The effect of open-ended sad films on optimists and pessimists

Graduate School of Communication

Master’s Thesis

The effect of open-ended sad films on optimists and pessimists

Student: Alexandra Kuznetsova St. № 11379758 Supervisor: Dr. Rinaldo Kühne

Statement of Originality

This document is written by Student Alexandra Kuznetsova who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this document.

I declare that the text and the work presented in this document are original and that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it.

The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents.

Abstract

In our study we aimed to understand the emotional effects of a sad film with an open ending on people with different life expectancy traits (optimism vs pessimism). We proposed that people who are more inclined to pessimism will experience higher level of sadness and distress after the exposure to a sad film with an open ending than people who score low in this trait. An appraisal mechanism was taken as an underlying process. It was suggested that respondents with a high level of pessimism will interpret an open-ended sad film more negatively due to their negatively biased mechanism of appraisal. 159 Russian speaking participants took part in the experiment and filled in an online survey. All the participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control condition. The results showed that there is, indeed, a negative change in a mood after the exposure to the experimental condition stimulus. However, we failed to prove that the increase of sadness and distress among pessimists is higher than the increase of sadness and distress among optimists. The opposite tendency was discovered. The elaboration on this finding may be find in the limitation section.

Introduction

According to findings, sad films may induce either negative emotions (ex. Gross &

Levenson, 1995; Hagemann et al. 1999; Fernandez et al., 2012) or positive ones (Hofer & Wirth,

2012; Oliver, 1993; Schramm &Wirth, 2010). The valence and the intensity of these emotions depend on the number of factors – an optimism-pessimism trait (Schramm & Wirth, 2010) and a film ending (Aurier and Guintcheva, 2015) are among other factors that influence appraisal mechanism (Schramm & Wirth, 2010). We believe that it is important to examine open endings in a context of sad films because it may help to identify whether emotions induced by this type of films are appraised as more negative or more positive whereas the optimism-pessimism trait may help to understand the intensity of these emotions.

This knowledge is also important from the societal point of view. For example, people who are going to watch a sad film should be aware that their own life expectancy trait (optimism vs pessimism) may play a cruel joke and people who are inclined to pessimism will experience more intense sadness and distress than others. This is important to know especially for pessimistic persons so that they could avoid conditions that elicit excessive sadness and distress which in their turn affect their general well-being (Fujita, Diener & Sandvik, 1991).

There are not that many studies in the communication domain that examine film endings as a separate factor that may influence human emotions. To our knowledge there is only one published scientific article which compares the effects of different types of movie endings (Tannenbaum & Gaer, 1965). Our study may create a scientific ground or be a starting point for the future works on the topic of moving visual media with open-ended finals. It may help to understand whether it is worth to pay attention to the effects of such media content or not.

There are also not so many scientific articles about the effects of the trait optimism-pessimism on moving visual media. We found only one study on the related topic. The study by McNaughton-cassill (2001) examined the correlation between the trait optimism-pessimism, negative television news exposure and a subsequent high level of anxiety. However, there are no published studies about the effects of the trait optimism-pessimism within cinematography. Our study may contribute to the scientific field by a suggestion of controlling for such variable as the trait optimism-pessimism while researching the effects that visual media has on viewers’ emotions. Moreover, most of the studies in psychology examine the effects of real- life stressors (ex. severe disease, pregnancy, school examination) on people with different levels of the trait optimism-pessimism (ex. Cozzarelli, 1993; Park, Moore, Turner, & Adler, 1997). Our study may contribute to the field by stating that it is also important to pay attention to mediated reality stressors (i.e. sad films).

We can conclude that there is a deficit of studies both about open-ended films and the effects of the trait optimism-pessimism within visual media content. This deficit evidences the existing gaps in the scientific field and makes our study relevant from a scientific point of view.

Therefore, we would like to research the effect of open-ended movies on the emotional state of individuals taking into account the trait optimism-pessimism as a predisposition factor and appraisal process as an underlying theory. We state the following research question:

RQ To what extent does the level of sadness and distress among individuals who are high in the trait pessimism differ from the level of sadness and distress of individuals who are lower in this trait after the exposure to a sad film with an open ending?

We aim to establish to what extent a sad film with an open ending elicits negative emotions (sadness and distress) among respondents. Second, we want to understand how individual differences, namely stable dispositional factors such as the trait optimism-pessimism, influence the extent of the induced sadness and distress.

Theoretical framework

The effects of film endings and sad film genres

There are three types of movie finals – happy endings, sad endings and open endings. The most preferable and frequently employed type of movie finals among cinematographers are happy endings (McDowell, 2014). This is because it makes audience more satisfied (Aurier & Guintcheva, 2015) and thus brings more positive reviews and makes better box office (Lewis, 1974). Sad endings are not an as popular type of a movie final as happy endings, but still they are applied far more often than open endings (McDowell, 2014). Open-ended film is a film with an ambiguous plot resolution, with unclear future for main characters and with a lot of unanswered questions (Preis, 1990). It makes audience guess whether the final of the story is happy or sad (Preis, 1990). This ambiguity makes people stick to their own idea on how the story has to finalize, each individual has their own perception about the very end of the story.

