Being Inspired by Media Content: Psychological Processes Leading to Inspiration

ABSTRACT

In proposing a model of three processes triggered by media content – evocation, transcendence, and motivation – this study seeks to define what kinds of media content can lead to a state of inspiration. Specifically, during the evocation process, media content moves people and then provokes their thoughts to a greater extent; in the transcendence process, it generates more hopeful feelings and then elicits a greater sense of self-expansion; and in the motivation process, media content generates more feelings of vitality and then motivates people to act like the characters (i.e., emulate them) to a greater degree. All three multi-stage routes might lead to greater inspiration. Two pilot studies identify three common content themes that inspire people, such that they demonstrate people’s moral virtues, transformation (i.e., overcoming difficulties through perseverance despite adversity), and creativity. The experiment in Study 1 tests the proposed process model using feature stories in news programs that demonstrate moral virtues, transformation, and creativity by exemplars. A second experiment in Study 2 provides a further test by comparing competition shows that involve different levels of creativity (cooking, singing, quizzes). Media content involving more creativity inspires viewers to a greater degree, through all three processes.

People often get inspired by media content. For example, a consumer survey showed that 80% of respondents had inspiring experiences while watching television, and 63% experienced inspiration while watching YouTube videos (Raney et al., 2018). Inspiration-focused research in media psychology domains identifies several themes that appear to offer strong potential to inspire people (Dale, Raney, Janicke, Sanders & Oliver, 2017); other studies specify some outcomes of audiences’ inspiring experiences (e.g., prosocial behaviors; Janicke-Bowles, Narayan & Seng, 2018; Raney et al., 2018). To complete this circuit, the current study aims to clarify the distinct processes by which audiences might reach a state of inspiration, triggered by inspiring media content.

Inspiration refers to a situation in which “the individual apprehends something ordinarily beyond his or her capacities (i.e., transcendence), because of an influence from beyond the self (i.e., evocation), and he or she is moved to communicate or implement that which is newly apprehended (i.e., motivation)” (Thrash & Elliot, 2003, p. 957). I postulate that media content can trigger all three of these processes of evocation, transcendence, and motivation, which in turn can prompt a variety of possible emotions, such as being moved, feeling hopeful, or experiencing vitality (Janicke-Bowles, Narayan & Seng, 2018; Tsay-Vogel & Krakowiak, 2016). By distinguishing among evocation, transcendence, and motivation processes, I attempt to identify what role each distinct emotion has in leading to inspiration.

Recent research often defines meaningful or self-transcendent media content as inspiring (Dale, Raney, Janicke, Sanders & Oliver, 2017; Oliver et al., 2018; Raney et al., 2018). Seemingly reflecting a trend in media entertainment literature to distinguish appreciation from enjoyment or eudaimonic versus hedonic media experiences, research on inspiring media tends to emphasize meaningful media content, in which people demonstrate moral virtues, or else transformational content, such as when the characters overcome adversity through perseverance. But investigations of media content that showcases people’s creative ideas or innovation are rare, even though content analyses suggest that art and architecture (products of creativity) account for much of the media content that audiences regard as inspiring (Ji et al., 2019; Rieger & Klimmt, 2019a).

In their theorizing about inspiration, Thrash, Maruskin, Cassidy, Fryer and Ryan (2010) focus strongly on creativity. Accordingly, I first attempt to establish that creative media content functions as a common elicitor of inspiration, along with several others, which can be grouped into two broad categories: moral virtues and transformation. By treating inspiration as a dynamic state, I explore which affective and cognitive responses prompt it. The general model in Figure 1 includes three multi-stage processes leading to a state of inspiration, such that it incorporates all three relevant components (Thrash, 2007; Thrash & Elliot, 2003, 2004). As this model suggests, in the evocation process, media content that moves people and then provokes their thoughts to a greater extent should lead to greater inspiration. In the transcendence process, media content generates hopeful feelings and then expands self-concepts to greater degree, which also results in more inspiration. Finally, in the motivation process, media content that generates greater feelings of vitality and then motivates people to act like the characters (i.e., emulate them) leads to more inspiration. In turn, the proposed model addresses two key gaps in prior literature: It helps explain inspiration processes triggered by a wide variety of media content, both meaningful and creative, and it clarifies the roles of distinct emotions (e.g., being moved, feeling hopeful elevation, vitality) in these processes.

Figure 1. Proposed model: Evocation, transcendent, and motivation processes.

With four studies, I test this proposed model. Two pilot studies first confirm that when audiences observe moral virtues, transformation, and creativity in others, they tend to feel inspired. Study 1 involves an experiment to test and confirm this proposed model, using feature stories in news programs that report on real people who demonstrate moral virtues, transformation, and creativity. Then Study 2 features another experimental test of the model, this time in the context of competition shows that feature talented people exhibiting varying levels of creativity. I thus confirm that the proposed model can explain inspiration processes triggered by multiple genres and that my theoretical framework can distinguish programs that vary in their potential to inspire people. In detail, competition shows associated with greater creativity (e.g., cooking shows) trigger all three multi-stage inspiration processes to a greater degree than media content associated with less or no creativity (e.g., quiz shows).

