Self-Centeredness As A Response To Narratives With Few Self-Transcendent Elicitors

ABSTRACT

Recently scholars argued to broaden the concept of eudaimonic entertainment experiences and introduced two conceptualizations: 1. self-focused experiences, including mixed affect, contemplation and need satisfaction, and 2. other-focused experiences, including self-transcendent emotions and prosociality. The goal of the study was to investigate how the two dimensions of meaningful media experiences (self-focused vs. other-focused) are elicited from inspiring films that contain self-transcendent elicitors and explore the connection and differentiation between the two. Results of a Qualtrics experiment (N = 328) revealed that films with a large amount of transcendent portrayals lead to greater experiences of mixed affect and less self-centeredness than films with a small amount of transcendent portrayals. No difference between films was found for inspiration, elevation, contemplation, and need satisfaction. Implications for the understanding of the conceptualization of complex eudaimonic entertainment experiences are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Elevation
• inspiration
• eudaimonic entertainment experiences
• self-centeredness
• transcendence

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. A post-hoc power analysis using G*Power 3.1 was conducted with a calculated effect size of d = .288 based on the mean difference between groups of mixed affect, the variable with the largest effect size results in the current analysis, alpha = .05 and n = 164 per group. The analysis yielded a power of.83.

2. Due to a mistake in setting up the Qualtrics questionnaire, the original fourth item, joyful, was not assessed.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sophie H. Janicke-Bowles

Sophie H. Janicke-Bowles (Ph.D., Florida State University, 2013) is an assistant professor in the School of Communication at Chapman University. Her research interests include the role that new and traditional media play in promoting and affecting character development, self-transcendent emotions, prosocial behavior, and well-being. E-mail: [email protected].