The pleasure of unadulterated sadness: Experiencing sorrow in fiction, nonfiction, and "in person."

Abstract

Weoftenexperienceintenseemotionswhenweenterfictionalworldsinfilmandliteratureandoftenshedreal tears. The goal of this study was to determine whether emotional reactions (sadness and anxiety) tofiction are distinguishable from emotional reactions to fact. Fifty-nine young adults rated their sadnessand anxiety levels in response to 4 film clips, 2 presented as fiction, 2 as nonfiction, and in response tothe recall of an actual sad event personally experienced. Participants experienced equivalent levels ofsadness and anxiety in response to films presented as fictional or factual. They also experiencedequivalent levels of sadness in response to films and in response to a sad personal event. Anxiety levels,however, were significantly higher in response to personally experienced events. The fact that sadnesselicited by films is unadulterated by the anxiety that accompanies the sadness of personal experience mayexplain, in part, the pleasure we derive from watching sad films.Keywords: fiction, nonfiction, film, emotion