INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN AUDIENCES’
APPRECIATION OF SAD FILMS
—A EUDAIMONIC APPROACH
Master’s Thesis
XIAOYANG HU
Student number: 11351489 Supervisor: Dr Monique Timmers
Date: 31.01.2018
Abstract
Apart from gaining hedonic enjoyment from general film viewing, some audiences also enjoy watching sad films to benefit their eudaimonic well-being. Among the highest rated films according to IMDb, over half of these films has salient sad elements. This study aimed to examine the reason why certain audiences enjoyed watching sad films more than the others. Taking the relatively newly stated
explanation for sad film enjoyment—eudaimonic appreciation of sad films—as the standing point, this research proposed that viewers with higher perceived similarity with the sad film would experience higher levels of empathy with the film, and would, therefore, show stronger eudaimonic appreciation of the film. Viewers’ eudaimonic motive for film viewing was expected to moderate this relation. The individual psychological factor, neuroticism, was also examined as an explorative factor. The result of this study established the positive correlation between one’s perceived similarity with a sad film and the subsequent eudaimonic appreciation of the film. Empathy with the film acted as the mediator of this relation, while general
eudaimonic motivations for film viewing acted as the moderator. Neuroticism was also proved to be positively correlated with both perceived similarity and eudaimonic appreciation.
Introduction
The enjoyment of sad media contents has been examined by scholars since the early 1900s (Schramm&Wirth,2010). Sad films have been widely enjoyed and appreciated
by audiences for a long time. Among the 250 most appreciated films according to IMDb highest-rated movie list, seventy-four of them are sad films, not to mention the numerous films that have salient sad contents yet are not categorized as sad films distinctively (Top Rated Movies, 2018). Actually, there are limited films in this list that can be simply categorized as hedonic appreciated films (Top Rated Movies, 2018). To explain the paradoxical phenomenon that people not only like media
contents that make them happy but also enjoy deeply somber films, scholars proposed the concept of appreciation (Igartua & Barrios, 2013; Oliver & Hartmann, 2010; Oliver & Bartsch, 2011; Tamborini, 2012; Wirth, Matthias, & Schramm,2012). As the complement to mere hedonic enjoyment, appreciation refers to audiences’ positive evaluation of films because of the meaningful, moving and inspiring features of these films (Oliver & Bartsch, 2010).
Given that appreciation is closely related to or driven by people's eudaimonic motives, some scholars further described viewers' appreciation of sad media contents as
eudaimonic appreciation (Oliver & Hartmann, 2010; Oliver & Raney,2011; Wirth, Matthias, & Schramm,2012). Eudaimonic appreciation refers to viewers' appreciation of sad film viewing experiences where they can gain a better understanding of life's meaning, perceptions of truth, self-realization, or achieve personal development and relatedness with the external world instead of being amused or purely entertained (Waterman,1993; Wirth, Matthias, & Schramm,2012).
Although a considerable amount of research has studied eudaimonic appreciation as the reason why people enjoy sad films generally (e.g., Wirth, Matthias, &
Schramm,2012), little effort has been made to examine individual differences in eudaimonic appreciation of certain sad films specifically. Audiences tend to react to the same film differently, especially when it comes to sad films (Oliver & Hartmann, 2010). It is quite common that one enjoys a sad film so much whereas his/her friends do not experience that intense enjoyment or simply dislike it (Oliver & Hartmann, 2010). The question remains why some people express eudaimonic appreciation of a sad film comparing to the others. Therefore, the factors and the underlying
mechanism that contribute to individuals' level of eudaimonic appreciation to certain sad films remain to be identified.
RQ: What individual factors contribute to viewers' level of eudaimonic appreciation to certain sad films comparing to other viewers?
Empathy has been the well-established concept to describe viewers’ engagement in films (Vaage,2010). Although the definition of empathy varies across fields of studies, the main idea of empathy suggests ‘engaging in another’s experience from the other’s point of view' without the necessity of sharing the feelings (Vaage,2010). Empathy with film characters and film stories has been proved to be positively related to film enjoyment in general (Vaage,2010). Regarding sad films in particular, whereas
empathic involvement (i.e., understanding and feeling the emotion) in sad films might be unnecessary or even contradictory for the hedonic enjoyment of films (Wied, Zillmann,& Ordman,1994), it should benefit the term of eudaimonic enjoyment. Scholars suggested although the meaningful experience of viewing sad movies could entail negative emotions, viewers also benefited from such experiences by developing
a better awareness of certain aspects of life (Cohen,2016; Oliver & Hartmann,2010). To gain this eudaimonic appreciation of films, it is quite obvious that the viewer has to understand the film story and to engage in the story firstly to interpret and process the film in deep. Although little empirical evidence has supported this relation
between empathic involvement in and eudaimonic appreciation of sad films, previous research indicates that empathy with a sad film is fundamental in the subsequent appreciation of the film (German, 2008). Thus, to provide empirical support for this rarely studied topic and to provide insight into the underlying mechanism of viewers’ eudaimonic appreciation of sad movies, this research proposes that individuals' empathic involvement in a sad film is positively related to the subsequent eudaimonic appreciation of the film.
