Multiple and Singular Deaths on TV and Their ...

Running head: DEATH’S EFFECTS ON PRODUCT EVALUATIONS

Multiple and Singular Deaths on TV and Their Effects on Product Evaluations Andrew Bush Lynchburg College 12/10/2013

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DEATH’S EFFECTS ON PRODUCT EVALUATIONS

Abstract The present study investigated the impact that viewing fictionalized death on television had on product evaluations. Terror Management Theory is based on the observation that a person’s desire to live coupled with the realization that death is inevitable, induces feelings of terror. Using this as the theoretical framework of my study, I aimed to determine if viewing fictionalized death had this effect on people and, if so, how they would respond to these feelings. Specifically, this study sought to determine whether these feelings would increase consumerism in participants based on Dar-Nimrod’s (2012) hypothesis that consumerism is a way that people subdue these feelings of terror. TV clips depicting multiple deaths and a singular death were compared against a control condition in which death was not present. Following each clip, participants were shown a high-level price bracket item, a mid-level price bracket item, and a low-level price bracket item. Additionally, participants completed a Likert Scale questionnaire describing their likelihood of purchasing the advertised items and how desired they believed that product would be by an average American. The hypotheses for this study were that products following multiple death clips would be the highest rated among the three groups and the highest difference in product evaluations would occur for high-level price bracket items. However, the results did not support the hypotheses. No significant differences were found between any of the groups. Possible reasons for this occurrence are discussed as well as future research opportunities.

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Watching TV is a prevalent leisure time activity within American culture, as the average American over the age of fifteen watches approximately 2.8 hours of television per day (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013). One of the most common themes found in television programming is violence and death. It is approximated that by the age of eighteen, an American will have viewed 16,000 murders and over 200,000 violent acts on television (Boyce, 2010). These statistics suggest that violence and death are intricate parts of American television culture. Since violence and death on television are so prevalent in the United States, many studies have been performed to test the effects that these programs have on the American population. One area of particular interest has been how violence and death on television affect consumer evaluation of the products presented in commercials shown during violent movies or television series. Goldberg and Gorn (1987) investigated the effects that happy and sad television programs had on people’s memories and perceived effectiveness of commercials. Using a between-subjects design, Goldberg and Gorn (1987) required one group to watch a happy television program, which depicted a frog circus act, while the other group watched an episode of “60 Minutes” in which a story was told about a young boy’s violent death. Within each program, four commercials were imbedded. Following the completion of the program and commercials, participants were asked to rate each commercial’s effectiveness, whether they intended to buy the product depicted in the commercial, and how much they believed the average American would like to purchase the product. They were then given a memory test to determine how much of the commercial they remembered. The researchers found significant differences in regard to commercial effectiveness and commercial memory: participants reported the highest ratings for commercial effectiveness and remembered most about the


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commercial in the happy program condition (Goldeberg & Gorn, 1987). Although the researchers did not find a significant difference in the intention to buy any of the individual advertised products, when all the product ratings were averaged together, the score was significantly higher in the happy program condition. These results suggest that sad television programs, such as ones depicting violent death, have a negative effect on product ratings that are advertised during said programs. In support of Goldeberg and Gorn’s (1987) claims, the results of Bushman’s (2005) study indicated that violent television programming significantly impacted participants’ perceptions of advertised products. Using a between-subjects design, the researcher assigned participants to watch either a program that contained only violence, violence and sex, only sex, or a program that contained neither violence nor sex. The same 12 commercials were embedded in each condition and, following the viewing of the programs and commercials, participants underwent a surprise memory test and were asked to evaluate each of the products they had seen during the study. The participants were also given the chance to select coupons for the advertised products along with products that were not displayed in the study (Bushman, 2005). Bushman (2005) found that participants remembered more, had a higher interest in buying, and selected more coupons for products advertised within the condition in which participants viewed neither sex nor violence compared to the violence condition. These results supported the researcher’s hypothesis that violence on television negatively impacts consumer attitudes toward products that are advertised within these programs. Though the evidence supporting the claim that violence negatively affects product ratings is substantial, when death replaces nonlethal violence, the results demonstrate a


