Egoism Versus Altruism in Television Content for Young Audiences

Abstract

Abstract The model of intuitive morality and exemplars is an organizational framework that was created to incorporate theories of basic human motivations with both micro- and macrolevel media research. Thus far, literature has integrated a framework of basic moral intuitions (here labeled altruistic motivations) with the model but has yet to integrate a framework of basic egoistic motivations. The current study integrates frameworks for both altruistic and egoistic motivations with the model in order to examine depictions of motivational incongruities (e.g., moral dilemmas) in television content for young audiences. Findings suggest that the frequency of depicted motivational incongruities increases as audience target-age increases. In addition, findings show that most motivational incongruities involve both egoistic motives versus altruistic ones, rather than just egoistic or altruistic motives alone. Discussion centers on implications for research on media and morality as well as entertainment theory. Notes 1The Live +7 data-stream metric includes the number that watched a program during live broadcast as well as the number that watched it via digital video recording within 7 days after live broadcast, excluding specials and sporting events. 2In addition, coders were tasked with recording which motivational subdomain was satisfied and which was violated as a result of the incongruity. Due to an inability to achieve reliability on this measure during design phases of the study, it was dropped. Note. N = 80. a Denotes a category in which Coder 1 marked zero for all cases whereas Coder 2 detected the motivation in very few cases. In this situation, Krippendorff's α is equal to zero despite high agreement on absence. Note. Standardized residuals greater in magnitude than 1.96 significantly deviate from expected frequency. Additional informationNotes on contributorsRobert Joel Lewis Robert Joel Lewis (Ph.D., Michigan State University, 2012) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include entertainment media, consumer behavior, and moral psychology. Natalie Mitchell Natalie Mitchell (M.S., Florida International University, 2010) is a doctoral student in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include branding, pop culture, and consumption of counterfeit luxury products.