While audiences engage in different levels of empathy as watching a sad film, the next question remains what individual factor contributes to the level of empathic involvement in such films. The degree of empathy is proved to depend on perceived similarity by psychologists, which suggests that people are more likely to develop empathic feelings for others who are similar to themselves (Batson, Lishner, Cook, & Sawyer, 2005; Davis, 1994). Focusing on film studies, perceived similarity has been proved to have a significant positive effect on empathic involvement in films
(McKeever,2015). McKeever’s (2015) studied the effect of perceived similarity on empathy in a media context (e.g., film), he defined similarity as the overall overlap between the audience and a character. McKeever (2015) states that any
similarity involving but not limited to shared experiences, demographic elements, and common characters (Lamm et al., 2007; McKeever,2015; Preston, 2007). However, previous studies examining the relationship between perceived similarity and empathy in film context are mostly using films as a medium to study general societal problem (e.g., prosocial behaviors) instead of focusing on audiences' reception of films (McKeever,2015; Westbury & Neumann, 2008).
Comparing to other explanations of audiences’ enjoyment of sad films such as Zillmann’s mood-management theory (Zillmann,1998), the eudaimonic appreciation hypothesis is relatively new. Especially, research is sparse in the underlying
mechanism of audiences’ eudaimonic appreciation. As a rational explanation rooted in the psychology concept of eudaimonic well-being, eudaimonic appreciation is a fresh and meaningful theory that worth studying (Oliver & Hartmann, 2010; Oliver& Raney, 2011; Wirth, Hofer, & Schramm, 2012). As an initial step to study this topic, this research examines the relationship between viewers' perceived similarity to the sad film, empathy with the film, and the subsequent eudaimonic appreciation of the film. Further, this research tries to identify the moderators which might have significant impacts on this relation.
Theoretical framework
To explain audiences’ appreciation of media contents beyond hedonic enjoyment, Wirth et al. (2012) proposed the conceptualization of eudaimonic entertainment experiences. They suggest that entertainment experience can be meaningful which
leads to appreciation instead of enjoyment resulting from the satisfaction of audiences’ needs in term of eudaimonic well-being (Oliver & Hartmann, 2010; Oliver & Bartsch, 2011; Wirth, Matthias, & Schramm,2012).
According to use and gratification theory, people apply specific media contents to satisfy different needs (Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch,1973). Psychologists separate people’s well-being as hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being (Ryan & Deci,2001; Waterman,1993). While hedonic well-being refers to the positive side of well-being (e.g., pleasure, enjoyment, happiness) without any negative attachments, eudaimonic well-being refers to the more meaningful side of well-being consisting of “human potentials and virtues” (Wirth, Matthias, & Schramm,2012). Based on this concept, Oliver and Raney (2011) discovered that audiences not only select
entertainment media for entertaining (i.e., hedonic) purposes, but also for eudaimonic purposes. According to the four studies in their research, they proved that certain audiences have eudaimonic motivations to view films (Oliver & Raney, 2011). Beyond motives, Oliver and Barsch (2010) discovered that the satisfaction of these eudaimonic motives leads to the subsequent appreciation of such films. They gained fresh insight into entertainment gratifications regarding eudaimonic appreciation. Whereas eudaimonic motivation acts as the factor that motivates audiences to select certain media contents actively to satisfy their need, eudaimonic appreciation is more of a non-deliberate result of media consumption by benefiting audiences’ eudaimonic well-beings. Following their results, empirical studies were conducted to support the
idea of this eudaimonic appreciation of film viewing (Wirth, Matthias, & Schramm,2012).
Although previous research discovered eudaimonic appreciation as the complement of hedonic enjoyment of film viewing, which explained the reason why sad films are appreciated in general (Wirth, Matthias, & Schramm,2012), studies of eudaimonic appreciation of sad films are still limited, and little effort has been made to examine individual differences in eudaimonic appreciation of certain films specifically. One salient question remains why some people express stronger eudaimonic appreciation of a sad film comparing to the others. Therefore, this research aims to study what factors contribute to individuals' level of eudaimonic appreciation to certain sad films comparing to other viewers.
It is not hard to recall the enjoyable experience that a spectator is highly immersed in a movie and feel like that he or she understand and resonate with what the characters are experiencing (Vaage, 2010). This kind of experience might be a starting point to examine the question above. Academically, scholars have debated the definition of this phenomenon of engagement in films for decades. Scholars used to suggest that audiences feel like their own lives being replaced by the presented life in a movie temporarily during this involving process, which was defined as identification (Zillmann, 1994). However, the concept of identification has been criticized for indicating the completely diminish of separation of the self and others (e.g., film characters) which is unrealistic to happen or potentially pathological (Gaut, 2010; Plantinga,1999; Zillmann, 1994). Subsequently, another concept to better describes
this engagement was suggested. Empathy, originated from the German term
Einfühlung and translated into English in 1909, originally means ‘feel into’ referring
the ‘sensuous and emotional enactment of others’ (Vaage,2010).
