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Measuring Narrative Engagement
Abstract
Research indicates that the extent to which one becomes engaged, transported, or immersed in a narrative influences the narrative's potential to affect subsequent story-related attitudes and beliefs. Explaining narrative effects and understanding the mechanisms responsible depends on our ability to measure narrative engagement in a theoretically meaningful way. This article develops a scale for measuring narrative engagement that is based on a mental models approach to narrative processing. It distinguishes among four dimensions of experiential engagement in narratives: narrative understanding, attentional focus, emotional engagement, and narrative presence. The scale is developed and validated through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses with data from viewers of feature film and television, in different viewing situations, and from two different countries. The scale's ability to predict enjoyment and story-consistent attitudes across different programs is presented. Implications for conceptualizing engagement with narratives as well as narrative persuasion and media effects are discussed.
... Thus, audiences may experience happiness in response to events that benefit the character's goals, while feeling anger, anxiety, or sadness when the character's goals are hindered. Audiences do not merely feel concern for the character's wellbeing (i.e., sympathy), but also experience empathetic emotions that are consonant with those of the character (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009;Tal-Or & Cohen, 2010). ...
... Taken together, identification can be seen as a complex multidimensional construct that consists of merging, cognitive, affective, and motivational components. In addition, it can be viewed as conceptually linked to various psychological processes, such as perspective-taking, cognitive empathy, affective empathy, sympathy, and theory of mind (Appel et al., 2021;Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009;Chung & Slater, 2013;Cohen & Tal-Or, 2017;Tal-Or, 2019a). ...
... Since there were fewer than 100 participants per narrative condition, the data were aggregated, following practices in previous research (e.g., Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009). EFA was conducted using Principal Axis Factoring (PAF) and oblique rotation (Promax) to allow for factor intercorrelations. Kaiser's measure of sampling adequacy was .95 and Bartlett's test of sphericity was significant, χ 2 (435) = 4295.93, ...
During narrative reception, one psychological response audiences may experience toward story characters is identification, which involves a sense of merging between self and character. Given the lack of formally validated measures of this construct in the literature, the current paper introduces a new 12-item scale for measuring identification. Scale development and validation took place over three sequential studies. Exploratory factor analysis in Study 1 (N = 224) indicated four related factors: merging, perspective-taking, understanding, and emotional involvement. In Study 2 (N = 191), confirmatory factor analysis suggested that a second-order four-factor model provided a good fit to the data and a more parsimonious explanation of the scale’s factor structure compared to a first-order model. In addition, the overall scale and subscales demonstrated adequate internal consistency and correlated in the expected directions with theoretically relevant and irrelevant constructs. Using a more demographically diverse sample, Study 3 (N = 290) established measurement invariance of the scale across two narratives in terms of configural, metric, and partial scalar invariance, and provided further support for its factor structure, reliability, and validity.
... Narrative engagement (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009) and concepts that are very similar to narrative engagement, such as narrative transportation (Green & Brock, 2002) and story-world absorption (Kuipers et al., 2014), have been positively linked in multiple studies with enjoyment. Research that focused on written narratives, on film and on 360° narratives (Van Wouwe et al., 2016;Doicaru, 2016;Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009) found that the more a reader or viewer gets transported into the story-world of a narrative, gets engaged emotionally with the characters, and has more focused attention on the development of the story events (forgetting their own surroundings), the more enjoyment they experience. ...
... Narrative engagement (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009) and concepts that are very similar to narrative engagement, such as narrative transportation (Green & Brock, 2002) and story-world absorption (Kuipers et al., 2014), have been positively linked in multiple studies with enjoyment. Research that focused on written narratives, on film and on 360° narratives (Van Wouwe et al., 2016;Doicaru, 2016;Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009) found that the more a reader or viewer gets transported into the story-world of a narrative, gets engaged emotionally with the characters, and has more focused attention on the development of the story events (forgetting their own surroundings), the more enjoyment they experience. The results of the study conducted by Nielsen et al., (2016), indicated that non-diegetic cues decrease feeling of presence (but not statistically significant). ...
... Narrative engagement was measured using four items around enjoyment and appreciation (α = .88) and 14 items based on the scale of Busselle and Bilandzic (2009). The items covered aspects ranging from narrative presence to emotional engagement (α = .78). ...
Virtual Reality (VR) creates immersion, which makes the medium interesting for storytelling. A good VR narrative brings the audiences close to the stories, placing them inside the story world and in the shoes of the characters themselves. Focused attention is a key component of narrative engagement and a key determinant of enjoyment of the narrative. However, as the audience can freely look around in VR, it is a challenge to draw audience attention to key aspects of the narrative at the right moment. This paper compared two techniques of directing attention in a 360° narrative: diegetic (Action Units) versus non-diegetic (Pointing Arrows). A between-subjects experiment among 71 participants revealed an effect opposite to what was expected. Pointing Arrows provided more control to direct attention in VR, which created more enjoyment compared to Action Units. This effect was confirmed by subjective (self-report) and objective (eye-tracking data) measurements.
... By leading people to construct mental models of a fictional social world, narrative engagement contributes to the development of social-emotional skills, such as empathy and social inference (Mar & Oatley, 2008), which are vital in social life. Furthermore, narrative engagement increases reading enjoyment (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009), thereby contributing to the development of literacy skills and their associated cognitive competencies (Mol & Bus, 2011). It is therefore important to learn more about the psychological processes that underlie narrative engagement. ...
