Moral schemas in crime dramas: The matter of context for the activation of an antihero schema and its impact on moral judgment making

Recently, so called "antihero" TV shows such as Dexter, Revenge , or The Walking Dead seem to find great reception among audiences. Traditional crime dramas are enjoyed based on the moral approval of the protagonist and the empathetic feeling for the hero to win over the immoral, harm deserving villain. That formula, however, does not account for the immoral actions antiheroes perform, who despite their morally inappropriate actions are still greatly liked and identified with, and narratives featuring them are greatly enjoyed. Raney (2004) argued that viewers are cognitive misers and instead of morally scrutinizing the character's actions before building a disposition towards them, they rely on narrative schemas. Through repeated exposure to a certain kind of narrative (i.e., traditional hero narrative or non-traditional antihero narrative), specific story schemas are formed that provide the viewer with a set of rules how to interpret the unfolding events and preformed attitudes about the protagonists, which consequently eliminate cognitively taxing scrutinizing of the characters actions, leaving cognitive energy to fully immerse into the story. Story schemas become specifically important for antihero narratives, where viewers encounter moral transgressions they would likely not approve when encountered in real life (e.g., Dexter murdering criminals). This dissertation project attempted to empirically investigate several related issues: (1) the existence of a specific hero and antihero narrative schema; and (2) how much the context--real-world vs. fictional--matters for the evaluation of morally complex characters (i.e., antiheroes) and their morally ambiguous actions. Two independent studies, with altogether three different treatments, were conducted employing reaction-time measurement to investigate these questions. Participants were exposed to either a hero or antihero narrative and then had to read an either fictional-framed or realistically framed antihero story. Results support the existence of two different narrative schemas that impact moral judgment making, supporting Raney's (2004) proposition about the relevance of schemas for the processing of narratives. Additionally, results indicate that the context in which the moral evaluation is made (inside or outside the narrative context) affects the evaluation of an antihero, connecting the context with schema activation. Inside the narrative context (or more generally speaking "from a fictional perspective") the antihero is evaluated more positively than outside the narrative context (from a realism perspective), based on the activated schema. Furthermore, the findings lead to the argument that the activation of a hero schema primes the viewer to evaluate protagonists and their actions based on the ethical principle of deontology (i.e., in a rule-based manner). This is in comparison to the activation of an antihero schema that primes the viewer to evaluate protagonists and their actions from a consequentialist standpoint (i.e., in a deliberate manner). The findings of this dissertation are relevant for our understanding of how we process media narratives and specifically media characters that violate our moral standards. Furthermore, the results about the context-dependent approval of an antihero lead to the argument that we evaluate moral transgressions in fiction and reality differently. The conceptualization of a fictional moral lens and a real-world moral lens is introduced and discussed in relation to the limited-effects perspective of media. Lastly, assuming that antihero narratives appeal to a specific group of people, exposure over a long period of time could reinforce their way of moral judgment making (i.e., focusing on the consequences of a certain situation (consequentialism), rather than strictly following rules (deontology)), which could affect a persons' ethical decision making in various fields. Several implications of the results as well as limitations are discussed.