Some Like It Bad: Testing a Model for Perceiving and Experiencing Fictional Characters

摘要: We developed an encompassing theory that explains how readers of fiction and spectators motion pictures establish affective relationships with fictional characters (FCs). The perceiving experiencing (PEFiC) is anchored in art perception, psychological aesthetics, social emotion psychology addresses both the complexity intrinsic affectivity involved media exposure. In a between-subject design (N = 312), engagement appreciation were measured as function ethics (good vs. bad), aesthetics (beautiful ugly), epistemics (realistic unrealistic) eight protagonists feature movies. PEFiC model best fit data unipolarity factors outperformed traditional theories (identification, empathy): trade-off between involvement distance explained FCs better than either or alone. mediators similarity, relevance, valence exerted significant (interaction) effects, thus ...