Title
The influence of story ending and music on perceived protagonist emotion, viewer emotion, and enjoyment
Document Type
Conference Presentation
Department
Communications and Media Studies
Publication Date
2013
Abstract
This study examined the influence of narrative and music on three variables central to affective disposition theory (ADT): perceived protagonist emotion, viewer emotion, and enjoyment. Participants watched one of six versions of a video containing positive, negative, or no music and an ending that rewarded or punished the protagonist. Results supporting ADT indicated that the reward created positive viewer emotion, and the ending created negative viewer emotion. Furthermore, protagonist emotion was correlated with viewer emotion in all six conditions. Contrary to ADT predictions, the ending did not influence enjoyment measures, nor was enjoyment correlated with viewer emotion. Enjoyment was marginally correlated with protagonist emotion in the positive music/punishment condition only. The presence of any music at the beginning of the narrative augmented the effect of the ending on perceived protagonist emotion. Negative music augmented the effect of the ending on viewer emotion, but positive music had no effect.
Recommended Citation
Shevy, Mark, Larson, Lauren, and Carolyn Tobin. "The influence of story ending and music on perceived protagonist emotion, viewer emotion, and enjoyment." Society for Music Perception and Cognition. Ryerson University, Toronto, ON. 2013.