This fascinating work provides an up-to-date examination of shifts in the nature and impact of TV and video watching that have largely been driven by non-linear TV and video services online. The book reviews research evidence from around the world about the physical and behavioural shift of viewing away from linear and towards non-linear TV and video services. It studies the psychological factors that underpin and drive this shift and the impact of binge-watching behaviour on people’s physical and psychological health and social relationships. Along the way, it differentiates between "binge-watching" and "heavy-viewing" and considers binge-watching as a distinctive form of TV/video use that has its own reasons of occurrence and impacts. The Psychology of Binge Watching TV is aimed principally at students and academics interested in psychology, media, mental health and other related disciplines. It will also interest any readers looking to understand more about the psychology behind binge-watching and the potentially positive and negative effects on audiences.

Research on procrastination has grown exponentially in recent years. Studies have revealed that procrastination is an issue of self-regulation failure, and specifically misregulation of emotional states—not simply a time management problem as often presumed. This maladaptive coping strategy is a risk factor not only for poor mental health, but also poor physical health and other aspects of well-being. Procrastination, Health, and Well-Being brings together new and established researchers and theorists who make important connections between procrastination and health. The first section of the book provides an overview of current conceptualizations and philosophical issues in understanding how procrastination relates to health and well-being including a critical discussion of the assumptions and rationalizations that are inherent to procrastination. The next section of the book focuses on current theory and research highlighting the issues and implications of procrastination for physical health and health behaviors, while the third section presents current perspectives on the interrelationships between procrastination and psychological well-being. The volume concludes with an overview of potential areas for future research in the growing field of procrastination, health, and well-being. - Reviews interdisciplinary research on procrastination - Conceptualizes procrastination as an issue of self-regulation and maladaptive coping, not time management - Identifies the public and private health implications of procrastination - Explores the guilt and shame that often accompany procrastination - Discusses temporal views of the stress and chronic health conditions associated with procrastination

Binge and Bingeability: The Antecedents and Consequences of Binge Watching Behavior examines how the television industry has transformed over time to create the circumstances in which binge watching as a mass behavior can emerge, and what role audiences have played in the rising prevalence of this behavior. Arienne Ferchaud, recognizing that this behavior did not spring, fully formed, from streaming services, ties cultural approaches to binge watching with media psychology-oriented theories, including the concept of “bingeability”—the likelihood that a specific sow will be binge watched—alongside the psychological impacts binge watching may have on viewers over time. Scholars of media studies, television studies, sociology, cultural studies, and psychology will find this book particularly useful.

This book situates binge watching as one of several new television viewing behaviors which collectively contribute to a fundamental change in the way we view television today. Simply put, binge watching changes, or has the potential to change, everything Engagement, immersion, attention to content and other devices, identification with characters and social engagement with fellow viewers, as well as content choices, and cable and over-the-top (OTT) subscription rates. Binge watching has quickly become a new norm in television viewing across audiences. Binge Watching reviews historically significant advancements in the television industry and in technology that better enable binge watching, such as timeshifting, increasing quantity and (sometimes) quality of content, as well as distribution strategies and suggestions algorithms employed by OTT providers. We situate binge watching as human-centered, that is, driven by innate human needs and wants, such as a desire to consume well-constructed stories and to connect with others. We also review the current state of academic binge watching research-from motives and habituation to the (over-pathologizing) addiction-based studies. This text concludes with a synopsis of the central arguments made and identifies several areas for future research.

Media Marathoning: Immersions in Morality is a scholarly study of the intense relationship between reader and story world, analyzing the way audiences become absorbed in a fictive text and dedicate many hours to exploring its narrative contours. Rather than view these media experiences as mindless indulgences, “media marathoning” connotes a conjoined triumph of commitment and stamina. Compared to more traditional, slower-paced media engagement patterns, media marathoning affords readers greater depth of story world engagement, maximizing the emotional and cognitive rewards of the media experience. Through immersive marathoning experiences, audiences can seriously engage with mediated questions about human nature and society, refining our orientation toward morality through internal dialogue about the story and communication with other readers as we process the meaningful journey. As digital technologies facilitate easier, user-centered access to media texts, narratives increase in complexity, and more readers seek immersive story world experiences, marathoning looks to be the new normal of media engagement. Drawing from qualitative studies of book, film, and television marathoners, along with textual analysis of commonly marathoned stories, Media Marathoning presents a holistic look at marathoning’s cultural impact.

