The role of moral disengagement in the judgment of characters and the enjoyment of violent film

How human beings derive enjoyment from media is an ever-growing area of scholarship in the media effects tradition of research. The importance of such research can be seen in the potential effects the media people enjoy have on their lives. Of particular interest to scholars is the way in which we form dispositions toward characters, deriving enjoyment from our favorite heroes' successes and cringing at their misfortunes. This dissertation examines the underlying psychological mechanisms that drive disposition formation and maintenance. Based on the disposition theory of drama (Zillmann & Cantor, 1976) and the integrated theory of crime drama enjoyment (Raney & Bryant, 2002), the studies herein seek to introduce Bandura's (1986) concept of moral disengagement into a model for explaining enjoyment of violent audiovisual narratives.;Study 1 addresses the problem of measurement of moral disengagement. An individual's tendency to morally disengage is thought to be an important factor in the moral judgments that are rendered in regard to characters in drama. However, no previously existing scale is able to measure such an individual difference in the context of violent media. Therefore a new scale was constructed to measure media moral disengagement tendency (MMDT), or the tendency of an individual to morally disengage from the actions of violent media characters.;Study 2 put the new MMDT scale to the test, assessing its power to predict moral judgments of violent fictional characters in an experimental setting. Study 2 also investigated the role of explicit moral disengagement cues in a film. In one version of the film, an explicit cue was present (MDP), while it was absent in the second version of the film (MDA). In the MDP condition, only punitiveness and vigilantism were significant predictors of moral judgments, and only deservedness predicted enjoyment. In the MDA condition, only MMDT and gender were predictors of moral judgments, and only victim sympathy was a predictor of enjoyment. Results indicate that the presence or absence of an explicit moral disengagement cue determines what moral judgments influence enjoyment, and which individual difference variables influence those moral judgments. It is proposed that schema theory can provide an explanation for this finding. MMDT, it would appear, only operates in the absence of an explicit moral disengagement cue, when the schema for crime drama/action is not activated. The findings have implications for disposition theory and the integrated theory of crime drama enjoyment. Suggestions for future research are offered.