| Publication type: | Conference poster |
| Type of review: | Peer review (abstract) |
| Title: | Who watches fail clips? : light and dark personality dispositions to watching the misfortunes of others |
| Authors: | Suter, Lilian |
| et. al: | No |
| DOI: | 10.26298/1981-5555 |
| Proceedings: | Proceedings of the 13th Conference of the Media Psychology Division (DGPs) |
| Editors of the parent work: | Melzer, André Wagener, Gary Lee |
| Page(s): | 176 |
| Conference details: | MediaPsych 2023, 13th Conference of the Media Psychology Division (DGPs), Luxembourg, 6-8 September 2023 |
| Issue Date: | 2023 |
| Publisher / Ed. Institution: | Melusina Press |
| Publisher / Ed. Institution: | Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | Fail clip; Personality; Schadenfreude; Humor; Emotion |
| Subject (DDC): | 150: Psychology 302.23: Media |
| Abstract: | Background: Fail clips are videos that show people inadvertently failing to do something (Döring & Mohseni, 2019) and are a popular genre on social media (Hallinan et al., 2021) with millions of viewers (e.g., FailArmy on YouTube). I consider fail clips to be the media genre that most explicitly involves the experience of schadenfreude, the pleasure at the misfortunes of others (van Dijk & Ouwerkerk, 2014). The question arises whether laughing at others’ misfortunes is rather a dark and malicious pleasure that mainly serves the self-enhancement of the observer via social downward comparison (Wills, 1981), or a light and naïve pleasure that is just fun and does mean no harm to anyone. Clues to this question can be provided by looking at the personality of fail clip users, which has not yet been studied. Research question: Which personality traits are associated with frequent use and enjoyment of fail clips? I assume that fail clip use corresponds with traits related to schadenfreude identified in past research (psychopathy, Machiavellianism, belief in a just world, social comparison orientation). Importantly, I add the perspective of humor styles that have been neglected in this context so far. Based on humor theories, I hypothesize that fail clip use corresponds with certain humor styles that can be differentiated into a) lighter and b) darker styles (Ruch et al., 2018), namely a) aggressive humor (Martin et al., 2003) that involves disparagement of others and b) benevolent humor (Ruch & Heintz, 2016) that includes a benevolent view on one’s own and others’ failures. Methodological approach: In an online survey, the 1) frequency and 2) enjoyment of fail clip use are investigated. The above-mentioned personality traits and humor styles, gender, and age serve as predictors. The sample will consist of N = 500, representative of Germany. |
| Further description: | Poster presented at MediaPsych 2023, the 13th Conference of the Media Psychology Division (DGPs). Received 2nd best poster award |
| URI: | https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/28658 |
| Fulltext version: | Published version |
| License (according to publishing contract): | Not specified |
| Departement: | Applied Psychology |
| Organisational Unit: | Psychological Institute (PI) |
| Appears in collections: | Publikationen Angewandte Psychologie |
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Suter, L. (2023). Who watches fail clips? : light and dark personality dispositions to watching the misfortunes of others [Conference poster]. In A. Melzer & G. L. Wagener (Eds.), Proceedings of the 13th Conference of the Media Psychology Division (DGPs) (p. 176). Melusina Press. https://doi.org/10.26298/1981-5555
Suter, L. (2023) ‘Who watches fail clips? : light and dark personality dispositions to watching the misfortunes of others’, in A. Melzer and G.L. Wagener (eds) Proceedings of the 13th Conference of the Media Psychology Division (DGPs). Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg: Melusina Press, p. 176. Available at: https://doi.org/10.26298/1981-5555.
L. Suter, “Who watches fail clips? : light and dark personality dispositions to watching the misfortunes of others,” in Proceedings of the 13th Conference of the Media Psychology Division (DGPs), 2023, p. 176. doi: 10.26298/1981-5555.
SUTER, Lilian, 2023. Who watches fail clips? : light and dark personality dispositions to watching the misfortunes of others. In: André MELZER und Gary Lee WAGENER (Hrsg.), Proceedings of the 13th Conference of the Media Psychology Division (DGPs). Conference poster. Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg: Melusina Press. 2023. S. 176
Suter, Lilian. 2023. “Who Watches Fail Clips? : Light and Dark Personality Dispositions to Watching the Misfortunes of Others.” Conference poster. In Proceedings of the 13th Conference of the Media Psychology Division (DGPs), edited by André Melzer and Gary Lee Wagener, 176. Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg: Melusina Press. https://doi.org/10.26298/1981-5555.
Suter, Lilian. “Who Watches Fail Clips? : Light and Dark Personality Dispositions to Watching the Misfortunes of Others.” Proceedings of the 13th Conference of the Media Psychology Division (DGPs), edited by André Melzer and Gary Lee Wagener, Melusina Press, 2023, p. 176, https://doi.org/10.26298/1981-5555.
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