... To achieve a state of narrative engagement, the reader has to become mentally attuned to the intentions and subjective experiences of the narrator and/ or character (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009). This attunement is likely to be facilitated when the narrative takes the viewpoint of the main character in the narrative. ...
... Empathy, one of key elements in deepening audience engagement, plays a significant role in enhancing the overall media consumption experience [1,2]. It is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of others, leading audiences to emotionally or cognitively connect with characters by experiencing their joy, sorrow, and excitement, or by understanding their thoughts, motivations, and decisions [3,4]. Such empathic connections with the characters can promote emotional investment and foster a more profound comprehension of the characters' viewpoints, deepening audiences' engagement with the narrative [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. ...
... It is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of others, leading audiences to emotionally or cognitively connect with characters by experiencing their joy, sorrow, and excitement, or by understanding their thoughts, motivations, and decisions [3,4]. Such empathic connections with the characters can promote emotional investment and foster a more profound comprehension of the characters' viewpoints, deepening audiences' engagement with the narrative [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. This engagement through empathy or empathic engagement might result in an enhanced media experience, blurring the lines between the viewer and the character, thus enriching the audience's experience and expanding their appreciation for the diverse perspectives and experiences presented in the media. ...
This study investigates the influence of immersive media, particularly Virtual Reality (VR), on empathic responses, in comparison to traditional television (TV), using electroencephalography (EEG). We employed mu rhythm suppression as a measurable neural marker to gauge empathic engagement, as its increase generally signifies heightened empathic responses. Our findings exhibit a greater mu rhythm suppression in VR conditions compared to TV conditions, suggesting a potential enhancement in empathic responses with VR. Furthermore, our results revealed that the strength of empathic responses was not confined to specific actions depicted in the video clips, underscoring the possibility of broader implications. This research contributes to the ongoing discourse on the effects of different media environments on empathic engagement, particularly emphasizing the unique role of immersive technologies such as VR. It invites further investigation into how such technologies can shape and potentially enhance the empathic experience.
... In our previous work (Guerberof-Arenas and Toral 2020), we selected a short story, (Nuland 1995), to compare different translation modalities using a Narrative engagement scale (Busselle and Bilandzic 2009), enjoyment questions (Hakemulder 2004) and a translation reception questionnaire. The methodology used was partially borrowed from Mangen and Kuiken (2014) that compared engagement between on-line and on-paper reading. ...
... 3. Narrative Engagement. Participants were presented with a 12-item Narrative engagement scale (Busselle and Bilandzic 2009) with a 7-point Likert-type responses. The questionnaire focuses on four categories: Narrative understanding (e.g. ...
This article presents the results of a study focusing on the reception of a fictional story by Kurt Vonnegut translated from English into Catalan and Dutch in three conditions: machine translated, post-edited, and human translated. Participants ( n = 223) rated the three conditions using three scales: narrative engagement, enjoyment, and translation reception. The results show that human translation had higher engagement, enjoyment, and translation reception in Catalan, compared to the post-edited and machine-translated translations. However, Dutch readers scored the post-edited translation higher than the human and machine translation, and the highest engagement and enjoyment scores were reported for the original English version. We hypothesize that when reading a fictional story in translation, not only are the condition and the quality of the translation key to understanding its reception, but also the participants’ reading patterns, reading language, and, potentially, the status of the source language in their own societies.
... Simulation Sickness Questionnaire for Cybersickness (SSQC, [196]) has been used for evaluation in the different study conditions [169]. Narrative Engagement Scale (NES, [197]) is used [131] to evaluate the narrative engagement difference elicited by an audio description of films in people with low vision. In [153], User experience in a spatialized narration task is evaluated in terms of immersion and elicited emotions. ...
Nowadays, Virtual and Augmented Reality technologies play a supportive role in many research fields. In cultural heritage, various examples are available, including storytelling and narratives, where they can provide immersive and enhanced experiences to visitors and tourists, especially for entertainment and educational purposes. This review aims to investigate the opportunities that soundscape design and advanced sonic interactions in virtual and augmented environments can bring to cultural heritage sites and museums in terms of presence, emotional content, and cultural dissemination. Nineteen-two papers have been identified through the PRISMA methodology, and a promising positive effect of sonic interaction on user experience in a virtual environment can be observed in various studies, notwithstanding a general lack of specific contributions on the use of sound rendering and audio spatialisation for improving such experiences. Moreover, this work identifies the main involved research areas and discusses the state-of-the-art best practices and case studies where sonic interactions may assume a central role. The final part suggests possible future directions and applications for more engaging and immersive storytelling in the cultural heritage domain.
... We did not measure trait empathy, which may have been a useful covariate (Shen, 2019), nor did we explore the impact of the podcast on internalized stigma for listeners with lived experience (Yanos et al., 2015). We also did not measure any changes to listeners' awareness of the prevalence, types, and impact of stigma and discrimination or directly measure narrative transportation (e.g., Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009;Green & Brock, 2000). Written feedback was brief and thereby limited; however, in the future, the research team plans to publish results from a qualitative study with an in-depth exploration of listener responses. ...