Inspiring Media Content

Media psychologists tend to use terms such as inspirational, meaningful, or self-transcendent interchangeably (Dale, Raney, Janicke, Sanders & Oliver, 2017; Raney et al., 2018), likely because meaningful and self-transcendent media content often is inspirational. Two general approaches in prior research reflect efforts to identify which media content is inspiring. The first delves into audiences’ experiences. For example, a U.S. national survey asked respondents about which media content made them feel “moved, touched, and inspired” (Raney et al., 2018, p. 301), and an analysis of their responses shows that tragedies and human suffering and compassion, hope, and perseverance are the top two themes, regardless of the media channel (e.g., television shows, movies, news stories). When Rieger and Klimmt (2019b) asked respondents to describe an inspiring meme they had seen recently and identify its theme, among 22 categories, the most common themes highlight issues of pain, sorrow, or tragedy (18.95%), human virtue and inner beauty (18.4%), human endurance (16.3%), hope (15.8%), and encouragement (15.75%). In many cases, the themes can occur in conjunction. For example, people might be inspired when they see characters in tragic situations who also exhibit encouragement, endurance, or perseverance. Such scenarios imply transformation, a situation in which people overcome obstacles through perseverance, even in the face of adversity. Simply watching tragedies might not be inspiring – unless the tragic characters experience growth and transform themselves through their tenacity, endurance, efforts, or other positive traits (Fitzgerald, Green & Paravati, 2020). Similarly, skills and excellence, often explored as elicitors of inspiration (Dale, Raney, Janicke, Sanders & Oliver, 2017), can imply transformation: For stories about skills or talent to be inspiring, they must portray people with skills demonstrating personal growth through hard work, effort, dedication, or perseverance. Such transformation processes signal new perspectives and possibilities to the audience, which then should feel inspired (Straume & Vittersø, 2012). Overall, these themes can be categorized into a broad transformation category; studies that focus on the audience’s experience also feature another broad, unique content category dealing with moral virtue, which pertains to notions of inner beauty and kindness.

A second approach instead analyzes inspiring content in media. For example, Dale, Raney, Janicke, Sanders and Oliver (2017) search YouTube videos tagged as inspirational and analyze their content. They find common themes, such as appreciation of beauty and excellence demonstrated in nature, art, and architecture; gratitude derived from people’s kindness; and hope, which arises when others overcome obstacles. Leveraging these same themes, Dale et al. (2020) analyze inspiring Facebook content and confirm their prevalence on that platform. In a different meme study, Rieger and Klimmt (2019a) find that content tagged as meaningful and inspirational mainly refers to moral virtue and inner beauty (42.5%), art and architecture (39.7%), human connection (35.6%), and issues of pain, sorrow, and tragedy (25.7%). Across studies of inspiring content in media, I thus find three common categories: moral virtues, transformation, and appreciation of beauty and excellence. Inspiration infuses new ideas into people’s minds, so its triggers tend to include creative or innovative ideas (Thrash, 2007; Thrash & Elliot, 2003, 2004; Thrash, Moldovan, Oleynick & Maruskin, 2014). That is, observing others demonstrating their creativity might be inspirational. Existing content analyses define the appreciation of beauty and excellence theme as comprising art, architecture, and music (Dale, Raney, Janicke, Sanders & Oliver, 2017; Dale et al., 2020), and other studies concur that art and architecture can elicit inspiration (Rieger & Klimmt, 2019a). Notably, excellence in art, architecture, and music domains primarily depends on creativity. People also can be inspired by observing innovation in other domains or acquiring new ideas about life. Although innovation and new ideas, as elicitors of inspiration, tend to draw less research attention, they fall within the broad category of creativity. Therefore, I propose that moral virtues, transformation, and creativity all represent key themes in inspiring media, and I test the proposed model by applying it to media that feature these three inspiring themes.

In addition, inspiring media content often depicts exemplars, in the form of people demonstrating moral virtues, undergoing transformation, or exhibiting creativity. I therefore adopt an exemplar-focused approach to investigate the process of being inspired. According to Thrash and Elliot (2003, p. 873), inspiration is a broad construct that “spans multiple content domains (e.g., religious, creative), sources (e.g., intrapsychic, external), triggers (e.g., illumination, nature), transcendent qualities (e.g., beauty, goodness), and targets (e.g., products, possible selves).” I similarly define inspiration as a dynamic state that spans diverse domains (e.g., ordinary people, religion, politics) and sources (content in various media outlets or platforms). I explore exemplars as triggers of inspiration, consider three transcendent qualities (moral virtue, transformation, creativity), and define a better self as the target resulting from inspiration.

Process of Being Inspired

Researchers have defined inspiring media content according to the distinct emotions that it elicits (Janicke-Bowles, Narayan & Seng, 2018), with the recognition of the critical role of affect in the process by which media content triggers inspiring or self-transcendent experiences (Oliver et al., 2018). Accordingly, each of the three proposed processes (evocation, transcendence, and motivation) triggered by inspiring media exemplars should initially prompt an affective response, followed by a cognitive response.

The Evocation Process

Inspiration can be evoked by some trigger (in this case, media exemplars), which can take various forms (Thrash, 2007; Thrash & Elliot, 2003, 2004), such that it moves people and further provokes their thoughts.

Feeling moved

Inspiring or self-transcendent media content by definition should elicit feelings of being moved or touched. For example, Raney et al. (2018) refer to inspiring media content as that which is touching and moving, and Janicke-Bowles, Narayan and Seng (2018), delving into people’s inspirational experiences on social media, sought responses regarding how frequently they feel moved, touched, or inspired by content on different platforms. Thrash and Elliot (2003) suggest that people are inspired when they are moved by what is good and beautiful, though they do not test this claim empirically. Extant research provides some indirect evidence, such that exposures to inspirational memes trigger meaningful affect, as measured by items that include feeling moved (Rieger & Klimmt, 2019b). Exposure to self-transcendent content that portrays people exhibiting generosity, kindness, or skill also evokes moved and inspired feelings (Algoe & Haidt, 2009). The underlying prediction thus is that in the process of being inspired, people often are moved by some trigger, such as media content or its featured exemplars.