There are many definitions of sad film genres but all of them refer to negative-down feelings that people experience while watching such types of films, for instance: "A tragedy has a dreadful, disastrous, deplorable conclusion that causes viewers to feel mournful and melancholy" (Mills, 1993, p. 255). The idea that film genres are related to specific emotions is not new (Aurier & Guintcheva, 2015). There are several characteristics of sad films which may induce negative emotions. One of the most influential features of a sad film is its ending. Aurier and Guintcheva (2015) examined emotional sequence during a film consumption and concluded that a film ending is a final and extremely significant factor that influences overall emotions elicited by a film. The study by Tannenbaum and Gaer (1965) was aimed to detect the difference in stress resolution depending on whether the end of a movie is happy, sad or undetermined applying identification with protagonist

mechanism. They found that there is an extreme increase of stress after a sad ending. The other characteristic of a sad film that may influence viewers’ emotional experience is music. A sad film may make sadness more intense by stitching a sad scene of the film to melancholy, gloomy or depressing background music (Thompson et al., 1994). One of the main characteristics of a sad film is its plot that features human sufferings (Banham, 1998). For example, a plot that displays the protagonist’s suffering may provoke viewers to feel down (Zillmann, 1991). This is explained by the empathy to the protagonist (Oliver, 1993). Specific symbols in films may also impact people’s emotional state. For example, “film which induces a number of symbolic references to religious meanings associated with sadness and suffering” (Bartsch, 2008, p.55). The style of the video - dark color theme, slowness of motions between film shots etc. induce associations with gloominess making viewers experience sadness (Bartsch, 2008, p.55).

While it may seem obvious that individuals experience negative feelings during and after sad films consumption many of the studies at the same time are concerned with the sad-film paradox, which tries to explain why people may enjoy sad movies. In case of happy endings studies say that people get satisfied because they get rewarded after the sad experience which they get while watching the film, in other words, the sadder the film is the happier the viewer is with the happy ending(de Wied et al., 1995). One of the recent studies by Ahn, Jin and Ritterfeld (2012) have proposed the so-called perceived reality and involvement concept. This approach explains the function of sadness as follows: viewers perceive a film as something realistic, what in its turn increases the sense of involvement in the narrative, which makes people enjoy the sad film. A meta-emotions approach explains this paradox by means of meta-emotional reappraisal: individuals who watch negatively valenced films interpret sadness positively, sadness in this case assessed as something gratifying (Bartsch et al., 2010; Hofer & Wirth, 2012; Oliver, 1993).

Other researchers that we review examine negative emotions elicited by sad films. These studies agree that sad films cause sadness and distress (Gross & Levenson, 1995; Hagemann et al.

1999; Choti et al.,1987; Fernandez et al., 2012; Holmes, Brewin & Hennessy, 2004; Laposa & Alden, 2008; Van Rooijen & Vlaander, 1984).

Sadness is one of the basic emotions which features a feeling of loss of value of something (Lazarus, 1991) and is a reaction to unpleasant events (Ellsworth & Scherer, 2003). “Sadness is that part of the feeling response to loss indicative of a painful awareness of the absence of the source of gratification” (Engel et al., 1985, p.2). Frijda (1986) characterized sadness as an emotion of deactivation – a person who experiences this emotion abolish any other activities. Distress as well as sadness is assumed to be a negatively valenced aversive state (Bolger, 2010). Distress is a consequence of some traumatic and stressful experiences or life events (Kessler & Cleary, 1980), characterized by an individual’s inability to adapt to a stressor (Carstens & Moberg, 2000).

First, we would like to review studies which examine sadness as an emotion induced by sad films. Gross and Levenson (1995) aimed to create a set of emotions-eliciting film stimuli. They chose eight basic emotions (among which was sadness) and films which were supposed to elicit these emotions. It was found that sadness is one of the most intense emotions elicited by a sad film. Hagemann at al. (1999) also tried to find out whether a film of a certain emotion elicits this emotion in viewers and whether there is an ethnic difference in the intense of induced emotions. They found that a sad film indeed elicits a high level of sadness, but they did not find ethnic differences in the level of induced sadness. Choti, Marston, Holston and Hart (1987) have examined differences in the level of sadness induced by a sad film between males and females. As it was expected, females reported a higher level of sadness than males. This finding has also been confirmed by Fernandez et al. (2012).

The following set of studies represents more serious consequences (distress, depressive mood, anxiety) that sad films may induce. The study by Van Rooijen and Vlaander (1984) showed that a sad film may be a cause of depressive mood. Holmes, Brewin and Hennessy (2004) examined

intrusive memory after the exposure to a sad, traumatic film. They found a significant depressing effect of the film right after the exposure to the stimulus. Laposa and Alden (2008) examined an association between such traits as anxiety, distress, depression and intrusion frequency. The results showed a significant increase in anxiety, distress and depression after the exposure to an emotionally distressing film.

Taking into account the negative effects which sad films may induce and undetermined effects of an open ending, we formulate the following hypotheses:

H1a. The level of sadness after the exposure to a sad film with an open ending will be higher than before the exposure.

H1b. The level of distress after the exposure to a sad film with an open ending will be higher than before the exposure.

