Large-Scale Patterns of Entertainment Gratifications in Linguistic Content of U.S. Films

We count words in film subtitle files in an attempt to reveal morally relevant patterns of linguistic content. We argue that function words (e.g., pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions) should be positively associated with thought-provoking narrative forms. To test this hypothesis, we associate function words to aggregate measures of film viewership and appraisals. Results suggest that function words are negatively associated with measures of viewership but positively associated with appraisals. As such, our finding is consistent with the idea that function words are more likely to occur in narrative forms that audiences value more than they actually consume. We relate this finding to past research, which has shown the same pattern for hedonic versus meaningful entertainment gratifications. Discussion centers on implications for recent theorizing in this area.     

Sales Forecasting of New Entertainment Media Products

Managers predict the sales of new entertainment products prior to their release using comparables, such as similar books from the same author or movies with the same actors. In this study, the authors analyze whether diffusion models for media products provide helpful support in the management task of predicting prelaunch sales of the first distribution channel for three different product categories. They compare the performance of predictions based on (a) simple success factor regressions (OLS) and (b) diffusion models against real management predictions. Based on samples covering the German music, film, and the literary market, we show that model-based forecasts outperform the forecasts of management teams for the majority of the products. In contrast, management is superior in forecasting top sellers. This is due to unobserved factors arising from more management attention attached towards super stars. The authors do not find substantial prediction differences between simple success factor regressions and more complex diffusion models. Thus, managers interested in total sales estimates can easily rely on OLS based success factor predictions. Advertising and product differentiation factors with respect to quality (e.g., star power, critics, or country of origin) are across all 3 industries highly relevant for sales predictions, whereas others variables (e.g., price, distribution power, season, or competition) differ across industries.     

Understanding cable television community access viewership

This study updates and extends our knowledge of cable television community access viewership, a little researched topic of the past decade. Results of a random telephone survey are reported that reveal community access viewership has increased in recent years. Program viewership preferences and sources of program information are discussed. Community access viewing motivations and satisfaction are examined as predictors of channel viewership. Possible factors explaining the high level of reported viewership are suggested and recommendations for future research are proposed.     

“First” matters: A qualitative examination of a strategy for controlling the agenda when answering questions in the 2016 U.S. republican primary election debates

In the context of the 2016 U.S. Republican primary election debates, the qualitative method of Conversation Analysis is used to describe a discourse/rhetorical strategy candidates use to control the agenda when answering questions. By prefacing answers with First of all, First, or First off, candidates claim that the immediately next talk will constitute something other than a relevant response to the question, but that one will be forthcoming after first matters are resolved. Findings contribute to agenda setting generally, and specifically to candidates’ strategies for controlling the agenda by variously evading questions’ agendas in order to make space for other political actions (e.g., policy support, acclaim, attack, rebuttal), and doing so in a way that manages public accountability associated with evasion.     

How Are We the Same or Different: Information Needs and Barriers of Domestic and International Students

The study sought to (1) investigate whether international students differ from domestic students in their information needs and barriers encountered, and (2) test the relative importance of students' domestic/international status against their gender and level of study. A survey was used to collect data from international and domestic undergraduate and graduate students in a US public university. The study collected 1259 responses. Regression analysis was used for analyzing the data. International and domestic students were found to be similar in their top-ranked needs (e.g., career information) and barriers (e.g., irrelevant and non-credible information). Compared to their gender and level of study, students' domestic/international status resulted in fewer significant differences in their needs and barriers. However, for the areas where domestic/international status was significant, its effect size was often prominent. Differences between domestic and international students are more notable in the barriers than in the information needs. Based on the findings, six propositions were developed. The implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Challenging Entertainment: Enjoyment,Transportation, and Need for Cognition in Relation to Fictional Films Viewed Online

This study used brief, fantastical fiction films viewed on a computer to extend research into the multiple dimensions of audiences' responses to entertainment media. One hundred sixty participants viewed one of two films and completed measures of transportation into the film, perceptions of the film as fun and meaningful, and need for cognition. Transportation was associated with both fun and meaningfulness perceptions, which were correlated with each other. Need for cognition predicted meaningfulness directly and indirectly through transportation. This trait was associated with fun only indirectly, via transportation.     

