Inspired by the Paralympics: Effects of Empathy on Audience Interest in Para-Sports and on the Destigmatization of Persons With Disabilities

Theories of eudaimonic entertainment and destigmatization concur to suggest that empathic feelings elicited by portrayals of Paralympic athletes can increase audience interest in para-sports and can lead to prosocial attitude change toward persons with disabilities in general. Three experiments were conducted to examine this dual, mutually reinforcing function of empathy in promoting public awareness and destigmatization. Participants watched television spots about the Paralympics that elicited different levels of empathy. As expected, structural equation modeling revealed indirect effects of empathy on audience interest, attitudes, and behavioral intentions that were mediated by elevation and reflective thoughts (Studies 1 and 2), and by feelings of closeness, elevation, and pity (Study 3). Mediation effects were positive for reflective thoughts, elevation, and closeness, but were negative for pity. Results are discussed with regard to problematic effects of pity, and concerns that elevating “supercrip” narratives might lead to negative perceptions of persons with disabilities in general.

[1]  Arthur A. Raney,et al.  Entertainment as Pleasurable and Meaningful: Identifying Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motivations for Entertainment Consumption , 2011 .

[2]  M. Mikulincer,et al.  The Anatomy of a Problematic Emotion—The Conceptualization and Measurement of the Experience of Pity , 1999 .

[3]  P. Vorderer,et al.  Media entertainment: The psychology of its appeal. , 2000 .

[4]  Elizabeth L. Cohen,et al.  Responses to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder on Monk Among Series Fans: Parasocial Relations, Presumed Media Influence, and Behavioral Outcomes , 2012 .

[5]  M. Oliver,et al.  Appreciation as Audience Response: Exploring Entertainment Gratifications beyond Hedonism. , 2010 .

[6]  Alice Hall,et al.  Entertainment-Oriented Gratifications of Sports Media: Contributors to Suspense, Hedonic Enjoyment, and Appreciation , 2015 .

[7]  C. Batson,et al.  Empathy, Attitudes, and Action: Can Feeling for a Member of a Stigmatized Group Motivate One to Help the Group? , 2002 .

[8]  P. Sparks,et al.  Highlighting Relatedness Promotes Prosocial Motives and Behavior , 2011, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[9]  H. Fitzgerald.  Paralympic Athletes and “Knowing Disability” , 2012 .

[10]  J. Shapiro.  No Pity: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement , 1993 .

[11]  K. Aquino,et al.  PERSONALITY PROCESSES AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Moral Identity and the Experience of Moral Elevation in Response to Acts of Uncommon Goodness , 2011 .

[12]  Julia K. Woolley,et al.  Elevation in Response to Entertainment Portrayals of Moral Virtue , 2012 .

[13]  John T. Cacioppo,et al.  The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion , 1986, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology.

[14]  Dean E. Hewes,et al.  The Parasocial Contact Hypothesis , 2005 .

[15]  Anne Bartsch,et al.  Emotional Gratification in Entertainment Experience. Why Viewers of Movies and Television Series Find it Rewarding to Experience Emotions , 2012 .

[16]  Implicit Association Tests of Attitudes Toward Persons With Disabilities , 2014 .

[17]  B. Weiner,et al.  An attributional analysis of reactions to stigmas. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[18]  Mary Beth Oliver,et al.  Making Sense of Entertainment , 2011, J. Media Psychol. Theor. Methods Appl..

[19]  Mary Beth Oliver,et al.  Appreciation of Entertainment , 2011, J. Media Psychol. Theor. Methods Appl..

[20]  Simone Schnall,et al.  Elevation Leads to Altruistic Behavior , 2010, Psychological science.

[21]  Mary Beth Oliver,et al.  The Effect of Narrative News Format on Empathy for Stigmatized Groups , 2012 .

[22]  Ute Ritterfeld,et al.  Addressing Media Stigma for People Experiencing Mental Illness Using an Entertainment-Education Strategy , 2006, Journal of health psychology.

