Narrative Persuasion

Companies are going green, both to benefit the planet and to make their brands more appealing. But some green initiatives have a twofold nature: they require cooperative behaviors by consumers, but save costs for the company. In such situations, companies advertising green initiatives have to overcome a message credibility problem, because people suspect the initiatives are primarily designed to save company costs. This research examines different approaches for making green advertising more credible. Study 1 shows that a narrative (vs. nonnarrative) message style is more credible and yields better green evaluations; further, these effects are amplified when the message has two-sided (vs. one-sided) claims. Study 2 confirms the positive effects of narrative (vs. non-narrative) messages and demonstrates the advantage of using messages with specific (vs. general) information about the green initiatives. Results also support the theorizing that the effects of the message variables on green evaluations are mediated by message credibility.

Research differentiates between hedonic and eudaimonic motivations to consume entertainment, as well as the resulting enjoyable and appreciative (or meaningful) experiences. To date, research has focused on hedonically motivated/enjoyable media; eudaimonically motivated/meaningful media experiences have received far less attention. The present study is exploring the role of spirituality in meaningful media experiences, differentiating the concept from religiousness or religiosity as well as from the most recent conceptualization of eudaimonia in media. Furthermore, effects on spiritual contemplation and attitude strengthening (i.e. narrative persuasion) from particular spiritual entertainment fare will be examined. The study will add to the existent scholarship of media entertainment and narrative persuasion as well as conceptualizations of eudaimonic (i.e. meaning seeking) media experiences, suggesting that spirituality should be considered as an additional dimension for the understanding of pensive media experiences.

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Narrative media possess the power to influence audience attitudes, beliefs, and behaviour. This influence can and does manifest itself in both positive and negative ways. Identifying reliable pathways to influence and exploiting these for altruistic ends is a potentially high impact health intervention. This paper surveys the theoretical and empirical literature on models of mass communication, considers the role of narrative media in movements of positive social change, and applies ethical considerations to the production and value of narrative media. It argues that while most concerns with the impacts of narrative media are sensationalized, of much greater concern should be the possibility that this content possesses the potential to do more good than many of us imagine. This oversight is largely due to the fallibility of common sense paradigms of moral and artistic value not rooted in cognitive science or moral philosophy.

We propose and test an integrated process explanation for why narrative ads in general are more persuasive than non-narrative ads. A study involving a random sample of 25 narrative and 25 non-narrative TV commercials and 484 nonstudent research participants confirmed that a set of four process variables— emotive response, ad hedonic value, ad credibility, and perceived goal facilitation—collectively mediate the positive effects of narrative (versus non-narrative) ads on attitude toward the ad (Aad) and brand attitudes. The results also supported moderated mediation processes, with type of featured product and product involvement as important moderators. Implications for theory as well as practice are discussed.

En el presente capítulo se describen las principales características del método experimental en Comunicación tomando como paradigma la investigación en persuasión narrativa y situando dicho ámbito de investigación en el estudio de los efectos mediáticos. Los efectos mediáticos son considerados en la actualidad como efectos condicionales, indirectos y transaccionales. Ello implica que cualquier estudio riguroso sobre los efectos mediáticos (y, en particular, sobre el efecto de los mensajes narrativos en las actitudes, creencias, intención de conducta y comportamiento de las personas), necesariamente precisa del estudio de las variables moderadoras y mediadoras. En este contexto, se muestran ejemplos de instrumentos de medida para evaluar procesos mediadores y variables moderadoras. Finalmente, se plantean los retos que deberá afrontar en el futuro la investigación experimental en persuasión narrativa.

For several decades researchers aim to discover which techniques are effective in changing peoples’ health beliefs and behaviors. Since a few years narratives have attracted the interest of different scholars, since they seem to be a promising strategy in the context of health communication. Now that there is evidence that the use of narratives can be an effective strategy to change health attitudes and behaviors, at least one important question remains: which exact cognitive or affective mechanisms provide narrative persuasion? Although researchers agree that the extent to which a person is transported into a story and identifies with the main characters is essential, the role emotions play in this process remains unclear. Are emotions a result of transportation and identification or is it the other way around? Furthermore, which emotions are produced by health narratives and do different emotions produce different persuasive effects? And do several motivations to seek for narratives evoke other emotions? The main objective of this proposal is to provide an answer to these questions.

