To study TV viewers’ engagement with shows and stories featuring “anti-hero” characters, professor and co-director of the Communication Research Center Mina Tsay-Vogel is looking beyond the past research that suggests viewers enjoy watching “good” characters win and “bad” characters lose.
In a 2013 study published in Mass Communication and Society, Tsay-Vogel and a professor at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, studied character motivation and how a story’s outcome influences viewers’ opinion on a character.
Professor Tsay-Vogel’s work has received national attention from outlets like Futurity, which features research news from top universities across the country.