Title

The effects of media interactivity on mood regulation: An experimental study

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2018

Publication Title

American Communication Journal

Volume

20

First Page

12

Last Page

23

Keywords

Enjoyment, Entertainment, Experiment, Interactivity, Mood management, Video games

Abstract

© 2018 American Communication Association. The purposes of the study were to examine the potential of video games as mood changing tools, and to compare the effects of interactive media to mood and enjoyment with those of traditional media. Mood management theory was employed as a theoretical framework. Specifically, since interactive media require more cognitive intervention, this manuscript predicted 1) video games would enhance mood among members of the bad mood condition better than members of the good mood condition, and 2) video game would be more effective than DVD clips to change bad mood. A factorial design with two mood conditions (good vs. bad), media condition (video game vs. DVD clip) and time (pre- vs. post-media exposure) was employed to examine the predictions. It was found that video games were effective in changing mood. In a cross-medium setting, the expected mood and media interaction effect was not observed. However, when video game skill was used as one of the factors, mood management expectations were partially supported.

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