Sports Spectators' Suspense: Affect and Uncertainty in Sports Entertainment

El Suspenso de los Espectadores de Deportes: El Afecto y la Inseguridad en el Entretenimiento de los Deportes Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick1, Prabu David1, Matt Eastin2,Ronald Tamborini3, & Dara Greenwood4ResumenPara explicar la atracción a los deportes en los medios, la teoría de suspenso es extendida para predecir el suspenso durante la exposición a los deportes. Los espectadores de juego de fútbol de una universidad (n = 113) en un contexto de rivalidad reportaron sus respuestas al juego durante los cortes comerciales. Un análisis multinivel de datos longitudinales muestra que los cambios positivos y negativos del afecto influenciaron el suspenso de los hinchas de ambos equipos. Asimismo, las disposiciones afectivas (arraigadas en el equipo) emergieron como precondición para el mayor suspenso, a pesar de la preferencia por el equipo, aún cuando el compromiso habitual de los fans no afectó el suspenso. Las predicciones acerca del incremento del suspenso debido a la baja inseguridad de la Victoria del grupo favorito y debido a la diferencia menor en el resultado fueron corroborados solamente por los hinchas del equipo ganador.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78673/1/j.1460-2466.2009.01456.x.pd

Emotional gratification in entertainment experience

This article presents four studies designed to assess different types of gratifications that can be associated with the experience of emotions in movie and television audiences. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of a pool of statements derived from qualitative interviews revealed three factors that reflect rewarding feelings: 1) fun, 2) thrill, and 3) empathic sadness, and four factors that reflect the role of emotional media experiences within the broader context of individuals' social and cognitive needs: 4) contemplative emotional experiences, 5) emotional engagement with characters, 6) social sharing of emotions, and 7) vicarious release of emotions. Validation analyses showed that the scales developed to assess these factors are predicted by the experience of emotions and meta-emotions and served in turn to predict different aspects of positive content evaluation. Results are discussed with regard to theoretical issues including entertainment audiences' voluntary exposure to unpleasant feelings, and the role of entertainment in psychosocial need satisfaction and eudaimonic wellbeing

Adolescent Religiosity and Selective Exposure to Television

Relying on the Adolescent Media Practice Model and selective exposure theory, this study investigated whether religious adolescents watch less mature television entertainment programs than their less religious peers. Program maturity was measured using V-chip ratings, with higher maturity scores indicating content that included more sexuality, violence, and/or adult and sexual language. The responses from 1,335 16- to 18-year-olds who completed Wave 2 of the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) survey were analyzed. Findings indicate that religiosity contributes to explaining the variance in television maturity means, with more religious adolescents indicating a preference for less mature television entertainment. Gender, race, income, and parents’ monitoring of teens’ media were also found to influence television maturity. Teens’ attitudes toward premarital sex appeared to mediate the effect of religiosity on their television entertainment choices

Selective Exposure to Berita Harian Online and Utusan Malaysia Online: The Roles of Surveillance Motivation, Website Usability and Website Attractiveness

News media allows audiences to be selective in determining both their news sources and type of news stories they read. This study examined factors influencing selective exposure to the online editions of two mainstream Malaysian newspapers, Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia. Using selective exposure theory as the theoretical lens, this study compared both newspapers in terms of their audiences’ level of surveillance motivation, and how audiences rate the newspapers’ websites with respect to usability and attractiveness. This study used a within-subject experimental research design that exposed 51 subjects to both Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia online newspapers. The results of the experiment indicate that Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia online were significantly different in terms of website usability; however, no significant differences were found in terms of surveillance motivation or website attractiveness between the two newspapers. Further analysis indicate that the only significant predictor of selective exposure was website usability. This study highlights the importance of website usability for online newspapers wanting to harness audience selectivity

To your health: Self-regulation of health behavior through selective exposure to online health messages.

Reaching target audiences is of crucial importance for the success of health communication campaigns, but individuals may avoid health messages if they challenge their beliefs or behaviors. A lab study (N=419) examined effects of messages' consistency with participants' behavior and source credibility on selective exposure for 4 health lifestyle topics. Drawing on self-regulation theory and dissonance theory, 3 motivations were examined: self-bolstering, self-motivating, and self-defending. Prior behavior predicted selective exposure across topics, reflecting self-bolstering. Standard-behavior discrepancies also affected selective exposure, consistent with self-motivating rather than self-defending. Selective exposure to high-credibility sources advocating for organic food, fruits and vegetable consumption, exercise, and limiting coffee all fostered accessibility of related standards, whereas messages from low-credibility sources showed no such impact. © 2013 International Communication Association