Age Differences in Adults' Emotional Motivations for Exposure to Films

Mares, Marie Louise; Oliver, Mary Beth; Cantor, Joanne

doi:10.1080/15213260802492026

Cited by 56 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 34 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Third, the explanation that older adults watch certain programmes, particularly news and information, because they miss the information that they previously received through employment and other activities (Chory-Assad and Yanen, 2005;Kubey, 1980;Lim and Kim, 2011;Nussbaum, Pecchioni, Robinson, and Thompson, 2000) is in contrast with recent empirical findings that older adults watch news and certain types of entertainment because these genres match their orientation on meaningfulness and emotional balance (Bartsch, 2012;Mares, Oliver, and Cantor, 2008;Mares and Sun, 2010). Recently, the socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen, Isaacowitz, and Charles, 1999) has been used to explain older adults' television content preferences (Bartsch, 2012;Hofer, Alemand, and Martin, 2014;Mares et al, 2008;Mares and Sun, 2010). The socioemotional selectivity theory holds that older adults develop a heightened sense that lifetime is limited and precious, which leads them to focus more on achieving meaningfulness and emotional balance in the present instead of accepting negative experiences for the sake of long-term goals (Bartsch, 2012).…”

Section: Older Adults' Television Viewing As Part Of Selection and Cocontrasting

confidence: 39%

“…The socioemotional selectivity theory holds that older adults develop a heightened sense that lifetime is limited and precious, which leads them to focus more on achieving meaningfulness and emotional balance in the present instead of accepting negative experiences for the sake of long-term goals (Bartsch, 2012). This orientation on meaningfulness and emotional balance may explain why, compared to younger adults, older adults have more interest in news (Mares and Sun, 2010) and contemplative entertainment experiences (Bartsch, 2012), whereas they show less interest in sitcoms and violence (Mares and Sun, 2010), films with dark, violent, scary and sad content (Mares et al, 2008), and thrilling and tear-jerking experiences (Bartsch, 2012).…”

Section: Older Adults' Television Viewing As Part Of Selection and Comentioning

confidence: 96%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Older adults’ television viewing as part of selection and compensation strategies

2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Older adults' television viewing as part of selection and compensation strategies van der Goot, M.J.; Beentjes, J.W.J.; van Selm, M. General rightsIt is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulationsIf you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: http://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. Older Adults' Television Viewing as Part of Selection and Compensation StrategiesAbstract A large share of the available literature on television and ageing depicts old age as a life stage characterized by losses in which people use television as a substitute for decreased activities. The aim of the present study is to investigate how television viewing is part of both selection and compensation strategies. Based on a qualitative interview study among a diverse sample of older adults (N = 86, aged 65-92 years), we found three ways in which television viewing is part of selection strategies and three ways in which it is part of compensation strategies. In contrast to the focus on compensation in previous research, we found that selection strategies appear to provide a better characterization of older people's television viewing than compensation strategies. Moreover, particular television viewing behaviour does not automatically signal whether television viewing is part of selection or compensation strategies.

show abstract

Section: Older Adults' Television Viewing As Part Of Selection and Cocontrasting

confidence: 39%

Section: Older Adults' Television Viewing As Part Of Selection and Comentioning

confidence: 96%

Older adults’ television viewing as part of selection and compensation strategies

2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Generally, older people are more likely to read than younger people (Cloïn, Kamphuis, Schols, Tiessen-Raaphorst, & Verbeek, 2011;Stichting Marktonderzoek Boekenvak/GfK, 2014) and genre preferences have been shown to differ when it comes to films, with young adults being more likely to watch scary or sad films (Mares, Oliver, & Cantor, 2008). This may be explained through socio-emotional theory, which poses that when time becomes more limited, people tend to avoid exposing oneself to media eliciting negative affect (Mares & Sun, 2010).…”

Section: The Current Studymentioning

confidence: 97%

Why do we read sad books? Eudaimonic motives and meta-emotions

Koopman

2015

Poetics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…In terms of our limitations, first, we recognize the potential problems in our use of a college-student sample. Not only do entertainment preferences change over the course of a lifetime (Mares, Oliver, & Cantor, 2008), but older populations most certainly have more life experiences (e.g., marriage, death of a close friend or parent, birth of a child) that could serve to make some portrayals particularly salient or elevating. Further, research in socioemotional selectivity suggests a tendency for people to increasingly avoid situations that elicit negative affect and seek situations that are perceived as meaningful as they age (Carstensen, Isaacowitz, & Charles, 1999).…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elevation in Response to Entertainment Portrayals of Moral Virtue

Oliver

Hartmann²,

Woolley

2012

Human Communication Research

Self Cite

216

314

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Media psychologists have long puzzled over how individuals can experience enjoyment from entertainment such as tragedies that often elicit profound feelings of sadness. The present research examines the idea that a focus on ''meaningful'' entertainment and affective responses identified as ''elevation'' may provide a framework for understanding many examples of sad or dramatic entertainment. The results of this study suggest that many types of meaningful cinematic entertainment feature portrayals of moral virtues (e.g., altruism). These portrayals, in turn, elicit feelings of elevation (e.g., inspiration) that are signified in terms of mixed affect and unique physical responses (e.g., lump in throat). Ultimately, elevation also gives rise to motivations to embody moral virtues, such as being a better person or helping others.doi:10.1111/j. 1468-2958.2012.01427.x The assumed importance of positive affect in media enjoyment is reflected in a number of notable entertainment theories. For example, disposition theory generally argues that viewers experience the greatest pleasure (and hence enjoyment) when liked characters are depicted as triumphant and disliked characters as castigated or suffering (Zillmann, 1991). Likewise, mood-management theory conceptualizes entertainment consumption in hedonistic terms, arguing that the termination of negative moods and the maintenance of positive moods guide many entertainment choices (Zillmann, 2000).The emphasis placed on positive affect has resulted in considerable theorizing among scholars who have tried to understand the seeming paradoxical enjoyment of entertainment that fails to conform to hedonic considerations. In particular, scholars have presented a variety of explanations to try to account for the enjoyment of sad or tragic entertainment, and how or why viewers may experience gratification from entertainment that features beloved characters suffering and that successfully elicits sadness and tears among audience members. Among the many explanations that Corresponding author: Mary Beth Oliver; e-mail: mbo@psu.edu Elevation and Moral Virtuehave been considered are the idea that the experience and expression of sadness may be cathartic (Cornelius, 1997), that tragedies may provide viewers the opportunity to engage in downward-social comparison (Mares & Cantor, 1992), or that at a meta-emotional level, viewers may find some enjoyment or gratification in feeling sadness (e.g., ''wallowing in grief'') (Bartsch, Vorderer, Mangold, & Viehoff, 2008;Oliver, 1993;Zillmann, 1998).In this article, we do not want to suggest that extant research on the enjoyment of sad films or tragedies is misplaced. Rather, our intention is to provide an additional perspective on this seemingly puzzling enjoyment by broadening the conceptualization of audiences' responses. Specifically, in this article, we test the idea that many forms of meaningful entertainment (including many sad films) may elicit feelings of elevation-an other-praising affective response to witnessing moral beauty that ...

show abstract

Age Differences in Adults' Emotional Motivations for Exposure to Films

Cited by 56 publications

References 34 publications

Older adults’ television viewing as part of selection and compensation strategies

Older adults’ television viewing as part of selection and compensation strategies

Why do we read sad books? Eudaimonic motives and meta-emotions

Elevation in Response to Entertainment Portrayals of Moral Virtue

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About