Fictional politainment: Exposure to international television drama and attitude toward female politicians

Abstract

We examine the relationship between media use motivations and attitudes toward female politicians by proposing a conceptual model explaining the role of key mediating variables such as identification, narrative transportation, enjoyment, and political self-efficacy in influencing the attitude of the viewers of international TV drama towards female role models (politicians). We investigated the direct and indirect effects between media use motivations and attitudes toward female politicians by recruiting 359 students from two large public universities in the Southeastern United States. The hypothesized model supported the evidence presented in extant scholarship, suggesting that a meaningful entertainment experience could foster an appreciation of the fictional televisual entertainment and positively change attitudes toward female lead characters playing the role of a viable and competent politician. This study resonates with politicians, academics, and activists’ concerns that a positive media portrayal could promote the acceptability of female leaders in powerful positions. Our study clarifies the direct and indirect effects between media use motivations and attitudes toward female politicians and the role of crucial mediating variables such as identification, narrative transportation, enjoyment, and political self-efficacy in influencing the attitude of the viewers of international TV drama towards female politicians.

Keywords

Entertainment female politicians TV drama political attitudes enjoyment

The contemporary international television has emerged as a great source of political entertainment (hereafter politainment), which refers to a broad category of literature, media, and content in which political content is presented to the viewers in an entertainment format with the aim of making it pleasant and interesting. Politainment includes a primary or secondary political focus and generally include implicit or explicit references to socio-political issues. Scholars have argued that politainment media should represent “substantial” content leading to the after-effects related to democracy. Holbert (2005), for example, suggested that politainment was defined through various television formats including entertainment talk shows, primetime drama, and soft news, which could be informally clustered under the political entertainment label. In recent decades, the international television industry has relied on the appeal of politainment by narrating stories about politics and politicians using different plot lines such as comedy, drama, thriller, and action for a long time (Hoyt & Simon, 2011).

Fictional primetime television narratives have mostly focused on a competent male president in the White House wrestling with critical issues and finally succeeding in safeguarding the “American dream” (Van Zoonen & Wring, 2012). Female characters, which could serve as role models, have appeared in supporting roles and merely assisted the male protagonist in achieving his goals (Van Zoonen, 2005). No job for a lady (a British sitcom) is an example of the representation of female role models in fictional politainment, which has cultivated negative stereotypes and strengthened gender role schemas in some cases.

Several scholars (Goren, 2009; Van Zoonen, 2005) critically examined televisual representation of female role models and found a negative relationship between biased media images and women's aspirations to navigate political waters. Exposure to less competent and less deserving role models in fictional televisual entertainment adversely affected women's self-perceptions and desires to climb the leadership ladder (Hoyt & Simon, 2011; Van Zoonen, 2005). Recent trends in international fictional television, nonetheless, have deviated from an overtly patriarchal tradition, and several primetime dramas (Commander-in-Chief, 2005; 24, 2009; Borgen, 2013) have shown viable and competent female leaders who helped viewers visualize female politicians in powerful leadership roles.

The counter stereotypical entertainment narratives had a constructive effect, and viewers were likely to be positively impacted by the success of fictional female role models in politics. Recent scholarship confirmed that there was a “strong push to provide young women with successful role models” to shift their political attitudes and actively engage them in multifarious political processes by augmenting their degree of internal self-efficacy (Hoyt & Simon, 2011, p. 144). Likewise, viewing viable and competent female protagonists in fictional political drama could augment identification with the female characters and enhance acceptance of female politicians in leadership roles (Campbell & Wolbrecht, 2006; Goren, 2009; Van Zoonen, 2005).

Because fictional entertainment is widely popular in different societies, and international viewers, especially young adults, cultivate political realities based on fictional narratives in international drama, the objective of this study is to examine the causal relationship between exposure to counter stereotypical fictional drama and attitude toward female politicians. We propose a conceptual framework to explicate the direct and indirect effects between media use motivations and attitudes toward female politicians and the role of crucial mediating variables such as identification, narrative transportation, enjoyment, and political self-efficacy in influencing the attitude of the viewers of international TV drama towards female politicians.

Developing a model for the political influence of primetime drama

As outlined earlier, recent scholarship highlighted the need to focus on fictional politainment, as it would be a “step beyond a singular focus on news” and would efficiently explicate processes underlying political persuasion (Holbert, 2005, p. 508; Roth et al., 2014). In many approaches focusing on the study of politainment, various psychological constructs such as identification with the characters, transportation into the narrative, and enjoyment play a central role in explaining the entertainment experience. Thus, we developed a path model to analyze associations between different constructs. The scope of our model is broad, which seeks inspiration from conceptual studies on the political influence of politainment and extant empirical work in recent scholarship. We expected that exposure to counter stereotypical representations in fictional primetime drama would culminate in a meaningful experience that would lead to greater identification with the female characters, transportation into the narrative, enjoyment, self-efficacy, and a subsequent positive change in attitude toward female politicians.

Identification

Bartsch and Schneider (2014) emphasized that exposure motives (hedonic and eudaimonic) to fictional entertainment were related to cognitive processing of messages and had an absorption potential that explained the effects of fictional entertainment on various political attitudes. The hedonic motives involve happiness, defining well-being in terms of pleasure attainment and pain avoidance, whereas the eudaimonic motivation is the willingness to initiate actions toward personal excellence. Hedonic entertainment experiences have been traditionally related to exposure to a comedy or a thriller while the other line of entertainment research considers exposure to politainment as a meaningful experience (Oliver & Raney, 2011; Wirth et al., 2012). Identification with characters was an outcome of these television viewing motives that facilitated absorption into the messages, which led to greater enjoyment of the narratives. Acknowledging prognostic power of identification with fictional characters, Holbert (2005) underlined the importance of affective disposition theory in understanding the enjoyment associated with politainment, but his “typology for the study of entertainment television and politics” (p. 436) fell short of an adequate explication of the other significant processes, which were integral components of the entertainment experience. Because affective disposition theory deals with the development of affective dispositions toward characters and moral evaluation of their behavior, identification with characters should also be interrelated with other variables explained by the affective disposition theory. As Cohen (2011) and Green, Brock, and Kaufman (2004) reported that identification with characters is a prerequisite for narrative transportation, it is significant to examine these constructs together to explain the enjoyment extracted from exposure to fictional political drama. Identification was defined as a process that helped viewers adopt the identity and perspective of characters in televisual narratives and gender identity determined the intensity of identification with characters (Cohen, 2011). Considering the role of identification in enhancing the entertainment value of the fictional political drama, we hypothesized the following:
Hypothesis 1a: Eudaimonic motives to use fictional political drama will be a strong positive predictor of identification with the main character in the dramatic narrative.