Appraisal theory

To understand why and how optimists and pessimists asses the same events or situations differently we should address the mechanism of appraisal. Appraisal theory explains information process during the exposure to a sad film with an open ending and how differences in subsequent emotion responses emerge (Scheier, 2001; Schramm & Wirth, 2010). Appraisals is a subjective process (Lazarus, 1991) which incorporates information from the person and the situation (Frijda, 1986). “Appraisal process and the information that it uses thus forms the main causal determinants of the various components that together form the multicomponential response patterns called “emotions.”” (Moors, Ellsworth, Scherer & Frijda, 2013, p. 123)

Appraisal explains why people elicit different emotional responses to the same events (Moors et al., 2013). Some people are more likely to experience certain emotions because their appraisal mechanism is skewed in the direction of these emotions. And as Kuppens and Tong (2010) claim the reason why appraisal mechanism may be skewed is that individual traits are connected to emotional

state. Thus, the emotional sates which pessimistic people are inclined to experience more often than optimistic people - sadness, distress, anxiety (Carver & Scheier, 1994) - may affect appraisals (Kuppens & Tong, 2010).

Some theorists believe that relations between stimuli and appraisals vary whereas relations between appraisals and emotions are stable (Moors et al., 2013). This means that the same appraisals elicit the same emotions but different appraisals cause different emotions. As our study is preoccupied with mediated communication and our stimuli are films, we have to review three types of “situational reference” through which appraisals of films occur.

Situational reference “forms the interpretative basis for appraisals and consequently for the experienced emotion” (Wirth, as cited in Schramm & Wirth, 2010, p. 320). The first situational reference is production. In this case, viewers’ emotions are the result of the appraisal of the quality of scenario, suitability of music or a certain scene etc.

The second situational reference is relevance. When a person watches a film and see events relevant to their life, they start to refer this event to their own situation/experience (Schramm & Wirth, 2010). Viewers merely transfer this media situation into their own life and try to appraise how they would feel if they faced this situation (Schramm & Wirth, 2010).

The third situational reference is media content (Schramm & Wirth, 2010). For instance, when people see the events of a sad film through the eyes of the protagonist or their favorite character they, as a consequence, start to feel sadness too (Zillman & Cantor, 1977). This appraisal helps to understand why people experience different emotion intensity after watching the same film. For example, people with a higher level of empathy (empathy to the protagonist) have a higher level of sadness as a result (Oliver, Weaver & Sargent, 2000).

Scheier, Carver and Bridges (1994) defined traits pessimism and optimism as opposites of a unidimensional construct which they called dispositional optimism. Dispositional optimism is a mental attitude or world view which is defined by a certain expectation of future situations and events resolution (Scheier & Carver, 1985). The definition of dispositional optimism construct cited as “the tendency to believe that one will generally experience good vs. bad outcomes in life” (Scheier & Carver, 1985). Therefore, people who expect more positive outcomes are called optimists whilst people who are more inclined to think about negative outcome are called pessimists (Chang, 2001). Pessimists are inclined to negative thinking in general, not only when they think about the future (Norem, 2001).

All the reviewed studies are based on the unidimensional assessment of dispositional optimism (further in the text as the optimism-pessimism trait), which means that on the one side of a scale we put an optimism trait and on the opposite side of this scale we put a pessimism trait. Therefore, a person who scores high in a trait optimism at the same time scores low in a trait pessimism and the more pessimistic a person is the lower level of optimism he/she has.

A certain response to media is explained by differential susceptibility theory. It is a communication theory that addresses the role of individual differences in the processing of media content. It states that “media effects are conditional; they depend on three types of differential-susceptibility variables: dispositional, developmental, and social. Dispositional differential-susceptibility is defined as all person dimensions that predispose the responsiveness to media.”(Valkenburg & Peter, 2013, p. 226) Life expectancy trait – optimism-pessimism - is among stable dispositional susceptibility dimensions. Kuppens and Tong (2010) claim that the reason why appraisal mechanism may be skewed is that individual traits are connected to emotional state. Thus, emotional sates which pessimistic people are inclined to experience more often than optimistic people - sadness, distress, anxiety (Carver & Scheier, 1994) may affect appraisals (Kuppens & Tong, 2010).

Individuals who differ from each other in a certain trait have different emotional experience and outcomes (Kuppens & Tong, 2010).

There are not that many published studies which examine the trait optimism-pessimism in media related context. We found only one study which is relevant to the topic of video induced emotions moderated by the trait optimism-pessimism. McNaughton-cassill (2001) in a study of negative television news exposure and its relation to anxiety and depression found a correlation between people who are high in the trait pessimism and anxiety elicited by a negative news consumption. There was revealed a reverse relation for people who are low in the trait pessimism and anxiety. The findings showed a non-significant effect that the interaction between media news exposure and the trait optimism-pessimism had on depression. It was assumed that depression is highly associated with the feeling of loss and therefore cannot be the result of a plain media news exposure.

For better understanding of the negative effects of stressors on individuals depending on their predisposition either to optimism or to pessimism we review the following studies which are concerned with mere life difficulties such as college stress. For example, the study by Aspinwall and Taylor (1992) and the study by Stewart et al. (1997) examined freshmen students and found that individuals with a lower level of optimism have a higher level of distress, anxiety and depression than individuals who are high in this trait. Segerstrom, Taylor, Kemeny and Fahey (1998) examined first year students to find the dependence between the level of optimism-pessimism and their mood. It was established that participants with a high level of pessimism experience worse mood.

Taking into account the reviewed studies about the emotional consequences of people with different levels of optimism-pessimism and the knowledge that different traits induce different responses to media we formulate the following hypotheses:

H2a. Sadness after the exposure to a sad movie with an open ending will be higher for those who score higher in the trait pessimism than for those who score lower in this trait.