Scholars state various definitions of empathy in the field of film theory (Vaage,2010). The debates about whether empathy is an emotional or a cognitive reaction and whether empathy happens automatically or deliberately have been going on for decades (Plantinga,1999; Vaage,2010). Even though, the common part of these definitions is quite clear. Tan (1994) defined viewers' empathic emotion of film as understanding the situation of the character and being able to imagine the character's emotion. Other scholars (e.g., Neill, 1996; Smith,1995) also supported the importance of imaging the character's situation from his or her point of view as empathy with film and suggested that the viewer did not need to share this emotion. Therefore, Vaage (2010) suggested an integrative concept of empathy with film which can be applied in film studies generally. He concluded empathy as "engaging in other's experience from the other's point of view" either as a process or as an outcome, and either as a mere consequence of understanding others or as reflectively shared feelings. Moreover, he further stated that viewers' empathy with the film could significantly benefit film
enjoyment and was quite crucial for the success of a fictional film (Vaage,2009,2010).
Although a high level of engagement (e.g., empathy) in films has been proved to be fundamental for film enjoyment (Green, Brock, & Kaufman, 2004; Vaage,2009; Zillmann, 2006), Wied, Zillmann and Ordman (1994) argued that empathic
that the empathy with sad films led to empathic distress which was hedonically negative. As discussed before, this empathic involvement, even though it might be harmful to viewers' hedonic enjoyment, should benefit the eudaimonic experience of sad films. Scholars suggest that experiencing engagement in fictional media contents, especially sad media contents, is beneficial for the enjoyment of such contents by providing audiences the opportunity to explore life's boundaries, to encounter the truth of life, to expand viewers' horizons, and to feel connected with others (Green, Brock, & Kaufman, 2004). And these are all parts of eudaimonic experiences (Wirth, Matthias, & Schramm,2012). In other words, as a typical engagement form, empathy with sad films is beneficial for viewers’ eudaimonic appreciation of such films.
Previous research in viewers' empathy with films mostly focus on the reason why films can elicit viewers' empathic involvement as a medium in terms of narrative method and facial expressions (e.g., Plantinga,1999), limited research has been done to examine the relation between empathy and viewers’ reception of films. And the underlying
mechanism of viewers' empathic engagement with films regarding individual
differences remains unclear (Hoorn & Konijn,2003). Put differently, what individual factors contribute to viewers' empathy with films and subsequently lead to the appreciation of the films is worth examining.
The causal relation between perceived similarity and people’s empathy towards others in general is firstly proved by psychologists (Batson, Lishner, Cook, & Sawyer, 2005; Davis, 1994). In Krebs’s (1975) famous empathy experiment, participants’ empathy level was measured while watching strangers suffering from electronic shocks. The
result showed that participants showed significantly higher levels of empathy for strangers who were similar to themselves compared to the dissimilar ones. Scholars further examined this relation in media contexts. They defined audiences’ perceived similarity with fictional characters as the overall commonalities between the audience and the fictional empathic object (e.g., shared experiences, demographic elements, characters) (Lamm et al., 2007; McKeever,2015; Preston, 2007). And the same positive relation between perceived similarity and empathy with media characters have been proved (Mazzoni, Prati, Cicognani, Albanesi, & Zani, 2017;
McKeever,2015; Westbury & Neumann, 2008). Rae and Neumann's experiment (2008) found that higher level of perceived similarity with film characters led to more
empathic responses to the film. In accordance with this result, Håkansson (2006) also supported that perceived similarity was central to viewers' empathy with film. In Mazzoni, Prati, Cicognani, Albanesi, and Zani’s study (2017), they found that viewers didn’t experience high level of involvement in a short film about AIDS because of their low perceived similarity with the characters. Plus, previous studies of perceived similarity and subsequent empathy with film primarily focused on the characters in the movie, which excludes viewers’ potential similarity with the story setting or the theme (Andringa,2004; Van Viet, 1991). One possible explanation for this is that these studies merely applied films as a context to study the role of empathy in broader societal problems (e.g., caring for depression people, health communication, prosocial behavior) instead of focusing on film study topics (e.g., film appreciation)
as fictional worlds different from other real-life study fields, can also foster audiences' empathic involvement with a similar geographical, cultural, or socioeconomic
environment (Andringa,1984). Thus, this research further examines the relation between perceived similarity and empathy in the field of films by expanding the concept of perceived similarity with story settings. The perceived similarity examined in this research not only includes viewers’ perceived similarity with main characters, but also involves their perceived similarity with the broader film settings described above, which together constituted audiences’ comprehensive perceived similarity with a film. Also, this research combines previous empirical supports and tries to link the individual factor that leads to empathy (i.e., perceived similarity) and the subsequent consequence of empathy with sad films (i.e., eudaimonic appreciation) together. This research postulates that individuals' perceived similarity with a sad film will be positively related to empathy, and subsequently positively associated with the eudaimonic appreciation of the film. In other words, empathy acts as the mediator of the positive relation between perceived similarity and eudaimonic appreciation. Therefore, this research hypothesizes that:
H1: Audiences’ perceived similarity with a sad film (regarding the characters and the story settings) is positively related to their eudaimonic appreciation of the film. H2: Audiences’ perceived similarity with a sad film is positively related to their empathy with the film.
