Working Through Political Entertainment: How Negative Emotion and Narrative Engagement Encourage Political Discussion Intent in Young Americans

Abstract

This study examines how a political entertainment film (Man of the Year) can impact an individual's political discussion intent after the same political topic is made salient in a subsequent news story. In addition, a process of communication influence is assessed when the roles of negative emotion and narrative engagement are considered as potential mediators of the relationship between political entertainment film viewing and political discussion intent. Seven hypotheses serve as the foundation for this experimental study, and structural equation modeling was used to test these hypotheses. Results reveal there was no direct influence of political entertainment film viewing on political discussion intent, but there was an indirect effect through negative emotion. Furthermore, narrative engagement emerged as a predictor of political discussion intent and a mediator of the association between negative emotion and political discussion intent.

Keywords:

• Emotion
• Engagement
• Narrative
• Political Communication
• Political Discussion
• Political Entertainment

Acknowledgments

An earlier version of this manuscript was presented at the annual conference of the National Communication Association, Chicago, IL, 2009.

Notes

Note. Anger, disgust, sadness, guilt, anxiety, and fear are indexes. Engagement (Eng.) items are labeled according to the measures section. N ranges from 296–302. Dis. = discussion.

*p < .05. **p < .01.

This argument seems to assume that emotions arise before cognition, which is a controversial topic in psychology. There are two approaches to the role of cognition in the emotion-development process: cognitive theories and perceptual theories (also known as biosocial theories). The fundamental disagreement is based on when cognition occurs in the emotion development process (Charland, 1997). Cognitive theories claim that cognition occurs before emotion, and perceptual theories claim that cognition occurs after emotion (Charland, 1997). Although these theories are different, they both assume that emotions are not reflexes (reflexes are sensory-motor driven and physiological), and reflexes can stimulate emotions (Smith & Lazarus, 1990). In addition, both agree that emotions are the feeling-states that result from a person–environment interaction (Izard, 1992).

In regard to this study, Marcus, Neuman, and MacKuen (2000) took a perceptual approach. This perspective relies on neurobiology and does not require cognitive appraisal or judgment (Charland, 1997). Affect is argued to be an entirely independent information processing system (LeDoux, 1989; Panskepp, 1982; Zajonc, 1980). Mental imaging has been used to reinforce the idea that when exposed to stimuli, the affective area of the brain is activated before the cognitive area of the brain (Marcus et al., 2000). In the end, the debate between cognitive and perceptual theories may boil down to how cognition is defined. Lazarus (1982) argued that deliberative, rational, reasoned, or conscious thought is not necessary in the emotion development process; rather, cognition can be preconscious, unconscious, and completely automatic categorization of stimuli. Nevertheless, Marcus et al. (2000) took a perceptual approach, and so does this study.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kristen D. Landreville

Kristen D. Landreville (Ph.D., The Ohio State University, 2010) is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication & Journalism at the University of Wyoming.

Heather L. LaMarre

Heather L. LaMarre (Ph.D., The Ohio State University, 2009) is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism & Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota.