288 Communication Theory Robin L. Nabi Marina Krcmar Conceptualizing Media Enjoyment as Attitude: Implications for Mass Media Effects Research Despite its popularity in mass media effects research, the concept of media enjoyment has yet to be clearly explicated or theoretically integrated into media effects theories. In this analysis, the authors begin to address these limitations by first reviewing terms that have been used to capture the concept of media enjoyment, considering their underlying common features. The authors then introduce a tripartite model of media enjoyment-as-attitude and examine how past research meshes with this perspective. Finally, they consider how enjoy- ment-as-attitude predicts volitional and spontaneous behavioral outcomes in terms of both media exposure and content-influenced action (e.g., imitation) from 3 theoretical perspectives (uses and gratifications, social cognitive theory, and cultivation). In this way, the article sheds light on how the concept of en- joyment might help to elaborate the understanding of those theoretical pro- cesses and, conversely, how extant theoretical perspectives might inform the study of media enjoyment. The notion of enjoyment seems, on its face, so clear, so obvious that it appears to need no further explanation. As such, it has become a main- stay of mass media research with both practical and theoretical impor- tance. From a production standpoint, understanding what audiences might enjoy can increase viewer ratings. Therefore, media enjoyment may serve as an indicator of consumption and potential profit. Enjoy- ment is also likely to be a key variable from an effects perspective. For example, the relationship between enjoyment and consumption may leave viewers susceptible to potentially negative effects (e.g., aggression). Yet, with the exception of disposition theory (e.g., Raney & Bryant, 2002; Zillmann & Bryant, 1994), and more implicitly, theories of entertain- ment (e.g., Grodal, 2000; Vorderer, 2000) and uses and gratifications (e.g., Rubin, 1984), the notion of enjoyment is not well integrated into mass media effects theory. Indeed, the term itself is not clearly conceptu- Copyright © 2004 International Communication Association Communication Theory Fourteen: Four November 2004 Pages 288–310