Meaningful Movies as Anxiety Buffers: The Role of Mortality and Life Salience in Appreciation, Liking, and Self-Esteem

• In Event: Mass Communication: Elevation, Meaningfulness, Altruism

Abstract

When reminded of their own death, people need to create a meaningful conception of the world. Alternatively, they can engage in strong relationships with other persons. So-called meaningful films are thought to provide recipients with such film-internal anxiety buffers that help them cope with their existential fear. In particular, the salience of life within a film is hypothesized to be an important aspect to provide symbolic immortality. The results of an experimental study (N=83) demonstrated that participants who had been reminded of their own mortality appreciated a meaningful movie and liked the protagonist most when the protagonist survived (=high life salience), but not when he died at the end of the film (=low life salience). Further, when life salience was high, participants did not activate an external self-esteem-related anxiety buffer following the movie. The findings are discussed regarding aspects in meaningful films and their role in shielding against existential thoughts.

Authors

• Diana Rieger, University of Mannheim

• Matthias Hofer, U of Zurich