Who doesn’t mind having the end of their favorite series spoiled? Adela Amado tells us about spoilers from a psychological perspective.
Currently, the book sagas or film series that characterize cinema, but also multimedia digital distribution companies such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO, with series, some as popular as “Game of Thrones ” generate thousands of spoilers (discover or reveal the ending), with millions of followers eager to know clues about the next episode and outcome.
There is a belief that, knowing relevant information about a movie or book, enjoyment is reduced, because the uncertainty, suspense and surprise are important elements in the film, because they make the stories more enjoyable, many people avoid spoilers. According to Johnson & Rosenbaum (2015), their studies indicate that is not sufficiently demonstrated, although they generate less moving and less stimulating stories. However, recent research shows that spoilers can cause opposite or positive effects such as those carried out by Leavitt and Crhistenfeld (2013), which justify it from the cognitive and affective needs which moderate the effect of spoilers and improve enjoyment.
It is not the same at the beginning as it is in the middle of the series
However, the spoiler effects They may vary according to their level of construction and location. According to the studies by Levine, Betzner and Autry (2016), the presentation of spoilers before the start of a story or movie, harms enjoyment. But when they occur halfway through the series they provide greater enjoyment possibly due to reactance or emotional reaction, in this case, because the person take back control of the film, even if the ending is not what was desired.
From psychology, the improvement of the enjoyment of a movie with spoilers can be related to the uncertainty reduction theory (Harrison, 1977), which indicates that successive exposures to the same stimulus reduce the conflictivity of possible responses. And also with the perceptual fluency theory (Jacoby, 1991), because by previously viewing a part of the film, it would later be easier to perceive it in a more enriched rather than preference, providing aesthetic pleasure, greater engagement with the story, and positive affect.
Some studies indicate the growing need for many people for spoilers, because it provides an position or advantage to understand the plot, reduces your anxiety when you know the end of the book or movie, feeling more relieved. For Leavitt and Christenfeld (2013) spoilers don’t spoil stories because when the ending is known, the information received is processed more deeply, and the story is analyzed more closely.
With the spoilers, uncertainty is reduced anticipating the coming events that are revealed, but also anxiety is reduced and the nervous agitation when learning the story, and it becomes a warm anticipation of upcoming events.
When spoilers do not anticipate the ending, they generate expectations about future use and enjoyment, and knowing key parts of the story doesn’t hurt the experience, because it actually increases enjoyment For people committed to a series, who do not know what will happen, obtaining partial or even biased information can reduce the need or tension of waiting.
The aforementioned studies show that spoilers enhance the enjoyment of a movie or book, and although the benefits of spoilers are subjective according to people’s preferences and expectations. Scientific evidence suggests that they improve the enjoyment of the movie or book, there probably being a relationship between the bond we establish with the series, our fear of spoilers, and the consequences they provide.
