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Full text release has been delayed at the author's request until August 06, 2028

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Measuring and Predicting Character Depth in Media Narratives: Testing Implications for Moral Evaluations and Dispositions

Frazer, Rebecca
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0443-3113
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1687965858598346

Abstract Details

2023, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Communication.
Perceived character depth is a concept relevant for understanding and predicting audience responses to narrative media, yet it has been largely unexplored in the field of media psychology. Through a careful review of diverse literatures, the current work offers a formal conceptualization of character depth as the extent to which a character’s textual exposition evokes a detailed and multi-faceted mental conception of a character’s psyche, behavior, and experience. After devising a series of items to measure character depth, this work then presents a series of experimental studies designed to test various aspects of validity of the proposed measurement scale and to test a causal path model of the relationship between character depth and processes specified by affective disposition theory (see Zillmann, 2000). Study 1 uses a known-groups approach and confirmatory factor analysis to test the predictive validity and measurement model of a 20-item proposed perceived character depth scale. Selective item retention results in a 6-item scale with excellent model fit. Studies 2 and 3 lend additional support to the validity of this 6-item scale’s measurement model through tests of the scale in two different narrative contexts, both of which result in excellent model fit. Across Studies 1-3, evidence emerges of the convergent and discriminant validity of the scale in relation to other character perception variables. Study 4 applies this new measure in a 2 X 3 between-subjects experimental design that manipulates both character depth and character moral behavior independently. Results show that character depth impacts disposition formation and anticipatory responses above and beyond audience reactions to moral behavior. This finding has important theoretical implications for affective disposition theory (Zillmann, 2000), indicating that perceived character depth may serve as an additional predictor of disposition formation not specified in the original theory. Future research directions related to the application of the current character depth conceptualization are proposed.
Matthew Grizzard (Advisor)
Emily Moyer-Guse (Advisor)
Nicholas Matthews (Committee Member)
149 p.
Communication; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Psychology
Communication; Narrative; Media Psychology; Affective Disposition Theory; Experiment; Quantitative Research; Scale Validation; Mass Media; Mass Communication; Character Depth; Individuation; Entertainment Media; Narrative Characters; Flat and Round Characters

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Frazer, R. (2023). Measuring and Predicting Character Depth in Media Narratives: Testing Implications for Moral Evaluations and Dispositions [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1687965858598346

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Frazer, Rebecca. Measuring and Predicting Character Depth in Media Narratives: Testing Implications for Moral Evaluations and Dispositions. 2023. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1687965858598346.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Frazer, Rebecca. "Measuring and Predicting Character Depth in Media Narratives: Testing Implications for Moral Evaluations and Dispositions." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2023. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1687965858598346

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1687965858598346
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.