Se presentan los resultados de una investigación sobre el impacto de películas sobre inmigración en las actitudes hacia dicho colectivo. Se realizó un estudio cuasi-experimental con 142 estudiantes de Bachillerato, estableciéndose dos condiciones: ver una película que enfatizaba la discriminación y suscitaba reacciones de empatía hacia los inmigrantes (Poniente) o ver una película que enfatizaba el contacto intergrupal positivo (El Próximo Oriente). Un mes antes del visionado de las películas se cumplimentó la escala de racismo moderno. Tras el visionado de las películas se midieron la identificación con los personajes del endogrupo y del exogrupo, la actitud hacia la inmigración y otros procesos de recepción relevantes. El visionado de la película diseñada para estimular empatía hacia los inmigrantes provocó mayor identificación con los personajes del exogrupo, lo que a su vez indujo actitudes más positivas hacia la inmigración, pero únicamente cuando el prejuicio previo era bajo o...

Narratives may provide more than entertainment. Las narraciones audiovisuales constituyen herramientas poderosas para cambiar la forma de pensar de las personas. A pesar de que el estudio científico sobre el impacto persuasivo de las narraciones audiovisuales está en su infancia, la investigación sobre persuasión narrativa se ha desarrollado rápidamente en las dos últimas décadas. Se trata de analizar cómo la exposición o consumo de narraciones influye en las actitudes y creencias de las personas y cuáles son los mecanismos responsables de dicho impacto. Este campo, actualmente en expansión en Media Psychology, ha apuntado una serie de mecanismos o procesos que explican por qué las personas se enganchan con las narraciones y también se ven impactadas por ellas. Se definirá el campo de investigación sobre persuasión narrativa, los modelos teóricos desarrollados hasta la fecha (Narrative Transportation Green & Brock, 2000; Extended-Elaboration Likelihood Model, Slater & Rouner, 2002; Entertainment Overcoming Resistance Model, Moyer-Gusé, 2008) y los procesos responsables de la misma como el transporte narrativo y la identificación con los personajes. También se describirán los enfoques metodológicos y los principales retos de la investigación actual sobre el poder del storytelling. En este contexto, se mostrarán ejemplos de investigaciones que han documentado cómo las narraciones ejercen efectos significativos en creencias y actitudes sobre diversos temas, desde las actitudes hacia la pena de muerte (Slater et al., 2016) hasta las actitudes hacia la donación de órganos (Morgan et al., 2009). Finalmente, se detallará cómo estas investigaciones están dado lugar a intervenciones mediáticas (entertainment-education) que utilizan la ficción audiovisual para persuadir a las personas en temas de salud con el objetivo de provocar cambios prosociales (Igartua & Vega, 2016; Moyer-Gusé, 2008; Murphy et al., 2011).

Information, detection and prevention are very important factors in sexually transmitted diseases such as human papillomavirus, which is linked to cervical cancer and other cancers (WHO, 2015). This paper aims to demonstrate empirically whether the use of narrative in new media, such as Facebook, produces a greater impact on attitudes and intention in sex education issues, such as human papillomavirus, than the same information presented in non-narrative. Also, the role of the viewer’s involvement in this persuasive effect is analysed. A group of young university students was tested before and after viewing a Facebook profile on HPV in a narrative vs non-narrative format. The narrative proved to be more effective than the non-narrative, provoking a more positive attitude towards periodic medical check-ups and towards the intention of being tested for HPV. Additionally, narrative transportation proved to have a direct effect on attitude, while involvement with both the story and the ...

Two experiments carried out in Spain and the Netherlands tested the joint effects of imagined contact and similarity with a narrative protagonist on attitudes and behavioral intentions related to stigmatized immigrants. We advance a concept of optimal reception condition: imagining a positive interaction with an immigrant before reading a testimonial of an immigrant who is similar to the native audience. The optimal reception condition induced greater identification and transportation than the reference condition, leading to more positive attitudes and a higher intention of inter-group contact. The findings are discussed in the context of research on narrative persuasion and prejudice reduction.

This work addresses the study of factors that increase the persuasive efficacy of testimonial messages aimed at improving intergroup attitudes. The results of two online experiments ( N = 840) on the effect of empathy with, and similarity to, the protagonist in personal stories designed to improve attitudes towards immigrants are presented. In both studies, participants were given instructions to induce a certain exposure condition (empathy vs. an objective or distanced perspective) immediately before reading a narrative whose protagonist was an immigrant with high or low similarity to the audience. The results of mediation analysis show that both empathy and similarity increased identification and narrative transportation, which in turn reduced counterarguing, thus resulting in a more positive attitude towards the outgroup and lower threat perception. The results are discussed in the context of research on narrative persuasion and the design of campaigns to reduce racism and xenoph...

