SIMILARITY IDENTIFICATION AND WISHFUL IDENTIFICATION WITH REALITY AUDITION PROGRAM CONTESTANTS

Abstract

Identification with media characters plays a significant role in influencing audience’s behaviors. Throughout the similarity and wishful identification, audiences assume the perspectives of the viewers, share character’s emotions, as well as desire to become like those characters they seen on the television or observe in the interactive game environment. These processes are later proven to affect these viewer’ attitudes and behaviors. Despite of the significance of the identification, the predictor or the antecedent of the identification is not widely examined. In addition, there were a lack of research studies, which compared the antecedents and the effects of both similarity identification and wishful identification in one study. Among those identification-related studies, there are still conflicted findings as well as limitation of in terms of the identification effects being investigated. The current study had researched on the similarity, as a predictor of the similarity identification and wishful identification, as well as examined the identification’s effects on viewer’s enjoyment, sympathy and voting intention. Survey results from 153 reality audition program viewers in South Korea suggests that the perceived similarity (values) positively affected the similarity identification and wishful identification. However, perceived similarity (abilities) is negatively related to the wishful identification. Demographic similarities did not predict the identification. As hypothesized, greater degree of similarity and wishful identification leads to greater degree of empathy and enjoyment. However, only the similarity identification is significantly and positively related to the SMS voting intention. The current research contributes to the identification theory by combing both types of the identification in one study, benchmarking the demographic similarity with the perceived similarity as well as subcategorizing the perceived similarity into deeper components. The research also found that not all types of the identification that affects the voting intention among reality audition program viewers. The current research findings benefits the reality audition program production companies in terms of the contestant selection to match with the target audience as well as the maximization of viewer's enjoyment, empathy and SMS voting through the reinforcement of the identification. Future researchers are encouraged to investigated on the identification, their predictors and effects by using an experiment method in order to maximize the preciseness of the demographic similarity measurement as well as identify the rationale behind different identification effects towards the voting intention.;본 연구는 유사성 동일시 (Similarity Identification) 및 희망적 동일시 (Wishful Identification)와 유사성의 관계를 조사하며 동일시가 시청자에 미치는 영향을 조사한 연구이다. 153명의 한국 리얼리티 오디션 프로그램 시청자를 대상으로 온라인 설문 조사를 제시한 결과에 의해 인구통계학적 유사성이 유사성 동일시에 유의미한 영향을 갖지 않는 것으로 드러났다. 지각된 유사성 (가치관)이 유사성 동일시 및 희망적 동일시에 긍정적인 영향을 미치기는 하지만 지각된 유사성 (능력)은 희망적 동일시에 부정적인 영향을 미친다는 것을 밝혀낼 수 있었다. 가설대로 유사성 동일시 및 희망적 동일시가 즐거움 및 공감에 긍정적인 영향을 미치는 것이 드러났다. 그러나 투표 의도에 영향을 미치는 동일시는 유사성 동일시뿐이었다. 이 연구 결과를 통해 리얼리티 프로그램 제작자가 시청자의 즐거움, 공감 및 참여를 극대화시키는 요인을 알게 되고 프로그램 시청자와 가치관을 공유하는 참가자를 선택하는데도 도움이 될 것이다.