Assessing The Impact Of Gender And Personality On Film Preferences

In this paper, the impact of gender and Big Five personality factors (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism) on visual media preferences (for comedy, horror, action, romance and fantasy film genres) was examined. The analyses were carried out using data collected by Stillwell’s (2007) myPersonality application on Facebook; and focused on a sub-sample of British residents aged 16-25 (n=29,197). It was confirmed that females prefer romantic films, whereas males favour action films. As predicted, there was also a marked interaction between gender and personality characteristics: females score higher on Neuroticism and Agreeableness than males. Individuals scoring high on the dimension of Openness were more likely to prefer comedy and fantasy films than romantic films. Conscientious individuals were more inclined to enjoy action and romance genres. Individuals scoring high on Neuroticism tended to prefer romantic films. Finally, significant interactions were noted between gender and Openness with regard to preferences for comedy, action and romance genres. Overall, it is certain that the combination of gender and Big Five personality factors contributes substantially to an understanding of people’s film preferences. GENDER, PERSONALITY AND FILM PREFERENCES 3 Assessing the impact of Gender and Personality on Film Preferences Do comedies have a sexually differentiated public? Are males and females who enjoy horror films similar in terms of personality? Regardless of gender, do personality characteristics influence preference for the fantasy genre? In the present study, we have attempted to provide a meaningful answer to the aforementioned set of questions, based on the analysis of gender and personality interactions with regard to film preferences. In an attempt to complement previous research findings, we focused our analysis on the role of sex and personality in film preferences for British Facebook users aged 16-25. We paid attention to their scores on online Big Five personality questionnaires and their stated gender, using both single and multivariate measures to relate the two variables to film preferences, also listed on their profiles. The following hypotheses were tested: 1. Females and males differ with regard to film preferences. 2. Personality characteristics differ according to gender. 3. Film preferences vary in accordance with personality characteristics. 4. There is a significant interaction between gender and personality with regard to film preferences. the explanatory potential of online social networks Online social networks are mass repositories of valuable social and psychological information for researchers. Facebook, ranked as the most popular social network by worldwide monthly users, hosts for instance more than 400 million user profiles, in which individuals’ number of friends, media content preferences and socio-demographic background– amongst other things are displayed. Their systematic use for data collection purposes is a relatively recent trend in social psychological research; Stillwell’s creation of the myPersonality application (2007) on Facebook is a striking exemplar of the considerable explanatory potential of those online social networks. With myPersonality, users can take an online version of the Big Five personality questionnaire and agree to share their profile information for research purposes. As such, users’ personalities can be matched to any other single or collection of individual information available on Facebook, opening up an array of possible areas of investigation. GENDER, PERSONALITY AND FILM PREFERENCES 4 the predominance of visual media The appeal of visual media is easily demonstrated in terms of the importance it has in the lives of most individuals. Data from the National Survey of Culture, Leisure and Sport (2007) indicates that watching television is the most common leisure activity for over eight out of ten men and women in England, taking precedence over spending time with friends and family, sport, etc. Another intriguing finding relates to TV and movie watching online: the number of Britons visiting such websites reached 21 million in 2007. Although it is clear that many people enjoy visual media offerings, it is much more difficult to pinpoint the specific viewer characteristics that predict genre enjoyment. In other words, who prefers which type of content? visual media content: an explanation of viewer preferences Initially the domain of inquiry of communication theorists, media preferences and their determinants are increasingly studied from the vantage point of a variety of disciplines, amongst which psychology and sociology feature predominantly (Kraaykamp et al, 2005). Their combined explanatory potential finds its articulation in the uses and gratification approach (Blumler & Katz, 1974; Rosengreen & Windhal, 1989), according to which preferences for specific media and/or specific content result from an individual’s psychological and social attributes. gender differences in media content preferences Research on media preferences has paid notable attention to sex differences in responses to different types of film. It has been established that various movie genres elicit differentiated affective responses between the two sexes. Rather interestingly, the widespread gender – stereotyping running through entertainment products seems to correspond to actual viewer preferences. Males indeed prefer action/adventure genres typically associated with the masculine sex, whilst females have a soft spot for romance/drama. Oliver et al. (2000) point to the explanatory potential of differential gender-linked expectations, which can be conceptualized along two dimensions: (1) communality, typically associated with females and (2) agency, often associated with males (Eagly, 1987). Depending on whether they are communal or agency-consistent, the themes preponderant in each genre make up for a sexually differentiated public. A number of studies highlighted the importance of sex in social affiliation with media characters: viewers tend to affiliate more strongly with and GENDER, PERSONALITY AND FILM PREFERENCES 5 experience more intense emotional responses to same-sex characters (e.g. Deutsch, 1975; Hoffner & Cantor, 1991). Another potential explanation is that of sex differences in mean personality levels, which remain fairly constant across the lifespan (Feingold, 1994; McCrae & Costa, 1984). personality differences in media preferences Theorists have also focused considerable attention on the role of personality characteristics in modern mass communication theory (Blumler & Katz, 1974; Wober, 1986). In most personality/media use models, personality is conceptualized as the nexus of attitudes, beliefs and values that guide one’s cognitive and affective interactions with the social environment (Weaver et al, 1993). Personality characteristics are thus believed to influence media preferences, which are essentially evaluative judgements pertaining to the gratifications consumers anticipate from their interaction with the media (Palmgreen, 1984). The Big Five framework of personality is most frequently employed by researchers seeking to demonstrate empirical connections between media gratifications and their psychological roots (e.g. Kraaykamp, 2001; Kraaykamp et al, 2005). It includes the following domains: Openness (traits like originality and open-mindedness), Conscientiousness (traits like hardworking and orderly), Extraversion (traits like energetic and sociable), Agreeableness (traits like affectionate and considerate) and Neuroticism (traits like nervous and tense) (Donellan & Lucas, 2008). With regard to media preferences, individuals scoring high on the dimension of Openness seem to prefer original and serious media content, whilst conscientious individuals like predictable and structured formats (Kraaykamp et al, 2005). The findings for extroverts are less straightforward: they seemingly favour sensory stimulation because of relatively high arousal levels (Costa & McCrae, 1988). Agreeableness appears to be the second most important personality trait, after Openness, in predicting visual preferences. Friendly individuals tend to watch popular content, devoid of upsetting and unconventional images (Kraykaamp, 2001). Finally, emotionally unstable individuals are thought to find easy means of escape from feelings of tension and stress in watching TV (Conway & Rubin, 1991). Most studies on personality effects in media preferences tend to either overlook or control for participants’ gender (e.g. Weaver et al, 1993; Kraaykamp, 2001). As a result, it is difficult to tell in the former case whether the differentiated association between media GENDER, PERSONALITY AND FILM PREFERENCES 6 preferences and personality characteristics is partially caused by the fact that personality traits differ systematically between people of different sexes (Kraaykamp & Van Eijck, 2005). The latter design precludes the possibility of assessing the interaction between gender and personality when it comes to predicting media taste. It seemed to us as though no one has investigated gendered differences in personality in the context of similar genre preferences.