Being Inspired by Media Content: Psychological Processes Leading to Inspiration

ABSTRACT In proposing a model of three processes triggered by media content – evocation, transcendence, and motivation – this study seeks to define what kinds of media content can lead to a state of inspiration. Specifically, during the evocation process, media content moves people and then provokes their thoughts to a greater extent; in the transcendence process, it generates more hopeful feelings and then elicits a greater sense of self-expansion; and in the motivation process, media content generates more feelings of vitality and then motivates people to act like the characters (i.e., emulate them) to a greater degree. All three multi-stage routes might lead to greater inspiration. Two pilot studies identify three common content themes that inspire people, such that they demonstrate people’s moral virtues, transformation (i.e., overcoming difficulties through perseverance despite adversity), and creativity. The experiment in Study 1 tests the proposed process model using feature stories in news programs that demonstrate moral virtues, transformation, and creativity by exemplars. A second experiment in Study 2 provides a further test by comparing competition shows that involve different levels of creativity (cooking, singing, quizzes). Media content involving more creativity inspires viewers to a greater degree, through all three processes.