Thought-provoking experiences

The evocation process also likely encourages people to be contemplative, once they have been moved. Media content that provides meaningful insights prompts more in-depth thoughts (Oliver & Bartsch, 2010); for example, meaningful dramas are more thought-provoking than comedies and action movies (Oliver & Bartsch, 2010). In a comparison of life-transforming reality programs, which are inspiring, with gaming reality programs, Tsay-Vogel and Krakowiak (2016) show that the former are more thought-provoking than the latter. Moreover, when people are moved, they tend to be reflective. Films with moving music, compared with those without any music, move audiences to a greater degree and stimulate more reflective thoughts (Bartsch, Kalch & Oliver, 2014). Accordingly, the evocation process should elicit feelings of being moved, which in turn trigger thought-provoking experiences.

H1: Inspiring videos, compared with non-inspiring videos, elicit more feelings of being moved, which then trigger thought-provoking experiences, which in turn result in more inspiration.

The Transcendence Process

A second characteristic of inspiration is transcendence, which occurs when “one becomes oriented toward something that is better or more important than one’s usual concerns; one sees better opportunities” (Thrash, 2007, p. 957). In other words, “one is inspired when one becomes aware of possibilities that transcend the ordinary or mundane” (Thrash, Maruskin,, 2010, p. 470). In transcendence processes that lead to inspiration, I posit that identifying new opportunities for themselves arouses people’s feelings of hope, which help them acquire a sense of self-expansion.

Hopeful feelings

Hope, hopeful feelings, and feeling uplifting are affective responses, reflecting a person’s “yearning for better and believing the wished-for improvement is possible” (Lazarus, 2006, p. 16); they arise “from a strong desire to be in a different situation than at present, and from the impression that this is possible” (Lazarus, 1999, p. 663). Hopeful feelings emerge in situations that “compare less favorably to a desired future situation” (Prestin, 2013, p. 323), assuming that people believe that things can change for the better (Frederickson, 2009). Because a transcendence process generally leads people to perceive new possibilities and also indicates how those possibilities might be attainable, they should feel hopeful. When Prestin (2013) exposes participants to meaningful videos that depict characters who are “struggling to meet a goal despite unfavorable odds” (p. 318), they express more hopeful feelings than participants who instead watch comedy, nature, or no videos. In their analysis of inspiring YouTube videos, Dale, Raney, Janicke, Sanders and Oliver (2017) even refer to content that depicts people overcoming obstacles as “hope elicitors.”

Sense of self-expansion

In a transcendence process that reveals new possibilities, people feel hopeful and also might acquire a sense of self-expansion. Humans have a fundamental need to grow and improve themselves, by developing new perspectives or accruing additional resources (Aron et al., 2015). Self-expansion entails a broadening process that leverages others’ experiences (Aron et al., 2015). That is, by taking others’ perspectives and identities or undergoing others’ experiences vicariously, then incorporating them into their own lives, people broaden their perspectives and experiences. Such self-expansion can occur in romantic relationships but also in non-relationship contexts, through novel, exciting activities (Mattingly & Lewandowski, 2013). Audiences experience self-expansion when they read stories about fictional characters, to a greater degree than is triggered by casual acquaintances (Shedlosky-Shoemaker, Costabile & Arkin, 2014). When characters – whether fictional or known in reality – demonstrate characteristics that are congruent with audiences’ ideal self, audiences are especially likely to engage in self-expansion (Shedlosky-Shoemaker, Costabile & Arkin, 2014). Therefore, if other actors, such as characters presented in media content, trigger inspiration by demonstrating good qualities that the audience seeks (e.g., virtues, transformation, creativity), the audience should have hopeful feelings, recognize new possibilities, and experience self-expansion.

H2: Inspiring videos, compared with non-inspiring videos, generate more hopeful feelings, which trigger a greater sense of self-expansion and then result in more inspiration.

The Motivation Process

The third characteristic of inspiration, motivation, refers to “the energization and direction of behaviors” (Thrash & Elliot, 2003, p. 871) or a desire to “express or make manifest that which is newly apprehended” (Thrash & Elliot, 2004, p. 957). This state can energize the actualization of learned ideas (Thrash, Maruskin,, 2010). Analyses of memes tagged as inspirational indicate that they frequently are tagged simultaneously with terms such as motivation or motivational (Rieger & Klimmt, 2019a). That is, when people are inspired, they are motivated to achieve new ideas or visions (Thrash, Maruskin,, 2010). This motivation process, leading to inspiration, should energize audiences and generate feelings of vitality, which provides grounds for action and motivates them to imitate the media exemplars that inspire them.

Feelings of vitality

Feelings of vitality refer to a positive sense of being alive and gaining energy; as Ryan and Frederick (1997) argue, these feelings go beyond merely feeling active or aroused and instead involve enthusiasm and spirit. Thrash, Elliot, Maruskin and Cassidy (2010) also find that people with more inspiring experiences express greater vitality. Whereas vitality often is described as a state that leads to psychological well-being (e.g., Ryan & Frederick, 1997), Nix, Ryan, Manly and Deci (1999, p. 266) show that subjective vitality, or “the positive feeling of having energy available,” is a dynamic state that depends on contextual factors. Feelings of vitality also may vary as a function of media content, such that people who have worked long hours express more vitality if they watch inspiring or meaningful YouTube videos (Janicke, Rieger, Reinecke & Connor, 2018; Janicke-Bowles, Rieger & Connor, 2019) than those who view control versions or funny videos.

