Eudaimonic Entertainment Experiences of TV Theme Nights and Their Relationships With Political Information Processing and Engagement

Can fictional entertainment foster political information processing and engagement, and if so, how? A German national telephone survey ( N Study1 = 905) and two online surveys ( N Study2 = 877; N Study3 = 1,018) were conducted to extend prior experimental research by examining unforced exposure to full-length media stimuli in real-world settings, using representative surveys, and including self-reports of actual behavior after exposure. Survey participants were interviewed about television theme nights (i.e., a combination of subsequent entertainment and information programs on the same topic) to examine direct and indirect relationships between eudaimonic entertainment experiences (i.e., moving and thought-provoking experiences) and politically relevant outcomes. As expected, feeling moved by a movie positively correlated with reflective thoughts, which, in turn, were associated with issue interest, subjective knowledge, and willingness to participate politically across all three studies. Additional relationships of feeling moved and reflective thoughts with information seeking, objective knowledge, and interpersonal discussion emerged for some but not all studies.