H2b. Distress after the exposure to a sad movie with an open ending will be higher for those who score higher in the trait pessimism than for those who score lower in this trait.

Moreover, we postulate that people who are more inclined to pessimism will be more susceptible to a sad film with an open ending, therefore experience higher increase of negative feelings than optimists:

H3a. The increase of the level of sadness after the exposure to a sad movie with an open ending will be higher for individuals who are higher in the trait pessimism.

H3b. The increase of the level of distress after the exposure to a sad movie with an open ending will be higher for individuals who are higher in the trait pessimism.

Methodology

Procedure

The Qualtrics online survey software was used as a survey tool. The link for the participation in the survey was provided via social media networking sites – Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp. The link to the survey was distributed via personal researcher’s social media accounts.

A pretest-posttest design with a control group implies repeated measures. This means that we had to measure sadness and distress in a two time points - before and after the exposure to the experimental stimulus and to the control condition. The control condition is necessary for our study because it allows to uncover whether our sad stimulus negatively affects sadness and distress or not. The questionnaire was started with a briefing with a concise explanation of the study, contacts of the researcher and a consent form. After that, respondents had to choose whether they agree to be a part of the study or not. The first block served as an ice breaker and asked participants for their age,

gender and a country of origin. The second block assessed sadness, distress and the level of optimism/pessimism. The emotions were measured before the optimism/pessimism traits because they are less stable and may be violated by the following ten items dispositional optimism scale. All the participants were randomly assigned into two groups with approximately equal number of participants in every group (Experimental group = 77, Control group = 82). The survey has been translated into Russian. Collected data were tested in SPSS software. For the full survey see Appendix A.

Sample

In our study we employed a convenience and a snowball sampling. Due to the character of the stimulus (a Russian language short film) we had to recruit only Russian speaking people. This helped to avoid heterogeneity and to keep all the respondents in equal conditions as the stimuli were not dubbed into English. In total, 159 respondents participated in the study, among whom 89.3% were females and 10.1% were males (Female = 142, Male = 16). One person indicated the gender as ‘Other’. The age range of the respondents is 19-59 years old (M=30.21). The most frequent participant’s age is 24 years old (20.1% of total). There were no missing values as the mode ‘force response’ was activated. All the participants were Russian speaking individuals and most of the respondents were of Russian origin (N=144). The other respondents represented the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States

Stimuli

For the manipulation we had to find a sad film with an open ending. To be able to question people via online survey the length of the film should have not exceed 15 minutes (Bryman, 2012). Therefore, we chose a short film “Where does the sea flow?”, 2012, dir. V.Saltykov. This film is suitable for our study because it incorporates main features of tragedy genre – human sufferings,

dark colours of the visual picture and gloomy musical background. This short film does not have an open ending that is why we had to cut out the part of the film and arranged it in a way which makes the final of the video open. As a result, we got a short drama film with an open ending. All the possible crucial/offensive moments were cut out of the stimulus and did not impact the narrative of the film. The plot in general remains negative valenced as it is needed for the experiment but not crucial to be adverse.

The plot: The woman has an undesirable pregnancy but after the conversation with a doctor decides to keep a child. One day she and her little daughter go to swim and woman decides to run away from her child while she is swimming. Her escape does not last long (only few minutes). She suddenly stops trying to decide whether she does the right thing or not. Though, we cannot see whether she eventually returns to her daughter or not. The film stops on this point giving respondents the right to decide whether final has happy or sad ending.

For the control condition stimulus, we chose a positive emotion film of a short length. The film tells us a story of a little girl who decides to cheer her older sister up. The little girl goes to jewellery store with a small amount of savings which obviously are not enough for jewellery. The old salesman though gives her a neckless. The same evening the sister of the girl comes to the store trying to return expensive purchase.

Operationalization

Trait optimism-pessimism. In our work we used a Life Orientation Test (LOT-R) scale. This scale which was created by Scheier and Carver (1994) is the common way for measuring the level of optimism vs. pessimism. Optimism and pessimism was defined as polar opposites of unidimensional construct therefore a person who scores low in optimism in the same time scores high in pessimism (Scheier & Carver, 1994). LOT-R is a five-point Likert scale (1 = I completely disagree, 5 = I absolutely agree) consists of ten items – three negative statements, three positive

statements and four items used as fillers. The example of items: If something can go wrong for me, it will; I'm always optimistic about my future.

A significant number of studies have confirmed an adequate predictive and construct validity of the LOT-R scale (Chiesi et al., 2013; Chang et al, 1997; Carver, Scheier, Miller & Fulford, 2009;

Burke, Joyner, Czech & Wilson, 2000; Majer, Jason, & Olson, 2004; Richardson & Ratner, 2005). Internal consistency and test-retest reliability have also proved satisfactory results (Hirsch, Britton, & Conner, 2010; Scheier et al., 1994). For the Russian language version of the survey we took a scale created by Gordeeva, Sychev and Osin (2010). This is an official, validated translation of the LOT-R scale.

