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Finding refuge in reverie: The terror management function of nostalgic entertainment experiences

2021; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 89; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03637751.2021.1962933

1479-5787

James Alex Bonus, Hannah M. Wing, Judy Watts,

Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion

Drawing on terror management theory (TMT), three experiments examined the impact of mortality threat on nostalgic entertainment experiences. Study 1 (N = 98) validated the stimuli used to elicit three different types of threat: mortality, isolation, and illness. Study 2 (N = 464) found no impact of these threats on participants' entertainment preferences. Consistent with TMT, Study 3 (N = 906) found that participants experienced a deeper sense of appreciation and solace when they watched a movie under mortality threat. However, these effects only occurred for a lighthearted movie with nostalgic qualities (i.e., Pixar's Toy Story) and not for a meaningful movie with death-related themes (i.e., Pixar's Onward). The results illustrated the need for entertainment theorists to adopt a more expansive conceptualization of meaningfulness.