Content and person effects in media research: Studying differences in cognitive, emotional, and arousal responses to media content

Abstract

Cognitive, emotional, and arousal responses to media content stem from two sources of variation: differences in content and differences between individuals. Although the first source of variation (content effects) has been well-studied, individual differences (person effects) in responses to media are investigated much less within communication science. To help build this comparatively thin area of scholarship, this study investigated how four theoretically relevant variables (need for cognition, affective empathy, sensation seeking, and sensory processing sensitivity) affected responses to positively and negatively valenced media entertainment. In a within-subjects design, 243 youth aged 7–15 years (49.4% female) responded to a positive and negative film clip using both self-reported and physiological measures (heart rate and skin conductance), while parents reported on individual differences. Multilevel analysis was used to distinguish between media content effects and individual differences in responses. Results showed that more variation in responses was due to differences between participants than to differences between stimuli. However, need for cognition, affective empathy, sensation seeking, and sensory processing sensitivity did not significantly explain this between-participant variation in responses. Several conceptual and methodological take-aways are offered to advance our understanding of the relationships between stable individual differences and state responses to media.