To create a variable which measures the level of optimism-pessimism and to be able check the reliability of the scale, we had to recode three positive stated items into negative stated items. The reliability for these six items (three initial and three recoded) appeared to be high (Cronbach’s α = .89, M = 1.98, SD = .89). A principal axis factor analysis (PAF) of six items (fillers were excluded) is adequate (KMO =.86, Bartlett’s test sig. < .001). The factor analysis shows that the 6 items form a single uni-dimensional scale: only one component has an eigenvalue above 1 (eigenvalue 3.94) and there is a clear point of inflexion after this component in the scree plot. Together, these factors explain 65.73% of the variance in the original variables (items). After a direct oblimin rotation, all items correlate positively with the first factor, the initially negatively stated variables (not the recoded ones) have the strongest association (factor loading are Q_3= .83, Q_7 = .86, Q_9 = .82).

The new computed variable which measure the level of optimism – pessimism has a label “Pessimism”.

Sadness. Sadness was measured with three items of the Sadness subscale from the Differential Emotion Scale (DES, Izard, Dougherty, Bloxom, & Kotch, 1974). The other items of the full DES scale assess irrelevant to our research emotions (ex. enjoyment, interest, surprise) thus we

had to drop them. DES is a 5-point Likert scale (1 = I completely disagree, 5 = I absolutely agree). The scale comprised three items: I feel sad; I feel downhearted; I feel unhappy.

DES is broadly used in communication field of science (Poel & Dewitte, 2006). For example, there are some works in advertisement area of study which measure emotional response on stimuli with Izard’s Differential Emotion Scale (see Allen, Machleit & Marine, 1988) or develop their own scales on the basis of DES (Batra and Ray, 1986; Mano, 1996; Burke and Edell, 1989). The validity of the scale has been also confirmed by a number of studies (Fuenzalida, Emde, Pannabecker & Stenberg, 1981; Boyle, 1984).

The official Russian translation of the Differential Emotion Scale was applied in the Russian version of the questionnaire (Eliseev, 2003).

A reliability analysis showed that the sadness scales for the first and for the second measurement were reliable (1st measurement – Sadness_preexposure: Cronbach’s α = .82, M = 1.94, SD = 1.04; 2nd measurement – Sadness_postexposure : Cronbach’s α = .79, M = 2.28, SD = 1.05).

Distress. The level of distress was measured with four items of Distress K-10 scale (Kessler et al., 2002). We chose only four items for our measurement because other six items measure feelings which person is not supposed to experience during or after the film consumption. The examples of such items are: Do you feel tired; Do you feel worthless; Do you feel as everything was an effort.

The reliability and validity of original K-10 scale were proved by a number of studies (Arnaud et al., 2010; Fassaert et al., 2009; Baggaley et al., 2007; Furukawa, Kessler & Andrews, 2003; Hides et al.,2007; Kessler et al., 2003).

Our modified distress scale is a 5-point Likert scale (1 = I completely disagree, 5 = I absolutely agree). The scale comprised four items: I feel nervous; I feel restless; I feel depressed; I feel upset. A reliability analysis showed that our modified distress scale for the first and for the

second measurement were reliable (1st measurement – Distress_preexposure : Cronbach’s α = .93, M = 2.08, SD = 1.03; 2nd measurement – Distress_postexposure: Cronbach’s α = .88, M = 2.24, SD = 1.16).

Results Analytical strategy

First, we had to check whether our experimental stimulus works in other words, whether the groups of the stimuli differ on the sadness and distress. It should be done to be able to continue analysis with our hypotheses. To do so we run a manipulation check where we compared experimental and control conditions. We assumed differences in the level of sadness and distress between the experimental and the control group after the exposure to manipulation (stimuli). To be more precise, participants of the experimental condition have to show increase in the level of sadness and distress after the second measurement. Participants from the control condition should show decrease in the level of sadness and distress after the manipulation because control condition stimulus has a positive valence. We had repeated measures (Within-Subject factor Time) and two groups in Between-Subject factor – conditions thus we can apply a mixed-design (two by one) ANOVA. We run two separate analysis – one for sadness and one for distress. Within-Subject factor was Time (Sadness_preexposure/ Sadness_postexposure; Distress_preexposure / Distress_postexposure) x Between-Subject factor was Conditions. A two-way mode was applied.

Second, after the manipulation check, we started to test hypotheses (Hypotheses testing) with our experimental condition. As our experiment is preoccupied with the effects of a sad film we need only the participants who got condition with a sad film.

We run two, two by one repeated measures ANOVA to test all the hypotheses. This analysis is suitable because it the same time it allows to check the main effect for Time (H1a./H1b.), for trait optimism-pessimism (H2a./H2b.) and to compare the interaction effects between Time and traits on

sadness (H3a.) and distress (H3b). Within-Subject Variable (Time): Sadness_preexposure, Sadness_postexposure X Covariate (Pessimism). Within-Subject Variable (Time): Distress_preexposure, Distress_postexposure x Covariate (Pessimism). The Two-Way Model mode was applied. To visualize the increase of sadness and distress within Time we use a median split. Manipulation check

The descriptive statistics for the all variables of the whole sample showed adequate results. All the Kurtosis and Skewness values are not higher than +- 2 what makes distribution reasonable. Means and Standard Deviation for the whole sample does not have abnormal values as well (see Table 1).

To test groups on the homogeneity of variance in repeated measures ANOVA we should see Mauchly’s test of sphericity. However, we have a repeated-measures variable that has only two levels therefore assumption of sphericity was met (Field, 2009).