Radicalization amongst youth is a challenge facing the Arab world. Recent reports indicate that over 20,000 Arab fighters traveled to join ISIS in Iraq and Syria and another 5-15 percent of millennials across seven Arab countries consider some violent extremist groups to be on the right path. In response, Arab countries have experimented with entertainment-education (E-E) by using anti-extremism narratives in popular culture to address radicalization at the societal level. This study explores whether those narratives can elicit viewers’ parasocial interaction (PSI)—pseudo friendships with or animosity toward mediated personas that can catalyze persuasion—with fictional characters. Using qualitative and quantitative content analyses of more than 8,600 YouTube comments, this study explores Arab viewers’ responses to a recent E-E project, al-Siham al-Marika (The Piercing Arrows) drama series, that portrays life under ISIS’s control. The findings identify recurrent themes in the pool of comments, such as show debates, religious contestations, political disputes, empathy for victims, and engagement with plotline/characters. More importantly, they reveal at least one out of six comments (n=1477) exhibits PSI with fictional characters, addressing them as part of their social milieu. The study further traces the variations in the nature of PSI in relation to mediated positive role models, negative role models, and transitional characters in the narrative. It concludes with a discussion of E-E’s potentials as an anti-extremism messaging strategy and PSI’s role as a useful metric in assessing such narratives.

This study focuses on analysis of the factors that can increase the persuasive effectiveness of information campaigns using narratives. An experiment was carried out in which similarity with the protagonist was manipulated in a video about a victim of gender violence. The protagonist was portrayed as living in Spain, and she was said to be Spanish (high similarity) or Argen-tinian (low similarity). The participants (75 Spanish women) then filled out a questionnaire with measures about emotional impact, identification with the protagonist, and risk perception about becoming a victim of abuse. Results showed that similarity with the protagonist has an indirect influence on risk perception through negative emotions and identification.

This model reconciles major theories of persuasion to help communicators decide which theoretical principles to apply when creating a persuasive message based on the readiness and motivation of the recipient. It illustrates under which circumstances rhetorical strategies used in

Narrative messages are increasingly being used in the field of tobacco prevention. Our study is based on narrative persuasion and aims to analyze the psychological mechanisms that explain why the narrative voice is relevant to promote persuasive impact. An online experiment with a 2 (narrative voice) × 2 (message) factorial design was carried out. Participants (525 adult smokers) were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions (first-person versus third-person narrative message). To increase the external validity of the study, two different messages were used within each condition. After reading the narrative message the mediating and dependent variables were evaluated. Participants who read the narrative in the first person experienced greater identification. Moreover, mediational analysis showed that both counterarguing and cognitive elaboration played a significant role in the relationship between narrative voice, identification, and persuasive impact. This study confirm th...

Digital skills and coping strategies have emerged as key competences for adolescents because of concerns about online risks and opportunities. With smartphones nigh ubiquitous nowadays, mobile applications are a promising tool for reaching adolescents and developing their competences. Because narratives have demonstrated their effectiveness for knowledge acquisition and attitudes, this study explores their use in mobile environments. A mobile application with narrative content was developed for teaching digital skills and coping strategies. A quasi-experiment conducted among 245 adolescents showed that the application was effective. Its use raised the level of personal security skill and intention to use active coping strategies when facing contact online risks. Identification with the main character and mobile acceptance predicted the impact of the app, but narrative transportation did not. This study suggests that narratives in mobile apps can be effective for adolescents.

People are increasingly confronted with narratives in a visual form in advertisements,
films, and series, often in the viewers' second language. These visual narratives make
use of different language strategies such as dubbing, voice-overs, and subtitling. The
aim of this study was to find out to what extent first and second language voice-overs, and second language voice-overs with first language subtitles influence the level of identification, transportation, spatial presence, flow, enjoyment, narrative
understanding, and story-consistent beliefs in a non-overtly persuasive visual
narrative amongst Dutch nationals. A total of 150 Dutch students from the Radboud
University participated in the research. The materials consisted of adapted two John
Lewis Christmas advertisements. The original soundtracks of the videos, which
contained only music, were stripped. Two stories, related to the content of the videos,
were written and then recorded as audio and put back into the video in the different
language strategies (Dutch voice-over, English voice-over, English voice-over with
Dutch Subtitles, No voice-over or subtitles). The results of this study indicate that a
difference in language strategy does not impact the levels of identification, transportation, spatial presence, flow, enjoyment, narrative understanding, and story-consistent beliefs. In conclusion, voice-overs and subtitling were considered as
equally effective means of translation. This is in line with previous research about the
effectiveness of dubbing and subtitling (Wissmath et al., 2009).