Motivation to emulate

When people gain a sense of vitality, they should be motivated to emulate those who inspire them. Inspiration activates motivational goals (Shiota, Thrash, Danvers & Dombrowski, 2017), and substantial prior research details the relationship between inspiration and prosocial motivations and behaviors. For example, survey respondents with inspiring experiences on social media indicate their stronger motivation to do good for others and engage in more prosocial behaviors (Janicke-Bowles, Narayan & Seng, 2018). Another survey offers similar findings; respondents who have had more inspiring media experiences express greater intentions to engage in prosocial behaviors (Raney et al., 2018). Shiota, Thrash, Danvers and Dombrowski (2017) also argue that the goals activated by inspiring experiences may depend on the inspiration triggers, so for example, observing others’ creativity may prompt people to be creative or innovative, rather than engage in prosocial behaviors. To develop a model that can explain motivation processes triggered by all three types of inspiring media content (virtue, transformation, and creativity), I propose that the motivation to emulate an inspiring character or exemplar is the crucial cognitive response in this process. Such a motivation to emulate, also known as wishful identification, refers to a desire to act like a character and do things that he or she does (Hoffner & Buchanan, 2005). Prior research clarifies that people express desires to be like media characters they admire but not those who appear successful (Hoffner & Buchanan, 2005); they also indicate stronger motivations to emulate heroes than villains (Eden, Daalmans & Johnson, 2017). If observing others’ behaviors arouses vitality and motivates audiences to imitate these exemplars, they should be more likely to experience greater inspiration.

H3: Inspiring videos, compared with non-inspiring videos, generate greater feelings of vitality, which trigger stronger motivations to emulate the characters and result in more inspiration.

Pilot Studies

Pilot Study 1

Purpose, participants, and procedures

To identify the constituent elements of people’s inspirational experiences, I conducted a study in 2019, with 135 participants recruited from MTurk who resided in the United States and had an MTurk approval rating above 97%; they received US$1. Participants had to describe an inspirational experience, with the request: “We would like to know the last time when you were inspired by media content, which can be a television program, a news article, or a video on YouTube.” After removing entries flagged by plagiarism detection software, I retained responses from 111 participants for the main analysis.

In line with Krippendorff’s (2018) coding procedures, two coders were trained to assign the reported experiences to categories: virtues (i.e., observing virtues or morality in others), transformation (i.e., watching others overcome obstacles or demonstrate personal growth through endurance and perseverance, despite adversity and difficulties), creativity (i.e., observing others expressing new ideas or demonstrating creativity), or other. Both coders reviewed the responses from 40 participants (30%) to check their intercoder reliability, which was satisfactory (Krippendorff’s α = .97; Scott’s π = .97).

Results and discussion

Most inspirational media experiences (75.68%) fit into the three focal categories: Creativity is the most common (36.04%), followed by transformation (27.93%) and then virtues (11.71%). These findings establish a novel insight, namely, that people are inspired not just by meaningful media content, such as that depicting moral virtues or transformations, but also by demonstrations of new ideas and creativity. This finding suggests the need to develop an explicit model of the inspiration processes triggered by all three common types of inspiring media content.

Pilot Study 2

Purpose, participants, and procedures

With a second pilot study, I seek to determine whether and how inspiring media content involves exemplars. The MTurk workers (N = 245) recruited for this study had a 97% approval rate and at least 5000 approved, successful tasks. They provided their inspiring media experiences, prompted by the same query as in Pilot Study 1, then also indicated which domains provided them with such experiences: persons, science and technology, music or literature, songs or music, art or architecture, places, cities or culture, religion, politics, nature, animals, or other. Among those who selected options other than persons, nature, or animals, I also asked whether their experiences involved any exemplars (e.g., scientists, artists, singers, writers, pastors, politicians). They noted, in relation to the described experience, what transcendent qualities made them feel inspired, among 20 options (e.g., moral beauty, courage, hard work or efforts, innovation, novelty, faith; for the full list, see, Table 1), presented in random order. After removing plagiarized responses, I retained 233 responses for analysis.

Table 1. Domains and transcendent qualities for respondents’ inspiring media experiences.