Hypothesis 1b: Hedonic motives to use fictional political drama will be a strong positive predictor of identification with the characters.

Hypothesis 2: Identification with the characters will be a strong positive predictor of (a) transportation into the narrative and (b) enjoyment of the fictional political drama.

Narrative transportation

Extant research provided ample evidence that identification with the characters in entertainment narratives and narrative transportation are closely intertwined psychological constructs. Identification consistently predicted narrative transportation, which in turn was highly correlated with the enjoyment of the exposure to entertainment media (Appel & Richter, 2010; Bilandzic & Busselle 2009; Green & Brock, 2000). Although identification has been known for its fluid nature, higher levels of identification increased the probability of imitating the behavior modeled by the mediated characters and greater involvement in the narrative (Cohen, 2011). Narrative transportation, defined as “the state of feeling cognitively, emotionally, and imaginably immersed in a narrative world” (Green & Brock, 2000; Sestir & Green, 2010, p. 275), was an important mediating variable in this study as it facilitated an understanding of the process of persuasion and attitude change (Appel & Richter, 2007; 2010).

Several studies identified that absorption into the storyline minimized critical evaluation of the narratives that led to attitudinal and behavioral changes. Due to absorption's influence on cognitive and emotional responses of the audiences, viewers of politainment were likely to use a peripheral route when processing political stories (Sestir & Green, 2010). Therefore, this study assumed that transportation would work as a powerful mediator and moderator of attitudinal change (Green & Brock, 2000) and a significant factor influencing viewer self-efficacy and subsequent attitudes toward female politicians by reducing reactance toward female acceptance in leadership roles. Sestir and Green (2010) elaborated that, as viewer absorption in stories increased, they were emotionally bonded to the narrative world and “began to see the real world through the filter of the media-created worlds” (p. 276). Consequently, viewers would have greater self-efficacy after exposure to drama showing a powerful female role model who succeeded in achieving excellence against all odds. Campbell and Wolbrecht (2006) advanced this argument in a cross-cultural study and argued that positive representation of female politicians is significantly related to higher levels of political self-efficacy. The current study proposed the following hypothetical propositions to examine the predictive power of narrative transportation and to reassess the relationship between enjoyment and narrative transportation when viewers were exposed to fictional political drama:
Hypothesis 3a: Eudaimonic motives to use fictional political drama will be a positive and strong predictor of transportation into the narrative.

Hypothesis 3b: Hedonic motives to use fictional political drama will be a positive and strong predictor of transportation into the narrative.

Hypothesis 4: Transportation into the narrative will be a positive and strong predictor of enjoyment experienced by viewers of fictional political drama.

Enjoyment

As indicated in the foregoing paragraphs, a central objective of exposure to entertainment media is enjoyment (Tamborini, 2011). Enjoyment is a complex psychological construct, and different approaches have been applied to fully explicate how people enjoyed what they enjoyed (Green et al., 2004; Raney, 2006). Affective disposition theory offered plausible explanations by connecting enjoyment with the actions of the characters in the narrative, and Bilandzic and Busselle (2009) argued that enjoyment is a function of identification, narrative transportation, immersion, and perceived realism of the entertainment narratives. Bilandzic and Busselle claimed that narrative transportation was significantly associated with enjoyment, whereas Green et al. (2004) asserted that identification with the characters in the narrative is a prerequisite for transportation into the narrative. Considering the assertions of researchers in media psychology and effects literature, it could be argued that enjoyment essentially depends on identification with the characters and narrative transportation with the potential to influence mood, attitudes, and behavioral intentions. The opposite argument is also possible that use characters as the laughingstock for the enjoyment of viewers as people watching television shows.

Affective disposition theory also addresses the affective appreciation of the actions of characters in fictional narratives. Meanwhile, Cohen (2011) argued that viewers wished to identify with characters similar to them, and the perceived similarity with the characters also termed “empathy,” would enhance the enjoyment of fictional narratives.

Enjoyment was conceptualized as a post hoc experience in scholarly literature. However, several studies focused on the potential of the enjoyment quotient of entertainment media in creating a formidable sense of achievement, control, and self-efficacy (Vorderer et al., 2004, p. 394). Vorderer, Hartmann, and Klimmt (2003) argued that enjoyment was correlated with higher levels of self-efficacy because an upbeat mood strengthens viewer belief in their capacity as good citizens. In an earlier study, Salomon (1984) found that television narratives were peripherally processed and thus less demanding than printed narratives and positively affect the self-efficacy of the viewers. Thus, the visual nature of primetime drama makes complicated political issues comprehensible to many groups such as youths, and because of identification with the protagonist, viewers tended to enjoy the narratives with increased self-efficacy. A powerful female protagonist in a fictional political drama was a special case as a political self-efficacy booster because viewers tended to conform to the message and modeled behaviors presented through entertainment narratives (Oliver & Bartsch, 2011). To explore the relationship between enjoyment and self-efficacy, we hypothesized the following causal relationship:
Hypothesis 5: Enjoyment of a fictional political drama will be a positive and strong predictor of political self-efficacy of the viewers.

