Absorption and meaningfulness Examining the relationship between eudaimonic media use and engagement

Mary Beth Oliver, Arienne Ferchaud, Chun Yang, Yan Huang, Erica Bailey

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Recent scholarship has begun to theorize "eudaimonic" media gratifications-gratifications regarding meaningfulness, including thoughts about the human condition, human values, and questions of virtue. In this chapter, we examine the intersection of narrative absorption and eudaimonic gratifications from a variety of vantage points. First, we provide a brief discussion of how we are using these two concepts. Second, we consider eudaimonic motivations as trait-like and state-like measures that are used to describe viewers' use of media in their search for meaning, and how this motivation heightens the likelihood of absorption during subsequent viewing. Third, we explore theoretical and conceptual accounts of how absorption into narrative worlds may ultimately serve to satisfy eudaimonic goals, resulting in feelings of heightened well-being. Finally, we will outline ideas for how future scholarship may account for evolving technologies in the examination of these relationships.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationNarrative Absorption
EditorsFrank Hakemulder, Moniek M. Kuijpers, Ed S. Tan, Katalin Balint, Miruna M. Doicaru
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company
Pages253-269
Number of pages17
ISBN (Electronic)9789027234162
DOIs
StatePublished - 2017

Publication series

NameLinguistic Approaches to Literature
Volume27
ISSN (Print)1569-3112

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Language and Linguistics
  • Linguistics and Language
  • Literature and Literary Theory

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