ABSTRACT
This chapter commences with a critical examination of proposals seeking to explain emotions from witnessing dramatic events, proposals that hitherto were treated as truisms. First addressed is the question of why real emotions can be evoked by events that are known to be unreal. The question is answered by literally reversing the established view. Second, the Freudian adage that emotions arise from identifi cation with others is scrutinized and its untenability elaborated. A new conceptualization of emotional reactivity by immersion in media environments is then developed. This conceptualization entails empathy as an essential emotion-eliciting mechanism. Most importantly, however, it also presents the mechanisms that render empathy defunct and actually instigate counter-empathic, hostile emotions. A paradigm is detailed that makes positive as well as negative emotional reactivity dependent on the development of affective dispositions toward persons and that shows the development of these dispositions to depend, in turn, on moral appraisals. Several research demonstrations are discussed in support of this paradigm, and a larger body of pertinent research is indicated. Additionally, attention is given to the phenomenon of emotional intensity. A model is presented to explain interdependencies between emotional reactions that, especially in information-dense media contexts, are triggered in rapid succession. Finally, persisting uncertainties in our understanding of emotional reactivity to media environments are discussed, and avenues for future exploration are sketched.