Political self-efficacy and attitude toward female politicians

Conventionally, politically less efficacious segments of the society such as women and youth are stereotyped as indifferent groups responsible for the trivialization of politics (Van Zoonen, 2005). As a significant political attitude, political self-efficacy was defined as the feeling that political and social change is possible and that the individual citizen can play a part in bringing about this change (Caprara et al., 2009). Hoffman and Thompson (2009) argued that politainment affected political self-efficacy, as television was predominantly a source of political socialization and information for young viewers. Empirical evidence suggests that the use of entertainment media is positively correlated with political self-efficacy, and young adults were more politically self-efficacious when exposed to political stories in primetime drama and other entertainment media (Kushin & Yamamoto, 2010; Ford, 2011). Prior studies demonstrated that enjoyment of television drama positively affected political self-efficacy that led to enhanced levels of political participation (Ford, 2011; Wolbrecht & Campbell, 2007). Increased levels of self-efficacy facilitated cognitive involvement and bestowed upon youth an agentic perspective that energized and activated them to work for a positive social change. Lee Kaid et al. (2007) argued that political information efficacy could be a determinant of voter confidence in their political awareness that would determine subsequent voting behavior. Likewise, Wolbrecht and Campbell (2007) demonstrated that visible and viable female role model could positively influence the political self-efficacy of young people and sparked an interest in political activities. To examine the prognostic power of political self-efficacy, the following causal links were hypothesized:
Hypothesis 6: Political self-efficacy of viewers will be a significant positive predictor of their attitudes toward female politicians.

Attitude toward female politicians is influenced by numerous factors. Wolbrecht and Campbell (2007) argued that the visibility of female role models as viable political candidates can motivate other women to participate in practical politics. The portrayal of female politicians as powerful characters influenced attitudes of the female viewers because gender identities were primed and gender empathy increased (Simon & Hoyt, 2008). In their study, Campbell and Wolbrecht (2006) discussed the role of female politicians as role models for young girls who were likely to learn politics, develop political attitudes, and model behavior patterns popularized by female political leaders. The viewers of assorted entertainment genres showed a keen interest in politics because of a substantial increase in political self-efficacy and knowledge as they sought information about their favorite female political leaders (Wolbrecht & Campbell, 2007). The role model effect contributes significantly to processes culminating in enhanced levels of political socialization, and Ford (2011) attributed this attitudinal change to the prevalence of political narratives in assorted entertainment media genres, especially fictional drama.

This study also centered on several indirect effects of various variables postulated in the hypothesized structural equation models (SEM) on attitudes toward female politicians. Measuring the indirect effects of psychological involvement with entertainment media has gained popularity in the past few years. Tukachinsky (2014), for example, argued that “transportation was impacted by distraction, perspective taking instructions, and meta-narrative information” (p. 2). Likewise, researchers argued that a variety of media effects operate at indirect levels, and a careful assessment of indirect effects is a necessary step before making claims. To examine indirect effects and the mediating role of identification, narrative transportation, enjoyment, and enjoyment in the theorized SEM model, this study proposed the following hypotheses:
Hypothesis 7: Political self-efficacy (a), enjoyment (b), transportation into a narrative (c), and identification with the lead character (d) will be significant mediators between hedonic exposure motives and attitude toward female politicians.

Hypothesis 8: Political self-efficacy (a), enjoyment (b), transportation into a narrative (c), and identification with the lead character (d) will be significant mediators between eudaimonic exposure motives and attitude toward female politicians.

This study relied on multiple treatments with control experimental design and used two versions of international television drama: one with female political role model in primary lead character (Commander-in-Chief) and second with the female political role model in secondary lead character (24). The current study also proposed the following research question to explore the differences between experimental conditions on key endogenous (dependent variables) such as identification, enjoyment, narrative transportation, political self-efficacy, and attitude towards female politicians:

Research Question: What are the differences between viewers of two experimental conditions representing female politicians in primary and secondary roles on attitude towards female politicians, identification with the characters, narrative transportation, enjoyment, and political self-efficacy?

Methodology

Study design

A randomized experiment with multiple treatments and control was conducted to investigate the effects of fictional narratives on the attitudes of viewers toward female role models. The experimental design randomly assigned participants to experimental, comparison, and control groups. Randomization helped prevent a significant internal validity threat that dealt with selection bias and reduced the probability of confounding this threat with the treatment (Shadish et al., 2002). The stimulus materials were selected in consonance with the assumptions of the role model effect, which ascertained that viewers were likely to enjoy the presence of a female role model as the protagonist and would change their attitudes toward female leadership because of a powerful impact exercised by the stimulus material, which would generate positively valenced feelings toward counterstereotypical fictional characters (Wolbrecht & Campbell, 2007).

Stimulus material

Because the experimental design for this study relied on multiple treatments and control, three video clips were used. ABC's Commander-in-Chief (2005) was selected, as this was a fictional drama broadcast internationally and seriously focused on a female U.S. presidency (Adams, 2011). Fox's counterterrorism drama 24 (2009) was chosen as a comparison stimulus to Commander-in-Chief because President Allison Taylor was not the main protagonist, but her role was powerful enough to attract the attention of international viewers. 24 was distributed across the globe enjoying a large viewership and success in the UK and Australia where it was released in December 2010. Both dramas were available on global internet platforms and enjoyed international viewership.

Thus, the objective was to compare the treatment effects of a fictional drama with a female politician protagonist with a fictional drama displaying a female protagonist in a powerful but secondary role. These experimental conditions were compared with a control condition representing a gender and politics-neutral documentary of equal length that described the making of HBO drama Game of Thrones. It was ensured that the portrayal was positive to enhance treatment effects.

Pretesting

A total of 121 undergraduate students consented to participate in the pretest, and demographic information revealed that a majority of the participants, 76 (62.8%), were females. Univariate analysis of variance procedure revealed a main effect of experimental conditions on identification with the characters and transportation into the narrative, F(2, 118) = 6.46, p = .002, η²_{identification} = .10 and F(2, 117) = 6.86, p = .002, η²_{transportation} = .10, respectively. However, ANOVA failed to detect differences among experimental, comparison, and control conditions for enjoyment and attitude toward female politicians. However, the means were in expected direction for enjoyment (M_Experimental = 52.48, M_Comparison = 50.61, M_Control = 47.08 and SD_Experimental = 12.37, SD_Comparison = 12.11, SD_Control = 13.44) and attitude toward female politicians (M_Experimental = 280.80, M_Comparison = 279.53, M_Control = 280.03 and SD_Experimental = 16.73, SD_Comparison = 15.58, SD_Control = 15.29), and the nonsignificant results might be due to the small sample size that reduced the power of the tests. To explore group differences further, the Tukey Honest Significant Difference procedure was used for post hoc analysis for identification with the characters and narrative transportation, and the results indicated that the two variables had higher levels in the experimental condition than in comparison and control conditions. The comparison condition had higher scores on identification with the characters and narrative transportation compared to the control condition. Thus, mean differences were in the expected direction and statistically significant (at = .05), which confirmed that stimulus videos produced anticipated results and provided evidence that Commander-in-Chief was a stronger treatment than 24, although both treatments were sturdier than the control condition, which meant these results did not occur by chance.