Major types and distinct transcendent qualities	Domains that trigger inspiration												Exemplars
	All (N = 233, 100%)	Persons (N = 109, 46.78%)	Science & tech. (N = 11, 4.72%)	Music & lit. (N = 17, 7.30%)	Songs & music (N = 12, 5.15%)	Art & arch. (N = 5, 2.15%)	Places, cities, cultures (N =2, .86%)	Religion (N = 8, 3.43%)	Politics (N = 23, 9.87%)	Nature (N = 6, 2.58%)	Animals (N = 8, 3.43%)	Other (N = 32, 13.73%)	(N = 157, 67.38%)
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Moral virtues (30.39%)
Moral beauty	11.16	10.09	9.09	17.65	0.00	0.00	0.00	25.00	21.74	16.67	12.50	9.38	12.10
Kindness	24.03	26.61	18.18	29.41	16.67	20.00	0.00	50.00	21.74	16.67	50.00	9.38	27.39
Generosity	14.16	16.51	18.18	5.88	0.00	0.00	0.00	25.00	13.04	0.00	50.00	9.38	16.56
Transformation (76.82%)
Optimism	24.03	23.85	27.27	23.53	33.33	0.00	0.00	37.50	26.09	16.67	37.50	18.75	25.48
Perseverance or dedication	33.05	39.45	0.00	35.29	41.67	0.00	50.00	37.50	34.78	16.67	12.50	28.13	37.58
Enduring pain, sorrow, or tragedy	16.74	15.60	9.09	23.53	16.67	0.00	50.00	50.00	17.39	0.00	37.50	9.38	15.92
Courage	30.04	34.86	27.27	35.29	8.33	20.00	0.00	62.50	47.83	0.00	12.50	12.50	36.94
Hard work or efforts	40.34	49.54	45.45	23.53	33.33	20.00	50.00	25.00	30.43	16.67	37.50	37.50	45.86
Excellence	18.88	17.43	27.27	23.53	41.67	40.00	50.00	12.50	17.39	0.00	0.00	15.63	22.93
Wisdom	17.17	15.60	27.27	17.65	8.33	0.00	50.00	62.50	30.43	0.00	0.00	9.38	20.38
Skills	27.04	33.94	27.27	17.65	58.33	60.00	50.00	12.50	0.00	16.67	0.00	21.88	31.85
Creativity (39.91%)
Creativity	24.89	18.35	54.55	29.41	50.00	80.00	50.00	12.50	4.35	16.67	0.00	40.63	21.66
Innovation	12.45	11.01	36.36	17.65	8.33	20.00	50.00	0.00	4.35	0.00	12.50	15.63	11.46
Novelty	9.01	3.67	36.36	17.65	8.33	40.00	50.00	0.00	8.70	33.33	0.00	6.25	7.01
New ideas (about life or anything else)	18.45	18.35	27.27	29.41	8.33	20.00	50.00	12.50	13.04	0.00	0.00	25.00	18.47
Other (41.20%)
Connectedness	21.03	17.43	18.18	35.29	33.33	20.00	50.00	25.00	39.13	16.67	12.50	9.38	22.93
Faith	14.59	8.26	27.27	17.65	0.00	0.00	50.00	87.50	21.74	0.00	25.00	12.50	15.29
Divinity	7.30	3.67	9.09	0.00	8.33	60.00	0.00	37.50	13.04	0.00	0.00	6.25	8.92
Vastness	6.44	1.83	18.18	0.00	8.33	20.00	0.00	12.50	8.70	83.33	12.50	0.00	3.82
Other	6.44	1.83	0.00	0.00	8.33	0.00	0.00	0.00	17.39	0.00	0.00	18.75	4.46

Results and discussion

When describing inspiring media experiences, 67.73% of the respondents referred to people or exemplars. The assignment of the mentioned transcendent qualities to the three focal categories revealed that when respondents described inspiring experiences, 76.82% checked at least one of the qualities pertaining to transformation (e.g., optimism, perseverance, dedication, enduring pain), 39.91% checked at least one of the qualities pertaining to creativity (e.g., innovation, novelty), and 32.36% checked at least one of the qualities pertaining to moral virtues (e.g., kindness, generosity). Qualities associated with each broad category did not exhibit any strong association with the other two broad categories; that is, the percentages of respondents who simultaneously checked one of the qualities under moral virtues and creativity, moral virtues and transformation, or transformation and creativity were just 11.16%, 22.75%, and 29.61%, respectively. In particular, moral virtues and creativity appear quite distinct.

As these results affirm, respondents’ inspiring media experiences tend to involve exemplars, which drives the focus on media characters in the following experiments. In addition to qualities associated with moral virtues and transformation, nearly 40% of respondents cited qualities associated with creativity to describe inspiring media experiences, in support of the prediction that creative media content elicits inspiration and my investigation of the three focal categories.

Study 1

This study includes inspirational videos that differ in their themes (moral virtue, transformation, creativity, and a control version). Each theme was represented by two videos, to limit the potential influence of idiosyncratic characteristics related to any single video, resulting in a 4 (themes) × 2 (versions) between-subjects design. An online pretest (N = 157) helped select the two versions of each type of videos, from a pool of 36 videos, which are feature stories on news magazine programs available on YouTube. The pretest participants were assigned randomly to six conditions, each featuring six videos, with the order rotated. After they watched the six videos, they rated the degree to which its main character demonstrates moral virtue, transforms him- or herself, and exhibits creativity. They also rated the degree to which they liked each video. The inspirational videos chosen for the main study differ only on the designated theme, not in the degree to which they were liked (see online Table A1).

In the main experiment, participants (N = 336) were recruited from the campus of a university, received monetary compensation, and were randomly assigned to one of the eight conditions. Respondents in the moral virtue condition watched one of the two chosen feature stories about a person who demonstrates moral virtues; those in the transformation condition watched stories about a person who transforms him- or herself and undergoes personal growth; those in the creativity condition saw stories about a person who shows creativity and new ideas; and those in the control group watched a screensaver (see Online Appendix A). This approach matches Thrash, Elliot, Maruskin and Cassidy (2010) identification of screensaver videos as neutral control conditions. After they watched the randomly assigned video, participants completed seven scales that measure inspiration, feelings of being moved, hopeful feelings, feelings of vitality, the extent to which the video was thought-provoking, their sense of self-expansion, and their motivation to emulate the characters (media characters in the three inspirational video conditions, screensaver creator in the control condition). Participants assigned to any of the inspirational video conditions also completed manipulation checks.

