Psychology of Entertainment

by Bryant,Jennings

• ISBN13: 9780805852370
• ISBN10: 0805852379
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-02-24
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

As entertainment becomes a trillion-dollar-a-year industry worldwide, as our modern era increasingly lives up to its label of the "entertainment age," and as economists begin to recognize that entertainment has become the driving force of the new world economy, it is safe to say that scholars are beginning to take entertainment seriously. The scholarly spin on entertainment has been manifested in traditional ways, as well as innovative ones. Representing the current state of theory and research,Psychology of Entertainmentpromises to be the most comprehensive and up-to-date volume on entertainment. It serves to define the new area of study and provides a theoretical spin for future work in the area. Divided into three basic parts, this book: *addresses the fundamental mechanisms and processes involved in orienting to and selecting entertainment fare, as well as receiving and processing it; *explores the mechanisms and processes by which we are entertained by the media messages we select and receive; and *provides an opportunity for the application of well-established as well as emerging psychological and psychobiological theories to be applied to the study of entertainment in ways that seldom have been utilized previously. Psychology of Entertainmentwill appeal to scholars, researchers, and graduate students in media studies and mass communication, psychology, marketing, and other areas contributing to the entertainment studies area.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
List of Contributors	xv
I. Preparation and Reception Processes
1. Motivation	3	(16)
Peter Vorderer, Francis F. Steen, and Elaine Chan
2. Selective Exposure Processes	19	(16)
Jennings Bryant and John Davies
3. Attention and Television	35	(20)
Daniel R. Anderson and Heather L. Kirkorian
4. Perception	55	(16)
L.J. Shrum
5. Comprehension and Memory	71	(14)
Richard Jackson Harris, Elizabeth Tait Cady, and Tuan Quoc Tuan
6. Media Information Processing	85	(20)
Robert H. Wicks
II. Reaction Processes
7. Fantasy and Imagination	105	(14)
Patti M. Valkenburg and Jochen Peter
8. Attribution and Entertainment: It's Not Who Dunnit, it's Why	119	(18)
Nancy Rhodes and James C. Hamilton
9. The Psychology of Disposition-Based Theories of Media Enjoyment	137	(14)
Arthur A. Raney
10. Empathy: Affective Reactivity to Others' Emotional Experiences	151	(32)
Dolf Zillmann
11. Audience Identification with Media Characters	183	(16)
Jonathan Cohen
12. Involvement	199	(16)
Werner Wirth
13. Dramaturgy for Emotions from Fictional Narration	215	(24)
Dolf Zillmann
14. Mood Management: Theory, Evidence, and Advancements	239	(16)
Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick
15. Social Identity Theory	255	(18)
Sabine Trepte
16. Equity and Justice	273	(18)
Manfred Schmitt and Jürgen Maes
17. Parasocial Interactions and Relationships	291	(24)
Christoph Klimmt, Tilo Hartmann, and Holger Schramm
18. Why Horror Doesn't Die: The Enduring and Paradoxical Effects of Frightening Entertainment	315	(14)
Joanne Cantor
19. Personality	329	(14)
Mary Beth Oliver, Jinhee Kim, and Meghan S. Sanders
20. Emotion and Cognition in Entertainment	343	(24)
Donna Miron
III. Application of Psychological Theories and Models to Entertainment Theory
21. Sensation Seeking in Entertainment	367	(22)
Marvin Zuckerman
22. (Subjective) Well-Being	389	(16)
Margrit Schreier
23. Catharsis as a Moral Form of Entertainment	405	(18)
Brigitte Scheele and Fletcher DuBois
24. An Evolutionary Perspective on Entertainment	423	(12)
Peter Ohler and Gerhild Nieding
Author Index	435	(18)
Subject Index	453