Sample

The data were collected from undergraduates enrolled in two large Southeastern U.S. public universities in exchange for extra credit, the amount of which was determined by relevant instructors. The participants were contacted via email and requested to voluntarily participate in this study per instructions of the human subjects’ committee. A total of 364 undergraduate students from courses at two large public sector universities in the Southeastern United States were recruited for this study, and 359 completed the study, with a 1.4% dropout rate. Demographic characteristics of the sample revealed that an overwhelming majority of the sample was comprised of females (270, 75.2%), while male participants (89) constituted 24.8% of the sample. The median age of the participants was 20 years, and the self-reported ethnic background disclosed that 60.2% (216) were White, 8.4% (30) were African Americans, 4.2% (15) were Asian Americans,.8% (3) were Native Americans, 20.1% (71) were Hispanics, and 6.4% (23) did not disclose their ethnic background. Regarding party affiliation, 107 (29.8%) were associated with the Democratic Party, 111 (30.9%) were affiliated with the Republican Party, 102 (28.4) were independent, and 39 (10.9%) chose the “other” category representing other smaller parties having little influence on the political processes in the United States. The use of student sampling may not be the best option as it is inappropriate when the results are generalized to a large population. It is therefore suggested that the research be later replicated with nonstudent subjects.

Procedure

Participants were asked to participate in the experiment in a computer lab and received an instruction sheet from the proctors containing useful information regarding the experimental procedure. An a priori random assignment was completed to increase power and equalize the number of participants in the three conditions using Research Randomizer software (Shadish, Campbell, & Cook, 2002). The participants were required to sign the consent form before proceeding to the questionnaire. Subsequently, the participants responded to a few ps regarding their political self-efficacy and media use motives before they were asked to watch stimulus videos under different conditions. The participants returned to the main survey upon completion of the video and responded to various ps measuring key variables in this study. Toward the end of the survey, the participants submitted their demographic information and details for extra credit purposes.

Measures

Eudaimonic motives to watch political entertainment

Adopted from Oliver and Raney (2011), the scale measured “truth-seeking” or meaningful entertainment experience. This study split the scale into two parts: scale one measuring eudaimonic or meaningful motives to watch politainment consisted of six items, and scale two measuring pleasure-seeking or hedonic motives comprised six items. For eudaimonic motives, the participants were asked to respond to a list of six ps associated with viewer motives for watching meaningful politainment on a Likert-type 7-point scale. The scores were combined to create an index with sample scale items such as, “I like dramas that challenge my way of seeing the world,” and, “My favorite kind of dramas are the ones that make me think.” The scale reliability was excellent (α = .87, M = 34.35, SD = 5.10).

Hedonic motives to watch politainment

Hedonic or pleasure-seeking motives to watch politainment were measured with six items on a Likert-type seven-item scale adopted from Oliver and Raney (2011). As the original scale was modified, reliability and factor loadings were explored before using the scale in this study. The scale (M = 30.84, SD = 5.58) had a good level of reliability, with α = .79. The scale included items such as, “Dramas that make me laugh are among my favorites,” and, “My favorite kinds of dramas are happy and positive.”

Identification

Extant research indicated that viewers tended to identify with media characters they liked. In this study, an established scale from existing measures (Cohen, 2011) was used to appropriately operationalize the construct. Examples of the items used to measure identification with the characters were, “I think I have a good understanding of the lead character,” “When the female lead character succeeded, I felt joy, but when she failed, I was sad,” and, “I totally understand the female lead character's behavior.” The scale mean and standard deviation were 55.60 and 10.55, respectively, and the value of α was.89, signifying an excellent level of reliability.

Narrative transportation

As a construct, transportation into the narrative was efficiently measured in several studies and showed consistent levels of validity and reliability (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009; Green & Brock, 2000). In this study, a slightly modified version of transportation into the narrative scale developed by Green and Brock (2002) was used and contained 10 items on a seven-point Likert-type scale in which one was associated with “strongly disagree” and 7 anchored “strongly agree.” Three items were recoded to ensure that higher numbers showed higher levels of transportation into the narrative. An index was created by summing responses to the 11 items used in the scale. Example items include, “I could picture myself in the scene of the events described in the movie narrative,” and, “The events in the movie narrative have changed my life.” Participants showing higher levels of transportation scored higher on the scale, whereas low-scoring participants experienced lower levels of transportation. The α level was.79, which reflected that the scale (M = 41.17, SD = 9.07) was reliably measuring the construct under discussion.

Enjoyment

Enjoyment has been reliably measured through various scales in previous studies, and this study measured the construct with a seven-item scale used by Raney and Bryant (2002). The lower end of the scale indicated “not at all,” while the higher end specified “a great deal” responses. Example items were, “How much did you enjoy the movie treatment?” and “How exciting was the movie treatment?” The scale (M = 47.84, SD = 13.19) displayed an excellent level of reliability with an α level of.93.

Political self-efficacy

A four-item seven-point Likert-type scale was adopted from Kushin and Yamamoto (2010) to measure the political self-efficacy of the participants. On this scale, “strongly disagree” and “strongly agree” were scored as one and seven, respectively. The item scores were summed to produce an additive scale with a good reliability (M = 19.70, SD = 4.22, Cronbach α = .83). The example items included, “I have a real say in what the government does,” and, “My vote makes a difference.”

