Download Audience identification with media personalities

Audience reactions to media
personae
Audience members can react in
many ways to media personae
• The reaction/perspective will depend on a variety of
factors. A few significant questions include:
– Does the audience member treat the character as at least
somewhat realistic?
– Does the audience member ‘suspend disbelief in relation to
the portrayed environment? To the character? To the
actor/anchor/etc.?
– What impression does the audience member have of the
character’s personality?
– Is the viewer/audience member drawn to the character in some
way?
• As a role model?
• As a friend?
Does the audience member treat the
personae as realistic in some way?
• This does not require that the audience
member perceive the persona to exist as a
real person when the show ends. The
persona must be capable of acting as an
appropriate character within the
constraints of the program-world and the
program-world must be accepted in the
sense of suspension of disbelief.
– Robot
What impression does the audience member
have of the character’s personality?
• Viewer/listeners/audience members
evaluate the morality of characters,
etc. through their words and deeds
and, sometimes, their thoughts as
revealed by the author/director, etc.
– Attribution
• Audience members tend to affiliate with
those they admire, but there are exceptions
– Large numbers of viewers liked J.R. Ewing the
best among characters on Dallas
• Viewer evaluations vary along a wide
contiuum, from adoration (fan clubs) to
disgust (chearing at the dismemberment of
villains, etc.)
What position does the audience member take in
relation to the text and/or the character?
• Does the audience member maintain the position
of external spectator, aware of the fictitious
nature of the presentation?
• Does the audience member take a perspective
from inside the portrayed world?
– Character within the story
– Internal spectator
• Does the audience come to inhabit the body of a
character, “living within” the on-screen (or instory, or on-radio) persona?
Does the viewer/audience member react to
the character in some way?
• The evidence seems to indicate that an
audience member may be attracted to,
repulsed by, terrified of, or in some other
emotional way, affected by the persona
portrayed.
What is ‘identification’?
• Identification is where the audience
member takes on the role of the
persona/character
– “vicarious experience” of things that we could
not otherwise have any access to
– [Cohen, 2002]
– Audience members may ‘try on’ others’
identities, etc.
• Seen as both natural and troubling in teenagers
• Thought to be especially common in online roleplaying
Identification and fictional
involvement
• Identifying with a character:
– “provides a point of view on the plot”
– “leads to an understanding of character
motives”
– brings about “an investment in the outcome of
events”
– generates “a sense of intimacy and emotional
connection with a character”
• [Source: Cohen, 2006]
• “Identification is fleeting and varies in intensity (Wilson,
1993), a sensation felt intermittently during exposure to a
media message. While identifying with a character, an
audience member imagines him- or herself being that
character and replaces his or her personal identity and
role as audience member with the identity and role of the
character within the text. While strongly identifying, the
audience member ceases to be aware of his or her social
role as an audience member and temporarily (but usually
repeatedly) adopts the perspective of the character with
whom he or she identifies.”
– Cohen, 2006
Wishful identification
• A second form of identification is more
lasting. Audience members have stated
that they wish to be like a
character/persona. That is, they would like
to emulate one or more qualities exhibited
by the character.
• An important basis for identification is
when the audience member understands
and then adopts the goals of a character.
The audience member then reacts to the
attempt to reach those goals within the
environment of the story, etc.
– Cohen, 2006
• “Directors and writers create characters with
whom audiences are meant to interact . . . .
Unlike identification with parents, leaders, or
nations, identification with media characters is a
result of a carefully constructed situation. . . . it is
important to note that identification is a response
to communication by others that is marked by
internalizing a point of view rather than a process
of projecting one’s own identity onto someone or
something else.”
What leads to identification?
• Production features that lead the audience
member to adopt the character’s perspective
• An audience member’s fondness for a character
• A realization of similarity of the character to
oneself on the part of the audience member
• “These lead to a psychological merging (Oatley,
1999) or attachment, in which the audience
member comes to internalize the characters’
goals within the narrative.”
– Cohen
• “The audience member then empathizes
with the character and adopts the
character’s identity. As the narrative
progresses, the audience member simulates
the feelings and thoughts appropriate for
the events that occur.”
– Cohen
Four dimensions of
identification
The first is empathy or sharing the feelings of the character
(i.e., being happy; sad; or scared, not for the character,
but with the character).
The second is a cognitive aspect that is manifest in sharing
the perspective of the character. Operationally this can be
measured by the degree to which an audience member
feels he or she understands the character and the
motivations for his or her behavior.
The third indicator of identification is motivational, and this
addresses the degree to which the audience member
internalizes and shares the goals of the character.
Finally, the fourth component of identification is absorption
or the degree to which self-awareness is lost during
exposure to the text.