A two-way factorial ANOVA showed a significant main effect of time on the level of sadness, F (1, 157) = 16.79, p < .001, Eta-squared = .09, indicating that the level of sadness from the first measurement to the second measurement has increased.

There was a significant interaction effect between the level of sadness and conditions, F (1, 157) = 64.19, p < .001 Eta-squared = .29. This indicates that experimental and control condition groups differ on sadness.

A two-way factorial ANOVA showed a significant main effect of time on the level of sadness, , F(1, 155) = 5.67, p = .018, Eta-squared = .03, indicating that the level of distress from the first measurement to the second measurement has increased.

There was a significant interaction effect between the level of distress and conditions, F (1, 155) = 96.98, p < .001, Eta-squared = .38. This indicates that experimental and control condition groups differ on distress.

Table 1

Descriptive statistic for variables of the whole sample

n M SD Skew. Kurtosis Sadness_preexposure 159 1.94 1.04 1.24 0.89 Sadness_postexposure 159 2.28 1.05 0.64 -0.36 Distress_preexposure 157 2.08 1.03 0.78 -0.49 Distress_postexposure 159 2.24 1.16 0.57 -0.95 Pessimism 159 1.98 0.89 1.16 1.07

The means of the first measurement of sadness (M = 1.87) and distress (M=2.06) of experimental condition and the means of the first measurement of sadness (M = 2.01) and distress (M = 2.10) of the control condition were approximately equal. From the first to the second measurements of sadness and distress both groups have experienced changes in the means. After the exposure to the stimuli the experimental condition level of sadness (M = 2.94) and distress (M = 3.00) had higher mean values than control condition level of sadness (M =1.66) and distress (M = 1.53). Whereas the means after the exposure to the control condition stimulus have decreased, the means after the exposure for the experimental condition stimulus have increased. Manipulation check was executed successfully. Below you can find the table for the manipulation check variable means and standard deviations (see Table 2).

Table 2

Means and Standard Deviations for the Manipulation check analysis

n M SD Sadness_preexposure Experimental group 77 1.87 1.05

Control group 82 2.01 1.03 Sadness_postexposure Experimental group 77 2.94 0.96 Control group 82 1.66 0.71 Distress_preexposure Experimental group 77 2.06 1.06 Control group 80 2.10 1.02 Distressss_postexposure Experimental group 77 3.00 1.08 Control group 80 1.53 0.07

Hypotheses testing

A repeated measures two by one ANOVA was conducted to check for the main effect of time on sadness and distress (H1a./H1b.), to check for the main effect of traits (pessimism vs optimism) on sadness and distress (H2), and to compare the interaction effect between time and traits on sadness and distress (H3).

All the descriptive for each variable of the experimental condition have adequate values. All the Kurtosis and Skewness values are not higher than +- 2 what makes distribution reasonable. Means and Standard Deviation for the experimental condition subsample does not have abnormal values as well (see Table 3). As we do not have a between-subject factor we cannot test for homogeneity of variance. Therefore, we had to test on sphericity. We have a repeated measure variable with only two level thus sphericity is met.

Table 3

Descriptive statistic for variables of the experimental condition

n M SD Skew. Kurtosis Sadness_postexposure 77 1.87 1.05 1.34 1.08

Sadness_postexposure 77 2.94 0.96 0.28 -0.48 Distress_preexposure 77 2.06 1.06 0.84 -0.38 Distress_postexposure 77 3.00 1.08 -0.18 -1.01 Pessimism 77 1.95 0.90 1.15 1.35

H1a. Repeated two by one ANOVA showed a difference between sadness before and after the exposure to experimental condition (H1a.). The main effect of Time on sadness is significant (p < .001, F (1, 75) = 26.23). The level of sadness at the first time point measurement (M = 1.87, SD = 1.05) was lower than the level of distress at the second time point measurement (M = 2.94, SD = 0.96). The hypothesis was supported.

H1b. Repeated two by one ANOVA showed a difference between distress before and after the exposure to experimental condition (H1b.). The main effect of Time on distress is significant (p < .001, F(1, 75) = 25.82). The level of distress at the first measurement (M = 2.06, SD = 1.06) was lower than the level of distress at the second measurement (M = 3.00, SD = 1.08). The hypothesis was supported.

H2a. For the following analysis which measures a main effect of a trait optimism-pessimism on sadness after the exposure to experiment condition stimulus (H2a.) we use a “parameter estimates which produces a table of regression coefficients and their tests of significance for the variables in the regression model.” (Field, 2009, p.1191). Regression output of the repeated measure ANOVA showed a non-significant result for sadness p = .076, t(75) = 1.79, b = 0.21, CI 95% [-0.02; 0.45]. Results indicates that trait optimism-pessimism does not have an effect on the level of sadness after the exposure to a sad film with open ending. The hypothesis was rejected.

H2b. The following analysis measure the main effect of a trait optimism-pessimism on distress after the exposure to experiment condition stimulus. Regression output from the repeated measure ANOVA showed a non-significant result for distress p = .232, t(75) = 1.20, b = 0.16, CI

95% [-0.10; 0.43]. Results indicates that trait optimism-pessimism does not influence the level of distress after the exposure to a sad film with open ending. The hypothesis was rejected.

