Matthias Hofer

Perceived bridging and bonding social capital on Twitter: Differentiating between followers and followees

The present study investigates the influence of Twitter use and the number of followers and followees on perceived bridging and bonding online social capital. Data from a convenience sample of Twitter users (N=264) indicate that bonding social capital is associated with the number of followers whereas bridging social capital is influenced by the number of followees. Thus, the directed friendship model on Twitter affects different forms of social capital differently. In addition, the study found a negative curvilinear effect of the number of followees on bridging and the number of followers on bonding online social capital. This indicates that the number of followees/followers has positive effects on online bridging/bonding social capital, but only to a certain point. The paper concludes with a discussion of the results in light of theoretical considerations and of implications for future research on the effects of Twitter on social capital.

Appreciation and Enjoyment of Meaningful Entertainment

Appreciation is an audience response associated with entertainment portrayals concerned with the meaning of life and human existence. Appreciation has been shown to be conceptually and empirically different from enjoyment, which is characterized as pleasure and fun. Drawing upon terror management theory, this research investigates first the influence of reminders of one’s own death on appreciation and enjoyment of a meaningful film and second, the influence of the search for meaning in one’s life on these outcomes. Results of an experimental study (N = 60) showed that mortality salience increased appreciation of a meaningful film, but only for those who rated highly for search for meaning in life. Concerning enjoyment, a reverse pattern was found: Participants who intensely search for meaning in their lives enjoyed the film when their own mortality had not been made salient before watching. Results are discussed in the light of theoretical considerations about entertainment experiences and meaning.

The Role of Emotional Involvement and Trait Absorption in the Formation of Spatial Presence

This study (N = 111) sought to assess the roles of emotional involvement and trait absorption in the formation process of spatial presence in a virtual environment. A 2 × 2 between-subjects design was employed with emotional involvement (low vs. high) as an experimental factor and trait absorption (low vs. high) as a quasi-experimental factor. The results indicate that both emotional involvement and trait absorption contribute to the formation of spatial presence. Furthermore, a positive interaction effect between emotional involvement and trait absorption on spatial presence was found. When controlling for other well-known contributing factors (cognitive involvement, the spatial situational model, and suspension of disbelief), the effects of emotional involvement and trait absorption remain stable. Regarding presence as a broad construct, these other factors are often conceptualized as part of the presence experience. Treating them instead as contributing factors and, thus, applying a narrow conceptualization of spatial presence, provides a clear insight of its formation process.

It’s Right to Be Sad

Although sad films elicit states of sadness and cause onlookers to mourn beloved characters, these media offerings also lead to enjoyment. This paradoxical situation challenges both theoretical approaches and empirical studies in entertainment research. Based on an appraisal-theoretical framework, the present study examined the role of multiple appraisals of recipients’ sadness. It is argued that these so-called meta-appraisals are able to transform one’s sadness into a positive meta-emotion (i.e., enjoyment); this process is called valence transformation. Results of an experimental study (N = 149) showed that in cases of a sad film ending, participants experienced higher levels of sadness than they did in cases of a happy ending. Furthermore, given a sad ending, meta-appraisal processes were activated that mediated the relationship between sadness and enjoyment. If the film had a happy ending, however, there were no indirect effects. Results are discussed in the light of theoretical considerations.

Structural Equation Modeling of Spatial Presence: The Influence of Cognitive Processes and Traits

This article examines the formation process of spatial presence, which is conceived as a two-step process involving the construction of a mental model of the mediated environment, followed by the emergence of spatial presence. During both stages, cognitive processes and user traits are in effect. We present data derived from a pooled set of data of three studies using the same virtual environment. Structural equation modeling is used to confirm the proposed theoretical model. The results show that attention and the trait of visual spatial imagery are positive predictors of the mental model of the mediated environment. In the second step, the formation of spatial presence is governed by involvement, the suspension of disbelief, and the domain-specific interest, together with the mental model.

