Exploring the disproportionate persuasive impact of melodrama on hostile (vs. favorable) audiences

Open Access
- Author:
- Ha, Yerheen
- Graduate Program:
- Communication Arts and Sciences
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- February 01, 2017
- Committee Members:
- James P. Dillard, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
James P. Dillard, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Denise H. Solomon, Committee Member
Lijiang Shen, Committee Member
Mary Beth Oliver, Outside Member - Keywords:
- persuasion
narrative
narrative processing
hostile audiences
melodrama
resistance - Abstract:
- Hostile audiences have beliefs, attitudes, and values that are incompatible with what a persuasive message advocates. Persuading hostile audiences is sometimes necessary in such circumstances as pursuing social change (e.g., the abolition of slavery) or dealing with intergroup conflict (e.g., pro-life vs. pro-choice). However, persuading hostile audiences is challenging. Prior research suggests that hostile audiences tend to resist a message that disconfirms their view, whereas favorable audiences tend to accept a message that confirms their views. This dissertation proposes a specific type of message that can exert the intended effects on hostile audiences—melodrama. The project aims to (a) examine whether melodramas can move hostile audiences in the intended direction more so than favorable audiences and to (b) explain how melodramas can exert that influence. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that melodramas were relatively more persuasive for hostile than for favorable audiences. Study 3 examined the significance of a mediation model that represents the process through which melodramatic sequence (i.e., suffering -> fighting -> ending) exerts influence on the attitude of hostile and favorable audiences. The mediation model was as follows. Character identification experienced in response to the climax mediates the effect of melodramatic sequence on hostile and favorable audiences’ attitudes. The findings from Study 3 indicated that the proposed mediation via character identification in the fighting segment was nonsignificant. Therefore, why melodramas are persuasive among hostile audiences is still unclear. However, this dissertation showed that melodramas could be an effective rhetorical device for hostile audiences.