On the Same Wavelength is a codesigned podcast (Carrotte, 2023) featuring people with lived experience of complex mental health issues, who discuss how stigma and discrimination have affected their lives. This randomized controlled trial aimed to understand whether listening to the podcast could impact on listeners’ attitudes toward people living with complex mental health issues. University students (N = 163) were randomized to listen to three episodes of On the Same Wavelength or a control podcast. Participants completed the Community Attitudes Toward the Mentally Ill Scale (CAMI-27) and the Social Distance Scale at baseline, postexperiment, and after a 4-week follow-up period, plus the State Empathy Scale immediately after listening to each episode. Linear mixed-effects models, adjusting for baseline scores and socially desirable response style, found more positive attitudes on the CAMI-27 Prejudice subscale for those who listened to On the Same Wavelength compared to control postexperiment (t = −2.47, p = .015), but this was not maintained at follow-up. There were no significant differences between groups for other CAMI-27 scores or the Social Distance Scale. Participants who listened to On the Same Wavelength experienced a significantly higher degree of empathy compared to control after Episode 2 (t = −1.99, p = .048) but not after listening to other episodes. Generalizability was limited by the university student sample, who demonstrated positive attitudes at baseline. On the Same Wavelength shows promise for improving short-term prejudicial attitudes, though further research is needed to understand how podcast-based messaging could be more effective for longer term stigma reduction.
... This drama is unique because it is set on a backdrop of real-life environmental and governance storylines-something that has never happened before on Indonesian TV. The problems addressed in the show are the same ones the target audience faces, and-drawing on research around the importance of character identification-the characters have many traits the audience can "identify" with (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009;Moyer-Gusé, 2008). That's why the program was titled #CeritaKita (Our Story). ...
Known as the “Lungs of the World,” Indonesia has some of the world’s highest proportion of forests and biodiversity. However, it also has one of the world’s largest carbon footprints, owing to the development needs and land use changes. BBC Media Action’s Kembali Ke Hutan (Return to the Forest) project aims to engage the millennials on the sustainable development challenges the country faces, help them to make informed choices, and create platforms to have their voices heard. To achieve this, we have co-produced an award-winning TV drama #CeritaKita ( Our Story ) with a companion social media discussion series Ngobrolin #CeritaKita (Chatter—Our Story) , created a social media brand AksiKita Indonesia ( Our Action ), and partnered with media and civil society organizations for community engagement and capacity strengthening. This chapter outlines the project objectives, presents the program strategy, and details how research shaped the creative process. It also shares the planned evaluation.
... Other theories from communication seek to understand the underlying mechanisms supporting stories and storytelling in EE. These include the extendedelaboration likelihood model (Slater & Rouner, 2002), narrative transportation (Green & Brock, 2000), and narrative engagement (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009), as well as theories that describe audience members' perceived relationship with characters in EE, including parasocial interaction (Papa et al., 2000), audience involvement (Sood, 2002), and identification (Cohen, 2001). Moyer-Gusé's (2008) entertainment overcoming resistance model takes several of these concepts into account. ...
Entertainment-education is a global theory-driven and evidence-based storytelling strategy that promotes social and behavioral change. A formal review of the peer-reviewed and grey literature, alongside consultations with program and industry experts, revealed several contemporary examples of entertainment-education and climate change. Late-night comedy, with the inclusion of climate change storylines within popular entertainment, is common in the Global North. In the Global South, climate adaptation and mitigation narratives are situated in formats portraying audiences’ lived experiences. Crosscutting trends relate to documentary storytelling, children’s programming, and future efforts. Recommendations include re-examining theories across the social–ecological model; placing entertainment front and center; including messaging on rewards; using positive language; linking climate change with other issues; and emphasizing formative, process, and impact evaluation. Entertainment-education may be a promising vehicle for climate change communication, but the strategy requires a multidisciplinary set of changemakers working collaboratively to create meaningful and relevant programs.
... Therefore, this study proposes a conceptual model ( Fig. 1), grounded in the theoretical framework of narrative persuasion, which posits that engaging with stories can lead to changes in beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors by fostering emotional engagement with characters (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009). Furthermore, it integrates insights from the stigma reduction literature, which suggests that specific emotional responses play pivotal roles in influencing individuals' stigmatized attitudes (Krendl & Perry, 2023). ...
The disclosure of recovery journeys on social media by individuals with substance use is a growing trend, but its impact on public attitudes toward stigmatized groups is not well-understood. To address this gap, an experiment was conducted with 1,438 U.S. adults who viewed a series of Instagram posts about a person’s recovery journey. Participants were randomly assigned to view posts that either included a relapse episode or not. Structural equation modeling was used for data analyses. The results revealed that presenting a relapse narrative increased feelings of compassion, anger, and pity. In addition, mediation analyses provided evidence supporting the role these emotions played in mediating the effects of a relapse narrative on stigma beliefs and desire for social distance. These findings prompt a reevaluation of digital storytelling practices in health communication strategies, aiming for a balanced representation that can effectively reduce stigma and promote community support for those navigating substance use recovery. It is recommended to incorporate the study’s insights into educational content, therapeutic interventions, and policy formulations to foster a more supportive and understanding environment for individuals in recovery.
... This behavior is re-enforced in films where, when an off-screen sound calls for attention, the shot cuts to reveal the source of the sound [8]. Should these expectations fail to manifest themselves, such as when a voice is heard by the player but no speaker is seen or no reactions to it come from diegetic characters, the player's understanding of the virtual space is challenged, undermining narrative engagement [9]. This is akin to the disruption of smooth filmic reception -what Pólya calls "perceptual reflexivity" -such as undermining the 3D illusion, which "leads to a state of quasi-awareness in the viewer" [10]. ...
