How Audiences Engage With Drama: Identification, Attribution and Moral Approval
Fictional storytelling has played an important role in human cultural life since earliest times, and we are willing to invest significant quantities of time, mental effort and money in it. Nonetheless, the psychological mechanisms that make this possible, and how they relate to the mechanisms that u...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.762011/full |
| _version_ | 1818824077119324160 |
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| author | Ben Teasdale Laurie Maguire Felix Budelmann R. I. M. Dunbar R. I. M. Dunbar |
| author_facet | Ben Teasdale Laurie Maguire Felix Budelmann R. I. M. Dunbar R. I. M. Dunbar |
| author_sort | Ben Teasdale |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Fictional storytelling has played an important role in human cultural life since earliest times, and we are willing to invest significant quantities of time, mental effort and money in it. Nonetheless, the psychological mechanisms that make this possible, and how they relate to the mechanisms that underpin real-world social relationships, remain understudied. We explore three factors: identification (the capacity to identify with a character), moral approval and causal attribution with respect to a character’s behaviour in live performances of two plays from the European literary canon. There were significant correlations between the extent to which subjects identified with a character and their moral approval of that character’s behaviour that was independent of the way the play was directed. However, the subjects’ psychological explanations for a character’s behaviour (attribution) were independent of whether or not they identified with, or morally approved of, the character. These data extend previous findings by showing that moral approval plays an important role in facilitating identification even in live drama. Despite being transported by an unfolding drama, audiences do not necessarily become biased in their psychological understanding of why characters behaved as they did. The psychology of drama offers significant insights into the psychological processes that underpin our everyday social world. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-18T23:50:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-162093497d2746a6a95b1f3c02a00c86 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-18T23:50:08Z |
| publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-162093497d2746a6a95b1f3c02a00c862022-12-21T20:46:59ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782021-11-011210.3389/fpsyg.2021.762011762011How Audiences Engage With Drama: Identification, Attribution and Moral ApprovalBen Teasdale0Laurie Maguire1Felix Budelmann2R. I. M. Dunbar3R. I. M. Dunbar4Calleva Research Centre, Magdalen College, Oxford, United KingdomCalleva Research Centre, Magdalen College, Oxford, United KingdomCalleva Research Centre, Magdalen College, Oxford, United KingdomDepartment of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United KingdomCalleva Research Centre, Magdalen College, Oxford, United KingdomFictional storytelling has played an important role in human cultural life since earliest times, and we are willing to invest significant quantities of time, mental effort and money in it. Nonetheless, the psychological mechanisms that make this possible, and how they relate to the mechanisms that underpin real-world social relationships, remain understudied. We explore three factors: identification (the capacity to identify with a character), moral approval and causal attribution with respect to a character’s behaviour in live performances of two plays from the European literary canon. There were significant correlations between the extent to which subjects identified with a character and their moral approval of that character’s behaviour that was independent of the way the play was directed. However, the subjects’ psychological explanations for a character’s behaviour (attribution) were independent of whether or not they identified with, or morally approved of, the character. These data extend previous findings by showing that moral approval plays an important role in facilitating identification even in live drama. Despite being transported by an unfolding drama, audiences do not necessarily become biased in their psychological understanding of why characters behaved as they did. The psychology of drama offers significant insights into the psychological processes that underpin our everyday social world.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.762011/fulldramafictional transportationidentificationmoral approvalattribution |
| spellingShingle | Ben Teasdale Laurie Maguire Felix Budelmann R. I. M. Dunbar R. I. M. Dunbar How Audiences Engage With Drama: Identification, Attribution and Moral Approval Frontiers in Psychology drama fictional transportation identification moral approval attribution |
| title | How Audiences Engage With Drama: Identification, Attribution and Moral Approval |
| title_full | How Audiences Engage With Drama: Identification, Attribution and Moral Approval |
| title_fullStr | How Audiences Engage With Drama: Identification, Attribution and Moral Approval |
| title_full_unstemmed | How Audiences Engage With Drama: Identification, Attribution and Moral Approval |
| title_short | How Audiences Engage With Drama: Identification, Attribution and Moral Approval |
| title_sort | how audiences engage with drama identification attribution and moral approval |
| topic | drama fictional transportation identification moral approval attribution |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.762011/full |
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