The Power of Narrative and its Explanatory Mechanisms

2008). Accordingly, in the next section we will review these three theoretical models and the mechanisms that explain narrative persuasion.

with the narrative (absorption in the narrative) and a degree of identification with the characters are essential as they enhance the persuasive effects of the entertainment- education content (Slater & Rouner, 2002). According to this model, identification with characters depends upon absorption in the narrative, which is an essential mediating variable that reduces counterargument and reactance (Moyer-Gusé, 2008;

F. Shen & Han, 2014; Slater & Rouner, 2002). In fact, counterargument, which means having negative or critical thoughts about the persuasive argument (Igartua & Barrios, 2012), would be incompatible with absorption in the narrative. Consequently, by impeding counterargument, narratives would be effective in influencing beliefs, attitudes and behaviours of individuals (Moyer-Gusé, 2008; Slater & Rouner, 2002).

With reference to reactance, the use of narratives reduces the reactance that is often evoked by persuasive messages as readers do not expect to be intentionally influenced by entertainment content (Fitzgerald & Green, 2017; Moyer-Gusé, 2008).

Secondly, the TIM establishes that, during narrative transportation, imagery, affect and attentional focus, that is, the mental capacities of the individual, are focused on the story. This mental state of cognitive, emotional and imagery involvement in the narrative explains its persuasive effect. The experience of being taken into the narrative world, and leaving the real world behind, supposes that the individual can easily assume some beliefs implied by the story (de Graaf & van Leeuwen, 2017; Green

& Brock, 2002; Green et al., 2004). In this way, this model explains the persuasive effects of fictional narratives through the state of narrative transportation (Igartua, 2011).

Thirdly, the EORM was developed for explaining and understanding the process through which entertainment-education narratives impact on the population (Igartua, 2017). This model highlights the relevance of narrative involvement and involvement with characters in the impact of entertainment-education (Moyer-Gusé, 2008). According to its author, narrative involvement refers to narrative transportation; whereas involvement with characters refers to identification, wishful

identification, similarity, parasocial interaction, and liking (Igartua, Wojcieszak, &

Kim, 2018; Moyer-Gusé, 2008). Furthermore, this model aims to explain how entertainment-education initiatives can overcome different forms of resistance (Moyer-Gusé & Nabi, 2010). Consequently, it analyses what features of entertainment media, such as the narrative structure, enjoyment and perceived similarity, that facilitate involvement with characters and/or narrative involvement explain persuasive effects of entertainment-education products (Moyer-Gusé, 2008).

In view of the above, and according to the theoretical models presented, there are two main mechanisms that explain and predict the effects of narrative persuasion since they cause a decline in critical thinking, criticism and counterargument during exposure to the narrative: narrative transportation and identification with characters (de Graaf & van Leeuwen, 2017; Igartua & Vega Casanova, 2016; Moyer-Gusé, 2008; L.

Shen et al., 2017; Slater & Rouner, 2002).

First, narrative transportation (also known as narrative involvement, absorption, engagement or immersion) refers to the experience of being completely immersed in a story, so that we forget about the real world and our immediate environment (Green & Brock, 2000; Green et al., 2004; Moyer-Gusé, 2008). That is, the reader or spectator takes a mental journey into the world of the narrative and this involves emotional, affective and cognitive processes (Appel & Richter, 2007;

Fitzgerald & Green, 2017). This transportation has been shown to be a mediator of persuasive influence (Murphy et al., 2013) and has been associated with enjoyment and positive affect (Green et al., 2004).

As mentioned previously, narrative transportation has been shown to reduce the critical evaluation of content and, as such, counterargument, which leads to message acceptance and the occurrence of persuasive effects (Appel & Richter, 2007;

de Graaf & van Leeuwen, 2017; Fitzgerald & Green, 2017; Slater & Rouner, 2002).

Consequently, this circumstance of being absorbed by the narrative, and the effects

derived from this is what differentiates the entertainment-education strategy from purely persuasive messages (Moyer-Gusé, 2008). In general, the greater the narrative transportation, the more likely the reader or the spectator is to change their beliefs, behaviours and behavioural intentions to be more consistent with those that are shown or promoted in the narrative (Fitzgerald & Green, 2017; Murphy et al., 2013, 2011).

In this sense, narrative transportation can be facilitated by increasing the familiarity of the reader with the material in a narrative. Similarly, reminders of personal experiences that relate to those in the narrative also seem to be important in determining narrative impact (Fitzgerald & Green, 2017). That is, if we aim to construct a narrative for adolescents, one way of increasing their familiarity and connection with previous experiences, and as such, narrative transportation and impact, would be to set the story in a high school.

Secondly, according to Moyer-Gusé (2008), involvement with characters is made up of five constructs: identification with characters, wishful identification, perceived similarity, parasocial interaction and liking. All of these refer to viewers’

interaction with fictional characters (Murphy et al., 2011). Identification refers to an emotional and cognitive process in which the individual takes on the role of the character (Cohen, 2001; Igartua & Barrios, 2012). In wishful identification, the individual desires to be like the character. Moreover, perceived similarity refers to the degree to which the person perceives that they are similar to the character (because of variables such as physical attributes, beliefs or demographic variables). Parasocial interaction refers to the interaction between the individual and the character and, finally, liking refers to positive evaluations of the character (Moyer-Gusé, 2008).