Providing enough information to allow the VR player to self-identify is an important factor in their immersion into a virtual world. The sensory information being provided to the player’s eyes and ears through the headset must support the suspension of disbelief and telepresence into the virtual world. Given sound’s easily realized potential for diegetic ambiguity and its influence on presence as immersion, the aim of this paper is to explore the role of disembodied voice in VR interactive narratives and its effect on presence through self-identification. We start by analyzing the shift of focalization in the film Saving Private Ryan, the trans-diegetic narration in the game StarCraft II, and the address of the player in the game Call of Duty. We then contribute with close readings of two VR productions, The Last Goodbye and The Book of Distance, in terms of the use of second-person voice and interactivity as well as an analysis of the resulting levels of self-identification. A further contribution is a Twine interactive narrative that demonstrates some of the key concepts discussed in the paper. We conclude that future empirical work should explore the impact of second-person voice and interaction on the resultant self-identification and immersion.
... According to Green and Brock (2002), scholars have generated a variety of transportation theories, such as those found in (Bilandzic & Busselle, 2011;Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009;Csikszentmihalyi, 1997;and Escalas, 2006). Narrative transportation theories have a common important concept which is the text immersion. ...
... Finalmente, se solicitó que valoraran los atributos de sus películas. Las preguntas fueron tomadas y adaptadas de trabajos sobre persuasión narrativa (Busselle y Bilandzic, 2009;Green y Brock, 2000;Green et al., 2004;Green et al., 2008;Tal-Or y Cohen, 2016;Van Laer et al., 2014), implicación con los personajes (Sood y Rogers, 2000;Sood, 2002) o valoración de los atributos de las ficciones audiovisuales y su relación con la promoción turística (Kim, 2012b;Kim y Assaker, 2014;y Wong et al., 2021). ...
RESUMEN Introducción: El objetivo de este estudio es analizar cómo el cine de Pedro Almodóvar influye en la imagen percibida de España por los espectadores franceses a partir de los contenidos de sus películas, la diversidad de las audiencias y el grado de implicación de los espectadores. Metodología: Se recurre a veinte entrevistas en profundidad a espectadores franceses con un conocimiento alto del cine de Almodóvar. Las preguntas surgen de los estudios sobre persuasión narrativa, turismo inducido por la ficción audiovisual e imagen de los destinos turísticos Resultados: A pesar de que todos los testimonios tienen un amplio conocimiento del cine de Almodóvar, hay diferencias entre los tipos de espectadores en función de la familiaridad con España, el grado de consumo e implicación. Discusión: Relaciona los resultados con los hallazgos de la investigación previa sobre los efectos de la ficción audiovisual en la imagen de los destinos. Puede apreciarse un alto grado de correspondencia entre imagen proyectada por las películas y la percibida por los espectadores, la importancia de la familiaridad con el país, la relativa incidencia de los estereotipos proyectados pro su cine o su incapacidad para convertir lugares concretos en iconos. Conclusiones: El estudio demuestra que hay un vínculo ineludible entre representación, tipo de audiencia, recepción y efecto en la imagen. El alto grado de coincidencia entre la imagen proyectada por el cine de Almodóvar y la percibida por los espectadores está relacionada con su implicación con las películas y su familiaridad con España.
... Proposal 6. Explore different theories that focus on the interaction of spectators with texts. Beyond recent developments in research on the processing of narrative texts (Walter et al., 2018;Valkenburg & Oliver, 2019), and particularly on the receiver's involvement in the story and identification with the characters (Igartua, 2007;Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009;Moyer-Gusé, 2008;Tal-Or & Cohen, 2015), theories related to the enduring nature of spectator responses to fiction or to the pleasure they elicit (the latter sometimes related to the theory of uses and gratifications) may provide some partic- Bordwell (1990), analysing audiovisual narration as the outcome of a collaboration between spectator and text. Taking into account the stereotypical nature of most of these schemata, they could be helpful for explaining how audiovisual fiction actually contributes to creating or reinforcing stereotypical images of destinations. ...
Institutions are investing increasing amounts of resources in the promotion of their regions through audiovisual fiction. At the same time, there has been increasing scholarly interest in the relationship between audiovisual fiction and tourism, and particularly the effect of that relationship on potential tourists. Despite the inherently interdisciplinary nature of this field of research, very little attention appears to be given to what media studies, and particularly audience studies, could contribute. The purpose of this article is to offer a critical review of the literature on audiovisual fiction-induced tourism from the perspective of audience analysis. To this end, previous studies are categorised according to their objectives (e.g., to study the effect of films and series on destination image, travel motivations, experiences and intentions to visit, or tourist visits themselves), and an analysis is offered of their main findings and conclusions and of the use they make (if any) of audience analysis. The article then concludes with some proposals of ways to integrate audience analysis more fully into studies of audiovisual fiction-induced tourism to support research in this field. Highlights • Despite the inherently interdisciplinary nature of studies analysing audiovisual fiction-induced tourism, scholars have only occasionally considered reception, audience and media studies. • The analysis of the research published from 1992 to 2021 provides a picture of the evolution of research interests and the adoption of audience analysis. • A particularly productive concept in audiovisual fiction-induced tourism is the notion of involvement developed in audience analysis. 89 2023, 11, 88-126 Audiovisual fiction-induced tourism • The adoption of audience analysis has made it possible to consider new variables in the study of image, Motivations, and experiences. • The effect of audiovisual fiction productions on images, motivations, experiences or intentions is conditioned
... Similarly, they may stop using the content in that moment due to incommensurability (see Proposition 4) but return to it (Proposition 1) if it aligns with their future motivations for content selection. This process operates with a degree of automaticity in many cases, facilitating experiences of transportation and narrative engagement (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009). ...
