Other-Focus Versus Self-Focus: The Power of Self-Transcendent TV Shows

Recently, a group of media scholars proposed that eudaimonic entertainment experiences can be differentiated into inward-driven and outward-driven experiences. The current study empirically tested this proposition by focusing on transcendent portrayals (i.e., content or character portrayals that focus on something greater than oneself) as one content characteristic to differentiate the proposed inward/self-focused from more outward/other-focused effects within the context of eudaimonic TV shows. A preregistered experiment (N = 147) revealed that highly transcendent TV shows elicited more self-transcendent emotions, universalism, and money donation behavior, as well as fewer self-image goals, than less transcendent TV shows. As expected, there was no difference between conditions in mixed affect (all but one of the TV shows), contemplation, and intrinsic need satisfaction. The results indicate that outward-oriented narratives include entertainment experiences previously associated with inward-oriented narratives, but not necessarily vice versa. The role of types of transcendent portrayals, quality of portrayals, and number of portrayals for the differentiation of various eudaimonic entertainment experiences are discussed.