Enjoying Theater: The Role of Visitor's Response to the Performance

In the literature, there is broad agreement on the relevance of visitor's cognitive and emotional reaction to a theatrical performance. However, research on the relative importance of visitor's response for their overall subjective evaluation of a visit to the theater is rare. Addressing t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychology of aesthetics, creativity, and the arts creativity, and the arts, 2013-11, Vol.7 (4), p.391-408
Main Authors: Boerner, Sabine, Jobst, Johanna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cognitive Appraisal
Emotional Responses
Evaluation
Female
Human
Male
Theatre
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In the literature, there is broad agreement on the relevance of visitor's cognitive and emotional reaction to a theatrical performance. However, research on the relative importance of visitor's response for their overall subjective evaluation of a visit to the theater is rare. Addressing this research gap, this article investigates the relative impact of visitor's cognitive, emotional, and conative response to a performance for their overall subjective evaluation of a visit to the theater. A study of 2,795 visitors viewing 44 performances in 12 German-speaking theaters reveals visitor's emotional (i.e., involvement and empathy), cognitive (i.e., complexity), and conative (i.e., thought-provoking impulses, animation for communication) responses to a performance as significant determinants of their overall evaluation of a visit to the theater.
ISSN:1931-3896
1931-390X
DOI:10.1037/a0034570