A SURVEY RESEARCH TO IDENTIFY THE NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE EFFECTS OF FICTIONAL SHOWS AND MOVIES ON LIFE’S REALITY

Abstract

The evolution of technology has made different forms of fictional narratives easily accessible in most parts of the world. As the pandemic restricted the activities of people, there was a drastic increase in the consumption of all forms of media ranging from books to movies. The current study inspects the effects of fictional literature and films on consumers. The study was conducted in the online mode with 73 participants who filled up a questionnaire form which was circulated through various social media platforms. The participants involved in this study were from 13 to 34 years of age. The online questionnaire consisted of two sections; section one consisted of questions based on an individual's favorite fictional character and section two was a task-based activity aimed to check the extent of involvement with a fictional character from a short story. A five-point Likert scale was used to measure the results. Results from section one indicated that most of the participants were positively influenced by their favorite fictional character, identified with them, and imitated traits of the character. Results from section two showed that a significant number of the participants were empathetic towards the protagonist of the short story. Additionally, most of the readers were tolerant towards controversial views in fictional literature. Overall, the study findings reveal that fictional characters influence individuals positively if not neutral.