Browsing by Subject "Television commercials -- Psychological aspects"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Background Music As Related To Product Beliefs In Television Advertisements
    (2001) Gomez, Miguel; Boltz, Marilyn
    Previous research on background music in television commercials has demonstrated the fact that background music can affect the attitudes held about an ad. Several studies of the effects of background music in other settings (film soundtracks, store ambiance) have shown that background music can also affect belief structures by activating music relevant schemas. This study investigates the possibility that music can perform this function in television advertising. Furthermore, we examine how different levels of involvement with the advertisement, and different levels of familiarity of the music will affect the way relevant schema are activated and beliefs are formed. Subjects were shown three ads, each paired with a different type of music (familiar, unfamiliar, or none) embedded in a half hour sit-com. After watching the entire program subjects were asked to recall the main selling points of the ads, items in the ads, and the mood of the main characters in the ad, as well as completing a series of bipolar adjective ratings about the ads. Half of the subjects were told to attend to the commercials presented, and half were told to attend to the sit-com in which they were embedded. Results showed that music and involvement level do affect belief formation. Results were not consistent across all three ads, however, revealing that music and involvement level have differing effects depending on the specifics of the advertisements presented.
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    Impact of Number and Placement of Commercial Breaks on the Perception, Comprehension and Memory of Films
    (1989) Epstein, Lisa B.; Boltz, Marilyn
    This study investigated the relationship between segmentation of films at natural break points or non-break points and the ability to encode and process stimuli in 88 bi-college students. A 2 (Placement of commercial breaks) X 3 (Number of breaks) X 2 (Films) between-subjects factorial was employed. It was hypothesized that unnatural segmentation would disrupt comprehension, memory, and time estimation, and that a greater number of commercial breaks would magnify this effect. However, it was thought that breaks at natural break points would increase accuracy for these abilities, up to a certain point. Results indicated that segmenting films between episodes led to greater accuracy in comprehension, recall, and recognition tasks. This relationship was strongest in the more highly structured film. A limited number of breaks improved cognitive abilities in the more structured film but more breaks hindered abilities in the less structured film. These results conform to finding in music, language, and story research, showing that event structure .exerts a significant impact on cognitive processing.
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    Impact of Number and Placement of Commercial Breaks on the Perception, Comprehension, and Memory of Films
    (1989) Cassel, Tracy L.; Boltz, Marilyn
    The effects of number (0,3,6) and placement (natural, unnatural) of commercial breaks on perception, comprehension and memory were examined. Eighty-eight college students were shown one of two films and then asked to complete six tasks: (1) estimation of film's duration, (2) rating of film's comprehensibility, (3) summarization of story plot and theme, (4) scene recognition, (5) temporal ordering of scenes, and (6) identifying the location of commercial breaks. Overall, results suggest that an unnatural placement of commercial breaks has an adverse effect on cognitive processing and that performance increasingly deteriorates with more commercial breaks. Conversely, commercial breaks appearing at natural breakpoints led to a higher overall performance that was less affected by the number of commercial breaks that occurred. An effect of film was also found, suggesting that a film with a more organized plot structure can integrate natural commercial breaks more beneficially than a less-structured film.
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    The effect of background music in television commercials: belief and attitude formation
    (2001) Laine, Katherine; Boltz, Marilyn
    Advertisers often use music to persuade viewers of television commercials. Previous research has shown that emotional reactions to the background music of ads are influential in attitude formation at levels of low cognitive processing. In addition, music used in films can affect viewer's interpretations of scenes and inferences about a character's actions, motivations, and personality, thereby suggesting that music can act as a schematic framework for cognitive processing. The present study investigated whether music within ads exerts a similar effect by influencing attitudes toward products and the beliefs that are formed. Subjects engaged in different likelihoods of elaborative processing were asked to view three ads that were either paired with familiar, unfamiliar, or no music. Afterwards, they were asked to rate the ads on a bipolar adjective scale with dimensions categorized by purchase intentions, favorableness, and cognitive assessment. Subjects were also asked to recall the selling points, the setting, and the mood of the characters in the ad. Finally, they were given two recognition tasks assessing the memory of the items and verbal statements in the ad. Results indicated that music did influence belief and attitude formation at levels where both careful analysis of presented ad arguments and causal emotional associations are likely to occur. However, the results were not consistent across all conditions; they varied by the pairing of the ad and background music. Therefore, the fit of the music and ad was attributed to be crucial for determining the extent of music's influence on cognition and attitude.
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    The effects of familiar music on attitude and belief formation under high- and low- involvement
    (2001) Gonçalves, Carla
    Previous studies have found facilitory [sic] affects of music in various environments. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of music in advertising and how it may influence attitude and belief formation. Two groups of subjects (high or low involvement) were presented with three television advertisements embedded within a sitcom, each paired with either familiar, unfamiliar, or no music. Immediately afterwards, subjects completed attitude and memory/beliefs measures. The results are inconclusive due to inconsistencies between the commercial and the manipulated variables. There is evidence that music does influence attitude and belief formation but it is not clear whether this influence is generalizable across all advertisements.
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    The Role of Clarity of the Self in Adolescent Self-Concept Change
    (1995) Johnstone, Cove; Perloe, Sidney
    This study examined the effect of clarity and consistency of the self-concept on adolescent self-concept change. Television commercials were used as stimuli to influence the subject's self-concept in terms of gender. Commercials were chosen that were either highly traditionally stereotyped in terms of gender, counter-traditionally stereotyped, or neutral. The hypothesis was that subjects who had more clear self-concepts would have a contrast result while the subjects with ambiguous self-concepts would assimilate the commercials into their self-concepts. A contrast effect would mean that the subject would move their self-concept away from the model in order to reaffirm their own beliefs, whereas assimilation would mean that the subject would adjust their self-concepts to accommodate in information. The subject's self-concept clarity and consistency was measured by the Consistency and Clarity of the Self Measure (Campbell, 1990). The subjects scores on the Bern Sex Role Inventory (Bern, 1974) were measured before and after to determine the amount and the direction of change. None of the studies' hypotheses proved to be significant. This was attributed the defects in the study's design and to problems incurred during the testing.
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    The Role Of Consistency And Clarity of the Self in Adolescent Self-Concept Change
    (1995) Wilde, Erika; Perloe, Sidney
    The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between clarity of the self and gender self-concept change in female adolescents, as a result of exposure to either traditionally sex-stereotyped, counter-stereotyped, or neutral television commercials. It was hypothesized that subjects in the traditional or counter-traditional condition should demonstrate more gender change than those in the neutral condition. The second prediction was that subjects with unclear self-concepts would exhibit more change than those with consistent self-concepts. The third hypothesis was that ambiguous subjects should move in the direction of the commercial personality, but clear, certain subjects, if they move at all, should move away from the model. The degree of change should be dependent upon subjects' Bern gender scores. Results indicated a significant effect of condition but not of clarity, and no interaction between the two variables.