Attitude toward female politicians (ATFP)

For this study, 13 items were used from scales used by Simon and Hoyt (2008). To ensure unidimensionality, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on two independent samples. Data for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were separately collected (N = 121), and the results indicated that the items loaded on two factors and cumulatively explained the 63.23% variance. These factors were named viability and competence in accordance with the academic literature, which suggested that viewers formed positive affective dispositions toward viable and competent female politicians. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was specified on other data (N = 359), and the results indicated that the data acceptably fit the model (Figure 1). The goodness of fit indices for the model (χ² = 86.72, df = 59, p = 0.02; root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.04; comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.99, Tucker Lewis index (TLI) = 0.99; standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) = 0.07) designated the degree to which our hypothesized model fit the data. The reliability statistics also testified to the construct validity of the instrument (α = .86, M = 55.43, SD = 10.53). Sample items were, “I would support a female presidential candidate's nomination,” and, “If elected, a female presidential candidate will be a competent President of the U.S.”

Figure 1.
CFA model for attitude toward female politicians.

Results

Establishing causal links through path model

Based on previous research, a path model was hypothesized delineating causal links focused on the effects of exposure to fictional political drama on attitude toward female politicians (Figure 2). The initial model also performed mediational analysis by examining specific and total indirect effects between exogenous (whose value is determined outside the model and are not explained within the model) and endogenous variables (which are explained by the model that is changed or determined by its relationship with other variables within the model). Satisfying the multivariate normality assumption, the skewness and kurtosis coefficients were not greater than cutoff points (± 5) proposed by Mardia (1970), which meant that the estimates in the hypothesized model were reliable. Direct and indirect paths from hedonic and eudaimonic motives to the endogenous variables were tested using SEM software, MPlus 7. The goodness of fit statistics for the model (χ² = 18.35, df = 11, p = 0.07; RMSEA = 0.05; CFI = .97, TLI = .95; SRMR = 0.06) indicated the degree to which the hypothesized model fitted the data with all goodness of fit indices in an acceptable range.

Figure 2.
Standardized path coefficients in the hypothesized model.

Direct paths between exogenous and endogenous variables were examined; as predicted by hypotheses, the standardized results reflected that meaningful (eudaimonic) motives to use fictional primetime drama were a significant positive predictor of identification with the characters (b = .24, p <.05) and narrative transportation (b = .22, p <.05) among young viewers. Meanwhile, the causal links between hedonic motives to use fictional political drama and identification with the characters (b = .08, p >.05) and narrative transportation (b = −0.03, p >.05) were not significant, so these hypotheses were not supported. It was interesting to note that the relationship between hedonic motives and narrative transportation was negative. These results connoted that young viewers were interested in fictional political drama for meaningful purposes and appreciated the positive messages enshrined in entertainment narratives. Other hypotheses were supported, suggesting that identification with characters positively predicted narrative transportation (b = .33, p <.05) and enjoyment (b = .25, p <.05). Likewise, another hypothesis (the path from transportation to enjoyment) found support (b = .62, p <.05), and in consonance with the existing literature (Green et al., 2004), narrative transportation and enjoyment were highly related. Two more hypotheses were supported, indicating that enjoyment was a strong predictor of political self-efficacy (b = .21, p <.05), and political self-efficacy efficiently predicted attitude toward female politicians (b = .13, p <.05).

Hypotheses seven and eight stipulated a mediational relationship between hedonic and eudaimonic motives to use politainment and attitude toward female politicians. A liberal α value of.10 was used to assess the mediational potential of significant mediators. Hypothesis 8 was not supported as total, total indirect, and specific indirect effects between hedonic motives to use political drama and attitude toward female politicians were not statistically significant (p >.10). Total effects (b = .01, p <.10) and total indirect effects (b = .01, p <.10) between eudaimonic motives to use political drama and attitude toward female politicians were statistically significant (Figure 3). However, the specific indirect effects were not significant even at a liberal α value of.10. Thus, hypothesis 9 was supported and reflected that the relationship between eudaimonic motives and attitude toward female politicians was jointly mediated by identification, narrative transportation, enjoyment, and political self-efficacy at α value of.10. To examine the prognostic power of individual mediators such as identification with characters, narrative transportation, and enjoyment, the mediational analysis indicated that these mediators were significant at α <.10. Enjoyment seemed to be a good mediator as both total (b = .03, p <.10) and total indirect (b = .03, p <.10) effects were statistically significant, followed by narrative transportation with significant total (b = .02, p <.10) and total indirect effects (b = .02, p <.10). Identification was also a plausible mediator, with significant total (b = .01, p <.10) and total indirect (b = .01, p <.10) effects. The results reflected that, as the number of in-between mediator variables increased, the total and total indirect effects became weaker. Standardized maximum likelihood estimates of total and total indirect effects can be seen in Table 1.

Figure 3.
Standardized path coefficients in the constrained model.

Table 1.
Direct and indirect effects associated with model parameters.

Unstandardized

Parameter Direct Effects SE Standardized

Eud mot Identification .42* .11 .24*

Eud mot Transport .40* .11 .22*

Hed mot Identification .11 .09 .08

Hed mot Transport -.06 .08 -.04

Identification Transport .34* .06 .33*

Identification Enjoyment .35* .06 .25*

Transport Enjoyment .85* .06 .63*

Enjoyment Pol self-eff .08* .02 .21*

Pol self-eff Att fem pol .32 .16 .13

Total Indirect Effects

Eud mot Att fem pol .01* .01 .01*

Hed mot Att fef pol .80 .00 .80

Total Effects

Eud mot Att fem pol .01* .01 .01*

Hed mot Att fem pol .80 .00 .80

p* <.10, p <.05, p <.01.

This study performed post hoc modifications to develop a better fitting model as two insignificant direct paths were found in the hypothesized model, which was compared to a constrained nested model using a χ² difference test by eliminating the nonsignificant paths one by one. The model was constrained by removing the nonsignificant direct paths (hedonic motives to identification and hedonic motives to narrative transportation) and compared with the initial model. All direct paths between exogenous and endogenous variables were significant in the constrained model, and the variation in the χ² value between models denoted the effects of deletion of nonsignificant direct paths. The value of χ² for the constrained model was 15.33 (df = 8 and p >.05), and the χ² difference between the hypothesized model and constrained model was 3.02 with df = 3 and p >.05. The χ² difference test was not significant, and the constrained model was favored over the hypothesized model based on the parsimony principle. These results suggest that deleting nonsignificant paths upgraded the model quality and sustained the assumption that eudaimonic motives to use fictional political drama had a positive effect on attitude toward female politicians. The results of the path model supplemented confidence in the capacity of eudaimonic motives, identification with characters, narrative transportation, enjoyment, and political self-efficacy in positively impacting young viewers’ attitudes toward female politicians.