H3a. The following analysis tested if there was a significant increase in the level of sadness among more pessimistic and less pessimistic participants. The interaction effect between time and trait pessimism on sadness is not significant (p = .082, F (1, 75) = 3.09, M = 1.92). The increase of the level of sadness after the exposure to a sad movie with an open ending is not significant for individuals who are higher in a trait pessimism. The hypothesis was rejected.

To visualize hypothesis H3a./H3b. and to find out the increase of sadness and distress we did a median split of the continuous variable Pessimism into two groups. We computed a new binary variable Pessimism _binary with equal number of participants in each group. 38 participants scored lower in pessimism and 39 participants scored higher in pessimism. The lower pessimism group (n =38) scored below 1.7 and get value = 0, the high pessimism group (n = 39) scored above 1.7 and get value =1. This allowed us to compare the increase of sadness and distress between a group with a low pessimism score and with a high pessimism score.

The repeated two by one ANOVA with Pessimism_binary after the median split has shown the same non-significant result as before the median split. Sadness model result: p = .121, F (1, 75) = 2.45, M = 1,54.

The mean increase of sadness for those who are lower in pessimism = 1.27 and for those who are higher in pessimism = 0.87. The mean value for the first and second time point measurements you can see in the Table 4 below.

Table 4

Means for Sadness in the analysis with the Pessimism_binary

n M SD Sadness_preexposure Low pessimism 38 1.57 0.87

High pessimism 39 2.17 1.12 Sadness_postexposure Low Pessimism 38 2.84 0.90 High pessimism 39 3.04 1.02

H3b. The following analysis tested if there was a significant increase in the level of distress among more pessimistic and less pessimistic participants. The interaction effect between time and trait pessimism on distress is also not significant (p = .075, F(1, 75) = 3.26, M = 1.62). The increase of the level of distress after the exposure to a sad movie with an open ending is not significant for individuals who are higher in a trait pessimism.

The steps for the median split was discussed above (see discussion of H3a.). The repeated two by one ANOVA with Pessimism_binary after the median split has shown the same non-significant results before the median split. Distress model result: p = .059, F (1, 75) = 3.66, M = 1.80.

The mean increase of distress for people who are lower in pessimism = 1.15 and for those who are higher in pessimism = 0.72. The mean values for the first and second time point measurements you can see in the Table 5 below.

Table 5

Means for Distress in the analysis with the Pessimism_binary

n M SD Distress_preexposure Low pessimism 38 1.75 0.94 High pessimism 39 2.37 1.08 Distressss_postexposure Low Pessimism 38 2.90 1.06 High pessimism 39 3.09 1.10

Conclusion

Discussion

In our study we aimed to understand the effect of a sad film with an open ending on negative reactions such as distress and sadness. We also intended to figure out to what extent this type of film elicits sadness and distress depending on whether a person is inclined to pessimism or optimism.

The manipulation check results showed that manipulation was successful. The level of sadness and distress after the exposure to a sad film with an open ending (the experimental condition) went up as it was expected. The level of sadness and distress for the positively balenced film of the control condition has slightly decreased.

We found that the level of sadness and distress appeared to be higher after the exposure to a sad film with an open ending than before the exposure, therefore the Hypothesis 1 was supported. This finding goes in line with the previous findings about the negative effects of sad films on mood and psychological state (Gross & Levenson, 1995; Hagemann et al. 1999; Choti et al., 1987; Fernandez et al., 2012; Holmes et al., 2004; Laposa & Alden, 2008; Van Rooijen & Vlaander, 1984).

The second hypothesis, which stated that the level of sadness and distress will be higher for those people who are higher in pessimism than for those who are lower in pessimism after they watch a sad film with an open ending, was rejected. We expected that individuals who are inclined to pessimism will not be as good at managing afterward distress and sadness as individuals who are inclined to optimism though our assumption does not hold.

The hypothesis for the interaction effect was also rejected. We assumed that participants who are higher in trait pessimism will experience the higher increase of sadness and distress than participants lower in this trait after the exposure to an open-ended sad film. That is to say, we

expected the effect of the sad film with the open ending will be stronger for those who are high in a trait pessimism than for those who are low in this trait(i.e for optimists) because we believed that due to skewed mechanism of appraisal (Kuppens & Tong, 2010) pessimists will interpret an ambiguous situation (an open ending) in more negative colours and assess the end of the story as more sad than optimists who due to their positively biased mechanism of appraisal will buffer the negativity (McNaughton-cassill, 2001) and interpret the same ambiguity in more positive tones.

Our finding showed a polar opposite tendency to the stated hypotheses (H3a., H3b.). People who were lower in a trait pessimism (i.e optimists) had the higher increase of negative feelings than people who were lower in a trait pessimism.

Limitations and suggestion for future research

As our research showed non-significant results for two out of three hypotheses, we have to explain possible reason for such outcomes. Our results for hypotheses H2a./H2b and H3a./H3b. contradict with studies which have proved that after the exposure to a stressor more pessimistic individuals experience higher level of sadness and distress than more optimistic individuals (McNaughton-cassill, 2001; Szalma, Hancock, Dember & Warm, 2006; Szalma, 2009; Gustafsson & Skoog, 2012; Stewart et al., 1997; Segerstrom, Taylor, Kemeny & Fahey, 1998). Moreover, we found that people who were lower in a trait pessimism (i.e optimists) had the higher increase of negative feelings than people who were higher in a trait pessimism. Since all these hypotheses and a new finding compare the effects of an open-ended sad film between optimists and pessimists, there haas to be a common cause for these results.