Measures

All the variables were rated on 7-point Likert scales; Online Appendix B lists all the items. For the hypotheses tests, all the predictors are mean-centered.

For the manipulation check, I used the measures applied in the pretest to gauge whether viewers perceived that video contents involved the main character demonstrating moral virtue, transforming him- or herself, or exhibiting creativity. Then for the main measures, participants rated the content using Thrash, Elliot, Maruskin and Cassidy (2010) four-item inspiration scale (Cronbach’s α = .97). They indicated the degree to which the video moved them with three items (e.g., touched) (Cronbach’s α = .96). Participants also rated the degree to which they believed that the video they watched was thought-provoking using two items from Oliver and Bartsch’s (2010) scale. A third item from this scale, “I was moved by the video,” was excluded, because it taps emotional responses. Instead, I capture the cognitive process with “The program makes me think about meaningful issues” (Cronbach’s α = .98). Next, participants indicated whether the video made them feel hopeful using Chang’s (2020) scales (Cronbach’s α = .97). In relation to the degree to which watching the video brought about experiences of self-expansion, participants completed Stenseng, Rise and Kraft (2012) scale, with slightly altered wording to reflect the video viewing context (Cronbach’s α = .94). The participants also rated their feelings of vitality after watching the video, using Ryan and Frederick (1997) scale (Cronbach’s alpha = .96). This scale was originally developed to capture people’s daily states, so one of the items, “I look forward to each new day,” was less appropriate for this study context and accordingly was removed. Finally, participants rated their motivation to emulate the character in the video, using Hoffner and Buchanan’s (2005) scale (Cronbach’s α = .93). Because participants assigned to the control condition did not see any characters, they instead rated their motivation to emulate the person who created the screensaver. As Meier et al. (2020) show, even when creators of media content are not present, audiences compare themselves to the creators, in a way that evokes inspiration, so asking participants to rate screensaver creators appears justified.

Results

Manipulation checks

As expected, the inspirational videos chosen for each category differ on the designated theme (moral virtues, transformation, creativity), not the degree to which they are liked (see online Table A2).

Hypothesis testing

A preliminary analysis of variance (ANOVA) confirms the effects of video type on all the mediators and inspiration (see Table A3). Customized models, using Hayes’s (2018) Process macro 3.4, provide tests of the parallel serial mediation model. I first tested the full model with Helmert coding, which showed that compared with the control condition, the three inspiring conditions related to inspiration indirectly, through the three proposed processes (see Table A4), as I predicted in H1–H3. I next tested the three planned contrasts between each inspiring condition and the control condition (see Table A5). Comparing responses in each of the inspiring conditions with those in the control condition revealed three significant mediation processes from media content to inspiration; the contrast tests of the three paths also indicated that the effect size for the first path was greater than those for the second and third paths, which did not differ (see also Table A5).

Discussion

Study 1 supports the proposed theoretical framework in Figure 1, reflecting the psychological processes triggered by feature stories in news programs. Compared with respondents who watch a screensaver, participants who watch inspiring videos, regardless of their specific content (i.e., virtue, transformation, or creativity), underwent various processes that led to an inspiration state. The effect size is greatest for the evocation process, consistent with Thrash and Elliot’s (2004) theorizing about the inspiration process: People are more likely to be evoked than transcended or motivated.

These findings refer to videos of stories originally broadcast in news programs, but the proposed model also needs to account for inspiration processes triggered more broadly. To increase the generalizability of the findings, Study 2 switches to another genre that can inspire people: talent and competition shows that vary in the extent to which they reveal the competitors’ creativity. This variation in turn should trigger different levels of inspiration that can be captured by the proposed model.

Study 2

As noted, Study 2 aims to demonstrate the applicability of the theoretical framework in other genres that have the potential to inspire audiences. As a second objective, it pursues additional evidence that creativity is crucial in inspiring people, by testing explicitly whether the degree to which the content reveals creativity affects the degree of inspiration triggered among audiences. Study 2 thus features a three-factor between-subject design. The first factor pertains to three types of competition shows; the second factor involves two different programs, to avoid idiosyncratic effects; and the third factor varies the episodes, such that it includes two episodes from each program (i.e., 3 × 2 × 2 design). The three competition show types are singing shows (e.g., The Voice), cooking shows (e.g., Master Chef), and quiz shows (e.g., Jeopardy). According to a pretest (see Online Appendix C), participants believed cooking required more creativity than singing, which in turn demands more creativity than answering quiz questions. A manipulation check among participants in the main study confirms these perceptions, as detailed subsequently. To reduce the potential influence of idiosyncratic characteristics of a particular program, Study 2 includes two programs for each show type (cooking, singing, quiz), and to avoid effects of idiosyncratic characteristics of a particular episode, it features two episodes for each program type. Participants watched approximately 5-minute clips, instead of full episodes (see Online Appendix D).

Students (N = 480), recruited from the campus of a university, participated for monetary compensation. They were randomly assigned to one of the 12 conditions. The three types of programs appeal differently to different viewers, so the study participants indicated their aspiration to achieve the talents displayed on the shows they were going to watch. After watching the video, they completed seven scales that measure the constructs from Study 1.

