Friday, 19 October 2012
Why we secretly love a sad film!
We all secretly ( male or female) love to curl up on a winters night with a bottle of wine and chocolate and watch a tearjerker. The Notebook, A little bit of heaven, Love actually, my father my hero - there are many more sad films that researchers have discovered we actually enjoy watching. Researchers at Ohio State Univeristy reported their study online in March in Communication Research. They asked over 400 undergraduates to view a segment of Atonement (a sad film) and asked them to fill out questionnaires measuring their happiness before and after watching the segment. The researchers found that the participants felt happier after watching the film ( which contradicted their initial hypothesis). They investigated further, and found that the participants felt happier after the film beacuse they had reflected on their own relationships and thought about how much their loved ones enhanced thier life. The participants were effectively 'counting their blessings' following watching a sad film. So next time you feel low becasue of stress at work or a friend has annoyed you, get watching a sad film and putting your life into perspective.
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schadenfreude... i don't think that's accurate people don't always say the right things when put on the spot to say for example, why do you think you were happier afterwards..
ReplyDeleteis it possible to not reflect on your self? did they watch it were they sad then they realized the comparison to themselves?
even if the questionnaire asks questions that would involve an opinion of your self, then how sad the movie was would have made you think you are happier in comparison to others, though happiness would not have change... really studies today are getting pretty shit so i don't know what to go off without looking into this :p
they should have just measured the happiness level pre-show that would depict a more accurate happiness meter when compared to the post show feelings.
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