It may be explained by a stimulus of our experimental condition, which appeared to be too negative. The results section showed that mean difference between the first and the second measurement of sadness and distress after the exposure to a sad film were abnormally high compared to the mean difference between the first and the second measurement of sadness and distress after the

exposure to a control condition stimulus with a positively valenced stimulus. Our assumption can be confirmed by Rozin and Royzman (2001) study: negativity is perceived by people brightly than positivity thus our respondents indeed could be too strongly effected by a negative stimulus. Further, this excessive negativity more likely suppressed the effect of the open ending which according to study by Tannenbaum and Gaer (1965) is not very intense for emotion elicitation and has a moderate effect on viewers compare with happy and sad endings, thus may be covered by the negative effects of the main plot. This is especially true if we assume that the negative effect of our experimental stimulus was too strong. All these factors made it difficult for the open ending to expose itself because the intense of a sad narrative overpowers a naturally moderate effect of undetermined finale. The concept optimism-pessimism is concerned with the future expectancy (Scheier & Carver, 1994) but as we mentioned above our open ending might had been suppressed by the negative narrative of the film. We supposed that open ending of the film will make participants guess whether the outcome for protagonists after the end of the film will be either positive or negative (Feldman, 1956). However, the open ending did not work out therefore did not induce from participants this wish to “guess” what to expect. Thus, one of the main features of optimism-pessimism – expectancy was not involved into a process of stimulus appraisal. Though, this is not the only feature of optimists and pessimists. In general, pessimists are characterised by a more negative thinking even if it is not about the future expectancies (Norem, 2001). We dare to guess that optimists are more emotionally impressionable (sensitive to intense emotional situations/events (Gwon & Jeong, 2018) to negativity than pessimists. That is to say, optimists get used to see everything through “pink-colored glasses” (Kalay-Shahin et al., 2015) but when they face something extremely negative, they get knocked out of the rut. Whereas pessimist see everything in more negative colours and when they face negative stimulus, they react to it as to something what they face on a daily basis. Pessimists might have an unconscious thought somewhat similar to the following: “There is nothing special about this stressful situation, I see such tragedies on a daily basis, so I am not impressed”.

Based on the foregoing, we can conclude that the main limitation of our work is unsuitable experimental stimulus which appeared to suppress the effect of expectancy which we needed in a context of our experiment. For the future works we recommend to choose a stimulus with a less intense valence. Moreover, it is worth to try experiment with a film of another genre, for example action film. As short films are not so popular (Davies, n/d) full-length film is also may add a strength to ecological validity

A self-measure report can also be mentioned as limitation. These measures were used in assessment of emotions and traits. Self-reports may lead to some sort of bias. First, there can be a social desirability bias (Bryman, 2012). Our experimental stimulus demonstrates a potentially sensitive topic – abortion, for that reason some respondents may had reported feelings which go in line with society expectations. For instance, an abortion issue may be defined by a society as something sad, thus it is expected to feel sadness. Second, sometimes people are not able to recognise their own emotions or not fully aware about them (Poels & Dewitte, 2006). This may be a cause for inadequate assessment of own feelings and emotions. In the future works we advise to apply more complex and accurate measures, such as facial expression measure, heart rate assessment, brain imagining, respiratory rate or the level of hormones.

Our sample was extremely skewed toward female respondents (the ratio is 9:1) which may be crucial in studiying emotional responses. According to scientific findings there is a difference between emotions elicited by females and males. For example, studies of sad films and elicited by them emotions report that experienced by females sadness is more intense than sadness experienced by males (Fernandez et al., 2012; Gross & Levenson, 1995; Choti et al., 1987). It would be interesting to figure out whether the increase of sadness and distress has the same tendency for pessimists and optimists in a sample with only male respondents.

The existence of cultural differences in a optimism-pessimism trait were confirmed by several meta-analysis (Nes & Segerstrom, 2006; Fischer & Chalmers, 2008). As our sample represents only Russian population, we recommend to replicate our study with people of different ethnical background.

Implications

First, it was found that the emotional intense of the general plot/narrative may suppress the effects of the open ending, therefore researchers who are going to examine open-ended visual media should be more cautious in a choice of stimuli. Second, the major thing which is important to remember in studies about open-ended media and optimism-pessimism trait is expectancy, this need to be controlled more thoroughly. Even though we failed to support our ideas, the finding we have acquired also contribute to the field of knowledge. According to our results we dare to assume that optimists may be more liable to a short negative media stressor. However, psychologists recommend to avoid stressors because it leads to a development of serious mental disorders such as major depressive disorder (Tebeka et al., 2018). This is especially recommended to those people who are more inclined to pessimism (Chang, 2001) because, as studies say pessimists are more inclined to experience sadness (Sheier & Carver, 1994). Our finding suggests that mediated video source (i.e. sad/distressful film) may be more harmful for the increase of sadness and distress in optimists and therefore lead to more serious problems (Tebeka et al., 2018). For this reason, it is important to replicate our study considering all limitations to be sure that optimists may be even more affected by a sad media in order to implement this knowledge into psychological practice: to notify patients who are more inclined to optimism to avoid conditions which elicit excessive sadness and distress which in their turn effect general well-being (Fujita, Diener & Sandvik, 1991). Our study has proved that it is worth to pay attention to scientific investigation of media stressors.

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