Focusing on this identification, it has been found that this predicts beliefs and attitudinal changes (de Graaf, Hoeken, Sanders, & Beentjes, 2012; Fitzgerald & Green, 2017; Igartua, 2010; Igartua & Barrios, 2012; Igartua & Frutos, 2017; Igartua & Vega

Casanova, 2016; Moyer-Gusé, Chung, & Jain, 2011; Murphy et al., 2013). According to Cohen (2001), identification with characters is composed of four dimensions:

emotional empathy (sharing feelings with the character, that is, feeling what the character feels), cognitive empathy (sharing the character’s perspective and adopting their point of view), motivation (internalising the character’s goals) and the sensation of becoming the character (losing of self-awareness). Nonetheless, the model of identification with characters proposed and validated by Igartua and Barrios (2012) includes only three dimensions: emotional empathy (feeling what the characters feel), cognitive empathy (adopting the point of view of the character or putting oneself in its place) and the sensation of becoming the character (temporal loss of self-awareness and imagining the story as being one of the characters). At any rate, identification focuses on one particular character and not on the storyline overall and includes three other dimensions apart from transportation or loss of self-awareness (Moyer-Gusé, 2008).

Therefore, even though identification with characters and narrative transportation are usually highly correlated and both are related to engagement with the narrative, as we can see, they are different immersive experiences (Cohen & Tal- Or, 2017; Fitzgerald & Green, 2017). In brief, identification with a character supposes that the reader or spectator experience the narrative through the perspective of this character and, consequently, they adopt their goals and motivations. Nonetheless, transportation refers to a more general immersion or absorption in the storyline (Fitzgerald & Green, 2017). Consequently, these mechanisms are influenced by different factors: narrative transportation tends to be affected by factors related to the narrative, such as suspense or familiarity with the material, and identification with the characters, with factors related to these characters, such as how good they seem (Cohen & Tal-Or, 2017) or how similar they are to the audience (Igartua, Wojcieszak, et al., 2018).

At any rate, as with narrative transportation, identification with characters reduces the capacity of individuals to criticise and counter argue against the persuasive content presented in the narrative (Igartua & Barrios, 2012; Moyer-Gusé et al., 2011; Moyer-Gusé & Nabi, 2010; Slater & Rouner, 2002). Therefore, the greater the identification with the character, the more likely the reader or spectator is to change their beliefs and behaviours to be more consistent with those that are displayed or promoted by the character.

It is generally assumed that similarity is related to identification with characters (Cohen & Tal-Or, 2017). In this sense, “similarity describes a process through which the person who is exposed to a narrative message assesses to what extent he or she shares certain traits with the protagonist” (Igartua et al., 2017, p. 1089).

This similarity can be based on objective features (e.g., age, gender or nationality) or psychological or subjective (e.g., values and experiences) aspects (Igartua, Wojcieszak, et al., 2018). Concordantly, it has been thought that individuals would have greater levels of identification with characters of the same demographic characteristics (Igartua & Fiuza, 2018). Following this line, research has found that children identified more strongly with characters of their own gender (Jose & Brewer, 1984) and that students had higher levels of identification with characters that had completed a similar study programme to the one they were following (Hoeken, Kolthoff, & Sanders, 2016). Other studies have found that similarity in terms of nationality had no direct effect on identification, but had an indirect effect on it by means of negative emotions (Igartua & Fiuza, 2018). However, research has also found that demographic similarity, such as sharing age, sex or nationality with the character, has no significant effect on the level of identification with the character (M. Chen, Bell, & Taylor, 2017; Cohen, Weimann-Saks, & Mazor-Tregerman, 2017; Tukachinsky, 2014). Therefore, as the role of demographic similarity in increasing identification is not clear, it is preferable to create characters with whom the target audience can identify. In some cases this may involve creating more than one version of the narrative (Murphy et al., 2013).

It has also been argued that another possible source of influence on the level of identification with the character is the story’s point of view, that is, use of first over third person narratives (Cohen & Tal-Or, 2017; Nan, Dahlstrom, Richards, &

Rangarajan, 2015). However, there is no agreement on this as some studies have found no relationship (Christy, 2017) and others have found that the use of first person narratives results in greater identification (de Graaf et al., 2012). Moreover, a study of health narratives showing the negative effects of drugs found that, for those who were autobiographically similar to the character, the first person narrative produced great narrative transportation (H. K. Kim & Shapiro, 2016).

At any rate, even if it is not clear if the person of the narrative actually has an impact upon narrative transportation or identification with the character, it has been shown to influence attitudes and behaviours (Christy, 2017). Accordingly, research has generally found that the first person is more effective for inducing attitude and behaviour changes (M. Chen, Bell, & Taylor, 2016; de Graaf et al., 2012; H. K. Kim &

Shapiro, 2016; Nan et al., 2015; Nan, Futerfas, & Ma, 2017). Therefore, research suggests that first person narratives are more effective in achieving a persuasive effect.

Consequently, as we have seen above, the use of the entertainment-education strategy and, subsequently, the use of narrative formats, can enhance narrative transportation and identification with characters. These mechanisms, in turn, reduce reactance and counterargument. As a result, belief, attitude and behaviour changes are facilitated. In brief, the use of narratives (preferably first person narratives) can be an effective way to improve knowledge about an issue and to enhance attitude and behaviour changes.