Experimental Evidence for Differences in the Prosocial Effects of Binge-Watched versus Appointment-Viewed Television Programs

This study investigated the influence of television consumption patterns on changes in attitudes toward depicted social out-groups. Participants were randomly assigned to view six episodes of Amazon’s Transparent, a comedy-drama program about a family whose father comes out as a transgender woman, in either one three-hour (“binge-watching”) session or six weekly half-hour (“appointment-viewing”) sessions. Across both groups, we found exposure to the narrative reduced anti-transgender prejudice. Counter to the predictions of the Extended-Elaboration Likelihood Model and the Entertainment Overcoming Resistance Model, however, improvement of prejudice toward transgender people was not predicted by narrative or character involvement. Rather, reduction in prejudice was an outcome of viewing condition such that those who viewed the program on a schedule of one episode per week exhibited lower levels of post-exposure prejudice than those who binge-watched, and their attitudinal changes were more persistent three weeks later. Results are discussed in the context of the original Elaboration Likelihood Model, proposing mechanisms for further testing.