• [Cohen, 2002]
Encouraging identification
• “Writing, acting, and directing must be of
sufficient quality”
• “partly achieved by offering an illusion of
reality”
• ‘relevance’ and ‘resonance’ of issues and
events
• “Identification may be ended or
interrupted when the audience member is
made aware of him- or herself through an
external stimuli (e.g., the phone rings), a
textual stimuli (e.g., a change of camera
angle or a direct reference to the reader), or
the end of the story.”
– Cohen
• Identification may lead to increased liking
for or imitation of a character—especially a
positive character.
• Identifying with characters who are evil or
very violent may evoke some
understanding or even sympathy for them
during reading or viewing but strongly
identifying with such a character is likely to
cause dissonance, guilt, or even fear.
Identification
Parasocial
interaction
Liking,
similarity,
affinity
Imitation
Nature of
process
Emotional and
cognitive,
alters state of
awareness
Interactional
Attitude
Behavior
Basis
Understanding
and empathy
Attraction
Perception of
character and
self
Modeling
As character
As self
As self
As learner
(self as other)
Absorption in
text, emotional
release
Attachment to
character and
text, keeping
company
Fandom,
realism
Learning,
reinforcement
As character
As self
As self
As learner
(self as other)
Positioning of
viewer
Associated
phenomena
Positioning of
viewer
Influence of medium
• Literature—invites identification with
hero/protagonist and, to a lesser extent,
narrator
• Film—encourages spectator role, but may
foster identification with protagonist or
camera—“narrator”
• Television—may be too uninvolving to lead
to identification at all
– Domestic, chaotic viewing situation
Antecedents to identification
• Similarity and homophily
• Children:
– Identify with role models—who they would like to be more than
who they are like
• Especially children over 8
– Attitude homophily positively related to identification
– Identified with child characters (similar to themselves)
• Exception: girls often identified with male characters
– Identified with animals
• Teens
– Often chose opposite-sex characters based on romantic or sexual
attraction
– Favored young adult rather than teen characters
• Working-class women identified with
upper class women on Dynasty more than
did middle class women
• 1/5 of German men chose female favorite
TV person compared to 1/3 German women
choosing male
• Aggressive children reported higher
homophily and identification with
aggressive characters
• “it seems that whereas similarity in attitudes
predicts character choice, simple demographic
similarity is not a good predictor. People often
identify with characters that represent what they
wish to be or to whom they are attracted, rather
than what they are. It also seems that
psychological similarity is more important than
demographic similarity in shaping identification.”
– [Source: Cohen, 2006]
Traits of characters that encourage
identification
• Men: Boys and girls like them for their
intelligence, girls like them for sense of humor
• Women: Boys and girls judged them based on
their looks
• Heroes identified with more often than villains
– Exception: many preferred J.R. Ewing
• In general, strength, humor and physical
attractiveness are preferred
– Much like in real life
• In general, much left to be determined in why
people are attracted to characters
Viewer characteristics
• Findings on gender ambiguous
– Women higher in parasocial interaction
• Findings concerning age are ambiguous
– Young, teens and older adults appear to have stronger
parasocial relationships
• Does not appear to be related to poor
interpersonal relations
– Some indication that “those anxiously attached
individuals who desire strong relationships but have
trouble developing secure and stable relationships”
have the strongest parasocial relationships
• [source: Cohen, 2006]
Identification effects
•
•
•
•
•
•
Increase enjoyment of fiction
Persuasion
Memorability
Modeling and imitation
Learning
Reduced critical stance
• “In sum, identification is an active psychological state, but
neither stable nor exclusive. It is one of many ways we
respond to characters, and one of many positions from
which we experience entertainment. The development
and strength of identification depend on multiple factors:
the nature of the character, the viewer, and the text
(directing, writing, and acting). Finally, identification is
part of a a larger set of responses to entertainment, ways
in which we become engrossed and delighted by the
fortunes and misfortunes of others.”
– [Source: Cohen, 2006]
Parasocial interaction
• Horton and Wohl used the term in 1956
Parasocial interaction
• Developing a relationship with a media persona
that exhibits some of the characteristics of
interpersonal relationships
• Liking, dislike
• Talking to the character/yelling at the character
• Feeling as though the character is addressing her
individually
• Seeing the persona as a ‘friend’
• Caring about the persona
• Missing the persona when skipping an episode,
etc.
Superhero play
• One researcher observed children's superhero
play in a school setting and found that boys
created more superhero stories than girls did, and
that girls often were excluded from such play.
When girls were included they were given
stereotypical parts, such as helpers or victims
waiting to be saved. Even powerful female X-Men
characters were made powerless in the boys'
adaptations (Dyson, 1994).