H3: Audiences' empathy with a sad film is positively related to their eudaimonic appreciation of the film.
H4: The positive relation between viewers’ perceived similarity with and eudaimonic appreciation of a sad film is mediated by empathy with the film.
As stated above, eudaimonic appreciation can be interpreted as the fulfillment of eudaimonic well-being or the satisfaction of eudaimonic motives (Igartua & Barrios, 2013; Wirth, Matthias, & Schramm,2012). Previous research in eudaimonic
appreciation of sad films indicates that viewers’ reaction to sad films with meaningful insights is strongly linked to their initial preferences or motives (Igartua & Barrios, 2013; Oliver & Hartmann,2010). Oliver and Raney (2011) firstly formulated the structure of eudaimonic motivation a compensation to people's hedonic motivation for media consumption and proved the validity of this motivational dimension. According to this motivational structure, they found that viewers' motivation (hedonic or
eudaimonic) is closely related to their preferences for film genres (e.g., sad films, comedies) and the subsequent film viewing experiences and the evaluation of the film. Viewers who hold salient eudaimonic motives showed stronger preference for sad yet meaningful films that nurtures eudaimonic appreciation instead of merely entertaining films comparing to those who hold less eudaimonic motives. And this finding has been further confirmed by following researches in various cultural contexts and research methods (Igartua & Barrios, 2013; Oliver & Hartmann,2010). Moreover, Igartua and Barrios (2013) also found that viewers with higher eudaimonic motivations are more likely to experience higher levels of involvement (e.g.,
identification, empathy) in the films. In light of these research, it is rational to assume that viewers' motive can not only predict their selections of and preferences for sad films, but also has a significant effect on their viewing experience and subsequent appreciation of such films. Therefore, this research proposes that viewers’ general
degree of eudaimonic motives for film viewing moderates the relation between their perceived similarity with a sad film and their eudaimonic appreciation of the film.
H5: The positive relation between audiences’ perceived similarity with a sad film and their eudaimonic appreciation of the film is moderated by audiences’ general
eudaimonic motives of film viewing.
Individual psychological factors can have considerable impacts on people’s selection, use and effect of media contents (James & Weaver,1991; McGuire,1974). As an essential personal psychological trait, neuroticism is worth mentioning in this study given its fundamental effect on people's reaction to unpleasant stimuli (e.g., sad films) (James & Weaver,1991; Weibel, Wissmath, & Stricker, 2011). Neuroticism refers to the level of emotional stability of people (Weibel, Wissmath, & Stricker, 2011). Individuals who express relatively high levels of neuroticism are more emotionally vulnerable and tend to respond more intensive to negative stimuli compared to those who score low in neuroticism (Weibel, Wissmath, & Stricker, 2011).
James and Weaver (1991) found that people with higher neuroticism trait had
significant preferences for downbeat music and serious TV content, and avoidance of comedy comparing those with low neuroticism, which implied that high-neuroticism audience might prefer and appreciate sad media contents more than others. Research also shows those high-neuroticism individuals are more likely to have engaging experiences during media exposure comparing to low-neuroticism individuals (Weibel, Wissmath, & Mast, 2010). And this phenomenon is especially salient when it comes to sad media contents (Weibel, Wissmath, & Stricker, 2011). Therefore, viewers with relatively high neuroticism character could be more likely to appreciate and nurture empathy for sad films. Given its close link with both empathic
involvement and sad film stimuli, neuroticism is believed to play an important role in the relation between viewers’ perceived similarity with, empathy with, and the subsequent eudaimonic appreciation of sad films. Given that limited research has been done to examine this relation, the potential role of neuroticism stays unclear. Thus, this research examines the factor of neuroticism in an explorative method.
Research model
Research method
Participants
A total of 109 respondents aged 18-41 years (M=24.59, SD=2.50) participated in this study, including 26 Male (23.9%) and 83 Female (76.1%). Ninety-nine (90.8%) respondents have accomplished Bachelor or above educational levels (i.e., Master, Doctor). The rest (9.2%) has graduated from high school or entered college but without a degree. Sixty-nine respondents (63.3%) are from Asian countries; Forty-six (36.7%) respondents are from European countries.