The Media Use Model (MUM) presents a metatheoretical framework that aims to unify several existing theories of media processes and effects. It uses a constraint satisfaction approach to coherence to explain the dynamic relationship between a media consumer’s motivations, expectations, individual differences, and, primarily, their cognitive processing during media use. The MUM includes six propositions, which represent stages during which a media consumer’s existing processing constraints are taken into consideration during their selection, interpretation, and comprehension of media content. It allows for both spontaneous and deliberate processing that can result in coherence or incommensurability, which then predicts continued media use or a change in media selection, respectively. Within this metatheoretical framework, (in)coherence is presented as a continuum where media consumers may have different interpretations of the same media content, which can then be used to understand their responses to it.
... Further, identifying with and developing emotions for the characters in the story creates a greater influence on beliefs of the audience and enhances absorption of knowledge and changes in health-related knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors [23]. Moreover, the greater the element of realism, or the extent to which the story is to be perceived to be like the real world, the greater the likelihood that the audience will identify with the characters and events [24]. ...
Objective
We outline the development of a narrative intervention guided by the Common-Sense Model of Self-Regulation (CSM) to promote Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in a diverse college population.
Methods
We adapted the Obesity-Related Behavioral Intervention Trials (ORBIT) model to guide the development, evaluation, and refinement of a CSM-guided narrative video. First, content experts developed a video script containing information on HPV, HPV vaccines, and HPV-related cancers. The script and video contents were evaluated and refined, in succession, utilizing the think-aloud method, open-ended questions, and a brief survey during one-on-one interviews with university students.
Results
Script and video content analyses led to significant revisions that enhanced quality, informativeness, and relevance to the participants. We highlight the critical issues that were revealed and revised in the iterative process
Conclusions
We developed and refined a CSM guided narrative video for diverse university students. This framework serves as a guide for developing health communication interventions for other populations and health behaviors.
Innovation
This project is the first to apply the ORBIT framework to HPV vaccination and describe a process to develop, evaluate, and refine comparable CSM guided narrative interventions that are tailored to specific audiences.
... Self-suppression seekers want to break away from their mundane lives and be transported into a narrative world, which can provide enjoyment (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009). In addition, people suffering from depression often struggle with self-regulation in relation to their media use (LaRose et al., 2003;Tokunaga & Rains, 2010;Tukachinsky & Eyal, 2018). ...
... This process that may be especially accessible in video games (compared to other media) since players may actively and simultaneously experience the self-as-self and other-as-self through the medium's inherent interactivity (Rehak, 2003). Perspective-taking is particularly relevant to narrative-driven entertainment outcomes associated with transportation (Green & Brock, 2002) or narrative engagement (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009). In both cases, the player's attention to, understanding of, and engagement with an unfolding game narrative likely encourages stronger identification with the avatar. ...
This handbook provides a strong collection of communication- and psychology-based theories and models on media entertainment, which can be used as a knowledge resource for any academic and applied purpose. Its 41 chapters offer explanations of entertainment that audiences find in any kind of ‘old’ and ‘new’ media, from classic novels to VR video games, from fictional stories to mediated sports. As becomes clear in this handbook, the history of entertainment research teaches us not to forget that even if a field is converging to a seemingly dominant perspective, paradigm, and methodology, there are more views, alternative approaches, and different yet equally illuminative ways of thinking about the field. Young scholars may find here innovative ways to reconcile empirical-theoretical approaches to the experience of entertainment with such alternative views. And there are numerous entertainment-related phenomena in contemporary societies that still fit the „bread and circuses-“ perspective of the initial Frankfurt School thinking. So while the mission of the present handbook is to compile and advance current theories about media entertainment, scholars active or interested in the topic are invited to also consider the historic roots of the field and the great diversity it has featured over the past nearly 100 years. Many lessons can be learned from this history, and future innovations in entertainment theory may just as likely emerge from refining those approaches compiled in the present handbook as from building on neglected, forgotten, or marginalized streams of scholarship.
... In this study, we conceptualize news engagement as an experience of being involved in the narrative world, so we adopted the narrative engagement measure to explore online news engagement. According to Acic (2023) and Busselle and Bilandzic (2009), scholars describe different aspects of narrative engagement using a number of constructs such as transportation (Thier et al., 2021), identification (Cohen, 2018;Gregory et al., 2020), flow (Sherry, 2004) and presence (Weech et al., 2020). It involves understanding the narrative, focusing on it (or distraction from it), attaching emotionally to the character(s) (or the content) and transitioning personally from the actual world to the story world (Van Dijk, 2006). ...
