Content and person effects in media research: Studying differences in cognitive, emotional, and arousal responses to media content

Cognitive, emotional, and arousal responses to media content
stem from two sources of variation: differences in content and
differences between individuals. Although the first source of
variation (content effects) has been well-studied, individual
differences (person effects) in responses to media are investigated much less within communication science. To help build
this comparatively thin area of scholarship, this study investigated how four theoretically relevant variables (need for cognition, affective empathy, sensation seeking, and sensory
processing sensitivity) affected responses to positively and
negatively valenced media entertainment. In a withinsubjects design, 243 youth aged 7–15 years (49.4% female)
responded to a positive and negative film clip using both selfreported and physiological measures (heart rate and skin conductance), while parents reported on individual differences.
Multilevel analysis was used to distinguish between media
content effects and individual differences in responses.
Results showed that more variation in responses was due to
differences between participants than to differences between
stimuli. However, need for cognition, affective empathy, sensation seeking, and sensory processing sensitivity did not significantly explain this between-participant variation in responses.
Several conceptual and methodological take-aways are offered
to advance our understanding of the relationships between
stable individual differences and state responses to media.