UF Researcher: Personality Type May Influence TV Viewing Choices

January 24, 1997

GAINESVILLE — An energetic salesman is more likely to watch “Hard Copy” after a tough day at work, while the stereotypical lazy brother-in-law might watch videos on MTV for hours on end.

Those are some of the results from a University of Florida researcher’s study that indicates personality type could explain not only what television shows different people watch, but also what specific emotional needs these shows fill.

“My study determined that a link exists between program choice and personality type,” said Cynthia Frisby, a UF advertising doctorate student.

The results also could be useful to advertisers.

“My theory is that people are sitting down to watch certain TV shows with very specific expectations and needs for that show to fill,” Frisby said. “If commercials do not meet these specific needs during this time period, they get zapped.”

For example, if most people watching “Seinfeld” are watching primarily to be entertained, an informative car commercial would not be effective. An entertaining car commercial, however, would have a greater chance of catching the attention of the target audience.

“If we can define these shows by personality types, advertising could be much more effective,” Frisby said. “This has serious implications for advertisers as well as programmers.”

Frisby surveyed 289 people spanning a wide range of ages, education and income. The subjects answered questions relating to five major personality traits: openness, extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and emotionality/neuroticism. Frisby found that the subjects’ personality types not only influenced what television shows they watched, but also why they watched them.

While the study showed that most groups of people watched television primarily for entertainment or escape reasons, people with different personality traits identified different reasons for watching specific types of shows.

“I found that antagonistic (hostile or rude) people tend to watch situation comedies for information,” Frisby said. “This could be because they are unable to interact socially with people, so television plays a role in their emotional release.”

Frisby also found that extroversion appears to be related to frequent viewing of soap operas and news magazine shows. Unenergetic people reported watching music videos frequently, and emotionality was related to watching talk shows.

“What strikes me is that this research deals with the fundamental question of why people consume television. Most research has dealt with the effects of watching television –what television does to people — rather than the more interesting question of why they consume this medium,” said Michael Weigold, UF advertising professor. “In a society where people say they are too busy to spend time with their children, too busy to read or to do a host of other things, yet have time to watch television for three and a half hours, on that level the question becomes very important: What motivates people to use the medium?”