Purpose-Most new media research focuses on behavior as a measure of engagement, while the psychological state of being occupied with its content has received little attention. This study examined news engagement beyond pure action observation by exploring young people's psychological experiences with the news. Design/methodology/approach-The study carried out a digital native's survey on 212 people (18-28 years). The focus of the survey was on understanding individuals' engagement with online news using affective and cognitive components. The authors compared the influence of each type of engagement on youth consumption of and attitudes toward online news. Findings-The results of the hierarchical regression analysis showed that affective engagement can be a stronger predictor of online news consumption than cognitive engagement. While affective engagement significantly predicts positive attitudes toward online news, cognitive engagement had no significant effect. Originality/value-These findings suggest that "engaging the heart" is more influential than "engaging the mind" in drawing young people to the news in today's information environment. The study thus contributes to the understanding of the cognitive and emotional focus on news content and their importance in shaping young people's expectations of online news. The findings from this study could have broader implications for future trends in online news consumption.
... Busselle and Bilandzic (2009) propose a scale for measuring the degree of narrative immersion in an immersive experience, drawing on empirical studies of viewers of film and television. A different sort of scale for narrative immersion is developed inGreen and Brock (2000). ...
Much of the excitement about virtual reality and its potential for things like entertainment, art, education, and activism is its ability to generate experiences that are powerfully immersive. However, discussions of VR tend to invoke the notion of immersive experience without subjecting it to closer scrutiny; and discussions often take it for granted that immersive experience is a single unified phenomenon. Against this, we argue that there are four distinct types or aspects of immersive experience that should be distinguished: representational immersion, which corresponds roughly to what is sometimes called “psychological presence”; participatory immersion, which is related to the interactive aspects of VR experience; affective immersion, which has to do with the subject’s emotional relation to the experience; and narrative immersion, which captures the phenomenon of being caught up in the flow of events experienced. We argue that this four-way distinction helps us understand the powerfully immersive character of VR, while also recognizing its continuity with the immersion we experience with media such as novels, films, and music. We also argue that the account of immersion we offer here lets us better understand the connection between VR and empathy, charting a middle course between extreme enthusiasts who view VR as the ultimate “empathy machine” and extreme skeptics who argue that this attitude is misguided.
... Commercial interests often assume precedence in the production process, prioritizing the creation of portrayals that, while potentially diverging from clinical realities, effectively engage and captivate audiences. 15 This prevailing dynamic frequently contributes to the unfortunate conflation of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) with psychopathy, a persistent and inaccurate misconception deeply ingrained in media depictions of mental illness. 14 Regrettably, this misunderstanding can lead to the romanticization of violence, thereby perpetuating harmful stereotypes and misconceptions. ...
James Gandolfini's lead role as Tony in The Sopranos has garnered critical attention for its nuanced portrayal of a mafia leader coping with mental health issues. This article explores and analyzes the dysfunctional psychological patterns exhibited by this character throughout the series and the impact on its viewers. This research offers an in-depth exploration into the development and manifestation of Tony Soprano's psychological disorders. It examines the underlying reasons and subsequent repercussions of his behavior combining a psychoanalytic framework and a content analysis methodology. By engaging in these approaches, it provides significant insights on the complex interplay between his delinquent conduct and mental health disorders. It uses qualitative content analysis to closely analyze pivotal episodes and character interactions across all seasons of The Sopranos. Informed by established psychological theories, this study identifies and interprets recurrent behavioral, cognitive, and emotional patterns within Tony Soprano's character. Additionally, it explores the impact of sociocultural factors on his psychological development. This analysis uncovers a range of maladaptive psychological patterns exhibited by Tony Soprano, encompassing antisocial and borderline personality disorders, pervasive anxiety, chronic depression, anger management issues, narcissistic tendencies, and unresolved childhood trauma. These complex dynamics emerge in his relationships with others, impact his decision-making, and significantly add to the richness of his character and the series’ storytelling. The Sopranos presents Tony as an intriguing case study, revealing the complex interplay between criminal behavior and psychological dysfunction. This article underscores the significance of recognizing and addressing psychological struggles in high-stress, morally ambiguous contexts, highlighting the intricacies of human nature. By delving into the layers of Tony Soprano's psyche, one gains valuable insights into this character's enduring relevance and allure and its portrayal in contemporary media. Moreover, this study suggests that Tony's portrayal may serve as a point of identification and reflection for viewers with similar pathological profiles. Understanding his complexity may offer a platform for individuals confronting analogous challenges to cope and seek help. As a result, this study may favorably encourage viewers to empathize with Tony Soprano's psychological difficulties, generating empathy and stimulating conversations regarding mental health depiction in media. Further research in this area has the potential to deepen our comprehension of the relationship between crime, mental health, and personal growth, with implications for both clinical practice and media studies.
... We define reality as the level at which the player has total awareness of the surroundings and is not involved with the game. Eduard Siou-Hao Tan (2008) has also described this as the executive space, and Rick Busselle and Helena Bilandzic (2009) have described this as the actual world, although both are described in a broader media context. Richard Bartle (2004) has described the complexity of the relationship between the real world and the virtual world, and he defines the virtual world as an environment that its inhabitants regard as self-contained. ...