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different relationship between the variables. Arndt, Solomon, Kasser, and Sheldon (2004) claimed that being confronted by thoughts of death actually increased materialism and consumer behavior in people throughout the world. An example of this phenomenon occurred in Ghana: following the death of a family member, members of the deceased person’s family increased their consumption of material goods by five times their average amount (Arndt et al., 2004). Mandel and Heine (1999) conducted a similar study to empirically test this phenomenon. Mandel and Heine (1999) required one group of participants to complete the Fear of Death Scale while another group completed the Beck Depression Inventory. Following the completion of these scales, both groups of participants completed a 20-question affect scale and then were given product advertisements to evaluate. Participants were given the affect scale to ensure that positive/negative affect was not a confounding variable and that the Fear of Death Scale was the variable that was manipulating the participant’s product evaluations. Participants answered questions regarding the effectiveness of the advertisement, as well as how likely they would be to purchase the advertised product if they were looking to buy such a product (Mandel & Heine, 1999). The researchers found that high-level price bracket items, such as Rolex watches and Lexus cars, were rated more favorably by participants whose mortality had become more salient through the completion of the Fear of Death Scale. These results are interesting because one would expect the effect on consumerism to be the same for both violence and death; however, the results of Mandel and Heine’s (1999) study indicate that thinking about death increases product ratings whereas the results of Bushman’s (2005) study shows that viewing violence decreases product ratings.


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The discrepancy found when considering the effects of violence compared to the effects of death on consumerism can be explained through Terror Management Theory. Terror Management Theorists state that the desire to live coupled with the realization that death is inevitable, causes feelings of terror in humans (Pyszczynski, Greenberg, Solomon, Arndt, & Schimel, 2004). In order to relieve this terror, one must have self-esteem, or self-worth, which comes from abiding by one’s cultural standards (Pyszczynski et al., 2004). Though cultural standards are different all around the world, a commonality is that when confronted with death, people strive for self-esteem. For citizens in the United States, a common source of selfesteem is found in the consumption of material goods (Fromm, 1976). Because material goods are a primary component of the American value system, Americans tend to become more materialistic when confronted with death in order to attain self-worth to relieve feelings of terror. Material possessions in American society are viewed as a way to gain self-esteem, especially when confronted with the prospect of death. Kasser and Sheldon (2000) found that when people were forced to write a short story about death, the participants subsequently predicted that they would spend more on consumer goods in the future compared to a group that wrote a short story about music. Furthermore, participants who were required to write the story about death consumed more resources when playing a forest-management game compared with the control group, showing that thinking about death increases materialistic and consumerist behavior. Kasser and Kasser (2001) also found similar results after analyzing questionnaires regarding participants’ dreams and materialistic thoughts and behaviors. The researchers found that people who had more dreams related to death scored higher on


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measures of materialism. In both of the studies conducted by Kasser and Sheldon (2000) and Kasser and Kasser (2001), the participants were faced with managing their terror, which was caused by thoughts of death. In order to successfully manage these negative feelings, the participants searched for self-esteem via the consumption of material goods. This suggests that if confronted with death on television, a person might react the same way. In theory, a person would be likely to want to purchase products advertised during shows that made people think about death, since thinking about death has been linked to an increase in materialistic behaviors. Using the research by Kasser and Sheldon (2000) and Kasser and Kasser (2001), DarNimrod (2012) tested the hypothesis that viewing death on television would increase product evaluations. Using a within-subjects design, Dar-Nimrod (2012) subjected Canadian participants to both a TV clip that depicted death as well a TV clip that made no reference to death. Following each of the clips, participants viewed a series of commercials and were then asked to rate the clips and the products depicted in the advertisements. Dar-Nimrod (2012) found that death content on TV was significantly related to more positive product ratings when compared to the product ratings of the advertisements that were paired with TV without death content (Dar-Nimrod, 2012). Two separate experiments were performed to assess whether viewing death on television would increase product evaluations. In the first experiment, a SIDS death was used for the death clip, while in the second experiment, a suicide was used. By doing this, Dar-Nimrod indicated that the type of death did not matter because death in general was related to higher product ratings. Dar-Nimrod’s study was the first to show a relationship between death content on television and positive product ratings.


