Gratifying Ambiguity: Psychological Processes Leading to Enjoyment and Appreciation of TV Series with Morally Ambiguous Characters

References

• Bandura, A. (1990). Selective activation and disengagement of moral control. Journal of Social Issues, 46(1), 27–46. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1990.tb00270.x
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Bandura, A. (1991). Social cognitive theory of moral thought and action. In W. M. Kurtines & J. L. Gewirtz (Eds.), Handbook of moral behavior and development: Theory, research and applications (Vol. 1, pp. 71–129). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
   Google Scholar
• Bandura, A. (2002). Selective moral disengagement in the exercise of moral agency. Journal of Moral Education, 31(2), 101–119. doi:10.1080/0305724022014322
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Bartsch, A., & Hartmann, T. (2017). The role of cognitive and affective challenge in entertainment experience. Communication Research, 44(1), 29–53. doi:10.1177/0093650214565921
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Bartsch, A., & Mares, M. L. (2014). Making sense of violence: Perceived meaningfulness as a predictor of audience interest in violent media content. Journal of Communication, 64(5), 956–976. doi:10.1111/jcom.12112
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Bartsch, A., & Oliver, M. B. (2016). Appreciation of meaningful entertainment experiences and eudaimonic well-being. In L. Reinecke & M. B. Oliver (Eds.), Handbook of media use and well-being: International perspectives on theory and research on positive media effects (pp. 80–92). New York, NY: Routledge.
   Google Scholar
• Byrne, B. M. (2010). Structural equation modeling with AMOS. Basic concepts, applications, and programming. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
   Google Scholar
• Cohen, J. (2001). Defining identification: A theoretical look at the identification of audiences with media characters. Mass Communication & Society, 4(3), 245–264. doi:10.1207/S15327825MCS0403_01
   Google Scholar
• Daalmans, S., Hijmans, E., & Wester, F. (2013, August). The good, the bad, and the ambivalent? Exploring the moral nature of fiction characters over time. Annual conference of the Association for the education of Journalism and Mass Communication, Washington, DC.
   Google Scholar
• Eden, A., Daalmans, S., & Johnson, B. J. (2017). Morality predicts enjoyment but not appreciation of morally ambiguous characters. Media Psychology, 20(3), 349–373. doi:10.1080/15213269.2016.1182030
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Eden, A., Oliver, M. B., Tamborini, R., Limperos, A., & Woolley, J. (2015). Perceptions of moral violations and personality traits among heroes and villains. Mass Communication and Society, 18(2), 186–208. doi:10.1080/15205436.2014.923462
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7(2), 117–140. doi:10.1177/001872675400700202
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Hoorn, J. F., & Konijn, E. A. (2003). Perceiving and experiencing fictional characters: An integrative account. Japanese Psychological Research, 45(4), 250–268. doi:10.1111/1468-5884.00225
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Horn, J. L. (1965). A rationale and test for the number of factors in factor analysis. Psychometrika, 30(2), 179–185. doi:10.1007/bf02289447
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Hu, L., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indices in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1–55. doi:10.1080/10705519909540118
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Janicke, S. H., & Raney, A. A. (2012, May). Modeling the antihero narrative enjoyment process. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Phoenix.
   Google Scholar
• Janicke, S. H., & Raney, A. A. (2015). Exploring the role of identification and moral disengagement in the enjoyment of an antihero television series. Communications, 40(4), 485–495. doi:10.1515/commun-2015-0022
   Google Scholar
• Johnson, B. K., Ewoldsen, D. R., & Slater, M. D. (2015). Self-control depletion and narrative: Testing a prediction of the TEBOTS model. Media Psychology, 18(2), 196–220. doi:10.1080/15213269.2014.978872
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Johnson, B. K., Slater, M. D., Silver, N. A., & Ewoldsen, D. R. (2016). Entertainment and expanding boundaries of the self: Relief from the constraints of the everyday. Journal of Communication, 66(3), 386–408. doi:10.1111/jcom.12228
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kline, R. B. (2016). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (4th ed.). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
   Google Scholar
• Konijn, E. A., & Hoorn, J. F. (2005). Some like it bad: Testing a model for perceiving and experiencing fictional characters. Media Psychology, 7(2), 107–144. doi:10.1207/S1532785XMEP0702_1
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Krakowiak, K. M., & Oliver, M. B. (2012). When good characters do bad things: Examining the effect of moral ambiguity on enjoyment. Journal of Communication, 62(1), 117–135. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2011.01618.x
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Krakowiak, K. M., & Tsay, M. (2011). The role of moral disengagement in the enjoyment of real and fictional characters. International Journal of Arts and Technology, 4(1), 90–101. doi:10.1504/IJART.2011.037772
   Google Scholar
• Krakowiak, K. M., & Tsay-Vogel, M. (2013). What makes characters’ bad behaviors acceptable? The effects of character motivation and outcome on perceptions, character liking, and moral disengagement. Mass Communication and Society, 16(2), 179–199. doi:10.1080/15205436.2012.690926
