ABSTRACT
Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven, the 1941 movie Citizen Kane, and the TV show Star Trek share at least two commonalities. First, they are examples of mass media, and, second, each has the ability to create and change one’s affective, emotional, or mood state. The mass media are powerful in terms of creating and changing many psychological states, including arousal, emotional, and even aggressive predispositions. The term mood is often used when talking about the mass media. People choose to view or listen to particular media based on their current mood or emotional states and their perceptions of how the media product will enhance or modify that state. The mass media are designed to affect viewers emotionally, and viewers want to be affected. Harris (2004) suggested that this may be the case because the mass media can serve as a vicarious emotional experience for viewers. When watching a dating show on television (e.g., The Bachelor), for example, viewers experience certain emotions from the bachelor’s point of view or the point of view of the female contestants. If a hero on fi lm is scared, then the viewer may also feel aroused and scared as well.