Procedure
This research was designed as an online survey. Online survey was chosen as the research method because it was a relatively effective and inexpensive way to reach a bigger participant group. Also, this research aimed to establish correlation instead of causal relation, which made survey a rational and accessible choice. An online self-
Perceived Similarity
Empathy Eudaimonic Appreciation
administered questionnaire was distributed to respondents through social media platforms, film forums, and free research websites. Respondents were invited to participate in this research initiatively after reading the post introduction on social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Film forum, WeChat) without rewards. No manipulation regarding participants’ demographic factors was required based on the research question. In the questionnaire, participants were invited to recall one sad movie they have watched most recently regardless their evaluation of this film. Participants were asked to fill in the name and the production year of the film.
Afterwards, the participant's degree of perceived similarity and empathy with the film, the eudaimonic appreciation of the film, and his/her general eudaimonic motive for film viewing are measured. Participants' level of neuroticism and the necessary demographic information were collected lastly. The survey was anonymous. Basic information about the research and contact methods were provided to the respondents.
Measurement
Eudaimonic appreciation of the film: Respondents’ eudaimonic appreciation of the film is measured with Wirth, Hofer and Schramm's (2012) eudaimonic entertainment experience scale. This scale consists of 15 items involving all aspects of eudaimonic appreciation (i.e., purpose in life/self-acceptance, autonomy, competence/personal growth, relatedness, activation of central values). And it has been widely applied by previous studies (Rieger, Reinecke, Frischlich, & Bente,2014; Wirth, Hofer, & Schramm,2012). To make the scale more applicable for this research purpose, slight changes are made to adjust the original 15-items scale into a 12-items scale. For
instance, audiences’ overall appreciation of the film is measured by a single item “I appreciated this movie” (Oliver & Bartsch, 2010). Reliability of this scale is good, Cronbach's alpha = 0.86. Respondents answer each question on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 suggesting strongly disagree to 5 suggesting strongly agree.
Perceived similarity with the film: Respondents' perceived similarity with the film is measured in two dimensions. Firstly, respondents’ similarity with the film
characters is measured by McCroskey, Richmond and Daly’s (1975) attitude
similarity subscale of perceived homophily measure scale. This scale has been widely applied to measure people’s perceived similarity with fictional characters (e.g.,
Hoeken, Kolthoff, & Sanders,2016; Hoffner & Buchanan, 2005). As stated above, this study extends the scopes of studies in viewers’ similarity with film by considering viewers’ perceived similarity with the whole story settings. Therefore, this research further measures respondents’ perceived similarity with the story setting of the film regarding past experiences and geographical, cultural, or socioeconomic environment by a two-items scale, which involve ‘I consider the story in the film to be similar to my (past) experiences' and ‘I consider the story setting of the film to be similar to my background in terms of geographical, cultural or socioeconomic environment'. Respondents answer each question on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1
suggesting strongly disagree to 5 suggesting strongly agree. Reliability of this scale is good, Cronbach's alpha = 0.87.
Empathy with the film: This research adopted the fantasy-empathy subscale (FS) and the empathic concern subscale (EC) of Davis's (1980) Interpersonal Reactivity
Index (IRI) scale to measure respondents' empathy with the film. Davis's
Interpersonal Reactivity Index was designed to measure all aspects of empathy with 28 items dividing into fo y discriminable subscales (Davis,1980; Davis,1983). Among these scales, the fantasy scale aims to measure people's tendency to "transpose
themselves imaginatively into the feelings and actions of fictitious characters" (Davis,1983), and the empathic concern scale aims to measure respondents' "feelings of warmth, compassion and concern for the observed individual" (Davis,1980). The IRI has been used to study people's empathy towards others widely in various fields of studies including but not limited to film studies (Lotman,2016; Walters & Rehma, 2013). The original fantasy scale and empathic concern scale were adapted into one six-items scale to suit this research topic (e.g., “When I watched the film, I imagined how I would feel if the events in the story were happening to me”, “I got involved with the feelings of one of the main characters in the film”). Respondents answer these items on 5-point Likert scales ranging from 1 suggesting strongly disagree to 5 suggesting strongly agree. The reliability of this scale is acceptable, Cronbach's alpha = 0.75.
Eudaimonic motive: Respondents’ general eudaimonic motive in film viewing is measured with the eudaimonic dimension of Oliver and Raney’s (2011)
entertainment consumption motivations scale. The items of this scale are reasonably changed from the original measurement of general media consumption motivation into film consumption (e.g., “My favorite film are ones that make me think.”). The reliability of this adjusted 4-items scale is unsatisfying (Cronbach's alpha = 0.70)
because of a reverse question, which is easily dismissed by respondents and therefore deleted. The final scale to measure audiences' general eudaimonic motives consisted of three items. Reliability of this scale is good, Cronbach's alpha = 0.82. Respondents answer these items on 5-point Likert scales ranging from 1 suggesting strongly disagree to 5 suggesting strongly agree.
Neuroticism: Respondents’ neuroticism is measured with the neuroticism subscale of the Big Five Inventory scale (John, Donahue, & Kentle,1991). This original eight-items subscale is shortened into five items (e.g., “I see myself as someone who is relaxed, handles stress we,"", "I can be moody") and the reliability of the scale is good, Cronbach's alpha = 0.79. Respondents answer these items on 5-point Likert scales ranging from 1 suggesting strongly disagree to 5 suggesting strongly agree.
