Ed S. Tan

The emotional and cognitive effect of immersion in film viewing

This brief report presents an experiment testing the effect of immersion on emotional responses and cognitive genre categorisation of film viewers. Immersion of a film presentation was varied by presenting an animated movie either in a 3D-viewing condition (low immersive condition) or in a CAVE condition (high immersive condition, comparable to virtual reality experience). Viewers rated their emotions and categorised the movies into four basic film genres (action, drama, comedy, and non-fiction). Two distinct types of emotion were measured: Fictional World emotions (e.g., sadness) in response to the presented fictional events and Artefact emotions in response to the film as an artefact (e.g., fascination). Results showed that stronger immersion led to more intense emotions but did not influence genre categorisation. In line with expectations, both types of emotional response were intensified by high immersion. The results are explained by suggesting that highly immersive cinema has its impact on a basic dimension of emotion, namely arousal that underlies both types of emotions.

Categorizing moving objects into film genres: The effect of animacy attribution, emotional response, and the deviation from non-fiction

The reported study follows the footsteps of Heider, and Simmel (1944) [Heider, F., & Simmel, M. (1944). An experimental study of apparent behavior. American Journal of Psychology, 57, 243-249] and Michotte (1946/1963) [Michotte, A. (1963). The perception of causality (T.R. Miles & E. Miles, Trans.). London: Methuen (Original work published 1946)] who demonstrated the role of object movement in attributions of life-likeness to figures. It goes one step further in studying the categorization of film scenes as to genre as a function of object movements. In an animated film scene portraying a chase, movements of the chasing object were systematically varied as to parameters: velocity, efficiency, fluency, detail, and deformation. The object movements were categorized by viewers into genres: non-fiction, comedy, drama, and action. Besides this categorization, viewers rated their animacy attribution and emotional response. Results showed that non-expert viewers were consistent in categorizing the genres according to object movement parameters. The size of its deviation from the unmanipulated movement scene determined the assignment of any target scene to one of the fiction genres: small and moderate deviations resulted in categorization as drama and action, and large deviations as comedy. The results suggest that genre classification is achieved by, at least, three distinct cognitive processes: (a) animacy attribution, which influences the fiction versus non-fiction classification; (b) emotional responses, which influences the classification of a specific fiction genre; and (c) the amount of deviation from reality, at least with regard to movements.

The social sharing of emotion (SSE) in online social networks

Using content analysis, we gauge the occurrence of social sharing of emotion (SSE) in Live Journal.We present a theoretical model of a three-cycle process for online SSE.A large part of emotional blog posts showed full initiation of social sharing.Affective feedback provided empathy, emotional support and admiration.This study is the first one to empirically assess the occurrence and structure of online SSE. Social Sharing of Emotion (SSE) occurs when one person shares an emotional experience with another and is considered potentially beneficial. Though social sharing has been shown prevalent in interpersonal communication, research on its occurrence and communication structure in online social networks is lacking. Based on a content analysis of blog posts (n=540) in a blog social network site (Live Journal), we assess the occurrence of social sharing in blog posts, characterize different types of online SSE, and present a theoretical model of online SSE. A large proportion of initiation expressions were found to conform to full SSE, with negative emotion posts outnumbering bivalent and positive posts. Full emotional SSE posts were found to prevail, compared to partial feelings or situation posts. Furthermore, affective feedback predominated to cognitive and provided emotional support, empathy and admiration. The study found evidence that the process of social sharing occurs in Live Journal, replicating some features of face to face SSE. Instead of a superficial view of online social sharing, our results support a prosocial and beneficial character to online SSE.

The game experience

Publisher Summary The game industry is growing faster than the movie industry and the market of digital games grosses more than cinema box office receipts. The movie industry, as a whole, still outperforms the gaming industry. This is attributed primarily to ancillary revenues, such as DVDs and sales to TV networks and cable companies. The increasing popularity of gaming went hand in hand with the public expression of concerns about playing digital games. Parents, teachers, politicians, and many others were particularly concerned about the violence in games and about the addictive properties of gaming. Empirical research partly confirmed the worries about possible negative effects of violent content but failed to deliver substantial evidence for addiction to digital games. This chapter addresses the experiences that result from actually playing a game. The massive popularity of digital games stands witness to the fact that playing games is attractive for many people. This chapter proposes that gaming is an emotional experience that is intrinsically rewarding. In other words, gamers are motivated by the unfolding of the game itself, and they enjoy the accompanying feelings. Interestis crucial with respect to gaming. It dominates the gamer’s immediate experience during a game session as an emotion proper and it acts as a motivational disposition in between separate gaming experiences. This chapter briefly characterizes the game as a product and discusses the principal game features that may appeal to (potential) players. It also describes the actual game experience and the development of specific gaming expertise. Furthermore, it discusses the implications of being an expert gamer for the gamer’s identity and the themes that must be addressed in future research about the game experience.

