Starting from perceptual factors, this study examines viewers ’ aesthetic psychology while watching television drama programs. The mental reactions to drama programs are then analyzed to show how audiences decode messages differently to create individual meanings.
Television viewers normally experience different viewing conditions and environments than those in films and stage plays. There are different aesthetic expectations in television watching. Thirty-seven college and university students report in this research that while not much intellectual or aesthetic senses can be collected from the stories, not much appreciation is neither expressed toward the stories. The students prefer plots with suspense and feel more satisfied with stories which can retrieve imagination and association.