Cultural Trait Vs. Personality Trait: Predicting the Appeal of Korean Entertainment among Asian Viewers in Singapore,Taiwan, and Hong Kong

This research explores transnational consumption of Korean entertainment among Asian viewers. To explain the appeal of Korean entertainment, this research focuses on mixed response of two opposing states (e.g., laughing and crying) that are induced, and examines the theoretical framework of personality trait (need for affect) vs. cultural trait (naïve dialecticism). Results from a survey (n = 745) reveal that mixed response mediates the positive association between naïve dialecticism (not need for affect) and the appeal. Findings are discussed regarding a cultural trait that predicts Asian viewers’ gratification from experiencing culturally fit emotions that fulfill central cultural (vs. personal) goals.     

Why We Watch: Factors Affecting Exposure to Tragic Television News

This study explored the reasons people expose themselves to news depicting tragic events. A total of 376 undergraduates completed anonymous questionnaires about their responses to news coverage of the events of September 11. The study examined the extent to which individual differences in empathy gave rise to news viewing motives (surveillance, reassurance, curiosity), and how these variables, as well as negative emotional responses (anger, sadness, fear), were related to news interest and exposure. Both empathy and emotional responses were associated in predictable ways with interest in news coverage and selective exposure to specific types of news stories (e.g., casualty news, positive news). The results demonstrate that considering affective motivations can enrich our understanding of how and why people use news media. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Happily Ever After? A Content Analysis of Romantic Ideals in Disney Princess Films

This study presents a quantitative content analysis of the romantic expressions portrayed in the 12 Disney princess movies. The films were analyzed for presence of romantic expressions (ideals and challenges) and the character reactions to those expressions. Results indicated that romantic expressions are prevalent in these films, with idealization of other as the most common ideal expressed. The transitional era of films (i.e., princess movies released between 1989 and 1998) contained roughly the same number of ideals as the other eras of classic (i.e., movies released before 1989) and modern (i.e., movies released after 1998) combined. Further, ideals were three times more common than challenges in classic films, whereas ideals and challenges were expressed equally in transitional and modern films. In general, across all three eras, challenges were most commonly met with punishing and negative reactions, whereas ideals were most often rewarded. Finally, there were no sex differences in terms of ideal expressions, but male characters were the dominant pursuers in 9 of the 11 films that featured a romantic relationship.     

Backstabbing in Organizations: Employees’ Perceptions of Incidents,Motives, and Communicative Responses

This study examined employees’ perceptions of backstabbing in the workplace and an initial typology was developed for backstabbing incidents, perceived motives, and communicative responses. We employed thematic inductive analysis and unitizing to develop the typology and approached this study from the decoder's perspective (the target), whereas previous research on other negative behaviors in the workplace focused on the encoder's perspective (the perpetrator). Results indicated that active incidents (e.g., talked behind back) were more prevalent than passive incidents (e.g., withheld information), perceived motives were primarily self-interest (e.g., self-advancement), and communicative responses included interaction (e.g., confronted backstabber), action (e.g., left job), and inaction (e.g., ignored). Other responses were emotion and cognition. Demographics indicated that this phenomenon cuts across numerous organizations, industries, and hierarchical positions.     

Testing Measurement Invariance of Hedonic and Eudaimonic Entertainment Experiences Across Media Formats

The aim of this study is to investigate the measurement invariance of media users’ entertainment experiences as conceptualized by two-process models of entertainment (i.e., enjoyment and appreciation) across different media formats. With this purpose, the present research relates to the recent rise of entertainment research, embracing more and more media types and formats with which entertainment experiences may occur. At the same time, it addresses a methodological issue that has rarely been addressed in communication research. Focusing on one of the most often used measurement instruments in entertainment research, on three different media formats (political talk shows, comedies, and dramas), the study finds evidence for configural, metric, and scalar invariance for the scale. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

The Effects of Personal and Social Uses of Mobile Health Applications on Healthy Behaviors