We present an overview of elements that contribute to making successful video games that promote critical engagement with climate threats and sustainable futures. Major challenges exist in how to design engaging, serious games that target the climate crisis, including, for example, motivation, flow, learning outcomes, or even behavioral changes. Building on past research and different ‘ecological’ games, we suggest a dynamic engagement model (DEM) that outlines four stages of engagement for video games, including before, during, and after gameplay and dis- or reengagement. We argue that more work should be spent on studying a holistic perspective of engagement, including the importance of engagement in the four stages, to improve our understanding of motivational factors for playing ecological games.
... Rather than being instructed on how to engage in advocacy through mundane, surface-level, information-based materials, stories can help "transport" the listeners and viewers into the storyteller's world, where they are stimulated cognitively and emotionally (Krause & Rucker, 2020) on the issues of racism. This process allows people to identify and perspective-take with the reality and meanings of the storyteller's experience with racism (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009;Murphy et al., 2013). The stories then facilitate the audience in working through their emotional reactions (e.g., empathy) and gaining new insights against their existing beliefs (e.g., stereotypes), potentially leading to new standpoints and attitudes toward certain social issues (Kreuter et al., 2007). ...
We tested whether a digital storytelling video on anti-Black racism could improve empathic reactions to anti-Black racism and decrease fear of Black individuals (FBI) among Asian American emerging adults, and whether these changes were associated with greater anti-racism advocacy intentions. Asian American emerging adults (Mage = 19.92; N = 205) were randomly assigned to view either storytelling or informational online videos. Data was collected before and after viewing the videos. The changes in empathic reactions and fear were analyzed using polynomial regression with response surface analysis. Those who viewed the storytelling video significantly increased their empathy and this change was significantly associated with greater individual
anti-racism advocacy (IndAdv) and institutional anti-racism advocacy (IntAdv). Reductions in fear were not associated with greater advocacy. The informational video did not improve empathy but did decrease fear, which was associated with greater IndAdv. Therefore, digital storytelling videos may be a
useful tool to promote advocacy against anti-Black racism.
... While presence has been extended to other media like film (Kim & Biocca, 2006;Lee, 2004), some researchers argue that VR's unique immersive and interactive attributes induce heightened or distinct levels of presence compared to responses in other media (Vindenes & Wasson, 2021). The relationship between presence and similar concepts such as flow (Sherry, 2004), transportation (Green & Brock, 2000), or narrative engagement (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009;Busselle & Vierrether, 2022) remains unclear (Hartmann et al., 2016). ...
... We define reality as the level at which the player has total awareness of the surroundings and is not involved with the game. Eduard Siou-Hao Tan (2008) has also described this as the executive space, and Rick Busselle and Helena Bilandzic (2009) have described this as the actual world, although both are described in a broader media context. Richard Bartle (2004) has described the complexity of the relationship between the real world and the virtual world, and he defines the virtual world as an environment that its inhabitants regard as self-contained. ...
To understand how viewers respond to two common movie plots (falling in love and cheating), this study considers the perspectives they might take. Study 1 tests which protagonists’ perspective viewers adopt when watching movies with falling-in-love versus betrayal plots. Study 2 then shows that viewers’ perspective orientation influences their affective experiences and enjoyment of betrayal movies but not falling-in-love movies. Study 3 explores the processes that lead to varying levels of enjoyment, attained by viewing movies with falling-in-love and cheating plots. A moderated mediation model reveals three processes: affective states resulting from goal attainment/failure, meaning derived through identification, and affective dispositions formed according to moral judgments. Viewers’ romantic beliefs moderate the second process, and their morality standards moderate the third.
Using naturalistic spoken narratives to investigate speech processes and comprehension is becoming increasingly popular in experimental hearing research. Yet, little is known about how individuals engage with spoken story materials and how listening experiences change with age. We investigated absorption in the context of listening to spoken stories, explored predictive factors for engagement, and examined the utility of a scale developed for written narratives to assess absorption for auditory materials. Adults aged 20–78 years (N = 216) participated in an online experimental study. Participants listened to one of ten stories intended to be engaging to different degrees and rated the story in terms of absorption and enjoyment. Participants of different ages rated the stories similarly absorbing and enjoyable. Further, higher mood scores predicted higher absorption and enjoyment ratings. Factor analysis showed scale items approximately grouped according to the original scale dimensions, suggesting that absorption and enjoyment experiences may be similar for written and spoken stories, although certain items discriminated less effectively between stories intended to be more or less engaging. The present study provides novel insights into how adults of different ages engage in listening and supports using naturalistic speech stimuli in hearing research.
The metaverse for cultural heritage (MCH) serves as a digital platform that enables users to access and engage with cultural heritage resources online. With the rapid expansion of cultural digitisation, many organizations have adopted the MCH to increase their impact and reach. However, empirical research is essential to substantiate the role and significance of MCH. This study examines users’ intentions to engage with MCH and their offline experiences. Using the SEM-ANN method, 989 respondents participated in an analysis framed by the NVM approach through questionnaires. The results show a dependence of users' offline experience intentions on their intentions to engage with MCH (β = 0.216, T = 7.915, P < 0.001), along with perceived benefits (β = 0.199, T = 6.576, P < 0.001) and perceived risks (β = − 0.051, T = − 2.008, P = 0.045). Results suggest that MCH has the potential to enhance offline experiences; factors such as creativity, entertainment and narrative significantly influence users' positive evaluations of MCH, while privacy data, performance ethic and negative psychology influences may reduce users' positive evaluations. These findings have important implications for cultural heritage managers, developers and designers, suggesting that the use of the metaverse can enrich the cultural heritage experience, attract a broader user base beyond offline methods, and promote the appreciation and dissemination of traditional culture.
