Sensing Heroes and Villains: Character-Schema and the Disposition Formation Process

Grizzard, Matthew; Huang, Jialing; Fitzgerald, Kaitlin; Ahn, Changhyun; Chu, Haoran

doi:10.1177/0093650217699934

Cited by 48 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…In reality, retribution is likely to exist along a continuum (Tamborini & Lachlan, 2003). Moreover, recent research (Grizzard, Huang, Fitzgerald, Ahn, & Chu, 2017) suggests that the acceptability of such actions is not only defined by the action itself but also characteristics of the perpetrator. These two observations suggest moderation of the findings described here.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Research Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Narrative Retribution and Cognitive Processing

Grizzard

Fitzgerald

Francemone

et al. 2019

Communication Research

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In both narrative theory and evolutionary psychology, equitable-retribution—or the idea that punishments for committing a moral transgression should be equivalent to the transgression itself—is a centerpiece of discussion. This article reports results from a blocked within-subjects experiment that examined speed of cognitive processing and subjective rating of three types of narrative retribution: equitable-retribution; under-retribution, where punishment is absent for a transgression; and over-retribution, where punishment exceeds the severity of the transgression. Results suggest that narrative endings depicting equitable-retribution are processed more quickly and liked more than endings with under-retribution and over-retribution. In addition, liking seems to correspond with enjoyment for equitable-retribution and over-retribution; for under-retribution, liking seems to correspond with appreciation. Discussion focuses on implications for theory and extending the current experimental paradigm.

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Section: Limitations and Future Research Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Narrative Retribution and Cognitive Processing

Grizzard

Fitzgerald

Francemone

et al. 2019

Communication Research

Self Cite

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“…In other words, people formed distinct perceptions about characters’ valuations of care, fairness, loyalty, authority, and purity. Further, when characters were manipulated to seem heroic vs. villainous (based on their facial expressions, hair/outfit color, and attractiveness), people perceived the heroic character to be more moral—across all five MFT dimensions—as compared to the villainous character [ 28 ].…”

Section: Stories and Moral Depictionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moral foundations theory, political identity, and the depiction of morality in children’s movies

2021

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Children’s movies often provide messages about morally appropriate and inappropriate conduct. In two studies, we draw on Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) to derive predictions about actual depictions of morality, and people’s preferences for different moral depictions, within children’s movies. According to MFT, people’s moral concerns include individualizing foundations of care and fairness and binding foundations of loyalty, authority, and sanctity. Prior work reveals that although there are political differences in the endorsement of these two broad categories—whereby stronger political conservatism predicts stronger binding concerns and weaker individualizing concerns—there nonetheless is broad agreement across political identity in the importance of individualizing concerns. We therefore predicted that heroes would value individualizing foundations more than villains, and that despite political differences in preferences for moral messages, there would be more agreement in the importance of messages promoting individualizing concerns. In Study 1, we coded heroes and villains from popular children’s movies for their valuation of moral foundations. Heroes valued individualizing concerns more, and binding concerns less, than villains did. Participants in Study 2 considered moral dilemmas faced by children’s movie characters, and rated their preferences for resolutions that promoted either individualizing or binding foundations. Although liberals preferred individualizing-promoting resolutions and conservatives preferred binding-promoting resolutions, there was stronger agreement across political identity in the importance of individualizing concerns. Despite political differences in moral preferences, popular depictions of children’s movie characters and people’s self-reported moral endorsement suggest a shared belief in the importance of the individualizing moral virtues of care and fairness. Movies are often infused with moral messages. From their exploration of overarching themes, their ascription of particular traits to heroic and villainous characters, and their resolution of pivotal moral dilemmas, movies provide viewers with depictions of morally virtuous (and morally suspect) behavior. Moral messaging in children’s movies is of particular importance, since it is targeted at an audience for which morality is actively developing. What moral messages do filmmakers (and consumers, including parents) want children’s movies to depict? Are these preferences related to people’s political identity? And what are the actual moral depictions presented in movies? In the present two studies, we draw on an influential theory of moral judgment—Moral Foundations Theory—to develop and test predictions about the depiction of morality in children’s movies.

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“…It has been well-established that there are clear differences between how heroes and villains are visually represented and that this affects people's judgments about these characters (Hoffner and Cantor, 1991;Eden et al, 2015;Grizzard et al, 2018). Narratives often use tropes or clichés that the audiences are familiar with-such as the damsel in distress trope used in Mario-to set expectations and to make clear what actions will need to be taken.…”

Section: Visual Attributes Of Villains and Archetypesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Abby being depicted as a "bad" character creates expectations regarding Abby's future actions and conflicts for the player when they need to take on Abby's role playing now a "bad" character themselves. Applied to games ADT would suggest that the expectations regarding the disposition of the character is foundational for the player's affective response; e.g., the feeling of disgust or despair when a "bad" character falls in carnage or kills a good character or the positive feeling when the hero prevails and experience success (Raney, 2004) offers two complementing amendments to ADT: (1) the formation of an affective disposition sometimes precedes the moral evaluation of a character (for evidence see Grizzard et al, 2018), and (2) the ascribed disposition "good" or "bad" leads to an interpretation of a character's actions in line with expectations. Both concepts are interesting our research, because (1) suggests that the simple interpretation of a character's appearance affects moral decision and (2) that the interpretation potentially influences how further actions of such a character are perceived.…”

Section: Moral Judgmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How the Visual Design of Video Game Antagonists Affects Perception of Morality

Pradantyo

Birk

Bateman

2021

Front. Comput. Sci.

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The visual design of antagonists—typically thought of as “bad guys”—is crucial for game design. Antagonists are key to providing the backdrop to a game's setting and motivating a player's actions. The visual representation of antagonists is important because it affects player expectations about the character's personality and potential actions. Particularly important is how players perceive an antagonist's morality. For example, an antagonist appearing disloyal might foreshadow betrayal; a character who looks cruel suggests that tough fights are ahead; or, a player might be surprised when a friendly looking character attacks them. Today, the art of designing character morality is informed by archetypal elements, existing characters, and the artist's own background. However, little work has provided insight into how an antagonist's appearance can lead players to make moral judgments. Using Mechanical Turk, we collected participant ratings on a stimulus image set of 105 antagonists from popular video games. The results of our work provide insights into how the visual attributes of antagonists can influence judgments of character morality. Our findings provide a valuable new lens for understanding and deepening an important aspect of game design. Our results can be used to help ensure that a particular character design has the best chance to be universally seen as “evil,” or to help create more complex and conflicted emotional experiences through carefully designed characters that do not appear to be bad. Our research extends current research practices that seek to build an understanding of game design and provides exciting new directions for exploring how design and aesthetic practices can be better studied and supported.

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Sensing Heroes and Villains: Character-Schema and the Disposition Formation Process

Cited by 48 publications

References 46 publications

Narrative Retribution and Cognitive Processing

Narrative Retribution and Cognitive Processing

Moral foundations theory, political identity, and the depiction of morality in children’s movies

How the Visual Design of Video Game Antagonists Affects Perception of Morality

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