Graduation Year

Fall 2013

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Psychology

Reader 1

Gabriel Cook

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Rights Information

© 2013 Curtis A. Wang

Abstract

This investigation proposes to employ the use of the mood management theory to examine the role of emotions in the entertainment experience, and how the emotions an audience member experiences while watching a movie can influence their overall ratings of it. Researchers will separate the components of the mood management theory into two experiments: one to explore how the difference in the experience of positive and negative affect influences audience ratings and the other to explore how the degree to which an individual experiences positive emotion influences their ratings for a movie. Using two movies of differing quality, researchers will measure the experience of emotion in participants and examine how it influences their ratings of the movie they watched. Researchers should expect to find significantly higher results across the board from participants who watched the movie Argo, which would indicate that higher quality movies adhere to the mood management theory in that they elicit both more instances of positive affect than negative affect and stronger emotional experiences in audience members.

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