In the face of America’s obesity epidemic, mobile health applications (MHAs) offer solutions for motivating users to be healthier. MHAs include both personal features for the individual user (e.g., calorie tracking) and social features, which connect the user to others (e.g., for support or competition). The present study explores the connection between both personal and social uses of MHAs and healthy behaviors. Findings indicate that the use of MHAs is positively associated with healthier overall behaviors: Personal aspects were related to healthier eating and workout behaviors, and social aspects were positively associated with only healthier workout behaviors. Perceptions of social support from others predicted healthier overall behaviors and were related to increased body satisfaction. Implications for the role of social support in MHAs are discussed.     

Measuring Libraries’ Use of YouTube as a Promotional Tool: An Exploratory Study and Proposed Best Practices

With the emergence of social networking and Web 2.0 applications, libraries have the means to reach users through interactive Web-based tools patrons already use in their personal lives, such as Facebook and YouTube. In this study the authors aim to understand the ways that libraries are using YouTube for outreach purposes. Using a methodology adapted from studies in medical literature, the authors identified and analyzed library promotional videos on YouTube, both in relation to other works depicting libraries and librarians and as a unique category of content. In order to analyze the viewership of library promotional videos and its growth over time, view counts were compared at three points in time over a period of sixteen months. Using data made available by YouTube, the authors analyzed the top five referring Web sites to each video, thus allowing a basic understanding of the viewership of library promotional videos and their abilities to reach intended audiences. The authors also analyzed the many interactive features supported by YouTube to gain insight into the ways viewers were responding to and interacting with videos, including comments and the ability to mark videos as favorites. Finally, three examples of promotional videos created by libraries were selected as case studies. The creators of each video were interviewed about the creation processes and their insights into the effectiveness of their videos. A key finding was that while library professionals comprise a significant portion of viewers for library promotional videos, creators can increase viewership by the intended audience if they frequently and strategically feature online video content in Web sites, local or campus communication vehicles, and social media environments. The quantitative and qualitative measures developed for this study are offered as possible metrics for the assessment and evaluation of online library video content, and for libraries’ use of social media forms. Based on these measures, and following the review of hundreds of videos with library-based content, the authors have derived a set of evidence-based best practices for the use of online video as a promotional tool by libraries.     

How and Why to Measure Personal and Historical Nostalgic Responses Through Entertainment Media

Nostalgia is increasingly and successfully used as a means to attract media recipients. But what are the effects of different types of nostalgic responses through movies, songs, and video games, and how and why should they be measured? To clarify this, the personal and historical nostalgia scales questions were validated in a media context by conducting exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and both regression and correlation analyses (studies 1 and 2). Thus, media researchers can now measure personal and historical nostalgia as a response to and across three different entertainment media: films, music, and video games. The author finds positive effects of personal nostalgia on entertainment media buying and word-of-mouth intentions, contrary to historical nostalgia.     

Abstracts of theses in the field of speech and drama,VI∗

Two studies tested the assumption that relational contexts affect the way people react to messages that hurt their feelings. In the first, the range of responses people have to hurtful messages was explored, and underlying dimensions reflecting the responses were identified. Participants’ reactions were characterized by three broad dimensions: active verbal responses (e.g., attacking the other, defending the self, asking for an explanation), acquiescent responses (e.g., crying, apologizing), and invulnerable responses (e.g., ignoring the message, laughing). Analyses indicated that people who felt extremely hurt tended to react more often by acquiescing than those who were less hurt. Abo, those who felt the impact of hurt on their relationship was relatively low responded more often with invulnerability than those who felt the impact was high. In the second study, the association between people's reactions to hurt and the quality of their relationship with the person who hurt them was examined, as was the influence of particular types of relationships (e.g., those between family members or romantic partners) on individuab’ responses to hurt. Among other findings, the results suggested that relational satisfaction was positively associated with active verbal responses and negatively correlated both with the degree of experienced hurt and the perceived impact of the hurtful message on the relationship. Further, hurtful messages from family members tended to elicit greater feelings of hurt than those from other people—regardless of the closeness, similarity, amount of contact, or level of satisfaction reported by respondents. By comparison, messages from romantic partners had a greater effect on participants’ relationships than did those from individuab involved in family or non‐family/non‐romantic relationships.     

