Who Roots for the Villain:: A Survey on the Psychology of Positive Engagement with Villainous Characters

Jens Kjeldgaard-Christiansen; Anne Fiskaali; John A. Johnson; Mathias Clasen; Henrik Høgh-Olesen; Murray Smith

Who Roots for the Villain: A Survey on the Psychology of Positive Engagement with Villainous Characters

Jens Kjeldgaard-Christiansen, Anne Fiskaali, John A. Johnson, Mathias Clasen, Henrik Høgh-Olesen, Murray Smith

Research output: Contribution to conference › Conference abstract for conference › Research › peer-review

Abstract

This project brings a personality psychological perspective to the debate about why and how so many people sympathize with, or root for, or simply like unambiguously villainous characters. The presentation reports the results of a large-scale online survey (n=1804) that explores the connections between personality and positive forms of engagement with villainous characters. In particular, it explores whether the personality psychological constructs of Agency/Communion and/or the Dark Triad (consisting of the traits of Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy) predict positive forms of engagements with villainous characters. The results of the survey suggests that the Dark Triad is uniquely predictive of positive forms of engagement with villainous characters.

Original language	English
Publication date	13 Jun 2019
Publication status	Published - 13 Jun 2019
Event	SCSMI 2019: The Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image - Hamburg University, Hamburg, Germany Duration: 12 Jun 2019 → 15 Jun 2019 http://scsmi-online.org/conference

Conference

Conference	SCSMI 2019
Location	Hamburg University
Country/Territory	Germany
City	Hamburg
Period	12/06/2019 → 15/06/2019
Internet address	http://scsmi-online.org/conference

Cite this

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title = "Who Roots for the Villain:: A Survey on the Psychology of Positive Engagement with Villainous Characters",

abstract = "This project brings a personality psychological perspective to the debate about why and how so many people sympathize with, or root for, or simply like unambiguously villainous characters. The presentation reports the results of a large-scale online survey (n=1804) that explores the connections between personality and positive forms of engagement with villainous characters. In particular, it explores whether the personality psychological constructs of Agency/Communion and/or the Dark Triad (consisting of the traits of Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy) predict positive forms of engagements with villainous characters. The results of the survey suggests that the Dark Triad is uniquely predictive of positive forms of engagement with villainous characters.",

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T2 - SCSMI 2019

AU - Kjeldgaard-Christiansen, Jens

AU - Fiskaali, Anne

AU - Johnson, John A.

AU - Clasen, Mathias

AU - Høgh-Olesen, Henrik

AU - Smith, Murray

PY - 2019/6/13

Y1 - 2019/6/13

N2 - This project brings a personality psychological perspective to the debate about why and how so many people sympathize with, or root for, or simply like unambiguously villainous characters. The presentation reports the results of a large-scale online survey (n=1804) that explores the connections between personality and positive forms of engagement with villainous characters. In particular, it explores whether the personality psychological constructs of Agency/Communion and/or the Dark Triad (consisting of the traits of Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy) predict positive forms of engagements with villainous characters. The results of the survey suggests that the Dark Triad is uniquely predictive of positive forms of engagement with villainous characters.

AB - This project brings a personality psychological perspective to the debate about why and how so many people sympathize with, or root for, or simply like unambiguously villainous characters. The presentation reports the results of a large-scale online survey (n=1804) that explores the connections between personality and positive forms of engagement with villainous characters. In particular, it explores whether the personality psychological constructs of Agency/Communion and/or the Dark Triad (consisting of the traits of Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy) predict positive forms of engagements with villainous characters. The results of the survey suggests that the Dark Triad is uniquely predictive of positive forms of engagement with villainous characters.

UR - https://www.slm.uni-hamburg.de/imk/forschung/tagungen/2019-annual-conference-of-the-scsmi/program/scsmi-2019-information-program-book-of-abstracts-2019-06-11.pdf

M3 - Conference abstract for conference

Y2 - 12 June 2019 through 15 June 2019

ER -

Who Roots for the Villain: A Survey on the Psychology of Positive Engagement with Villainous Characters

Abstract

Conference

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Agonistic Structure and American Pop Culture: A Biocultural Approach

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Who Roots for the Villain: A Survey on the Psychology of Positive Engagement with Villainous Characters

Abstract

Conference

Other files and links

Projects

Agonistic Structure and American Pop Culture: A Biocultural Approach

Cite this