Testing Measurement Equivalence of Eudaimonic and Hedonic Entertainment Motivations in a Cross-cultural Comparison

Abstract Within Hofstede’s framework of individualistic and collectivistic cultures, this contribution examines measurement equivalence of hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment motivations in two different cultures, namely Germany representing a more individualistic culture (N = 180) and Turkey representing a more collectivistic culture (N = 97). By means of a multi-group confirmatory factor analysis, we could secure configural invariance for both hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment motivations across the German and Turkish sample. Metric invariance, however, could only be obtained for hedonic, but not for eudaimonic motivations. Scalar invariance was obtained for neither of the two entertainment motivations. The study points to the importance of equivalence testing when conducting cross-cultural research.

How Movies Can Ease the Fear of Death: The Survival or Death of the Protagonists in Meaningful Movies

Many media entertainment products address the fragility of life by portraying the severe illness or death of the protagonist. According to terror management theory, people need to create meaning in their lives when they are reminded of their own mortality, for instance, by engaging in close relationships with others. Meaningful films may provide recipients with an anxiety buffer that helps them to cope with existential fear. The results of an experimental study (N = 130) demonstrated that participants who had been reminded of their mortality appreciated a meaningful movie more and liked the protagonist better when he survived than when he died. Further, participants who viewed the movie in which the protagonist survived did not activate their self-esteem-based anxiety buffer. The results point toward the potential of entertainment to provide internal anxiety buffers and thereby help in coping with self-threatening situations. The findings are discussed in terms of the connections between meaningful media entertainment, coping mechanisms, and viewers’ terror management.

Age Differences in Emotion Regulation During a Distressing Film Scene

Recent research has emphasized age differences in emotion regulation strategies. However, not much is known about age differences in the use of different regulation strategies during a highly distressing film scene that evokes strong negative emotions of anger and sadness. Therefore, we examined age differences in four situation-specific emotion regulation strategies – namely, rumination, distraction, suppression, and mediality (a form of media-specific reappraisal). A sample of 99 older and 108 younger participants reported their current emotional state, then watched a highly distressing film scene, and finally reported their emotional reactions to the scene and the emotion regulation strategies they used. The manipulation check indicated that the film was successful in eliciting strong negative emotions of sadness and anger. Furthermore, after securing measurement invariance, we found that older adults reported higher scores in mediality and suppression than younger adults. No differences were found con...

The Representation of Altruistic and Egoistic Motivations in Popular Music over 60 Years

Content analyses examining the values expressed in popular music have been predominantly ad hoc, limited to antisocial themes, and lacking a comprehensive theoretical coding scheme. We applied a content analytic scheme based in the model of intuitive morality and exemplars (MIME) to examine altruistic and egoistic values in popular music over 60 years. Findings show (a) more frequent representation of egoistic than altruistic motivations, and (b) the profusion of egoistic motivations focused mostly on romantic (in adult-targeted music) but also platonic (in child-targeted music) relationships.

The impact of terrorist attack news on moral intuitions and outgroup prejudice

Using logic suggested by the model of intuitive morality and exemplars, we examined the impact of exposure to terrorist attack news coverage on the salience of moral intuitions and prosocial behavioral intentions toward outgroup members. In an experiment, participants were randomly assigned to watch news of the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks or a control news story. Afterward, we measured the salience of five moral intuitions (sensitivity to care, fairness, loyalty, authority, and purity) and the participants’ prejudice (i.e., the lack of intentions to help outgroup members). Results showed that exposure to terrorist attack news (a) increased the salience of respect for authority and subsequently (b) reduced prosocial behavioral intentions toward outgroup members. Closer inspection revealed that authority salience mediated the effect of terrorist news exposure on these behavioral intentions toward outgroup members. In a second study using the same design as in the first study, we ensured that the ingroup and the outgroup addressed in the first study were indeed perceived differently on dimensions of ingroup membership.