Can't stop thinking about Star Wars and The Office: antecedents of retrospective imaginative involvement

Retrospective imaginative involvement (RII) is a concept that encapsulates how audiences reflect back on a narrative's characters and events after the story has ended. The current study aims to explicate the antecedents of RII in order to provide initial steps toward creating a theory of RII. Through two studies, we tested the role of familiarity, traits (e.g., curiosity), entertainment experiences broadly (e.g., parasocial relationships), and content- or exposure-specific experiences (e.g., boundary expansion). Results suggest that RII plays an important role in self-regulation through repeated asynchronous engagement with specific narratives. This demonstrates a further mechanism by which narratives impact our lives even after the exposure. Further results and implications are discussed.

Automated summary

Through two studies, this research explores how audiences reflect back on a narrative's characters and events after the story has ended, investigating the role of familiarity, curiosity, and other factors in retrospective imaginative involvement. Results suggest that RII plays a significant role in self-regulation.