Loyalty to Soap Operas

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Loyalty to Soap Operas A PSYCHOLOGICAL ENQUIRY INTO THE PROCESSES THAT CULMINATE IN POSITIVE VIEWING EXPERIENCES AND SUBSEQUENT AUDIENCE LOYALTY TO A SOAP OPERA By JANI DE KOCK Submitted in fulfilment of the degree: MAGISTER ARTIUM IN PSYCHOLOGY (MA PSYCHOLOGY) In the FACULTY OF HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY At the UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA SUPERVISOR: DR C. WAGNER February 2010 Pretoria © University of Pretoria Capstone 1 I would like to express my sincere thanks to the following parties without whom this study would not have been possible: • Dr Claire Wagner, my supervisor and mentor. Thank you for guiding me on the path from market research to academic research and for teaching me how to fuse horizons in the hermeneutic spiral. It was a privilege to work with such an inspired researcher. • Lee Kotze, the “market researcher”, who taught me how to listen to consumers and who continues to share with me her treasure of insight with humility and grace. • The SABC for the generosity of allowing me to interpret their flagship soap opera and for their continued commitment to social investment through the stories they tell. • Gray Hofmeyr and Endemol Entertainment for redefining what soap opera means in South Africa. • The National Research Fund for their generous contribution to the study. • Dr Elizabeth du Preez for reviewing early drafts of my thesis and for first introducing me to the interprevist paradigm in my BPsych studies. • Debbie Lourens for final editing and for the time we shared first discovering the world of market research. This study would also not have been possible without those close to me: • My parents who taught me to love stories. My mother for being the first to teach me about character development and plots and my father for teaching me how to get things done. • My husband Paul-Roux, for the gift of time and for reading my early drafts with his pragmatic clarity. You are the ultimate romantic protagonist. SOLI DEO GLORIA 1 Written last - Zachariah 4: 6-9. ii Dedicated to the girl who got grounded for a semester in 1964. iii ABSTRACT The research was based on a secondary analysis of a qualitative market research study conducted for the SABC on the soap opera Isidingo . The data used in the study includes 10 focus groups, five diaries of loyal soap opera viewers who were asked not to watch Isidingo for a week and keep a record of their experience, a focus group conducted with these viewers after the completion of the deprivation exercise, the market researcher’s field notes, the market research report and the academic researcher’s own reflective diary. The analysis was conducted within a hermeneutic phenomenological interpretive framework. A model for the psychological processes that culminate in positive viewing experiences and audience loyalty to a soap opera is presented. The model illustrates how viewers use soap world knowledge and real world knowledge to interpret the characters and storylines of soap operas and that the degree of enjoyment the viewer experiences from viewing, is dependant on the quality of the mental models formed of these respective components. The role that transportation, realism, social influences and timeslot play in the engagement process is also defined. The study illustrates a hermeneutic phenomenological research pathway for qualitative research and demonstrates how market research can be explicated for academic gain. Key terms: soap opera, media psychology, lived reality, hermeneutic phenomenology, qualitative research, secondary analysis, market research. iv Chapter 1: Introduction 1. Introduction. 1 2. The lived reality under study. 2 2.1. Soap opera viewership 2 2.2. Isidingo as the selected soap opera 3 3. The research topic and its significance 4 4. Aim of the study... 6 4.1. Finding the link to loyalty 6 4.2. Understanding how to use market research for academic purposes. 6 4.3. Identifying a unique sub-genre. 7 5. Research questions. 7 6. Interpretive framework 7 7. Methodology.. 7 7.1. The market research study. 8 7.2. The academic study. 8 7.3. Justification for using this methodology.. 8 7.4. Defining the order of the research phases 9 8. Structure of content 9 9. Conclusion 11 Chapter 2: Literature 1. Introduction.. 12 2. The soap opera 14 2.1. Characteristics of the genre................... 14 2.2. Sub-types of the genre 15 2.3. Talking about soap operas with fellow viewers.. 16 2.4. Tension in the soap opera........ 17 2.5. Soap time 17 2.6. Reach of the genre in South Africa.. 18 2.7. The effects of soap operas as motivation for the importance of understanding the genre 18 3. Media theory 18 3.1. Reception theory and Livingstone’s application of social cognitive theory.. 