The Oxford Handbook of Entertainment Theory

Peter Vorderer is Professor of Media and Communication Science at the University of Mannheim, Germany. His research focuses on media-psychological questions, particularly the effects of entertainment media content, and the ubiquitous use of media in everyday life. He is a past president of the International Communication Association. Christoph Klimmt is Professor of Communication Science at Hanover University of Music, Drama, and Media. His research interests revolve around media entertainment, media effects, and digital media technologies. He serves as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Media Psychology.

Preface

Section I: General Theoretical Accounts of Media Entertainment

Chapter 1: A Brief Analysis of the State of Entertainment Theory: Historical Achievements, Contemporary Challenges, and Future Possibilities
Peter Vorderer, Christoph Klimmt, and Jennings Bryant

Chapter 2: Entertainment Is a Journey, Not Just a Destination: Process Perspectives in Entertainment Theories
Andreas Fahr and Hannah Früh

Chapter 3: The Narrative Enjoyment and Appreciation Rationale
Ron Tamborini, Sara Grady, Joshua Baldwin, Nikki McClaran, and Robert Lewis

Chapter 4: Life-Span Developmental Changes in Media Entertainment Experiences
Marie-Louise Mares and James Alex Bonus

Chapter 5: A Systematic Gender Perspective on Entertainment Theory
Sabine Reich

Chapter 6: How Universal Is Media Entertainment, Really? On the Enriching Potential of Cross-Cultural Approaches for Existing Entertainment Scholarship
Özen Odag

Chapter 7: Entertainment and Resonance
Peter Vorderer

Chapter 8: Finding Elusive Resonance Across Cultures and Time
Gerald C. Cupchik, Despina Stamatopoulou, and Siying Duan

Section II: Models and Theories Dedicated to Specific Experiential Processes

Chapter 9: Selection of Entertainment Media: From Mood Management Theory to the SESAM Model
Kate T. Luong and Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick

Chapter 10: Binge-Watching as a Case of Escapist Entertainment Use
Annabell Halfmann and Leonard Reinecke

Chapter 11: Media Entertainment as Guilty Pleasure? The Appraisal of Media Use, Self-Control, and Entertainment (AMUSE) Model
Leonard Reinecke and Adrian Meier

Chapter 12: Advances in Research on the Model of Intuitive Morality and Exemplars (MIME)
Allison Eden, Ron Tamborini, Melinda Aley, and Henry Goble

Chapter 13: Stories Enlarge the Experience of Self: Evidence for the Temporarily Expanded Boundaries of the Self (TEBOTS) Model
Benjamin K. Johnson, Michael D. Slater, Nathaniel A. Silver, and David R. Ewoldsen

Chapter 14: Stepping In and Out of Media Characters: Identification and Dynamic Shifts in Users' Positioning towards Entertainment Messages
Jonathan Cohen and Christoph Klimmt

Chapter 15: Involvement with Media Personae and Entertainment Experiences
William J. Brown

Chapter 16: Only Project: A Psychological Principle Explored in a Novel
Keith Oatley

Chapter 17: The Role of Narrative Cues in Shaping ADT: What Makes Audiences Think that Good Things Happen to Good People?
Ron Tamborini, Matthew Grizzard, Lindsay Hahn, Kevin Kryston, and Ezgi Ulusoy

Chapter 18: Media Entertainment, Flow Experiences, and the Synchronization of Audiences
Jacob T. Fisher, Chelsea Lonergan, Frederic R. Hopp, and René Weber

Chapter 19: Transcending Eudaimonic Entertainment: A Review and Expansion of Meaningful Entertainment
Sophie H. Janicke-Bowles, Anne Bartsch, Mary Beth Oliver, and Arthur A. Raney

Chapter 20: Biographic Resonance Theory of Eudaimonic Media Entertainment
Christoph Klimmt and Diana Rieger

Chapter 21: Kama Muta as an Eudaimonic Entertainment Experience
Sophie H. Janicke-Bowles, Thomas Schubert, and Johanna K. Blomster

Chapter 22: Entertained by Amazement and Wonder: The Role of the Emotion Awe in Media Reception
Daniel Possler and Arthur A. Raney

Section III: Models on Entertainment Phenomena Bound to Specific Media or Message Types

Chapter 23: Humor and Comedy
Jeffrey Goldstein

Chapter 24: Portrayals of Human Sexuality as Entertainment
Francesca R. Dillman Carpentier and Farnosh Mazandarani

Chapter 25: Cooling Down or Charging Up? Engagement with Aggressive Entertainment Contents as an Emotion Regulation Strategy of Boredom and Anger
Heidi Vandebosch and Karolien Poels

Chapter 26: Sports as (Digital) Media Entertainment
Nicky Lewis

Chapter 27: News as Entertainment Format: Applying Affective Disposition Theory and the Affective News Extended Model
Melissa J. Robinson and Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick

Chapter 28: An Extended Dual-Process Model of Entertainment Effects on Political Information Processing and Engagement
Frank M. Schneider, Anne Bartsch, and Larissa Leonhard

Chapter 29: Cinematic Entertainment: Contemporary Adolescents' Uses-and-Gratifications of Going to the Movies
Maite Soto-Sanfiel

Chapter 30: How Do People Evaluate Movies? Insights from the Associative-Propositional Evaluation Model
Frank M. Schneider, Ines C. Vogel, Uli Gleich, and Anne Bartsch

Chapter 31: TV Series Fandom as Eudaimonic Consumption
José Antonio Muñiz-Velázquez and Javier Lozano Delmar

Chapter 32: A Synergistic Multi-Process Model of Video Game Entertainment
Christoph Klimmt and Daniel Possler

Chapter 33: Interactivity as Demand: Implications for Interactive Media Entertainment
Nicholas D. Bowman

Chapter 34: Players' Moral Decisions in Virtual Worlds: Morality in Video Games
André Melzer and Elisabeth Holl

Chapter 35: Player-Avatar Identification, Relationships, and Interaction: Entertainment through Asocial, Parasocial, and Fully Social Processes
Nicholas D. Bowman and Jaime Banks

Chapter 36: Entertainment in Virtual Reality and Beyond: The Influence of Embodiment, Co-Location, and Cognitive Distancing on Users' Entertainment Experience
Tilo Hartmann and Jesse Fox

Section IV: Models on Consequences or Correlates of Entertainment Phenomena

Chapter 37: Retrospective Imaginative Involvement and Entertainment Narratives: Initial Forays
David R. Ewoldsen, Rick Busselle, Neha Sethi, and Michael D. Slater

Chapter 38: Media Entertainment as a Self-Regulatory Resource: The Recovery and Resilience in Entertaining Media Use (R²EM) Model
Leonard Reinecke and Diana Rieger

Chapter 39: Entertainment Media and Social Consciousness
Meghan S. Sanders, Chun Yang, Anthony Ciaramella, Rachel Italiano, Stephanie L. Whitenack, and Hope M. Hickerson

Chapter 40: Entertainment Theories and Media Addiction
Felix Reer, Robin Janzik, Lars-Ole Wehden, and Thorsten Quandt

Chapter 41: Theorizing Entertainment-Education: A Complementary Perspective to
the Development of Entertainment Theory
Hua Wang and Arvind Singhal