[23]  Jonathan Haidt,et al.  Witnessing excellence in action: the ‘other-praising’ emotions of elevation, gratitude, and admiration , 2009, The journal of positive psychology.

[24]  Ron Tamborini,et al.  Defining Media Enjoyment as the Satisfaction of Intrinsic Needs , 2010 .

[25]  Simon Darcy,et al.  The politics of disability and access: the Sydney 2000 Games experience , 2003 .

[26]  E. Harmon-Jones,et al.  Empathy and attitudes: can feeling for a member of a stigmatized group improve feelings toward the group? , 1997, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[27]  Annie Lang,et al.  The limited capacity model of mediated message processing , 2000 .

[28]  Brian Horton,et al.  Dynamics of Entertainment and Affect in a Super Bowl Audience , 2008, Commun. Res..

[29]  C. Batson,et al.  Distress and empathy: two qualitatively distinct vicarious emotions with different motivational consequences. , 1987, Journal of personality.

[30]  M. Oliver,et al.  Exploring the role of meaningful experiences in users’ appreciation of “good movies” , 2010 .

[31]  John G. Lynch,et al.  Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and Truths about Mediation Analysis , 2010 .

[32]  J. Haidt,et al.  The Moral Emotions , 2009 .

[33]  R. J. Berger.  Disability and the Dedicated Wheelchair Athlete , 2008 .

[34]  Marie Hardin,et al.  The 'supercrip; in sport media: wheelchair athletes discuss hegemony's disabled hero. , 2004 .

[35]  Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick.  Mood Management: Theory, Evidence, and Advancements , 2013 .

[36]  Peter Vorderer,et al.  Sports on the Screen , 2000 .

[37]  Tilo Hartmann,et al.  The Role of Cognitive and Affective Challenge in Entertainment Experience , 2017, Commun. Res..

[38]  J. Harwood,et al.  A Social Cognitive Theory Approach to the Effects of Mediated Intergroup Contact on Intergroup Attitudes , 2007 .

[39]  Mary Beth Oliver,et al.  A PPRECIATION OF E NTERTAINMENT Appreciation of Entertainment : The Importance of Meaningfulness via Virtue and Wisdom , 2014 .

[40]  Y. Trope,et al.  Walking the tightrope between feeling good and being accurate: mood as a resource in processing persuasive messages. , 2002, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[41]  Frank M. Schneider,et al.  Entertainment and Politics Revisited: How Non-Escapist Forms of Entertainment Can Stimulate Political Interest and Information Seeking , 2014 .

[42]  Ron Tamborini,et al.  Testing a Dual-Process Model of Media Enjoyment and Appreciation , 2014 .

[43]  D. Zillmann.  Mood Management Through Communication Choices , 1988 .

[44]  J. Haidt,et al.  Moral elevation can induce nursing. , 2008, Emotion.

[45]  Amy J. C. Cuddy,et al.  A model of (often mixed) stereotype content: competence and warmth respectively follow from perceived status and competition. , 2002, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[46]  Erica Scharrer,et al.  Media Entertainment as a Result of Recreation and Psychological Growth , 2014 .

[47]  M. Oliver.  Tender Affective States as Predictors of Entertainment Preference , 2008 .

[48]  Fong Chan,et al.  The development and psychometric validation of the Disability Attitude Implicit Association Test. , 2006 .

[49]  Tilo Hartmann,et al.  Tuning in versus zoning out: The role of ego depletion in selective exposure to challenging media , 2015 .

[50]  H. E. Yuker.  The Measurement of Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons. , 1970 .

[51]  W. Wirth,et al.  Beyond pleasure: Exploring the eudaimonic entertainment experience. , 2012 .

[52]  G. Hirschberger,et al.  Compassionate callousness: A terror management perspective on prosocial behavior. , 2010 .

[53]  Jennings Bryant,et al.  Enjoyment From Sports Spectatorship , 2012 .