Despite the increased attention to eudaimonic media experiences, to date scholars have paid little attention to the specific portrayals responsible for those experiences. Study 1 of this project reports the first systematic content analysis of self-transcendent media-a particular type of eudaimonic media-using a sample of 100 "inspirational" YouTube videos. The presence of 20 specific elicitors associated with self-transcendent emotions was examined and reported. In Study 2, respondents provided real-time self-transcendent emotional reactions while viewing 3 "inspirational" videos. As expected, ratings significantly increased immediately following exposure to each specific elicitor. Thus, this project reports the first empirical evidence directly linking specific representations to content identified as "inspirational" and directly linking those representations to self-transcendent emotional reactions.

The present study expands on current theorizing about fandom by considering how communal involvement with popular media extends beyond pleasure and is more strongly associated with the search for meaning. Using the context of one of the most widespread media phenomena dominating popular culture—the Harry Potter franchise, results of an online questionnaire (N = 235) indicated that individual differences among fans (i.e., narrative exposure and eudaimonic motivation or the desire to seek meaning from entertainment) predicted involvement in fan communities. Further, perceived membership in fan communities enhanced enjoyment, appreciation, physiological reactions, knowledge acquisition, and intentions to seek fan-related materials. Implications for expanding entertainment scholarship in the study of meaningful media related to fandom and our understanding of contemporary forms of fandom in light of new technological affordances are discussed.

For more than a century, social psychologists have examined the result of impression formation, and its impact on other factors. These analyses were based primarily on personal exchanges between real people. Today, we encounter people via mass media as well, but very little media research has examined the cognitive process that takes place when viewers are forming impressions of fictional media characters. The present article reviews a large and complex body of research and theoretical writings to put forward a synthesized model of character impression formation based on Zillmann's disposition theory and Fiske and Neuberg's continuum model of impression formation, arguing for inconsistency resolution as a moderating cognitive mechanism.

No abstract

Marketing research has provided insight into how a number of variables add to and detract from the success of commercial advertisements. Length and frequency of presentation are two of these variables, but extant literature gives little indication as to how these two variables may work together to influence consumer perceptions. This quasi-experiment empirically examined the impact of commercial length and frequency on advertising effectiveness. The results showed advantages of frequency over commercial length in enhancing audiences' prompted brand recall and advertising liking. Although both commercial frequency and length were found to be significant, the impact obtained by running an additional commercial was considerably higher than the impact acquired by increasing average and total commercial length. Marketing implications for the results are discussed.