TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2013//
TI  - Who identifies with suicidal film characters? Determinants of identification with suicidal protagonists of drama films
JO  - Psychiatria Danubina
A1  - Till, Benedikt
A1  - Herberth, Arno
A1  - Sonneck, Gernot
A1  - Vitouch, Peter
A1  - Niederkrotenthaler, Thomas
SP  - 158
EP  - 162
VL  - 25
IS  - 2
N2  - BACKGROUND: Identification with a media character is an influential factor for the effects of a media product on the recipient, but still very little is known about this cognitive process. This study investigated to what extent identification of a recipient with the suicidal protagonist of a film drama is influenced by the similarity between them in terms of sex, age, and education as well as by the viewer's empathy and suicidality. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Sixty adults were assigned randomly to one of two film groups. Both groups watched a drama that concluded with the tragic suicide of the protagonist. Identification, empathy, suicidality, as well as socio-demographic data were measured by questionnaires that were applied before and after the movie screening. RESULTS: Results indicated that identification was not associated with socio-demographic similarity or the viewer's suicidality. However, the greater the subjects' empathy was, the more they identified with the protagonist in one of the two films. CONCLUSIONS: This investigation provides evidence that challenges the common assumption that identification with a film character is automatically generated when viewer and protagonist are similar in terms of sex, age, education or attitude.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0353-5053
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -