All published articles of this journal are available on ScienceDirect.
Personality and Parental Guidance for Preferred Movies among Japanese Undergraduates: Focusing on Dark Triad and Big-five Personality Traits
Abstract
Background
Movie watching is a prevalent form of entertainment, and with the proliferation of video-on-demand platforms, movie preferences have diversified.
Objectives
The primary objective of this study was to examine the relationships between Big-Five personality traits, Dark Triad, and movie content preferences, exploring beyond traditional genre classifications.
Methods
240 participants from a private university in Tokyo were required to complete the personality scales and answer their five favorite movies, with 139 complete responses analyzed. We converted the answers into movie preferences based on the ratings provided by the IMDb (Internet Movie Database) parental guidance. Parental guidance is an indicator for parents to determine the appropriateness of content when showing their children movies. It is divided into five categories – Sex/ Nudity, Violence, Profanity, Alcohol/ Drug, and Frightening.
Results
Correlation analysis revealed that Machiavellianism and Narcissism were positively related to scene descriptions of Sex/ Nudity and Alcohol/ Drug, and Psychopathy was positively associated with Profanity descriptions. Regarding the Big-Five personalities, Conscientiousness was negatively correlated with descriptions of Violence and Frightening, and Openness was positively related to descriptions of Sex/ Nudity, Alcohol/ Drug, and Profanity.
Conclusion
Dark personality traits are significant predictors of specific movie content preferences. This study can offer valuable insights for content providers and marketers.