Is Watching Others Self-Disclose Enjoyable?
An Examination of the Effects of Information Delivery in Entertainment Media
- Tsay-Vogel, Mina
- Oliver, Mary Beth
1Department of Mass Communication, Advertising & Public Relations, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
2Department of Film/Video & Media Studies, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
Mina Tsay-Vogel is an assistant professor at Boston University in the Department of Mass Communication, Advertising & Public Relations (Boston, MA, USA). She specializes in the psychological and social effects of mass media. Her research focuses on the enjoyment and appreciation of entertainment, morality in entertainment, parasocial interactions, and the psychology of news media. She is former cochair of the Entertainment Studies Interest Group of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
Mary Beth Oliver is a distinguished professor at Penn State University in the Department of Film/Video & Media Studies and co-director of the Media Effects Research Lab (University Park, PA, USA). Her research focuses on entertainment psychology and on social cognition and the media. Her recent publications on these topics have appeared in several media and communication journals, and she has also coedited books on media processes and effects.
Mina Tsay-Vogel. Department of Mass Communication. Advertising & Public Relations. Boston University. 640 Commonwealth Avenue. Boston, MA 02215. USA. +1 617 358-5860 +1 617 353-3405 [email protected]
Accepted January 3, 2014
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Mina Tsay-Vogel
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Mary Beth Oliver
Abstract
Self-disclosure is a means through which closeness, familiarity, and satisfaction are produced between partners. The present study integrated interpersonal and mass communication literature to theoretically inform the outcomes of mediated forms of self-disclosure between a viewer and character on television. Empirically testing the effects of two dimensions of disclosure – depth (low intimacy versus high intimacy) and mode (character-to-viewer versus character-to-character versus narrator-to-viewer) of information delivery – this research supported the prediction that a viewer's overall enjoyment of witnessing a character self-disclose personal information would be mediated by identification and transportation. The results suggest the meaningful role of “character address” in heightening audience engagement with both the character and narrative. Implications for the similarity of interpersonal and mediated relationships, effective entertainment formats, social reality perceptions, and online self-disclosure are discussed.