El principal objetivo de la presente investigación fue generar nuevo conocimiento en torno a los procesos de persuasión narrativa y su aplicación para reducir el prejuicio hacia inmigrantes altamente estigmatizados. Se analizó el efecto de la similitud entre el protagonista de una narración diseñada para reducir el prejuicio y la audiencia del mensaje en la identificación con el protagonista y en las actitudes hacia la inmigración. Para ello se llevó a cabo una investigación experimental en la que participaron 90 estudiantes de universidad. Como estímulos experimentales se utilizaron narraciones cortas escritas en primera persona que relataban la experiencia migratoria de un inmigrante estigmatizado. Los participantes fueron asignados aleatoriamente a dos condiciones experimentales diseñadas en función de cómo aparecía caracterizado el protagonista de la narración. Los resultados mostraron que la similitud influía positivamente en la identificación con el protagonista lo que se asoc...

Digital skills and coping strategies have emerged as key competences for adolescents because of concerns about online risks and opportunities. With smartphones nigh ubiquitous nowadays, mobile applications are a promising tool for reaching adolescents and developing their competences. Because narratives have demonstrated their effectiveness for knowledge acquisition and attitudes, this study explores their use in mobile environments. A mobile application with narrative content was developed for teaching digital skills and coping strategies. A quasi-experiment conducted among 245 adolescents showed that the application was effective. Its use raised the level of personal security skill and intention to use active coping strategies when facing contact online risks. Identification with the main character and mobile acceptance predicted the impact of the app, but narrative transportation did not. This study suggests that narratives in mobile apps can be effective for adolescents.

Testimonial messages are frequently used in public information campaigns to cope with health and social problems. In the present research a narrative strategy is proposed aiming to reduce perceived threat toward immigrants in the context of the European Union (Schmuck & Matthes, 2017).
Narrative persuasion models suggest that transportation and identification with the protagonist are two relevant mechanisms through which narratives produce their impact because both processes reduce counterarguing (Green & Brock, 2000; Moyer-Gusé, 2008). However, previous empirical evidence on the mediating role of counterarguing is not conclusive. Because transportation and identification facilitate persuasion, it is important to know how to increase both processes (Tal-Or & Cohen, 2016). The present study focuses on two factors: similarity between the protagonist of the message and the recipient, and empathy. It is hypothesized that the joint effect of “training” empathy before reading a high-similarity narrative will increase identification and narrative transportation (as compared to the control condition). Secondly, this research tests the indirect effect of the experimental condition that combines empathy with exposure to a high-similarity narrative on the reduction of perceived threat toward immigrants, through identification and transportation (primary mediators) and counterarguing (secondary mediator).
In order to contrast our predictions, two experiments were carried out via Qualtrics opt-in on line panels in Spain (N = 383) and the Netherlands (N = 416). We employed a two (empathy versus no empathy instructions) by two (low versus high similarity) factorial design. Both experiments used as stimuli short testimonial messages delivered by a stigmatized immigrant of different origins (a Moroccan immigrant in Spain and a Turkish one in the Netherlands).
The results showed that the condition that combined empathy with reading a high-similarity narrative induced the highest levels of identification and narrative transportation. In the mediation analysis, a significant indirect effect was observed on perceived threat toward immigrants through identification and counter-argumentation. However, transportation did not act as a significant mediator. Our work improves our understanding of the mechanisms that explains the impact of testimonial messages. Ultimately, both studies suggest that testimonial messages can be effective narrative tools to reduce perceived threat toward stigmatized immigrants.

Several environmental advocacy organizations have emerged that use narrative persuasion techniques to change climate change opinions and overcome climate change inaction. Written from the perspective of parents and grandparents (particularly mothers), the narratives in these testimonials reproduce the socio-cultural values of readers to motivate environmental concern. This article identifies pernicious hegemonic themes in the testimonial stories that have been featured on the websites of environmental advocacy organizations and critically analyzes these narratives using feminist and queer theoretical frameworks. Two themes are highlighted for analysis: first, themes about the special knowledges, powers, emotions, and duties of motherhood; and second, themes about the importance of preserving the environment for children and their offspring in the future. The oppressive influence of these particular narratives has been argued at length in previous research. Efforts to mitigate climate change are important, but attempts to shape public opinion should not simultaneously reproduce harmful myths about women and motherhood.