Feeling Bad About Feel-Good Ads: The Emotional and Body-Image Ramifications of Body-Positive Media

In recent years beauty companies have produced advertising campaigns purporting to make women feel better about their bodies and reverse the damage of thin-ideal media (e.g., The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty). Despite being celebrated in the popular press for the effort, little is known about how effective these advertisements are at healing issues of poor body image. In addition, little work has been done to explore the relationship between discrete emotions and body image. The present study was an experiment aimed at capturing the different discrete emotions experienced in a body-positive advertisement compared to traditional beauty ad. Findings assert that participants reported experiencing positive (e.g., elevation and hope) and negative (e.g., guilt and pride) discrete emotions significantly more than their counterparts in the traditional beauty ad condition. Results also show no significant difference in postexposure thin-ideal internalization between the two conditions.     

The evolving approval plan: how academic librarians evaluate services for vendor selection and performance

A survey of 291 academic librarians addressed the question of how libraries choose approval plan vendors, specifically how much emphasis is placed on various approval plan services and product features in choosing between competing approval plan vendors and how vendor performance is rated in those areas. Traditional services, including expertise in managing approval plans, e.g., profiling, and acquisitions services, customer service, and discount rate, along with corporate reputation and business practices, retained their core status. Electronic financial transactions was found to be very important to the libraries already using these services. Outsourcing services, e.g., cataloging or physical processing, with approval plan vendors, although newer, appear established and of considerable interest to some segments. Vendor performance was rated highest in corporate reputation, approval plan management, and in electronic financial transactions. Libraries with approval budgets under $100,000 expressed a degree of satisfaction with approval plan vendors on a level similar to larger libraries.     

Sex and Sexuality in Entertainment Media Popular With Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual Adolescents

Media may serve as important sexual socialization agents for lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) adolescents who often have limited interpersonal resources from which to garner sexual information. A content analysis was conducted on a sample of television programs, films, magazines, and music popular with LGB youth to quantify the sexual messages LGB youth encounter in the media. Results suggest that heterosexuality is overrepresented and LGB sexualities are underrepresented in media popular with LGB adolescents. When depicted, LGB sexual talk was often talk about stereotypes or insults/jokes related to sexuality and rarely about relationships or sex. LGB sexual behaviors were nearly nonexistent. LGB sexual talk seems to be increasing in entertainment television, but LGB sexual behaviors have remained relatively rare over time. Findings are discussed in terms of the possible effects of exposure on LGB youth relying on media for information about sex and sexuality during sexual socialization.     

International scholarly collaboration in science,technology and medicine and social science of Turkish scientists

The fundamental research question being pursued in this study is what influences the degree of international scientific collaboration among Turkish scientists? While the study has been illuminated by bibliometrics, the research study is largely exploratory and qualitative. Email questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews were employed to collect data from Turkish scholars. According to the findings, both external (uncontrollable) factors (e.g., institutional, economic, and governmental factors) and internal factors (e.g., motivation, ambition, trust, and hope) play roles in the international collaboration behavior of Turkish scholars. It is expected that this research will contribute to the understanding of Turkey’s international scientific collaboration processes pertaining to technology, economic, strategic, and cultural policy factors. Also, the analytical framework of this study may be useful for analyzing other developing countries that have a similar scientific and demographic context to Turkey’s.     

The Spaces of Children's Programming

In the competitive world of children's programming, networks are under intense pressure to build brand loyalty and increase market share. This essay examines how Fox Kids and the Disney Channel transform electronic space into “place” as a means for carving out brand identity. This transformation of electronic space into place requires strategies that encourage viewers to see electronic spaces as habitable and desirable. While the two networks employ different approaches to the creation of place, they both reproduce familiar ideologies (e.g., individuality as identity) and social arrangements (e.g., families and neighborhoods) to represent a habitable place that can inspire loyalty and even affection from viewers.