21 3.2. The appropriateness of Livingstone’s approach to the interpretive paradigm. 22 4. The resourceful viewer.. 23 5. Interpretation of the narrative.. 24 5.1. The soap opera as open text 25 5.2. A framework within which to understand narrative drama.. 25 5.3. Viewer interpretations of the narrative drama 26 5.4. Semiotic concerns as additional frameworks for interpretation of the soap opera 28 v 5.4.1. Genre 27 5.4.2. Choice points.. 28 5.4.3. Levels of meaning.. 29 6. Interpreting characters 29 6.1. Social cognitive theory of Livingstone (1998) 29 6.1.1. Character representations in three major soap operas – Dallas, Coronation Street and EastEnders.................................................................................. 30 6.1.2. Insight into viewer’s interpretation of the soaps 32 6.1.2.1. Narrative meaning. 32 6.1.2.2. Narrative possibility 32 6.1.2.3. The impact of genre conventions on viewer representations. 33 6.1.3. Reflection on Livingstone (1998)’s research. 34 6.2. Cohen’s (2001) four types of involvement with mediated figures. 34 6.2.1. Identification................................................................................................ 35 6.2.1.1. Definition of identification 35 6.2.1.2. Characteristics of identification. 35 6.2.1.3. Enabling conditions for identification. 35 6.2.1.4. Effects of identification 36 6.2.2. Imitation 36 6.2.2.1. Definition of imitation 36 6.2.2.2. Characteristics of imitation 36 6.2.2.3. Enabling conditions for imitation. 37 6.2.2.4. Effects of imitation 37 6.2.3. Parasocial interaction. 37 6.2.3.1. Definition of parasocial interaction.. 37 6.2.3.2. Characteristics of parasocial interaction 38 6.2.3.3. Enabling conditions for parasocial interaction. 40 6.2.3.4. Effects of parasocial interaction 40 6.2.4. Affinity.. 41 6.2.4.1. Definition of affinity 41 6.2.4.2. Characteristics of affinity. 41 6.2.4.3. Enabling conditions for affinity.. 41 6.2.4.4. Effects of affinity 41 6.2.5. Realism 42 6.2.6. Reflection on Cohen’s (2001) four types of character involvement 42 6.3. The process of perceiving and experiencing fictional characters of Hoorn and Konijn (2003) and Konijn and Hoorn (2005). 42 6.3.1. Phase 1: Encoding 44 6.3.2. Phase 2: Comparison.. 45 6.3.2.1. Similarity.. 45 vi 6.3.2.2. Relevance.. 45 6.3.2.3. Valence (what viewers would like to see happen to the character) 45 6.3.3. Phase 3: Response. 46 6.4. How viewers relate to different character types 46 7. Engagement with the narrative.. 47 7.1. The model of narrative comprehension and engagement of Busselle and Bilandzic (2008). 48 7.2. Transportation 50 7.2.1. Definition of transportation.. 50 7.2.2. Characteristics of transportation 50 7.2.3. Enabling conditions for transportation. 50 7.2.4. Effects of transportation 51 8. Positive viewing experiences. 51 8.1. Terms that relate to positive viewing experiences 51 8.2. The tripartite view of enjoyment of Nabi and Krcmar (2004).. 52 8.3. Reflection on the relevance of the tripartite view of enjoyment as attitude... 53 9. Conclusion: The psychological processes that culminate in loyalty to soap operas.. 53 Chapter 3 - Interpretive framework 1. Introduction 55 2. Phenomenology 56 2.1. The history of phenomenology. 56 2.2. The ontological convergence of Husserl and Heidegger . 57 2.3. The epistemological divergence between Heidegger and Husserl. 58 2.4. Justification for using a hermeneutic phenomenological interpretive framework. 58 3. Hermeneutic phenomenology 59 3.1. Dasein 59 3.2. Historicity of interpretation.. 59 3.3. Facticity and the fusion of horizons.. 60 3.4. Heideggerian prejudice.. 60 3.5. The hermeneutic circle.. 61 3.6. Changing the hermeneutic circle into a spiral. 61 3.7. Modes of being. 62 3.8. Modes of engagement 63 3.8.1. Ready-to-hand mode of engagement.. 63 3.8.2. Unready-to-hand mode of engagement.. 64 3.8.3. Present-at-hand mode of engagement 64 3.8.4. Application of the modes of engagement.. 64 4. Clearing in the woods 65 5. A hermeneutic phenomenological research pathway.. 66 vii 5.1. Hermeneutic phenomenological research principles 68 5.1.1. Orientation to the narrative 68 5.1.2. Sensitivity to own interpretive influences. 69 5.1.3. Aim of the methodology. 69 5.1.4. Practical application. 69 6. Conclusion 69 Chapter 4: Methodology 1. Introduction.. 70 2. The research context. 70 2.1. Data sources 71 2.1.1. First hermeneutic data – footprints. 72 2.1.2. Second hermeneutic data – direction markers 73 2.1.3. Third hermeneutic data – the map.. 73 2.2. The data structure. 74 2.2.1. The first hermeneutic – the discussion guide.. 74 2.2.2. The second hermeneutic – the presentation structure.. 76 2.2.2.1. The second hermeneutic is more complete than the first.
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