Key differences between experimental conditions

As expected, we found a statistically significant difference between different experimental groups (F(2, 356) = 7.52, p = .001, η² = .04). To further explore group differences between the viewers of Commander-in-Chief and 24, a post-hoc comparison test revealed that the viewers of Commander-in-Chief had a more positive attitude toward female politicians compared to the viewers of 24 (p <.05). There was no statistically significant difference between viewers of Commander-in-Chief in and 24 (p = .10); besides, the viewers of 24 were also not significantly different from participants in the control condition (p = .19) albeit the mean score on attitude toward female politicians was higher (M = 55.30) for the viewers watching 24 compared to the control condition (M = 52.90). The results of the post-hoc mean comparisons also indicated that significant group differences existed across experimental conditions (p <.05), except for the political self- efficacy. The participants exposed to Commander-in-Chief had significantly higher means compared to the viewers of 24 and the control group. Our findings revealed that on average, participants exposed to Commander-in-Chief had significantly higher means than viewers of 24 and the control groups and participant exposed to 24 scored significantly higher than the control group (Table 2).

Table 2.
Multiple comparisons across experimental conditions.

Dependent Variable Experimental Condition (I) Experimental Condition (J) Δ Mean (I-J) Sig. 95% CI

Lower Bound Upper Bound

Enjoyment 1 One 2 Two −.76 .89 −4.68 3.15

3 Three 4.34* .02 .42 8.25

2 Two 1 One .76 .89 −3.15 4.68

3 Three 5.10* .00 1.18 9.02

3 Three 1 One −4.34* .02 −8.25 −.42

2 Two −5.11* .00 −9.02 −1.18

Identification 1 One 2 Two .36 .95 −2.60 3.31

3 Three 8.42* .00 5.46 11.37

2 Two 1 One −.36 .95 3.31 2.60

3 Three 8.05* .00 5.09 11.02

3 Three 1 One −8.42* .00 −11.34 −5.46

2 Two −8.06* .00 −11.02 −−5.09

Transportation 1 One 2 Two .64 .83 −1.99 3.26

3 Three 5.61* .00 2.98 8.23

2 Two 1 One −.64 .83 −3.26 1.99

3 Three 4.97* .00 2.34 7.60

3 Three 1 One −5.61* .00 −8.23 −2.98

2 Two −4.97* .00 −7.60 −2.34

Political Self-efficacy 1 One 2 Two .38 .76 −.89 1.65

3 Three −.067 .99 −1.34 1.20

2 Two 1 One −.38 .76 −1.65 .89

3 Three −.45 .68 −1.72 .83

3 Three 1 One .07 .99 −1.20 1.34

2 Two .45 .68 −.83 1.72

^*
p <.05, **p <.01.

Discussion

This study focused on the role of fictional politainment in engendering a tangible change in the attitude of the viewers toward female political role models in the narrative. In agreement with the previous research, the current study hypothesized an SEM model to explicate relationships between various intervening variables that play a role in transforming a superficial entertainment exposure into a meaningful experience that left an imprint on the memory of the viewers. However, extant research in entertainment psychology peripherally dealt with the effects of politicized fictional entertainment on the attitudes of the viewers (Holbert, 2005; Van Zoonen & Wring, 2012). Likewise, literature in political communication paid little attention to fictional political drama (especially with female role models), except for studies on The West Wing, which narrated the story of a male president (Holbert, 2005). Entertainment researchers also fell “short of capturing the experiential qualities and complex emotional processes triggered by various types of media entertainment that exist in reality” (Klimmt, 2011, p. 34). Bartsch and Schneider (2014) underscored the significance of fictional entertainment in eliciting emotional involvement, which might result in elaborate cognitive processing of the information packaged in politainment such as drama and promoted interest in political discussions and processes. This study sought inspiration from this line of research and conceptualized that exposure to fictional political drama with a female lead character would positively change the attitude of viewers toward the character.

It would also be pertinent to add a critical reflection by critically examining the focus on female politicians in the extant literature. Several studies examined the representation of female leaders and found that female role models were stereotypically represented in international film and television. Critical scholars suggest that feminization of entertainment products usually commodifies female role models by portraying them in roles, which are visually pleasing and melodramatic in nature (Van Zoonen, 2005). These stereotypical representations may enhance gender inequality and lead to a continuity of patriarchal traditions as female viewers are likely to espouse fake, glamorous, and melodramatic feminist standpoint, which would lead to passivity and inertia. In all societies, equality for women has been advocated by feminist scholars and critical researchers and activist have advocated a social change in favor of female role models. Contrariwise, contemporary television tends to treat male and female role models differently, which clearly distinguishes male and female role models and female leaders and criticized for their feminine style (Ford, 2011). Our findings help understand the significance of showing positive female role models in contemporary fictional entertainment media.

Before moving forward and explaining the results obtained in this study, it was plausible to dissect the psychological dimensions of the central dependent variable in this study (i.e. attitudes toward female politicians). Numerous studies identified the relationship between political attitudes and exposure to fictional and nonfictional mediated narratives and characters (Campbell & Wolbrecht, 2006). Extant research found that women traditionally endorsed nontraditional roles and liberal political attitudes and tended to support female candidates after exposure to media portraying powerful female role models (Simon & Hoyt, 2008). Thus, the influence of mediated female role models on the development of political attitudes was likely to generate greater political involvement among young adults, and the “role model effect” contributed significantly to processes culminating in enhanced levels of political socialization. Because female protagonists in lead political roles in the fictional political drama were scarce, it was significant to hypothesize if viewer attitude toward female politicians changed because of exposure to stories in which females were shown as trustworthy, ambitious, and courageous political leaders (Appel & Mara, 2013; Van Zoonen, 2005; Zillmann, 2006). Considering the significance of powerful female characters in changing attitudes toward gender roles, the results explained in this study established the significance of powerful female characters in different media narratives to influence opinions, attitudes, and behavior.