• In one retrospective study (French & Pena, 1991),
adults between the ages of 17 and 83 provided
information about their favorite childhood play
themes, their heroes, and the qualities of those
heroes. . . . While media was the main source of
heroes for kids who grew up with television, the
previous generations found their heroes not only
from the media, but also from direct experience,
friends / siblings, and parents' occupations
(French & Pena, 1991).
Children’s heros
• 179 children, ages 8 to 13, were surveyed
from five day camp sites in central and
southern California. . . . 24 African
Americans, 31 Asian Americans, 74 Latinos,
1 Middle Eastern American, 2 Native
Americans, 45 whites, and 2 "other."
Ninety-five girls and 84 boys participated.
• "We would like to know whom you look up
to and admire. These might be people you
know, or they might be famous people or
characters. You may want to be like them
or you might just think they are cool."
More respondents described a person they
knew (65 percent) rather than a person
they did not know, such as a person or
character in the media (35 percent).
• Similar to the overall sample, 70 percent of
the African American and 64 percent of the
White children chose people they knew as
heroes. In contrast, only 35 percent of the
Asian American kids and 49 percent of the
Latino kids named people they knew.
• While both girls and boys named people
they knew as their heroes, 67 percent of the
girls did so as compared with only 58
percent of the boys.
• One feature of role modeling is that
children tend to choose role models whom
they find relevant and with whom they can
compare themselves (Lockwood & Kunda,
2000). Children who do not "see
themselves" in the media may have fewer
opportunities to select realistic role
models.
• African American and white children were
more likely to have media heroes of their
same ethnicity (67 percent for each). In
contrast, Asian American and Latino
children chose more white media heroes
than other categories (40 percent and 56
percent, respectively). Only 35 percent of
the Asian Americans respondents, and 28
percent of the Latino respondents, chose
media heroes of their own ethnicity.
• Overall, children in this study more often
chose a same-gender person as someone
they look up to and admire. This pattern is
consistent across all four ethnic groups,
and stronger for boys than girls. Only 6
percent of the boys chose a girl or woman,
while 24 percent of the girls named a boy
or man.
• while boys tend to emulate same-gender
models more than girls do, boys may
emulate a woman if she is high in social
power. Therefore, boys may be especially
likely to have boys and men as role models
because they are more likely to be
portrayed in positions of power.
• It also has been noted that college-age
women select men and women role models
with the same frequency, whereas collegeage men still tend to avoid women role
models. . . . (Gibson & Cordova, 1999).
• Overall, children most frequently (34
percent) named their parents as role
models and heroes. The next highest
category (20 percent) was entertainers; in
descending order, the other categories
were friends (14 percent), professional
athletes (11 percent), and acquaintances (8
percent). Authors and historical figures
were each chosen by only 1 percent of the
children.
• African American and white children chose
a parent most frequently (30 percent and 33
percent, respectively). In contrast, Asian
Americans and Latinos chose entertainers
(musicians, actors, and television
personalities) most frequently (39 percent
for Asian Americans and 47 percent for
Latinos), with parents coming in second
place.
• Asian American and Latina girls most frequently
picked entertainers (50 percent of the Asian
American girls and 41 percent of the Latinas),
while African American and white girls chose
parents (33 percent and 29 percent, respectively).
Asian American boys most frequently named a
professional athlete (36 percent), African
American boys most frequently picked a parent
(30 percent), Latino boys most frequently chose
entertainers (54 percent), and white boys picked
parents (38 percent).
• When asked why they admired their heroes
and role models, the children most
commonly replied that the person was
nice, helpful, and understanding (38
percent). Parents were appreciated for their
generosity, their understanding, and for
"being there."
• Parents were also praised for the lessons
they teach their kids. A 9-- year-old Asian
American boy told us, "I like my dad
because he is always nice and he teaches
me."
• The second most admired feature of kids'
role models was skill (27 percent). The
skills of athletes and entertainers were
most often mentioned.
• The third most frequently mentioned
characteristic was a sense of humor (9
percent), which was most often attributed
to entertainers. For instance, a 10-year-old
Latino boy picked Will Smith "because he's
funny. He makes jokes and he dances
funny."
Bibliography
• Cohen, J. (2006). Audience identification with media
characters. In J. Bryant & P. Vorderer (Eds.), Psychology of
entertainment (pp. 183-197). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum.
• Horton, D., & Wohl, R. R. (1956). Mass communication
and para-social interaction: Observations on intimacy at a
distance. Psychiatry, 19, 215-229.
• Klimmt, C., Hartmann, T., & Schramm, H. (2006).
Parasocial interactions and relationships. In J. Bryant & P.
Vorderer (Eds.), Psychology of entertainment (pp. 291-313).
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.