Student Research Report: Be careful what you watch… because you just might get it
In Spring 2022, students in Dr. Emily Stark’s Research Methods and Design course completed multiple hands-on data collection projects. They were also assigned a blog paper where they discussed one of the topics they chose to research and explained their findings to a general audience. The goal of this assignment was to give students an opportunity to explore a different form of writing from APA-style research papers. Some of these blog papers will be featured here to showcase the students’ findings. Please feel free to contact Dr. Stark through the contact form on this site for additional information about this course or the assignments used.
By Caleb Chapman
Humans love to be entertained, we love to love, and we love to be loved. What if the entertainment we consume plays a part in the ways we love? Many of us are looking for the answers to love but if you could master your love life by consuming a different genre of entertainment, would you do it? It probably depends on what genre. Doesn’t it? Many of us watch what we watch because it provides us with a basic idea of what type of story we are going to get. This might mean we are choosing a romantic film because we want to see people falling in love right in front of us. Perhaps we’ll choose a comedy because we are feeling a little silly and could use a laugh. What we typically don’t consider is how our choice will impact the relationships we have with the people in our lives.
Studies have found that there is a correlation between what genre of entertainment we consume and our expectations for our romantic relationships (Stern et. al., 2019). One thing to consider about this information is that our relationship to romantic relationships and our relationship to genre both rely on our expectations of what we are about to get out of them. In their research they found that the romance genre brings with it a belief that men and women are inherently different while those who enjoy Science Fiction/Fantasy genres were found to have more realistic views on relationships (Stern et al., 2019). It’s possible that the ability to perceive the world with imagination allows those who consume the Science Fiction/Fantasy genre to be more creative in their views of what may be a realistic relationship. Perhaps the more realistic we are, the more imaginative entertainment we pursue. Further research would need to be done in order to definitively conclude this.
While choice of genre can be an influential factor on how we perceive our romantic relationships, research shows that being exposed to fiction can cultivate more prosocial, empathetic behaviors (Turner & Felisberti, 2018). This can likely be explained by looking at what the job of the person being entertained is in regards to consuming fiction and non-fiction. When consuming nonfiction we are often in a position of learning from an authority on the subject of interest who is sharing their own experience. This doesn’t exactly trigger the creative mind to consider different human perspectives the way learning specific content does. When consuming fiction we are often expected to relate to characters and to alter our perspective in order to do so. This gives us an opportunity to flex our imagination which, as we saw in Stern, et al., may allow us to have more realistic beliefs about relationships as is the case within the imaginative Science Fiction/Fantasy genre.
I conducted a survey as a project for a Research Methods and Design class (Psy 211W). We used a survey system called SONA to distribute the survey to college students where some were able to receive extra credit for participating. In this survey I wanted to study whether participant’s genre of choice was related to their perceived level of satisfaction in their lives. I also investigated whether the consumption of fiction or nonfiction was related to the frequency of conflict in their lives. Participants were mostly college students and were asked questions through an online survey. The questions involved included a rating from 1-10 on their level of satisfaction within their relationship, what genre they are most likely to consume, whether they consume more fiction or nonfiction, and how often they are in conflict per week. While I found no correlation between either investigation. I think that further research on this topic with a larger sample of the general population would yield more effective results. I also believe that doing an experiment on this topic as opposed to a survey may have allowed a better look into what participants believe at a specific moment and why.
Now that we all know the “nerds” are more realistic about relationships perhaps it’s about time we see them as the desirable partners they really are. I encourage everyone to try these results out for yourself. Watch only romance for two weeks and write down how you feel. Do the same for Science Fiction/Fantasy and see if anything changes for you. Most importantly be very aware of the content you consume and how it affects anything from your mood to your relationships. Watching more Star Trek and less Sex and the City might just give you a better view of your romantic relationships.
References
Stern, S. C., Robbins, B., Black, J. E., & Barnes, J. L. (2019). What you read and what you believe: Genre exposure and beliefs about relationships. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 13(4), 450–461. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000189
Turner, R., & Felisberti, F. M. (2018). Relationships between fiction media, genre, and empathic abilities. Scientific Study of Literature, 8(2), 261–292. https://doi.org/10.1075/ssol.19003.tur