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The current study sought to expand on Dar-Nimrod’s research. Considering that DarNimrod’s study was the first to produce results indicating a positive relationship between death content on TV and product evaluations; a replication study was needed to validate his findings. The present study also aimed to determine whether death resulting from a murder would have the same effects on product ratings as the types of death that Dar-Nimrod (2012) used did. DarNimrod (2012) used a SIDS death and a suicide in his death clips; however, in the current study, the death clips that were used depicted violent murders. If product ratings increased when paired with murder scenes, then one could argue that the positive effect of death on product ratings is also generalizable to murders. Since murder is violent in nature, one may hypothesize that product ratings may not be significantly different or may even be evaluated more negatively because previous research shows that violence causes product ratings to decrease (Bushman, 2005). However, the results of previous research also suggest that the concurrence of violence and death may override the negative affect induced by witnessing violence, and thus enhance product ratings in the death content conditions, which can be explained by Terror Management Theory. An aspect of Terror Management Theory is that when one’s mortality becomes salient, people will adhere more to cultural views and standards because adhering to one’s culturebased beliefs relieves the tension caused by the possibility of death. Consequently, Terror Management Theory has also been used to understand changes in attitudes about out-groups. Kugler & Cooper (2010) found that following the September 11th attack, Americans became more likely to support extreme interrogation measures, as well as to believe that releasing a man of Arab descent when accused of terrorism was more unsafe than releasing an individual


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from a neutral out-group, e.g., Bulgarians. In this case, since the American view of Arabs was negative, to be in line with cultural standards, one would treat an Arab more harshly when given the terrorism scenario. This effect was only present when the participant’s mortality was salient. Kugler & Cooper’s (2010) study was introduced by asking participants to write a response about what happens to them when they become “physically dead.” When participants were not asked to write about being dead, but instead were asked to write about what happens to them when they become uncertain, the participants did not treat the Arabs significantly different in comparison to Americans or Bulgarians (Kulger & Cooper, 2010). In this study, participants adhered to the cultural norms of treating Arabs differently when their mortality became salient. Therefore, in the current study, participants are expected to adhere to the cultural norms of materialism and consumerism when presented with death. Dar-Nimrod’s (2012) findings suggest that death increases materialism and consumerism in people. The current study aimed to determine if the viewing of multiple deaths was related to higher or lower product ratings than viewing a singular death was. Although DarNimrod’s research shows that there is a significant positive relationship between death content and product ratings, only singular deaths were used in these studies (Dar-Nimrod, 2012). In regard to the multiple versus singular death clips, the more images of death that a person sees should allow death to become more salient. With this increased salience more discomfort via the realization that death is unavoidable should occur. With this supposed added discomfort, I hypothesized that participants would rate products more favorably and want to buy products paired with the multiple death clips more in comparison to the singular death condition. I also hypothesized that the evaluation differences would be highest among the high-level price


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bracket items because those items would contribute to the participant’s self-worth the most. Likewise, I hypothesized that the current study’s results would support Dar-Nimrod’s (2012) initial findings and that the violent nature of the deaths would not negatively impact product ratings. Method Research Design The current study utilized a within-subjects research design where the first independent variable was the type of clip viewed. The three levels of this independent variable were the control, the singular death condition, and the multiple death condition. In the control condition, participants viewed a video clip which did not show, depict, or mention death. In this condition, the participant viewed a kidnapping, which is a violent act but did not result in death. In the singular death condition, participants viewed a video clip that depicted a singular death occurring in which a person was hit by a car and killed. In the multiple death condition, participants viewed a video clip that depicted a sniper killing three pedestrians on a city street. The viewing of death is operationally defined as watching someone being fatally injured and not being able to be resuscitated. The dependent variable in the current study was the product evaluations. Following each level of the independent variable, commercials were shown to the participant; following these commercials, the participants were asked to evaluate the advertised products. The participants evaluated three separate products following each clip, where each product represented a different price bracket, which was the second independent variable. Pizza commercials represented the low-level price bracket, TV commercials represented the mid-level price bracket, and car commercials represented the high-level price


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bracket. The participants rated the commercials by answering Likert-scale questions about how much they would like to buy each product and how much they believed that the average American would like to have each product. Higher scores were linked to higher product ratings on these scales.