Similarly, viewer political attitudes would be affected considering the motives or personal traits they espoused before exposing themselves to politainment (Delli Carpini, 2012). In the political communication literature, researchers argued that academic scholarship should strive to explore why consumption of a particular genre of politainment affected the attitudes of the viewers (Holbert, 2005). In the same vein, Holbert et al. (2007) suggested that motives using fictional politainment could be linked to the individual level of media used for viewer orientation.

In the hypothesized SEM model for this study, identification with the characters was a significant mediator. Viewers tended to identify with the characters they liked and which were perceived as similar to them (Simon & Hoyt, 2008). It was plausible to assume that powerful and likable protagonists would stimulate positive feelings about their actions and motives. Therefore, it was hypothesized that females would develop a more favorable attitude toward female politicians because of such identification. However, the hypothesized causal relationship was not supported, and the reason might be a young sample, which is known for espousing liberal political attitudes. Meanwhile, identification was significantly related to eudaimonic motives compared to the hedonic motives of exposure to politainment. Viewers identified with the characters involved in meaningful activities, and the results obtained while testing hypothesis 5a indicated that viewers in experimental and comparison conditions developed greater identification with the characters compared to viewers not exposed to a female role model (control condition). These findings were also consistent with the literature as Lin (2013) indicated that identification with the characters was an antecedent of attitudinal change, and viewers having higher levels of identification were easily transported into the narrative of the stories, which subsequently lowered critical evaluation of the messages and led to greater attitudinal change followed by a tangible influence on behavior. In this study, identification with the characters was a significant predictor of transportation and enjoyment as was argued in the entertainment psychology literature Igartua, 2010).

As argued in the earlier paragraph, identification led to great transportation into the narrative, which facilitated peripheral processing of information contained in entertainment narratives by reducing reactance (Appel & Richter, 2010). It was hypothesized in this study that motives to use fictional entertainment and identification with the characters would predict absorption (transportation) into the narratives of the fictional content, which, in turn, would predict levels of enjoyment. The results reflected that eudaimonic motives and identification with the characters significantly predicted narrative transportation, while hedonic motives fell short of establishing a plausible relationship with transportation into the stories. In fact, transportation decreased with an increase in pleasure-seeking motives to watch fictional primetime dramas. A conceivable explanation could be the viewer's processing of political information and motivations to watch a specific genre. Shen, Ahern, and Baker (2014) argued that narratives influence both affective and cognitive processing of the messages and might generate a tendency to acquire information, in addition to eliciting emotional reactions. In this study, young viewers might have paid more attention to the meaningful actions and ambitions of the lead protagonists that led them to appreciate the narrative instead of involving in a superficial pleasure-seeking experience. Thus, transportation in this study seemed to be influenced by the appreciation attached to fictional political narratives and greater identification with the action and motivations of the female political leaders. By generating affectional and emotional responses, transportation led to greater enjoyment and confirmed the assertions made in extant research about a strong relationship between enjoyment and narrative transportation (Green, Brock, & Kaufman, 2004). Results also indicated that viewers exposed to Commander-in-Chief and 24 experienced greater transportation than viewers in the control condition, and the linearity of the transportation trend indicated that viewers in the experimental condition have a significantly stronger relationship than the viewers in the comparison condition, and the viewers in the control condition experienced the lowest level of transportation.

This research focused on enjoyment as a significant predictor and mediator of relationships between exposure and attitudinal change. It was hypothesized that an increased level of enjoyment would lead to greater political self-efficacy in consonance with the arguments presented by Campbell and Wolbrecht (2006) that viewers enjoyed the presence of female politicians by identifying with them, and consequently, their internal political self-efficacy was bolstered. The results were significant, and enjoyment emerged as a significant predictor of political self-efficacy, which signified that enjoyment experiences during exposure to fictional politainment efficiently influenced viewers’ political attitudes. Vorderer, Klimmt, and Ritterfeld (2004) fittingly suggested that enjoyment stood at the heart of entertainment consumption, and other researchers also argued that enjoyment and entertainment go together, and the ultimate ‘goal’ or pursued ‘outcome’ of entertainment is generally assumed to be that of enjoyment (Oliver & Bartsch, 2011; Oliver & Raney, 2011; Raney, 2006). This study, however, extended this stream of academic discourse by finding plausible results indicating that a meaningful entertainment experience might lead to an attitudinal change because of the cognitive processing emanating from an appreciation of narratives that stimulated freedom from self-limiting individual identities and created a life balance. This study also opened a research window for future investigations in entertainment psychology and political communication, and scholars could go beyond the “ultimate goal” conception of enjoyment, which limited the vitality of this wide-ranging psychological construct at the heart of all mediated experiences in an entertainment-laden world.

To explore the effects of enjoyment on attitudes, the current study hypothesized that greater enjoyment would be associated with higher political self-efficacy. Empirical evidence suggested that exposure to entertainment media was positively related to the political self-efficacy of viewers, and young adults specifically were more politically self-efficacious when exposed to politainment (Hoffman & Thomson, 2009). Keeping in view the existing literature on the uses of politainment, it was reasonable to assume that political self-efficacy would be a good mediator between attitude toward female politicians and other exogenous variables. It was also assumed that higher political self-efficacy would predict a more positive attitude toward female politicians, and the results indicated that political self-efficacy and attitude toward female leaders were positively related. At an alpha value of.10, political self-efficacy was a significant mediator between endogenous and various exogenous variables. However, political self-efficacy remained unchanged across experimental conditions, and a probable reason is the homogenous nature of the sample that was approximately evenly distributed across party and political ideology lines.