This book establishes, and then analyses, the interrelation between series and dependence by focusing on two aspects of their connection: the overconsumption of TV series, and the production devices that lead to it. Due to its two-sided nature, the volume brings together specialists from different backgrounds. On the one hand, it involves people working with addiction, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers, whose analytical tools and statistics are extremely useful in assessing the prevalence of TV series addiction, as well as its consequences, in order to make sense of its mechanics. For similar reasons, the authors also include professionals working with children and teenagers, since youths under 18 are largely affected by addictive tendencies. On the other hand, other contributions here are authored by TV series specialists, producers and scriptwriters, as well as academics in the fields of film and TV series studies, cultural studies, and narratology. Their specific perspectives on the topic help better understand what it is about the construction or reception of TV series that aims to create, maintain, amplify, or, on the contrary, curb their ingrained addictive effects.

One of the most critically-acclaimed television series of all time, Arrested Development is widely hailed as a cutting-edge comedy that broke the traditional sitcom mold. The winner of six Emmys, the series was canceled by Fox in 2006, only to be revived in 2013 via Netflix's streaming service. Beyond its innovative approach to storytelling, the series lampooned contemporary American culture, holding up an unflattering mirror to modern society. This collection of new essays explores how the show addressed issues such as wealth and poverty, race, environmentalism and family relationships. Focusing on the show's iconic characters, the essays also consider Arrested Development as it stands next to such works of fiction as Hamlet, The Godfather and the writings of Kafka. Also covered is the show's reinvention of the sitcom genre, and what its revival on Netflix means for the future of television.

"This chapter offers some historical and conceptual orientation to readers of the Oxford Handbook of Entertainment Theory. Departing from a brief review of ancient roots and 20th century pioneer works, we elaborate on the state and challenges of contemporary entertainment theory and research. This includes the need to develop a more explicit understanding of interrelationships among similar terms and concepts (e.g., presence and transportation), the need to reflect more explicitly on epistemological foundations of entertaiment theories (e.g., neo-behaviorism), and the need to reach back to past, even historical reasoning in communication that may be just as informative as the consideration of recent theoretical innovations from neigboring fields such as social psychology. Finally, we offer some reflections on programmatic perspectives for future entertainment theory, which should try to harmonize views from the social sciences and critical thinking, span cultural differences in entertainment processes, and keep track of the rapid technological progress of entertainment media"--

A comprehensive and sustained analysis of the development of storytelling for television Over the past two decades, new technologies, changing viewer practices, and the proliferation of genres and channels has transformed American television. One of the most notable impacts of these shifts is the emergence of highly complex and elaborate forms of serial narrative, resulting in a robust period of formal experimentation and risky programming rarely seen in a medium that is typically viewed as formulaic and convention bound. Complex TV offers a sustained analysis of the poetics of television narrative, focusing on how storytelling has changed in recent years and how viewers make sense of these innovations. Through close analyses of key programs, including The Wire, Lost, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Veronica Mars, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Mad Men the book traces the emergence of this narrative mode, focusing on issues such as viewer comprehension, transmedia storytelling, serial authorship, character change, and cultural evaluation. Developing a television-specific set of narrative theories, Complex TV argues that television is the most vital and important storytelling medium of our time.

Drawing on empirical research, clinical case material and vivid examples from modern culture, The Psychology of Overeating demonstrates that overeating must be understood as part of the wider cultural problem of consumption and materialism. Highlighting modern society's pathological need to consume, Kima Cargill explores how our limitless consumer culture offers an endless array of delicious food as well as easy money whilst obscuring the long-term effects of overconsumption. The book investigates how developments in food science, branding and marketing have transformed Western diets and how the food industry employs psychology to trick us into eating more and more – and why we let them. Drawing striking parallels between 'Big Food' and 'Big Pharma', Cargill shows how both industries use similar tactics to manufacture desire, resist regulation and convince us that the solution to overconsumption is further consumption. Real-life examples illustrate how loneliness, depression and lack of purpose help to drive consumption, and how this is attributed to individual failure rather than wider culture. The first book to introduce a clinical and existential psychology perspective into the field of food studies, Cargill's interdisciplinary approach bridges the gulf between theory and practice. Key reading for students and researchers in food studies, psychology, health and nutrition and anyone wishing to learn more about the relationship between food and consumption.