Participants Twenty-Seven Lynchburg College students participated in this study. Students received extra credit in their introductory psychology class and were entered into a drawing for a $25 Visa gift card. Participants were recruited via sign-up sheets posted within the Psychology Building at Lynchburg College. In total, there were 27 participants (21 females and 6 males) ranging from the ages of 18-22. The mean age of the participants was 19.8 with a standard deviation of 1.3. Materials Three clips approximately 10 minutes in length from the television dramas CSI: Miami and Numbers were used during the current study, each one being used as a different level of the independent variable. One clip from CSI: Miami, the singular death condition, depicted a woman getting hit by a car and subsequently dying. Following her death, several minutes of the episode in which death did not occur was shown. This was done because according to Terror Management Theory, doing this allows death to sink below consciousness and cause unconscious anxiety. Another clip from CSI: Miami was used for the multiple death condition. In this clip, the participant viewed multiple random deaths initiated by a sniper. As with the singular death, several minutes of the episode in which death did not occur was also shown.


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The third clip was from the television show Numbers and was used as the control condition. In this clip, participants viewed a girl getting kidnapped, but no references to death were made for the length of the clip. Participants rated the television clips based on how interesting, entertaining, and boring (reverse scored) each clip was. The participants also were asked how much they would like to view the rest of the episode depicted in each clip. All ratings were evaluated using a Likert Scale. The scales ranged from 0-10, with 0 indicating a response of “not at all” and 10 corresponding to a response of “very much.” (See appendix A) Nine 30 second commercials of well-known products (Hyundai, Kia, and Toyota vehicles), (Domino’s, Pizza Hut, and Papa John’s pizza), and (LG, Samsung, and Panasonic TVs) were downloaded from YouTube for use in this study. Each product was deemed equivalent to the other two products in the product’s grouping in regard to quality and type of product via a pilot study. Using Dar-Nimrod’s (2012) methods, participants were also required to complete a product evaluation sheet following each clip/commercial group pairing. The questions asked 1.) If you were thinking about buying this product, how likely would you be to purchase (advertised product)? 2.) How much would you like to have (advertised product)? 3.) How much do you think the average American would like to have (advertised product)? The participants answered these questions via 0-10 point Likert Scales, with 0 being equivalent to the answer “not at all” and 10 being equivalent to “very much.” (See Appendix A) Following each clip, participants completed the product evaluation sheet for all three products shown. Each participant ultimately viewed all of the same commercials but in different orders depending on the


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sequencing condition they were in, which was determined by the sign-up sheets. The first person on the sign-up sheet was placed in sequencing condition one, the second person signed up was placed in sequencing condition number two, and so forth, until participant number thirteen, in which the cycle was restarted. The study was not completely counterbalanced because the control condition was always in the middle to prevent carryover effects from one death clip to another. Other materials that were used in the study were Samsung computer monitors in the psychology building at Lynchburg College and headphones. These materials allowed participants to view and hear the TV clips and commercials.

Procedure First, participants signed-up for a designated time on the sign-up sheets found inside the psychology building at Lynchburg College (See Appendix B). When the participant arrived he or she was assigned an individual computer where he or she sat for the length of the study. Once all participants had arrived, the informed consent forms were distributed (See Appendix C). After all informed consent documents were collected, participants were informed that the study involved viewing death and that if viewing death disturbed them they could leave. Video clips and product evaluation surveys were then administered, along with a demographic questionnaire (See Appendix A). The participants were then given procedural details. Each participant viewed each of the three conditions and all of the commercials but in varying orders. This was done to prevent ordering effects. Each clip and commercial pairing consisted of one of the three TV clips followed by three commercials, one from each commercial group


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(pizza, car, and TV). After each clip and commercial group pairing, participants were told to pause the video and evaluate the clip and the products using the provided questionnaires. The students were told to imagine that they made a comfortable salary that would allow them to buy the products depicted in the commercials. This series of steps was replicated following the second and third video clip and commercial group pairings. Instruction sheets were provided to the participants outlining the directions to avoid any confusion and to help prevent anyone from completing the questionnaires incorrectly. Following the completion of the study, students were debriefed about the study’s purpose (see Appendix D). Following that, students received extra credit slips and were offered the opportunity to place their names in a drawing for a $25 Visa gift card. If a student requested to end their participation in the study before completion, he or she still received the extra credit slip and a chance to win the $25 gift card.

Results A 3(Product) X3 (Type of Death) X2 (Order) Mixed Model ANOVA was conducted on the participants average ratings of the three different products (pizza, cars, and TVs). No significant differences were found between the three different death conditions (F=.936)(p=.399) (see table 1). There also was not an interaction found the products and the type of death viewed in reference to product ratings(F(2,=.988) (p=.439) (See table 1). There was a significant difference between the ratings of the different products overall, (F=9.237) (p-value