Measures

Again, all the variables were rated on 7-point Likert scales, and the predictors are mean-centered. Depending on their assigned conditions, participants indicated their aspiration to achieve the showcased talents by rating the degree to which they admire people who are good at cooking, good at singing, or knowledgeable, as well as the degree to which they desire to have such characteristics. These individual differences might affect the degree to which participants are inspired by these shows, so I include them, using the averaged scores, as covariates.

The other scales are similar to those used in Study 1: inspiration (Cronbach’s alpha = .92), feelings of being moved (Cronbach’s α = .95), hopeful feelings (Cronbach’s α = .94), feelings of vitality (Cronbach’s α = .91), how thought-provoking the video is (Cronbach’s α = .85), experiences of self-expansion (Cronbach’s α = .90), and motivation to emulate (Cronbach’s α = .97). For Study 2, the instructions for the emulation measure asked respondents to base their responses on the competitor who, in their opinion, performed best in the episode. This character also was the focus in the manipulation check, for which participants completed two items: “The competitor was creative/had innovative ideas” (Cronbach’s α = .94), for which the scores were averaged.

Results

Manipulation checks

According to an ANOVA, the main effect of show type on creativity is significant, F (2, 468) = 50.42, p < .01, ƞ = .18. Post hoc Scheffe tests also confirm that the differences between all possible pairs are significant. In detail, cooking shows (M = 5.04, SD = 1.17) generate higher creativity scores than singing shows (M = 4.32, SD = 1.33), which produce higher creativity scores than quiz shows (M = 3.63, SD = 1.27). Neither the program, F (1, 468) = .03, p = .86, nor the version, F (1, 468) = .22, p = .64, had significant effects on creativity, so the responses to the four videos in each condition were collapsed for the analyses.

Model tests

A preliminary ANOVA established the effects of the different video types on all the mediators and on inspiration (Table A6). As derived with Hayes’s (2018) Process macro 3.4, the first customized model tested the full model with two covariates using Helmert coding for media content (Table A7). Compared with the quiz show, the more creative programs indirectly related to inspiration through the three proposed processes, such that these results reconfirmed H1–H3. I tested two planned contrasts, between cooking or singing shows and quiz shows. As Table A8 reveals, the three proposed mediation processes from media content to inspiration were significant. The contrast tests of the three paths also suggested that the effect size for the first path was greater than those for the second and third paths, which did not differ from each other (see Table A8).

Discussion

Study 2 demonstrates the utility of the proposed theoretical framework for explaining the psychological processes triggered by competition shows. Specifically, for inspirational competition shows, those that showcase competitors’ creativity better lead to greater inspiration, across all three serial processes, with the sole exception of cooking shows that do not trigger stronger motivation processes than singing shows.

General Discussion

The proposed model holds across two distinct types of genres, news programs with feature stories and competition shows. In Study 1, regardless of whether the feature stories demonstrate people’s moral virtues, transformation, or creativity, they trigger the three inspiration processes more so than a control condition, such that they lead to a state of inspiration. In Study 2, across three competition shows, those that involve greater creativity (cooking or singing) trigger more inspiration through the three predicted processes, even if the direct effect of creative shows (vs. quiz shows) on inspiration is significant only for the cooking show, not the singing show.

These findings make three main contributions to inspirational media content research. First, they establish three distinct processes by which an audience can come to feel inspired. Each process entails two steps that reflect an affective and then a cognitive component. In the evocation process, people are moved and in turn feel encouraged to contemplate a video. In the transcendence process, seeing new possibilities for themselves, participants feel hopeful and then acquire a sense of self-expansion. In the motivation process, people are energized, and next, they are motivated to imitate media characters who inspire them. All these experiences contribute to viewers’ inspiration.

Second, prior research has identified a battery of emotions that meaningful media content can trigger, such as being moved, feeling hopeful, and experiencing vitality, as well as a sense of elevation, gratitude, or awe (Janicke-Bowles, Narayan & Seng, 2018; Prestin, 2013; Tsay-Vogel & Krakowiak, 2016). In their investigations of inspirational social media content, Janicke-Bowles, Narayan and Seng (2018) explore and propose measures of self-transcendent emotions, using items such as admiration, inspired, awestruck, compassionate, hopeful, grateful, and elevated. To gain deeper insights, I seek to specify the roles of three of these distinct emotions in the processes leading to inspiration. In particular, feelings of being moved lead to thought-provoking perceptions, hopeful feelings encourage a sense of self-expansion, and feelings of vitality result in a motivation to emulate.

Third, this article establishes virtue, transformation, and creativity as three dominant themes in inspiring media content. Prior studies of inspiring media content have tended to prioritize meaningful, self-transcendent content (Oliver et al., 2018). But the literature review suggests the possibility of categorizing different types of content into three broad categories. That is, beyond moral virtue, the focus of most prior research, media content that depicts tragedies and human suffering, but also hope, perseverance, human endurance, and encouragement, constitute a broad transformation category. Furthermore, creativity or innovation represents another broad category with vast inspiring potential (Thrash & Elliot, 2003, 2004), though it has not been included in many prior media studies as a theme or trigger of inspiration. The current research addresses this gap and demonstrates clearly that creativity is a compelling and important source of inspiration. Even if this three-theme typology is not comprehensive, it is succinct and captures around 70% of inspiring experiences, according to the respondents to Pilot Study 1.

