and induce a peculiar mode of involvement in their images – they absorb us. While absorbed in a movie, we lose track both of the passage of time and of the fact that we are sitting in a dark room with other people watching the play of light upon a screen. What is the source of the power of movies? Noël Carroll, who cites Maurice Merleau-Ponty as an influence on his account of the power of movies, agrees with Merleau-Ponty that our perceptual experience of movies draws on many of the capacities at work in our perceptual experience of everyday situations. Yet Merleau-Ponty’s account of perception shows that Carroll’s emphasis on intellectual inference and the entertaining of unasserted thoughts is a distortion of the phenomenology of cinematic absorption. According to Merleau-Ponty, such intellectual operations come into play in cases of breakdown but should not be read back into the primary absorbed experience as being implicitly operative all along. After presenting and criticizing Carroll’s view, I interpret and expand upon Merleau-Ponty’s position, showing that his version of the analogy between cinematic perception and everyday perception is more convincing than Carroll’s.     

Bullying is detrimental to health, but all bullying behaviours are not necessarily equally damaging

The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of 'negative behaviours' and 'bullying' in the workplace on the health and well-being of employees, to what extent the effects remain beyond the period of the experience as well as the extent to which they affect third-parties or witnesses. The paper also raises the question whether some behaviours associated with bullying may be more damaging than others. Potential sex differences and differences between occupational contexts are considered. To achieve these aims, a national cross-sectional study (N=5,388) was carried out. In absolute terms those who labelled their experience as bullying had substantially worse health than those who were not bullied. However, counter to what was expected, stronger associations were found between negative behaviour and adverse health effects than for self-reported (self-labelled) bullying and health. Previous targets as well as witnesses also reported worse health than those who were neither bullied nor had witnessed bullying. The findings also imply that some negative behaviours were more difficult to deal with than others. In all cases differences between the sexes and between occupational contexts emerged.     

The effects of mass media exposure on acceptance of violence against women: A field experiment

Two hundred seventy-one male and female students served as subjects in an experiment on the effects of exposure to films that portray sexual violence as having positive consequences. Some of these subjects had signed up to participate in a study ostensibly focusing on movie ratings. They were randomly assigned to view, on two different evenings, either violent-sexual or control feature-length films. These movies were viewed in theaters on campus and two of the movies (i.e., one experimental and one control) were being shown as part of the regular campus film program. Members of the classes from which subjects had been recruited but who had not signed up for the experiment were also used as a comparison group. The dependent measures were scales assessing acceptance of interpersonal violence against women, acceptance of rape myths, and beliefs in adversarial sexual relations. These scales were embedded within many other items on a Sexual Attitude Survey administered to all students in classes several days after some of them (i.e., those who signed up for the experiment) had been exposed to the movies. Subjects were not aware that there was any relationship between this survey and the viewing of the movies. The results indicated that exposure to the films portraying violent sexuality increased male subjects' acceptance of interpersonal violence against women. A similar nonsignificant trend was found on acceptance of rape myths. For females, there were nonsignificant tendencies in the opposite direction, with women exposed to the violent-sexual films tending to be less accepting of interpersonal violence and of rape myths than control subjects. Explanation of the data on the basis of “attitude polarization” and “reactance” effects are discussed. Also discussed are the conditions of the present research in terms of the type of stimuli used, the “dosage levels” of exposure, and the duration of effects in relation to future research and a general social climate promoting a sexist ideology.     

Phasic Emotional Reactions to Video Game Events: A Psychophysiological Investigation

To investigate whether interactivity enhances entertainment in interdependence with individual factors, an experiment with a 3 × 2 between_subject design was conducted. 427 participants aged between 14 and 49 were randomly assigned to a 30_minute TV movie with three different interactivity levels and two different introductions that should diversify feelings of sympathy toward the protagonist. Dependent variables like empathy with the protagonist, suspense, and movie evaluation were measured after exposure, and some were measured during exposure. A number of personality scales were also presented at the beginning of each session. The results indicate that individuals with lesser cognitive capacity feel more entertained, that is, they feel more empathic toward the protagonist, feel more suspense, and evaluate the movie more positively when they watch it without any interactivity, in the traditional passive manner. For individuals with greater cognitive capacity, it is just the opposite: They can use interactivity to their advantage. An increase in their entertainment experience was observed as a direct consequence of their being able to influence the plot of the movie.     

Audience Personality and the Selection of Media and Media Genres

The impact of personality characteristics (Extraversion, Neuroticism, Psychoticism) on audiences' use of movies, television, and radio, and on genre preferences within these media was explored. Extraversion was associated positively with in-home movie viewing and with listening to urban, jazz-classical, and pop-rock music. Neuroticism was associated positively with pop-rock music listening. Psychoticism was associated negatively with watching romance and comedy films, but this relation was moderated by an interaction in that the impact of Psychoticism was most powerful among those who were also high in Neuroticism. Follow-up analyses evaluating the impact of personality within groups defined by gender and race were also carried out. The results point to the potential of incorporating audiences' perceptions of the gratifications offered by particular media into further research. These perceptions, which are likely to vary across audience groups, may contribute to how personality factors are expressed in media behavior.