DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER: AN EXAMINATION OF CHARACTER SEX, NARRATIVE BEHAVIOR, AND PERCEIVED MORALITY

Disposition theory focuses on the emotions and judgments that media consumers develop from media characters’ visual appearances and behaviors. Recent research has examined the effects of visual perceptions and behavioral approbation on moral judgements and disposition formation toward these characters. A large area of this line of research that has yet to be examined in depth, is the differences of visual activation and behavioral approbation for male versus female characters. The current study adds to the literature by examining these effects through the addition of a character sex manipulation for a conceptual replication of Grizzard et al. (2017). The results replicate initial findings and suggest that schema-activation has similar effects on moral judgments for both male and female characters. Furthermore, both less extreme evaluations of female characters across certain character perception variables and more extreme evaluations of female characters across certain behavioral approbation variables as compared to male characters were observed. Specific findings and their implications for disposition formation processes and moral judgments are discussed.

Grantor dc:publisher

State University of New York at Buffalo

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Francemone, Charles; 0000-0003-3075-4412

Contributors dc:contributor

• Grizzard, Matthew
• Communication

• communication
• mass communication
• behavioral sciences

Statement dc:rights

• Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.
• Copyright retained by author.

Language dc:language

eng

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10477/78069

OAI record oai:identifier

https://ubir.buffalo.edu/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=qdc&identifier=oai%3Aubir.buffalo.edu%3A10477%2F78069