Counterfactual thinking is a psychological concept used to explain the phenomenon that individuals reflectively imagine different outcomes for events that have already happened. This dissertation examined the application of counterfactual thinking in the field of media psychology. Specifically, it discussed the question of whether readers can generate counterfactuals from fictional contexts. This dissertation also examined the influential factors of counterfactuals, including the influence of story plot, involvement (identification and transportation), and individual characteristics, and the functional roles of generating counterfactuals. By analyzing the results of two experiments, the author found that participants who were more highly transported into the narrative world were more likely to generate counterfactuals. Meanwhile, the study results indicated that counterfactual thinking might be a factor of generating counterfactual thinking. However, the study did not find a relationship between counterfactual thinking and agreement with story-consistent beliefs. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2017. / April 11, 2017. / Includes bibliographical references. / Arthur A. Raney, Professor Directing Dissertation; Vanessa Dennen, University Representative; Laura Arpan, Committee Member; Steve McDowell, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_653397 |
| Contributors | Cui, Di (author), Raney, Arthur A. (professor directing dissertation), Dennen, Vanessa P., 1970- (university representative), Arpan, Laura M. (committee member), McDowell, Stephen D., 1958- (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Communication and Information (degree granting college), School of Communication (degree granting departmentdgg) |
| Publisher | Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text, doctoral thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (189 pages), computer, application/pdf |
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