Emotional reactions to frightening and neutral scenes in story theatre

Abstract

Audience reactions to emotionally neutral and frightening scenes were compared. State anxiety and individual differences in anxiety‐proneness (trait anxiety) were assessed with the State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC). Level of state anxiety increased dramatically for the frightening scene. Girls tended to experience more intense state anxiety reactions than boys and girls with high trait anxiety responded with higher state anxiety to the frightening scene than did girls with low trait anxiety. Differences in the reactions of boys and girls were interpreted as reflecting their identification with different characters in the play, and their perceptions of the physical danger and psychological threat to these characters in the frightening scene. This study also demonstrates that dramatic scenes can have a strong impact on the emotional reactions of children, and that the level of state anxiety of individual members of an audience can be assessed with easily administered self‐report procedures.