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Can watching a tragic movie make you happier? That's the question Ohio State University Communication professor, Siliva Knoblock-Westerwick, and her research team set out to answer.
The Study
In her recent study published in the online edition of Communication Research, Knoblock-Westerwick asked 361 college students to watch an abridged version of the 2007 movie, Atonement, which was adapted from the stellar novel written by Ian McEwan. The story depicts the relationship of two lovers who end up being separated and eventually die in war.
Participants in the study were asked to assess their levels of happiness prior to and after watching the movie. In addition, they were also asked before, after, and three times during the movie how much they experienced various emotions, including sadness.
Upon completion of the movie, the participants were asked to rate how much they enjoyed the movie and write about how the movie influenced their reflections on themselves as well as their goals, their relationships, and their lives in general.
The Results
Knoblock-Westerwick discovered that the subject matter participants wrote about provided great insight into why people enjoy watching sad films.
The participants who experienced increased sadness while watching the movie were more likely to reference the close relationships in their lives in the composition of their narrative responses. This type of reflection increased their happiness after the viewing and was then correlated to a higher degree of enjoyment for the movie overall.
The participants who focused more on themselves in their written responses did not experience increased happiness after the movie. This finding served to test and question the theory that people feel happier after watching a tragedy simply because they take stock in knowing they are happier than the ill-beset characters.
"Tragedies don't boost life happiness by making viewers think more about themselves. They appeal to people because they help them to appreciate their own relationships more," says Knoblock-Westerwick. She also noted that the study underscores research in psychology that suggests we become more thoughtful
More to Explore
I think it would be fascinating to conduct this study across various age groups and also look for any correlations between personality type and the propensity to consider one's self versus one's relationships after viewing the film.
Is there a tragic movie that's increased your happiness?
Image courtesy of The New York Times.
