Psychiatria Danubina, Vol. 25 No. 2, 2013.
Izvorni znanstveni članak
WHO IDENTIFIES WITH SUICIDAL FILM CHARACTERS? DETERMINANTS OF IDENTIFICATION WITH SUICIDAL PROTAGONISTS OF DRAMA FILMS
Benedikt Till
; Department of General Practice and Family Medicine, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, Department of Communication, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Arno Herberth
; Department of German Language and Literature, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Gernot Sonneck
; Department of Medical Psychology, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, Crisis Intervention Center and Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Social Psychiatry, Vienna, Austria
Peter Vitouch
; Department of Communication, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Thomas Niederkrotenthaler
; Department of General Practice and Family Medicine, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, Department of Medical Psychology, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Sažetak
Background: Identification with a media character is an influential factor for the effects of a media product on the recipient, but
still very little is known about this cognitive process. This study investigated to what extent identification of a recipient with the
suicidal protagonist of a film drama is influenced by the similarity between them in terms of sex, age, and education as well as by the
viewer’s empathy and suicidality.
Subjects and methods: Sixty adults were assigned randomly to one of two film groups. Both groups watched a drama that
concluded with the tragic suicide of the protagonist. Identification, empathy, suicidality, as well as socio-demographic data were
measured by questionnaires that were applied before and after the movie screening.
Results: Results indicated that identification was not associated with socio-demographic similarity or the viewer’s suicidality.
However, the greater the subjects’ empathy was, the more they identified with the protagonist in one of the two films.
Conclusions: This investigation provides evidence that challenges the common assumption that identification with a film
character is automatically generated when viewer and protagonist are similar in terms of sex, age, education or attitude.
Ključne riječi
film – suicide – identification – empathy - socio-demographic similarity
Hrčak ID:
161172
URI
Datum izdavanja:
10.6.2013.
Posjeta: 1.148 *