Information, detection and prevention are very important factors in sexually transmitted diseases such as human papillomavirus, which is linked to cervical cancer and other cancers (WHO, 2015). This paper aims to demonstrate empirically whether the use of narrative in new media, such as Facebook, produces a greater impact on attitudes and intention in sex education issues, such as human papillomavirus, than the same information presented in non-narrative. Also, the role of the viewer’s involvement in this persuasive effect is analysed. A group of young university students was tested before and after viewing a Facebook profile on HPV in a narrative vs non-narrative format. The narrative proved to be more effective than the non-narrative, provoking a more positive attitude towards periodic medical check-ups and towards the intention of being tested for HPV. Additionally, narrative transportation proved to have a direct effect on attitude, while involvement with both the story and the ...

El rol de la persuasión narrativa en el Edu-Entretenimiento para mejorar la salud en América Latina: Revisión de los últimos cinco años The role of narrative persuasion in Edu-Entertainment to improve health in Latin America: Review of the last five years O papel da persuasão narrativa na Edu-Entretenimento para melhorar a saúde na América Latina: revisão dos últimos cinco anos

This study focuses on the reduction of prejudice toward foreign unaccompanied minors (UAMs) by means of audiovisual testimonial messages. Specifically, it analyzes the role of two narrative elements that can influence, in an indirect way, the intention to share the message, the feelings toward UAMs, the intention to approach UAMs, and the intention to collaborate with an NGO that provides support to immigrants. With this goal in mind, an experimental study (N = 500) was conducted using a 2 × 2 factorial design, where the factors analyzed were similarity in terms of social identity (high vs. low) and narrative voice (first-person vs. third-person). No interaction effects of similarity and narrative voice on identification or transportation were observed. However, multiple serial mediation analyses were statistically significant. A significant indirect effect of similarity on dependent variables was observed through perceived similarity (primary mediator), identification and transportation (secondary mediators), and counterarguing and reactance (tertiary mediators). Similarly, the narrative voice also had a significant indirect effect on the dependent variables that was explained by the increase in identification and transportation, and by the reduction in counterarguing and reactance. This work improves the understanding of the mechanisms that explain the impact of narratives and demonstrates that certain narrative elements can increase the effectiveness of audiovisual testimonial messages designed for the prevention of racism and xenophobia.

Domestic violence stems from deeply rooted patriarchal norms and directly conflicts with humanitarian standards. Given that this issue impacts women across the world, many countries have initiated campaigns to heighten awareness and fight this epidemic. Based on Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) (Bandura, 1977), we explored whether narrative health messages might prompt bystanders to intervene (e.g., calling a helpline number) when they encounter domestic violence. Using a sample of participants from India, we found that narratives had a stronger impact on attitude toward the ad and reporting intention than non-narratives and such effects were mediated by feelings of empathy. More importantly, the mediating effects of empathy were significantly greater when bystander efficacy was low rather than high.

This article assesses the mechanisms whereby first-person narratives featuring stigmatized immigrants improve outgroup attitudes and encourage intergroup contact among prejudiced individuals. We rely on a 2 (imagined contact vs. control) 9 2 (similar vs. dissimilar message protagonist) experiment on a systematic sample of native British adults. Results show that encouraging imagined contact prior to reading a short testimonial featuring an immigrant protagonist who is similar to the recipients in terms of social identity enhances identification with the protagonist, thereby improving outgroup attitudes and encouraging intergroup contact, and especially strongly among those who are prejudiced toward immigrants (i.e., high on modern racism). Theoretical and practical implications of the findings for the work on imagined contact, narrative persuasion, and identification, as well as for public communication campaigns, are discussed.

This study reports a quasi-experiment (N= 374) that examined an underlying mechanism through which narratives can facilitate personalization of risk. The participants were exposed to one of four entertainment clips depicting an at-risk character who was either tested positive or negative for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). As predicted, reduction of perceived social distance to an at-risk character resulted in a convergence of perceived self- and character-risk. More importantly, the convergence of risk was driven by an increased perception of self-risk, as opposed to a reduction of character-risk. The observed pattern of risk convergence was much more pronounced in the negative rather than the positive STD test narratives.  Furthermore, narrative engagement through identification, parasocial interaction, and perceived realism led to greater degree of risk convergence, which was mediated by reduction in perceived social distance. The order in which the subjects estimated self- and character-risk did not influence the perceptual gap.

A great deal of recent research on communication has been developed in the general area of narrative or narrative effects. The majority of this work has brought in older communication concepts without reconciling those concepts with what has been learned about narrative in other social sciences. This review covers some of the major points from research on narrative to help expand the knowledge base and suggest directions for additional work in the field of communication.