Janicke Part of Communication Team Receiving $1.95 Million Grant

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Sophie H. Janicke, visiting assistant professor

Watch the evening news, scroll through Facebook or pick up a newspaper. Stories, videos and posts that make you feel good are everywhere you look.

While inspirational media messages may be quick to bring a smile, can they also help to make us better people?

Sophie H. Janicke, a visiting assistant professor of communication in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at University of Arkansas, will be a co-primary investigator on a team that has received a three-year grant to examine the answers to this question. She is co-primary investigator to Arthur Raney, project leader and the James E. Kirk Professor of Communication at Florida State University, and Distinguished Professor Mary Beth Oliver of the College of Communications Penn State University.

In August, they will begin a research project to analyze the daily use and effects of inspirational media through a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, which serves as a philanthropic catalyst for discoveries relating to the "big questions" of human purpose and ultimate reality.

The Templeton Foundation awarded the research team $1.95 million for the proposal, "Your Daily Dose of Inspiration: Exploring How People Use and Are Impacted by Media Content that Elicits Self-Transcendent Emotions."

"From research in positive psychology we know that positive emotions such as elevation and awe promote prosocial behaviors and subjective well-being," Janicke said. "However, thus far, no research has identified systematically what role the media plays in providing us with opportunities to experience such positive and specifically self-transcendent emotions."

Over the next three years, the grant will fund psychological experiments, content analyses and national surveys on inspirational media. The project will culminate in a two-day conference hosted by Florida State's College of Communication and Information in 2018.

Inspirational media can take many forms: viral videos, social media, television and films, and even newspaper stories. The research team will take a deeper look at what makes media inspiring, who seeks out such content and why, and how people use it to stimulate positive emotions. It will also explore how those emotional experiences might build character and promote greater care and concern for other people.

Robert Jones of the Public Religion Research Institute is also a member of team.

The project was made possible through the support of a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.