2008 Woodie Awards
Harry Potter and the impact on Muggles
Summary of results (thus far)
Jeff Rudski, Associate Director of Psychology, Carli Segal '08, Eli Kallen '09
Issue date: 11/1/07 Section: Focus
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This summer, Dr. Jeff Rudski, Carli Segal and Eli Kallen were among the millions of Harry Potter fans awaiting the seventh and final installment to the series: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Aside from intense anticipation regarding Harry's fate, we were also curious to see how fans of the series would react to the end of a decade-long journey with the most successful septology of all time. We sent out both pre and post-book internet surveys and had thousands of participants of all ages from all over the world. We still have plenty of data that we need to sift through, but we were able to address some preliminary answers to the following questions: Is it possible to be addicted to Harry Potter? If so, might fans display withdrawal when the series ends? Finally, how accurate were people in guessing various plot events, and might they have shown a 'hindsight bias' (see below)?
First, the Harry Potter phenomenon can be addictive. To assess this, we took a well established smoking-related craving scale, and changed the questions from "smoking" to "reading the Deathly Hallows". We found that participants' self-rated addiction level showed a moderately strong correlation (r=.51, for those of you who have taken a course in statistics) with the modified craving questions relating to final installment of the series. We also correlated the participants' self-reported fandom-related behaviors with the craving questions. The fandom questions were broken down into four categories using a statistical procedure known as a factor analysis: The "Core" category pertains to reading the books, discussing the theories, and having Harry Potter related thoughts, the "Literary" category describes involvement in reading/viewing/creating Harry Potter fan fiction and fan art, the "Play" category describes behaviors such as creating Harry Potter related food, engagement in live action role plays, purchasing Harry Potter merchandise, and the "Information" category describes visiting online websites with the purpose of looking up news or facts pertaining to the series. Peoples' scores on the "Core" questions had a moderate (r =.44) correlation with craving towards the last book, with scores in the "Play" and "Information" categories also showing smaller but still significant craving towards the last book. Interestingly, there was not a sizeable relationship between the "Literary" category and craving the last book.
First, the Harry Potter phenomenon can be addictive. To assess this, we took a well established smoking-related craving scale, and changed the questions from "smoking" to "reading the Deathly Hallows". We found that participants' self-rated addiction level showed a moderately strong correlation (r=.51, for those of you who have taken a course in statistics) with the modified craving questions relating to final installment of the series. We also correlated the participants' self-reported fandom-related behaviors with the craving questions. The fandom questions were broken down into four categories using a statistical procedure known as a factor analysis: The "Core" category pertains to reading the books, discussing the theories, and having Harry Potter related thoughts, the "Literary" category describes involvement in reading/viewing/creating Harry Potter fan fiction and fan art, the "Play" category describes behaviors such as creating Harry Potter related food, engagement in live action role plays, purchasing Harry Potter merchandise, and the "Information" category describes visiting online websites with the purpose of looking up news or facts pertaining to the series. Peoples' scores on the "Core" questions had a moderate (r =.44) correlation with craving towards the last book, with scores in the "Play" and "Information" categories also showing smaller but still significant craving towards the last book. Interestingly, there was not a sizeable relationship between the "Literary" category and craving the last book.