Results
H1 assumed that viewers’ perceived similarity with a sad film (regarding film characters and story settings collectively) would be positively correlated with their eudaimonic appreciation of the film. To test this hypothesis, a correlation analysis between perceived similarity and eudaimonic appreciation was conducted. There was a significant moderate correlation between viewers’ eudaimonic appreciation of sad films and their perceived similarity with such films, r=.52, p=.000. Therefore, H1 was supported. Increases in the level of perceived similarity with sad films were correlated with increases in eudaimonic appreciation of the film.
The second sets of hypotheses, H2, H3, H4 pertained to the idea that with each factors positively correlated with the others, the positive relation between viewers’ perceived similarity with and eudaimonic appreciation of sad films would be mediated by their empathy with the films. To test these hypotheses, a PROCESS mediation analysis was conducted, with perceived similarity as the independent variable, eudaimonic
appreciation as the dependent variable, and empathy as the mediator. The analysis showed that there was a positive correlation between perceived similarity and empathy, b=.32, t(107)=4.39, p=.000. Therefore, H2 was supported. Viewers with higher levsel of perceived similarity with a sad film are more likely to empathy with the film. A positive relation between empathy and eudaimonic appreciation (H3) was also proved, b=0.28, t(106)=3.06, p=0.000. The increase of empathy with a sad film was correlated with the increase of the eudaimonic appreciation of the film.
H4 proposed that the correlation between perceived similarity and eudaimonic appreciation would be mediated by viewers' empathy with sad films. Mediation analyses showed a significant indirect effect of viewers' empathy with sad films and
Perceived Similarity Empathy Eudaimonic Appreciation .28** .32*** .36*** (.44***)
Figure 1 The relationship between perceived similarity and eudaimonic appreciation as mediated by empathy.
their eudaimonic appreciation of such films. Participants with higher levels of
perceived similarity with sad films reported stronger empathic involvement in the film, and this empathic involvement further correlated with the eudaimonic appreciation of the film. A confidence interval for the indirect effect (ab=.09) was entirely above zero (.02 to .20). Hence, H4 was supported. It was also worth noticing that this was not a complete mediating relation. The PROCESS result showed that there was still a direct correlation between perceived similarity and eudaimonic appreciation (b=0.36,
t(106)=4.88, p=.000) after the mediator (i.e., empathy) was applied. Empathy was
proved to be a partial mediating factor between perceived similarity and eudaimonic appreciation.
Table 1 Regression Analysis Summary for Perceived Similarity Predicting Eudaimonic Appreciation by Eudaimonic Motive as Moderator (N=109)
Variable B SE B β t p
Perceived Similarity .43 .07 .50 6.62 .000
Eudaimonic Motives .26 .07 .30 3.91 .000
Motive*Similarity -.12 .06 -.15 -2.02 .046
A multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine H5. Table 1 represented the result of the analysis. The overall model was significant, F(3,105)=22.85, p=.000. The regression can therefore be used to predict the level of eudaimonic appreciation. The strength of this prediction is moderate, fifty per cent of the variation in eudaimonic appreciation can be predicted on the basis of perceived similarity, eudaimonic motives, and the interacting factor of perceived similarity and eudaimonic motives,
R2=.40. The result showed a significant main effect of perceived similarity on eudaimonic appreciation (b=.43, t=6.62, p=.000), which was in accordance with the above support for H1. This effect was qualified by a significant moderating effect of eudaimonic motive, b=-.12, t=-2.02, p=.046. H5 was supported. However,
unexpectedly, the moderating relation was negative, which means the positive correlation between perceived similarity and eudaimonic appreciation was more salient for viewers with lower eudaimonic viewing motives.
As for the explorative factor, neuroticism, correlation analyses were firstly conducted. There were significant positive correlations between neuroticism and perceived similarity (r=.19, p=.048), and between neuroticism and eudaimonic appreciation (r=.21, p=.027). The correlation between neuroticism and empathy was not significant (r=.00, p=.973).
In this case, a multiple regression analysis was further conducted to see if neuroticism acts as a moderator between viewers’ perceived similarity with the film and their subsequent eudaimonic appreciation. According to the result, no significant moderating effect was detected. The overall model was significant (R2=.30,
F(3,105)=14.77, p=.000), while the effect of the interactive moderating factor
neuroticism was not significant (b=-.08, t=-1.20, p=.232). In sum, neuroticism was significantly correlated with perceived similarity and eudaimonic appreciation. People scored higher on neuroticism were more likely to perceive sad film characters and story settings as similar to themselves or their living contexts, and they also tended to have eudaimonic appreciation for sad films. Although previous research indicated a
positive relation between neuroticism and empathic involvement in the film, this was not supported by the present result. Neuroticism was not correlated with empathy with sad films in this study.