Kijkwijzer: The Dutch rating system for audiovisual productions

Abstract Kijkwijzer is the name of the new Dutch rating system in use since early 2001 to provide information about the possible harmful effects of movies, home videos and television programs on young people. The rating system is meant to provide audiovisual productions with both age-based and content-based ratings. It is designed to enable self-regulation by the audio-visual sector. The development of Kijkwijzer, which took place under the auspices of NICAM, the Netherlands Institute for the Classification of Audiovisual Media, is based on consumer research among Dutch parents, as well as theories and research on children and the media. The consumer survey that preceded the development of Kijkwijzer revealed that 70% of Dutch parents indicated that they would use a rating system. The majority of parents liked to receive information on the content of media productions, particularly about violence, frightening content, sexual depictions, discrimination, drug abuse, and coarse language. Parents also wanted age categories. Kijkwijzer distinguishes four age categories: All Ages, 6, 12 and 16. This article gives an overview and account of the various principles underlying Kijkwijzer version 1.1. It also offers suggestions for improvement of future versions of Kijkwijzer.

Duration Experience under Conditions of Suspense in Films

This study addresses the question of why film suspense frequently seems to lengthen duration experience. It is proposed that duration experience under conditions of suspense in film results from the violation or confirmation of temporal expectancies. Temporal expectancies in suspense discourse structures may be generated, in part, on the basis of: (1) the temporal relations among the component action units of events, as described in plan schemas, and (2) the temporal succession of breakpoints (i.e., the beginnings or endings of the component action units). This article explores whether variations in the temporal succession of breakpoints affects temporal expectancies, and thereby affects duration experience. In film the temporal succession of breakpoints depends partly upon the screen duration of events. Two procedures to manipulate the screen duration of events (ellipsis and compression), and their effects upon the temporal succession of breakpoints, are discussed. Results obtained in a series of experiments suggest that the experience of duration under conditions of suspense in film is affected by the temporal succession of breakpoints.

Multi-emotion detection in user-generated reviews

Expressions of emotion abound in user-generated content, whether it be in blogs, reviews, or on social media. Much work has been devoted to detecting and classifying these emotions, but little of it has acknowledged the fact that emotionally charged text may express multiple emotions at the same time. We describe a new dataset of user-generated movie reviews annotated for emotional expressions, and experimentally validate two algorithms that can detect multiple emotions in each sentence of these reviews.

Expressing emotions in blogs

Textual paralanguage cues (TPC) have been signaled as effective emotion transmitters online. Though several studies have investigated their properties and occurrence, there remains a gap concerning their communicative impact within specific psychological processes, such as the social sharing of emotion (SSE, Rim, 2009). This study content-analyzed Live Journal blogposts for the occurrence of TPC in three phases of online SSE: initiation, feedback and repost. We compared these to TPC on a second type of emotional expression, emotional venting. Based on Social Information processing theory (SIP, Walther, 1992), and on the Emotional Mimicry in Context (EMC, Hess & Fischer, 2013) framework, we study predictive relationships in TPC usage in our phased model of online SSE. Results showed that TPC prevailed in SSE blogposts and strongly dominated in emotional venting posts. TPC was more common in affective feedback than cognitive. Moreover, the presence of tactile affective cues (i.e., hugs, kisses) in the initiation post predicted their presence in affective feedback. Results lend support to the idea that TPC are used in socio-contextual ways in online SSE and particularly extrapolate certain FtF nonverbal behaviors, such as the provision of socio-affective touch. We investigate the occurrence of TPC in sharing of emotion blogposts in Live Journal.TPC use was more intense in SSE posts than non-SSE posts. Auditory TPC dominated.Emotional venting blogposts showed a predominance of voice quality TPC.Tactile cues in initiating post predicted their presence in feedback.Our data suggests socio-contextual uses of TPC within the framework of online SSE.

Hindering facial mimicry in ad viewing: effects on consumers’ emotions, attitudes and purchase intentions

Recent findings in consumer psychology demonstrate that embodied cognition and bodily mimicry may influence consumers’ attitudes, intentions, and behavior (e.g. Hung & Labroo, 2011; Howard & Gengler, 2001). For example, when two friends (Bill and John) watch a funny advertisement and they both smile this might facilitate each other’s expressiveness and subjective emotional experience. However, when Bill unexpectedly sneers at the funny ad this can be perceived as an incoherent reaction and could therefore interfere with John’s initial cheerful expression. This might reduce his concomitant subjective positive feelings subsequently affecting responses towards the advertisement and the advertised product.

Het plezier van media-entertainment

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