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Krakowiak, K. M., & Tsay-Vogel, M. (2018). Are good characters better for us? The effect of morality salience on entertainment selection and recovery outcomes. Mass Communication and Society, 21(3), 320–344. doi:10.1080/15205436.2017.1407797
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Lewis, R. J., Tamborini, R., & Weber, R. (2014). Testing a dual‐process model of media enjoyment and appreciation. Journal of Communication, 64(3), 397–416. doi:10.1111/jcom.12101
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Mar, R. A., & Oatley, K. (2008). The function of fiction is the abstraction and simulation of social experience. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3(3), 173–192. doi:10.1111/j.1745-6924.2008.00073.x
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Oliver, M. B., & Bartsch, A. (2010). Appreciation as audience response: Exploring entertainment gratifications beyond hedonism. Human Communication Research, 36(1), 53–81. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2958.2009.01368.x
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Oliver, M. B., & Bartsch, A. (2011). Appreciation of entertainment. Journal of Media Psychology, 23(1), 29–33. doi:10.1027/1864-1105/a000029
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Oliver, M. B., Raney, A. A., Slater, M. D., Appel, M., Hartmann, T., Bartsch, A., … Das, E. (2018). Self-transcendent media experiences: Taking meaningful media to a higher level. Journal of Communication, 68(2), 380–389. doi:10.1093/joc/jqx020
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Raney, A. A. (2004). Expanding disposition theory: Reconsidering character liking, moral evaluations, and enjoyment. Communication Theory, 14(4), 348–369. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2885.2004.tb00319.x
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Raney, A. A., & Janicke, S. (2013). How we enjoy and why we seek out morally complex characters in media entertainment. In R. Tamborini (Ed.), Media and the moral mind (pp. 152–169). London, UK: Routledge.
   Google Scholar
• Raney, A. A., Schmid, H., Niemann, J., & Ellensohn, M. (2009, May). Testing affective disposition theory: A comparison of the enjoyment of hero and antihero narratives. In Annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Chicago, IL.
   Google Scholar
• Sanders, M. S. (2010). Making a good (bad) impression: Examining the cognitive processes of disposition theory to form a synthesized model of media character impression formation. Communication Theory, 20(2), 147–168. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2885.2010.01358.x
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Sanders, M. S., & Tsay-Vogel, M. (2016). Beyond heroes and villains: Examining explanatory mechanisms underlying moral disengagement. Mass Communication and Society, 19(3), 230–252. doi:10.1080/15205436.2015.1096944
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Shafer, D. M., & Raney, A. A. (2012). Exploring how we enjoy antihero narratives. Journal of Communication, 62(6), 1028–1046. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01682.x
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Shedlosky-Shoemaker, R., Costabile, K. A., & Arkin, R. M. (2014). Self-expansion through fictional characters. Self and Identity, 13(5), 556–578. doi:10.1080/15298868.2014.882269
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Slater, M. D., Johnson, B. K., Cohen, J., Comello, M. L. G., & Ewoldsen, D. R. (2014). Temporarily expanding the boundaries of the self: Motivations for entering the story world and implications for narrative effects. Journal of Communication, 64(3), 439–455. doi:10.1111/jcom.12100
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Strimel, C. B. (2004). The politics of terror: Rereading “Harry Potter.” Children’s Literature In Education, 35(1), 35–52. doi:10.1023%2FB%3ACLID.0000018899.06267.11
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Suckfüll, M., & Scharkow, M. (2009). Modes of reception for fictional films. Communications, 34(4), 361–384. doi:10.1515/COMM.2009.023
   Google Scholar
• Tamborini, R. (2012). A model of intuitive morality and exemplars. In R. Tamborini (Ed.), Media and the moral mind (pp. 43–74). New York, NY: Routledge.
   Google Scholar
• Tamborini, R., Grizzard, M., Bowman, N. D., Reinecke, L., Lewis, R. J., & Eden, A. (2011). Media enjoyment as need satisfaction: The contribution of hedonic and nonhedonic needs. Journal of Communication, 61(6), 1025–1042. doi:10.1111%2Fj.1460-2466.2011.01593.x
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Tsay, M., & Krakowiak, K. M. (2011). The impact of perceived character similarity and identification on moral disengagement. International Journal of Arts and Technology, 4(1), 102–110. doi:10.1504/IJART.2011.037773
   Google Scholar
• Tsay-Vogel, M., & Krakowiak, K. M. (2016). Effects of hedonic and eudaimonic motivations on film enjoyment through moral disengagement. Communication Research Reports, 33(1), 54–60. doi:10.1080/08824096.2015.1117443
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Wirth, W., Hofer, M., & Schramm, H. (2012). Beyond pleasure: Exploring the eudaimonic entertainment experience. Human Communication Research, 38(4), 406–428. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2958.2012.01434.x
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Zillmann, D., & Cantor, J. R. (1972). Directionality of transitory dominance as a communication variable affecting humor appreciation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 24(2), 191–198.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Zillmann, D., & Cantor, J. R. (1976). A disposition theory of humor and mirth. In T. Chapman & H. Foot (Eds.), Humor and laughter; Theory, research, and application (pp. 93–115). London, UK: Wiley.
   Google Scholar