Limitations and concluding thoughts

Despite interesting and insightful findings presented in the foregoing paragraphs, the current study was not free from potential limitations. A significant caveat dealt with the eudaimonic motives to use politainment as it was considered a situational factor having dispositional traits and depended on the mood of the viewers (Bartsch & Schneider, 2014; Lewis, Tamborini, & Weber, 2014; Oliver & Raney, 2011). Since this study applied eudaimonic and hedonic motives as separate scales, it would be plausible in future research to examine the effects of combined exposure motives on attitude toward characters in politainment. The study also intended to account for measurement error frequently found in SEM models by using a full structure model; however, the specified model was highly complicated with an enormous number of degrees of freedom, which requires item parceling (which was beyond the scope of this study) in future politainment research to explore the plausibility of SEM models.

Another caveat dealt with the use of stimulus materials. This study relied on short (15-min) video clips that might not be akin to real-life primetime drama exposures. In addition, the video clip used in the comparison condition consisted of shots taken from various episodes of 24, which is a drama that centered on counterterrorism themes. Although the episodes were professionally edited to generate a coherent story, and its efficacy was pretested both qualitatively and quantitatively, the exposure experience was not natural. Likewise, the artificiality of the lab environment violated assumptions regarding ecological validity. However, randomized experiments in tightly controlled lab settings suffered from these issues (Mutz, 2006; Shadish, Campbell & Cook, 2002), and Gunter (2000) argued that researchers in social sciences heavily relied on excerpts from media content by isolating specific features of particular content to maximize treatment strength.

The use of a student sample was another limitation that affected the generalizability of the results. Although Field and Hole (2011) argued that psychology was the study of undergraduate behavior, a few researchers argued that “experiments studying attitude change” with student samples carried inherent weaknesses (Holbrook, 2011). As this study found consistent results in consonance with other research in entertainment psychology and political communication, it could be argued that the results were reliable. With the growth of academic research in this area, it is hoped that future studies will rely on more representative random samples to explore the significant effects of fictional politainment.

Overall, this study was a step forward in understanding the effects of fictional political narratives on attitude toward political protagonists. This study resonated with the concerns of politicians, academics, and activists that a positive media portrayal was required to promote the acceptability of female leaders in powerful positions. In agreement with recent research on entertainment and well-being and the role model effects, the current study produced evidence that exposure to fictional politainment could influence attitudes in a meaningful manner by reducing critical evaluation of the messages enshrined in the entertaining narratives. The SEM model also elucidated the processes at play during the exposure phase and offered substantial expositions of the cogent nature of “meaningfulness” associated with this experience. As aptly claimed by Oliver and Raney (2011, p. 363), “a focus on affect alone does not seem to be sufficient to cover the range of responses that individuals experience, either during the process of consumption itself or in the outcomes that entertainment may have on individuals,” it was incumbent upon entertainment psychology and political communication researchers to delve deeply into the effects politainment might cause. This line of research would have significant implications for academicians, policymakers, and politicians and would enable them to learn how viewers (especially young voters) consumed and processed politainment, which has become an integral part of modern democracy across the globe.

		Unstandardized
Eud mot	Identification	.42***	.11	.24***
Eud mot	Transport	.40***	.11	.22***
Hed mot	Identification	.11	.09	.08
Hed mot	Transport	-.06	.08	-.04
Identification	Transport	.34***	.06	.33***
Identification	Enjoyment	.35***	.06	.25***
Transport	Enjoyment	.85***	.06	.63***
Enjoyment	Pol self-eff	.08***	.02	.21***
Pol self-eff	Att fem pol	.32**	.16	.13**
		Total Indirect Effects
Eud mot	Att fem pol	.01*	.01	.01*
Hed mot	Att fef pol	.80	.00	.80
		Total Effects
Eud mot	Att fem pol	.01*	.01	.01*
Hed mot	Att fem pol	.80	.00	.80

Dependent Variable	Experimental Condition (I)	Experimental Condition (J)	Δ Mean (I-J)	Sig.	95% CI
Enjoyment	1 One	2 Two	−.76	.89	−4.68	3.15
3 Three	4.34*	.02	.42	8.25
2 Two	1 One	.76	.89	−3.15	4.68
3 Three	5.10*	.00	1.18	9.02
3 Three	1 One	−4.34*	.02	−8.25	−.42
2 Two	−5.11*	.00	−9.02	−1.18
Identification	1 One	2 Two	.36	.95	−2.60	3.31
3 Three	8.42*	.00	5.46	11.37
2 Two	1 One	−.36	.95	3.31	2.60
3 Three	8.05*	.00	5.09	11.02
3 Three	1 One	−8.42*	.00	−11.34	−5.46
2 Two	−8.06*	.00	−11.02	−−5.09
Transportation	1 One	2 Two	.64	.83	−1.99	3.26
3 Three	5.61*	.00	2.98	8.23
2 Two	1 One	−.64	.83	−3.26	1.99
3 Three	4.97*	.00	2.34	7.60
3 Three	1 One	−5.61*	.00	−8.23	−2.98
2 Two	−4.97*	.00	−7.60	−2.34
Political Self-efficacy	1 One	2 Two	.38	.76	−.89	1.65
3 Three	−.067	.99	−1.34	1.20
2 Two	1 One	−.38	.76	−1.65	.89
3 Three	−.45	.68	−1.72	.83
3 Three	1 One	.07	.99	−1.20	1.34
2 Two	.45	.68	−.83	1.72

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Azmat Rasul

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		Unstandardized
Parameter		Direct Effects	SE	Standardized
Eud mot	Identification	.42***	.11	.24***
Eud mot	Transport	.40***	.11	.22***
Hed mot	Identification	.11	.09	.08
Hed mot	Transport	-.06	.08	-.04
Identification	Transport	.34***	.06	.33***
Identification	Enjoyment	.35***	.06	.25***
Transport	Enjoyment	.85***	.06	.63***
Enjoyment	Pol self-eff	.08***	.02	.21***
Pol self-eff	Att fem pol	.32**	.16	.13**
		Total Indirect Effects
Eud mot	Att fem pol	.01*	.01	.01*
Hed mot	Att fef pol	.80	.00	.80
		Total Effects
Eud mot	Att fem pol	.01*	.01	.01*
Hed mot	Att fem pol	.80	.00	.80