Still, this succinctness might constitute a limitation, which could be addressed through further research. Several other limitations are worth noting as well. Prior findings demonstrate that social media users compare themselves to content creators, even when they are not present (Meier et al., 2020), and accordingly, I had participants in the control group rate screensaver creators. But these evaluations might be based only on their creativity, not other characteristics. Continued tests of the model might compare inspirational media with a stimulus that is similar in content but less inspirational. Moreover, the proposed model appears particularly applicable to media content with exemplars, because it entails emulation. The findings of Pilot Study 2 indicate that inspiring media content often involves exemplars, but not always. Another limitation relates to the questionable measures of inspirational states and thought-provoking; inspirational media research clearly needs to adopt better scales (e.g., Bartsch, Kalch & Oliver, 2014) or develop valid scales for these core constructs. Finally, this study explores three emotions triggered by inspiring media content: feelings of being moved, hopeful feelings, and feelings of vitality. Similar analyses should clarify the roles of other, distinct emotions. For example, self-transcendent emotions include compassion, gratitude, and awe (Stellar et al., 2017), as well as admiration and elevation (Van Cappellen, Saroglou, Iweins, Piovesana & Fredrickson, 2013). Media psychologists note how elevation can be triggered by inspiring reality shows (Tsay-Vogel & Krakowiak, 2016) and gratitude can be triggered by inspiring videos (Chang, 2020). Integrating these distinct emotions into the proposed mediation processes could offer further insights.

In line with this recommendation, I note that some researchers define inspiration, elevation, and awe as three self-transcendent experiences (Shiota, Thrash, Danvers & Dombrowski, 2017). Similar to inspiration and its emotional and cognitive processes, elevation arguably encompasses emotional, cognitive (i.e., views of humanity), and motivational (i.e., desire to be a better person) components (Aquino, McFerran & Laven, 2011). More comprehensive investigations of media content that elevates people, outlining and comparing the unique processes it triggers, should be fruitful. Awe is another self-transcendent experience; it often arises when people perceive vastness (Shiota, Thrash, Danvers & Dombrowski, 2017), as might be triggered by the grand spectacles highlighted by content in nature programs. Whether awe also can be elicited among audiences that observe others demonstrating moral virtues, transformation, or creativity deserves consideration. As a self-transcendent experience, awe also should involve unique cognitive and affective processes. Further research might delve into processes that lead to awe.

Building on the three inspiration mechanisms (evocation, transcendence, and motivation) proposed by Thrash (2007), I have introduced three parallel processes that involve cognitive and affective responses to explain how media exemplars inspire people. With a theory-motivated approach, further research might test alternative models that consider the interrelations among affective responses and those among cognitive responses or else their sequential relationships. Moreover, some variables may moderate each of the processes triggered by media exemplars. For example, I argue that media exemplars who exhibit creativity, moral virtues, or transformation can inspire participants to emulate them. However, this process may emerge only in certain circumstances, such as when people perceive that the exemplars’ excellence is attainable (Lockwood & Kunda, 1997). Research is needed to explore the various potential moderators of these processes.

With regard to the self-expansion construct in this study, it is important to distinguish it from the concept referred to as “temporarily expanding the boundaries of the self,” or TEBOTS (Slater, Johnson, Cohen, Comello & Ewoldsen, 2014). In these situations, people expand their self-boundaries by transporting themselves temporarily into the narrative, which helps them alleviate psychological demands, such as when they sense depleted self-control (Johnson, Slater, Silver & Ewoldsen, 2016). Thus TEBOTS tends to function as a coping strategy; in contrast, my self-expansion construct reflects an approach orientation that people use to find new possibilities to pursue. Yet the two constructs share some similarities, in that they both refer to expanding self-concepts by observing others’ experiences. It would be interesting to compare these two self-expansion processes, as they occur through media consumption.

This study also distinguishes inspiring media content from self-transcendent media content and inspiring media experiences from self-transcendent media experiences (as defined by Oliver et al., 2018). Self-transcendent media content (e.g., portrayals of moral virtue, purposes beyond one’s self, connectedness with others) is often inspiring; inspiring media content (e.g., portrayals of creativity) is not always oriented toward others’ benefits. Whereas self-transcendent media experiences often motivate people to adopt altruistic behaviors, inspiring media experiences also might motivate self-advancement (e.g., work harder, be innovative). Such distinctions should inform ongoing research.

A great variety of genres and content can inspire people. Prior studies of meaningful media content often focus on movies (Bartsch, 2012); research into inspiring media content has explored videos shared on YouTube (Dale, Raney, Janicke, Sanders & Oliver, 2017), memes on social media (Rieger & Klimmt, 2019a), reality shows (Tsay-Vogel & Krakowiak, 2016), and newspaper articles (Ji et al., 2019). The current study includes two common but less studied types of programs that might prove inspiring (news programs and competition shows), but to confirm that the proposed model applies to inspiration processes triggered by various genres, additional studies need to test and confirm it with content such as dramas, movies, reality shows, or YouTube videos.

Finally, Oliver et al. (2021) propose an extended model of self-transcendent media, in which inspiration is one possible emotional response. They aim to establish a generic model for self-transcendent media but do not specify the possible psychological processes leading to inspiration. To complement such research, I explore inspiration as a dynamic state and test for psychological processes that might lead to it. It is worth noting that Oliver et al. (2021) identify both potential outcomes that derive from inspiration and important variables that moderate the effects of self-transcendent media. Continued research should build on their model and my findings to explore outcomes of inspiration (e.g., altruistic behaviors, political participation) or consider traits or situational factors as moderators that might attenuate or accentuate the effects of the three inspiration processes.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2022.2097927

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taiwan [108-2410-H-001 −108 -SS3].