Abstract
In two studies we examined the influence of violent television news on viewers emotional experiences and facial expressions. In doing so, we considered formal and content aspects of news reports as well as viewers gratifications as independent variables. Analyses showed that violence in TV news elicits primarily negative emotions depending on the type of portrayed violence. Effects of presentation mode and of expected gratification on the viewers feelings are traceable. On the whole, fear is neither the only nor the most prominent emotion; rather, viewers seem to react to violence with other-critical moral emotions, including anger and contempt, reflecting a concern for the integrity of the social order and the disapproval of others. Emotions shown in reaction to the suffering of others, like sadness and fear, occur much more rarely. The results largely show a complex web of relations between media variables, viewers characteristics, and emotional processes.
References
Bryant, J.Vorderer, P. Eds. (2006). Psychology of entertainment. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
1996). Social neuroscience: Principles of psychophysiological arousal and response. In E.T. Higgins A.W. KruglanskiEds., Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (pp. 72–101). New York: Guilford.
(2007). Observer-based measurement of facial expression with the Facial Action Coding System. In J.A. Coan J.J.B. AllenEds., Handbook of emotion elicitation and assessment (pp. 203–221). New York: Oxford University Press.
(2000). Evolutionary psychology and the emotions. In M. Lewis J.M. Haviland-JonesEds., Handbook of emotions (2nd ed., pp. 91–115). New York: Guilford.
(1992). An argument for basic emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 6, 2169–2200.
(2002). Facial action coding system: The manual. Salt Lake City, UT: Research Nexus.
(1984). Social cognition. New York: Random House.
(1986). The emotions. New York: Cambridge University Press.
(2007). The laws of emotion. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
(2001). Geneva Appraisal Questionnaire (GAQ): Format, development, and utilization. Retrieved April 30, 2008, from www.unige.ch/fapse/emotion/resmaterial/GAQ_English.pdf.
. (1987). Verhaltensbiologie des Kindes [
(Behavioral biology of the child ]. Munich: Piper.1977). Human emotions. New York: Plenum.
(2007). Young people and the News. Retrieved July 18, 2007, from www.ksg.harvard.edu/presspol/research_publications/ papers/research_papers/R29.pdf.
. (1997). Developmental psychology and the biophilia hypothesis: Childrens affiliation with nature. Developmental Review, 17, 1–61.
(2001). Facial expressions as indicators of appraisal processes. In K.R. Scherer A. Schorr T. JohnstoneEds., Appraisal processes in emotion: Theories, methods, research (pp. 285–300). New York: Oxford University Press.
(2001). A metaphor is a metaphor is a metaphor: Exorcising the homunculus from appraisal theory. In K.R. Scherer A. Schorr T. JohnstoneEds., Appraisal processes in emotion: Theory, methods, research (pp. 157–172). New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(2000). The limited capacity model of mediated message processing. Journal of Communication, 50(1), 46–70.
(2002). Illusory causation: Why it occurs. Psychological Science, 13, 299–305.
(1991). Emotion and adaptation. New York: Oxford University Press.
(2001). Ist die mimikbasierte Emotionsanalyse eine verkannte Methode in der Medienpsychologie? [
(Is the mimic-based analysis of emotions a misperceived method in media psychology? ]. Zeitschrift für Medienpsychologie, 13(2), 96–98.2001). Social appraisal: The social world as object of and influence on appraisal processes. In , Appraisal processes in emotion: Theory, methods, research (pp. 221–232). New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(2001). Television news research: Retrospect and prospect. In K. Renckstorf D. McQuail N. JankowskiEds., Television news research: Recent European approaches and findings (pp. 393–402). Berlin: Quintessence Publishing.
(2001). Beziehungsregulation in Psychotherapien. Maladaptive Beziehungsmuster und der therapeutische Prozeß [
(Regulation of relationships in psychotherapy ]. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.1993). DAS (Differentielle Affekt Skala) [
(Differential Affect Scale ] (Rep. No. 173). Saarbrücken, Germany: Saarland University, Department of Psychology.2005). Emotions as a mechanism for boundedly rational agents: The fast and frugal way. Journal of Economic Psychology, 26, 201–221.