Conclusion and Discussion
The purpose of the current study was to examine the reason why certain audiences enjoy sad films more than others. This research took eudaimonic appreciation as a starting point of sad film enjoyment, and further examine what individual factors are dominantly related to eudaimonic appreciation of sad films and under what
mechanisms. Based on previous research, we proposed that viewers’ perceived similarity with sad films would be positively correlated with their empathy with such films, which led to the subsequent eudaimonic appreciation. Viewers’ general
eudaimonic motive of film viewing was expected to hava e moderating effect on this relationship. As a critical dispositional trait that is closely related to the topic,
neuroticism was also examined as an explorative factor. Our findings indicated that, in accordance with the hypotheses, viewers perceived similarity with a sad film was positively correlated with their eudaimonic appreciation of the film. This positive relation was partially mediated by their empathy with the film. In other words, this research stated that some viewers experienced higher levels of eudaimonic
appreciation of a sad film comparing to the others because of the higher perceived similarity, which nurtured stronger empathic involvement during film viewing. Surprisingly, although previous studies (Igartua & Barrios, 2013; Oliver & Hartmann,2010; Oliver and Raney, 2011) suggested that viewers with significant
eudaimonic motives preferred meaningful or even sad media contents and were more likely to appreciate such contents, the moderating effect of eudaimonic film-viewing motives on this relation was negative. In other words, according to the result of this study, the positive correlation between perceived similarity and eudaimonic
appreciation of sad films was more salient for people with less eudaimonic motives for film viewing. Last but not least, neuroticism was proved to be positively
correlated with viewers’ perceived similarity with sad films and their eudaimonic appreciation of such films.
Research of viewers’ eudaimonic appreciation of entertainment media contents has newly emerged in the past decade. Based on Oliver and Barsch’s study of eudaimonic appreciation, this research contributed to the study field by examining what individual factors h an d impact on the eudaimonic appreciation of sad films. As an essential part of film enjoyment supported by previous studies, empathy with film was examined as the major mechanism between the individual difference factor—perceived similarity with the film—and eudaimonic appreciation. Previous studies in empathy with films were dominated by analyzing of fictional narrative methods and facial expression. It is surprising that few study has been done to examine the relation between empathy and film reception. Also, limited stydy has been done to examine the individual differences in empathy with film. Therefore, digging into the micro side of film viewing, this study contributed to link individuals' differences and there very own film receptions. Put differently, this study firstly proposed that in sad film contexts, viewers’ own perceived similarity with the film had a impact on the viewing
experience—empathic involvement, and further affected their receptions of the film. Moreover, previous studies of the relation between perceived similarity and empathy with film have rarely focused on film reception. Majority of them applied films as a medium to study empathy in real-life problems. As a consequence, previous study only examined the ability of film characters in eliciting empathy. Focusing on film reception, this study also considered the possibilities of film story settings and the theme to elicit empathy. Results showed that just as film characters, the story settings and theme were also congruent parts that contributed to film empathy. Given the limitation of the length of survey questionnaire, this study measured viewers’ perceived similarity with the story settings with simple questions. As the very first research to study the correlation between viewers’ perceived similarity with film settings and their following empathy with films, this study found that along with audiences’ perceived similarity with film characters, their perceived similarity with film settings was also crucial for their empathy with films. To further dig into the study of perceived similarity and empathy with films, future study is encouraged to measure perceived similarity with film settings and film characters in depth separately, and to examine their difference and shared effects on audiences’ subsequent empathy with films.
This study also supported the previous study by proving that high-neuroticism audience showed more eudaimonic appreciation for sad films comparing to the low-neuroticism ones. Based on previous findings, a positive relation between
showed a positive correlation perceived similarity with sad films, which was an unpredicted interesting finding. A possible reason might be that this study firstly separated film involvement as a two-step process, which involves perceiving oneself to be similar to the film, and feeling empathy with the film. Previous research studied the relation of neuroticism and film engagement by examining film engagement as a primary ego-centric frame of reference (Weibel, Wissmath, & Stricker), which could be more properly interpreted as the feeling of being present (i.e., be there) than feeling into (i.e., empathy). In addition, although previous research showed that
high-neuroticism might experience less entertaining enjoyment of sad film comparing to others, this study explained high-neuroticism individuals’ preference for sad films by their high eudaimonic appreciation of sad films. In sum, this personal
psychological factor cannot be neglected in this study given its proved close relation with sad stimuli and engaging media consuming tendency. Given little study has been done to examine the relation between neuroticism and sad film reception, this
research could only involve neuroticism as an explorative factor. This might be a meaningful starting point for the following study of the impact of neuroticism on sad film engagement and eudaimonic appreciation.
