Cognitive Moderators of Negative-Emotion Effects: Implications for Understanding Media Context

Abstract

This study examines how emotions elicited by television programs influence viewers' liking for the programs. An experiment using actual television programs found that positive emotions directly enhance program liking, while negative emotions have a deleterious effect. However, the latter effect diminishes when viewers believe that the negative emotions elicited by the programs do not signal threats to their well-being. These findings support the theory that positive emotions influence evaluations via simple decision heuristics, while negative emotions motivate detailed analyses of the emoting event or stimulus. Copyright 1996 by the University of Chicago.