(2003). The violent face of television: Research and discussion. In E.L. Palmer B.M. YoungEds., The faces of televisual media: Teaching, violence, and selling to children (2nd ed., pp. 143–160). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
(2003). The framing effects of emotions. Communication Research, 30, 224–247.
(2001). Putting appraisal in context. In K.R. Scherer A. Schorr T. JohnstoneEds., Appraisal processes in emotion: Theories, methods, research (pp. 173–186). New York: Oxford University Press.
(1983). The Schachter theory of emotion: Two decades later. Psychological Bulletin, 94, 239–264.
(1991). Appraisal determinants of discrete emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 5, 161–200.
(2001). Appraisal theory: Overview, assumptions, varieties, controversies. In K.R. Scherer A. Schorr T. JohnstoneEds., Appraisal processes in emotion: Theory, methods, research (pp. 3–19). New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(Rosenberg, E.Ekman, P. Eds. (1998). What facial expression reveals about emotion, development, psychopathology, and health. New York: Cambridge University Press.
1999). The CAD triad hypothesis: A mapping between three moral emotions (contempt, anger, disgust) and three moral codes (community, autonomy, divinity). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 574–586.
(1993). Studying the emotion-antecedent appraisal process: An expert-system approach. Cognition and Emotion, 7, 325–355.
(1995). Toward a concept of modal emotions. In P. Ekman R.J. DavidsonEds., The nature of emotion. Fundamental questions (pp. 25–31). New York: Oxford University Press.
(1997). Profiles of emotion-antecedents appraisal: Testing theoretical predictions across culture. Cognition and Emotion, 11, 113–150.
(1998). Emotionsprozesse im Medienkontext: Forschungsillustrationen und Zukunftsperspektiven [Emotion processes in media context: Research illustrations and future prospects]. Medienpsychologie, 10, 276–293.
(2001). Appraisal considered as a process of multilevel sequential checking. In K.R. Scherer A. Schorr, T. JohnstoneEds., Appraisal processes in emotion: Theory, methods, research (pp. 92–120). New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(2005). What are emotions? And how can they be measured? Social Science Information, 44, 695–729.
(1997). Lost luggage: A field study of emotion-antecedent appraisal. Motivation and Emotion, 21, 211–235.
(2000). Criteria for emotion recognition from verbal and nonverbal expression: Studying baggage loss in the airport. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 327–339.
(2006). What determines a feelings position in affective space? A case for appraisal. Cognition and Emotion, 20(1), 92–113.
(2007). Are facial expressions of emotion produced by categorical affect programs or dynamically driven by appraisal? Emotion, 7(1), 113–130.
(1994). Evidence for universality and cultural variation of differential emotion response patterning. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 310–328.
(2000). Do film cuts facilitate the perceptual and cognitive organization of activity sequences? Memory and Cognition, 28, 214–223.
(2004). Kognitive Appraisalprozesse bei der Fernsehnutzung. Fragebogen auf der Basis des Genfer Appraisal Fragebogens GAF [
(Cognitive appraisal processes during television use. A questionnaire based on the Geneva Appraisal Questionnaire ]. Retrieved April 30, 2008, from www.uni-saarland.de/fak5/orga/pdf/SEC.pdf.1986). Entwicklung eines automatisierten Verfahrens zur Affektinterpretation [
(Development of an automatized procedure for the interpretation of emotions ]. Unpublished Diploma thesis, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany.1985). The nature of news gratifications. In K.E. Rosengren L.A. Wenner P. PalmgrenEds., Media gratifications research. Current perspectives (pp. 171–193). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
(1998). TV news and the cultivation of emotion. Communications, 23, 545–556.
(2005). Häufiger, schneller, variabler. Ergebnisse einer Längsschnittuntersuchung über Gewalt in TV-Nachrichten [
(More frequent, faster, and more variable. Results of a longitudinal study on violence in TV news ]. Publizistik, 50, 225–237.2005). Media and emotions. Communication Research Trends, 24(3), 3–39.
(