As an unexpected finding of this study which is contradicted to previous studies, the finding of eudaimonic motives as a negative moderator between perceived similarity and eudaimonic appreciation is worth questioning. This contradicting finding might be caused by the self-report data collection method. The eudaimonic motive
consumption motivations scale (Oliver and Raney, 2011) by only including the eudaimonic dimension. The original scale was constituted of a eudaimonic dimension and an entertaining dimension, which provided respondents the opportunity to
evaluate their motives comprehensively within an explicit comparison system. Without this comparison and other possibilities of motives, and also given social expectations, it might be harder for respondents to answer questions like “I appreciate films that make me think” negatively. Therefore, the validity of the self-report
eudaimonic viewing motives might be questionable. However, other possibilities are also open to discussion. This study based the moderating hypothesis on the positive relation between eudaimonic motives and sad film engagement, along with the positive relation between eudaimonic motive and eudaimonic appreciation. As one of the rooting factors of empathy, we therefore assumed that the positive relation
between perceived similarity and eudaimonic appreciation of sad film would also be affected by eudaimonic motives. It is inevitable to admit that the empirical supports for this statement is relatively weak. Hence, future studies are expected to examine this relation further.
There are three main limitations in this study. Firstly, this research applied survey as the research method, which excludes the possibility to examine casual relations. All findings in this study were restricted to correlations. To examine relations between perceived similarity (i.e., as individual differences), empathy (i.e., as film viewing experience), and eudaimonic appreciation of the film (i.e., as the final film
prove casual relations with clear sequences. Secondly, the data collection method employed in this research was self-report questionnaire. As stated above, this method might put the validity of the measurement of certain factors at risk. For instance, respondents' answers of neuroticism, eudaimonic motive and empathy might be affected by self-consciousness and social expectations. Plus, the sample of this research might contained some bias regarding gender. Over seventy-six percent of respondents were female. And gender differences in film experiences, especially in the tendency to have empathic involvement in film viewing and the appreciation of tearjerkers, have been suggested by previous studies (Oliver & Raney, 2011; Oliver, Weaver, & Sargent, 2000). Therefore, future studies should endeavor to achieve a more representative sample, especially in terms of gender.
Nevertheless, this study supported eudaimonic appreciation as an explanation for people’s enjoyment of sad films. Also, this study stated that people with higher
perceived similarity with a sad film were more likely to experience empathy with, and further have eudaimonic appreciation for a sad film. In addition, both eudaimonic viewing motives and neuroticism have significant links with this relation. The results of this study not only broaden the existing understandings of eudaimonic appreciation of sad films, but also shed light on the research of empathic involvement in film viewing and the examination of neuroticism in sad film reception.
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Appendix, Survey Questionnaire
Q1-2. Please recall a sad film that you have watched most recently. The term sad film is not restricted to specific film genres (e.g., tragedy), each film with salient sad components can be regarded as a sad film here. Please fill in the name and the production year of the film below.
The name of a sad film that you have watched most recently is: __ The production year of this sad film is:__
Q3. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement regarding your impression of this film?
I appreciated this movie.
Q4. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements? I have a good feeling because the film has shown me how satisfied I can be with my own life.
I feel good because now that I have seen this film I recognize my life as fulfilled and meaningful.
I feel good because this film has helped me somehow to accept myself and my life. The film leaves me in a good mood because I became aware of the fact that I am in charge of my own life.
I have a good feeling because the emotions that I felt during the film challenged me in a positive way.
It felt good to expose myself to the theme of the film.
It felt good to be captivated by the events around the protagonist(s) during the film. It felt good and right to feel empathy or compassion for the protagonist(s).
Precisely because the film was so distressing I had the feeling that the film delivered central values of life in an authentic way.
It makes me feel good to see that the protagonist(s) deal(s) with his/her life’s trials and difficulties in an exemplary manner.
Q5. Please recall the protagonist(s) in the film, to what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
The protagonist(s) thinks like me. The protagonist(s) behaves like me. The protagonist(s) is similar to me.
The protagonist(s) perceives things like me. The protagonist(s)’s personality is similar to me.
Q6. Please recall the story setting(s) in the film, to what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
I consider the story in the film to be similar to my (past) experiences.
I consider the story setting of the film to be similar to my background in terms of geographical, cultural or socioeconomic environment.
Q7. Please recall your viewing experience of this film, to what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
When I watched the film, I imagined how I would feel if the events in the story were happening to me.
I got involved with the feelings of one of the main characters in the film. I was objective when I watched the film, and I didn’t get caught up in it. When I watched the film, I put myself in the place of a character.
I had tender, concerned feelings for one of the leading characters less fortunate than me in the film.
Q8. Thinking about your general movie preference, to what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
I like movies that challenge my way of seeing the world, make me more reflective, or focus on meaningful human conditions.
My favorite kinds of movies are ones that make me think.
I am very moved by movies that are about people’s search for greater understanding in life.
I am not fond of movies that have profound meanings or messages to convey.
Q9. I see myself as someone who... Is emotionally stable, not easily upset. Can be moody.
Is depressed, blue.
Is relaxed and calm, handles stress well. Can be tense or get nervous easily.
Q10. What is your year of birth?
Q11. What is the highest level of school you have completed or the highest degree you have received?
Q12. What is your gender? Q13. What is your nationality?
