Approaching science by watching TV: what do entertainment programs contribute to viewers’ competence in genetic engineering?

Abstract

This study examined the potential of entertainment-education (E-E) for promoting engagement with a science issue. It was assumed that certain entertaining features of a media experience increase viewers’ perceived knowledge about an issue. Drawing on different theoretical models of E-E and on persuasive effects of narrative media messages, three hypotheses and one research question were assessed in a survey among 103 participants, who were shown a movie about genetic engineering beforehand. Results suggested that the higher viewers’ transportation, identification, and enjoyment were, the more they actually felt informed. Viewers’ degree of transportation, though, revealed to be sufficient to explain their perceived knowledge.

Keywords:

• entertainment-education
• perceived knowledge
• path model
• genetic engineering

Notes

1. Since the transportation scale was originally constructed for reading experiences, items 1 and 3 were not suitable for our study. Furthermore, the items 5 and 11 can not be answered directly after the viewing.

2. Eight participants were removed due to missing data, resulting in a data set containing 103 people. The age of participants was on average 21 years (M = 20.93, SD = 5.17), and the majority of them were female (77.7%) and native speakers (94.2%), which is typical for the subject Media and Communication Science at this university.