Questions regarding the relation between media and morality have been a lasting concern. Can media exposure shape or alter moral values? Does morality influence how audience members select, interpret and respond to media content? Attempts to answer such questions are hindered by the complex nature of morality and its dynamic relation with media.
This volume brings together leading scholars in an effort to examine reciprocal processes that connect media with morality, and to set a course for understanding this association. Individual essays combine established and emerging theories from media and moral psychology to explain how fundamental mechanisms that govern moral reasoning can shape and be shaped by media exposure. Together these scholars provide an understanding of the relationship between media and morality that should serve as an invaluable resource for current and future generations of researchers.
Series Editor Foreword: Donald G. Godfrey
Foreword: Jennings Bryant, University of Alabama
Preface
Chapter 1: Moral Psychology and Media Theory: Historical and Emerging Viewpoints by Allison Eden, VU University Amsterdam, Matthew Grizzard, Michigan State University, and Robert J. Lewis, Michigan State University
Chapter 2: Universal Morality, Mediated Narratives, and Neural Synchrony by René Weber, University of California, Santa Barbara, Lucy Popova, University of California, San Francisco, and J. Michael Mangus, University of California, Santa Barbara
Chapter 3: A Model of Intuitive Morality and Exemplars by Ron Tamborini, Michigan State University
Chapter 4: Morality Subcultures and Media Production: How Hollywood Minds the Morals of its Audience by Dana Mastro and Marisa Enriquez, University of Arizona, Nicholas David Bowman, West Virginia University, and Sujay Prabhu and Ron Tamborini, Michigan State University
Chapter 5: The Experience of Elevation: Responses to Media Portrayals of Moral Beauty by Mary Beth Oliver, Erin Ash, and Julia K. Woolley, Pennsylvania State University
Chapter 6: Moral Disengagement During Exposure to Media Violence: Would It Feel Right to Shoot an Innocent Civilian in a Video Game? by Tilo Hartmann, VU University Amsterdam
Chapter 7: Moral Monitoring and Emotionality in Responding to Fiction, Sports, and the News by Dolf Zillmann, University of Alabama
Chapter 8: How We Enjoy and Why We Seek Out Morally Complex Characters in Media Entertainment by Arthur A. Raney and Sophie H. Janicke, Florida State University
Chapter 9: The Psychological Functions of Justice in Mass Media by Tobias Rothmund, University of Koblenz-Landau , Mario Gollwitzer, Philipps-University Marburg, and Anna Baumert and Manfred Schmitt, University of Koblenz-Landau
Chapter 10: The Role of Media in Children and Adolescents’ Moral Reasoning
by Marina Krcmar, Wake Forest University
Author Biographies
Selected Bibliography
Biography
Ron Tamborini (Ph.D., Indiana University, 1982) is the Director of Doctoral Studies and a Professor in the Department of Communication at Michigan State University where he teaches courses on media influence and methods of communication inquiry.