Zusammenfassung Dieses Kapitel entwickelt die These, dass Foregrounding eine Form des schöpferisch-aktiven Leseengagements hervorrufen kann, die sich explizit an das Bildungsideal der Mündigkeit binden lässt.Der Beitrag beginnt mit einem Überblick über empirische Studien zum Potenzial des literarischen Lesens zur Förderung von Empathie, sozialer Kognition, (Selbst-)Transformation und Einsicht in die menschliche Natur. Im Anschluss werden empirische Studien diskutiert, in denen dieser Verbindung spezifisch in einem literaturdi-daktischen Kontext nachgegangen wird. Darauf folgt eine Diskussion der Foregrounding-Theorie und der damit verbundenen empirischen Forschung. Schließlich wird eine phäno-menologische Perspektive auf das Foregrounding vorgestellt, die Foregrounding explizit an Mündigkeit bindet, und im letzten Abschnitt werden eine Reihe von empirischen Studien zur Unterstützung der entwickelten These vorgestellt.
There is a long tradition in philosophy and literary theory defending the view that engagement with literature promotes readers’ empathy. Until the last century, few of the empirical claims adduced in that tradition were investigated experimentally. Recent work in psychology and neuropsychology has now shed new light on the interplay of empathy and literature. This article surveys the experimental findings, addressing three central questions: What is it to read empathically? Does reading make us more empathic? What characteristics of literature, if any, affect readers’ empathy? While experimental studies have delivered no conclusive answers to these questions, it has exposed their psychological complexity and constructed a more nuanced picture of the diverse ways in which literature interacts with our empathic capacities.
Presence is a defining element of virtual reality (VR), but it is also increasingly used when assessing mixed reality (MR) experiences. The increased interest in measuring presence in MR and recent works underpinning the specific nature of presence in MR raise the question of the current state and practice of assessing presence in MR. To address this question, we present an analysis of more than 320 studies that report on presence measurements in MR. Our analysis showed that questionnaires are the dominant measurement but also identify problematic trends that stem from the lack of a generally agreed-upon concept or measurement for presence in MR. More specifically, we show that using measurements that are not validated in MR or custom questionnaires limiting the comparability of results is commonplace and could contribute to a looming replication crisis in an increasingly relevant field.
In this paper we present our attempt at validating a self-report instrument developed in the field of empirical literary studies to capture absorption experiences, namely the Story World Absorption Scale (SWAS, Kuijpers, et al. 2014). We used the SWAS as the foundation for a tag set, that targets mentions of absorption in online book reviews. Online book reviews posted on social media platforms are a relatively new form of reader testimonials that can be of use to researchers from different disciplines to investigate reading experience and evaluation, as well as social discourse about reading. This paper discusses the annotation tag set, which was developed through an iterative process, presented alongside a series of inter-annotator agreement studies that show the validity of our annotation process. Finally, it will discuss the validation and reconceptualization of the Story World Absorption construct, where we consider instances of systematic disagreement during annotation and discuss new categories that we added to the tag set that indicate areas where absorption theory may need to be refined.
This handbook provides a strong collection of communication- and psychology-based theories and models on media entertainment, which can be used as a knowledge resource for any academic and applied purpose. Its 41 chapters offer explanations of entertainment that audiences find in any kind of ‘old’ and ‘new’ media, from classic novels to VR video games, from fictional stories to mediated sports. As becomes clear in this handbook, the history of entertainment research teaches us not to forget that even if a field is converging to a seemingly dominant perspective, paradigm, and methodology, there are more views, alternative approaches, and different yet equally illuminative ways of thinking about the field. Young scholars may find here innovative ways to reconcile empirical-theoretical approaches to the experience of entertainment with such alternative views. And there are numerous entertainment-related phenomena in contemporary societies that still fit the „bread and circuses-“ perspective of the initial Frankfurt School thinking. So while the mission of the present handbook is to compile and advance current theories about media entertainment, scholars active or interested in the topic are invited to also consider the historic roots of the field and the great diversity it has featured over the past nearly 100 years. Many lessons can be learned from this history, and future innovations in entertainment theory may just as likely emerge from refining those approaches compiled in the present handbook as from building on neglected, forgotten, or marginalized streams of scholarship.
The paper examines the audience experience of engagement with immersive virtual stories and art in general, positioning it within the broader context of audience art engagement studies. The literature review indicates that the audiences' experience of engagement is a process in specific artistic and personal contexts. Yet, audience studies lack an approach to empirically study the complexity and dynamics of directed (in narrative stages) engagement. The paper presents an exploratory pilot study of the experience of immersive VR theatre. The comparison of the data of different participants experiencing the same art project demonstrates that even a simple research design integrating bodily data and audience reflection in the context of the specific artwork can bring insights valuable for practitioners and researchers. The paper endorses the use of the mixed method design in engagement studies.
This chapter analyses existing research on the ethical implications of using MT in translation and communication, and it describes results from usability experiments that focus on the inclusion of raw and post-edited MT in multilingual products and creative texts with an emphasis on users’ feedback. It also offers suggestions on how MT content should be presented to users, readers, and consumers in general. It finally considers the ethical responsibility of all stakeholders in this new digital reality. If the ethical dimension is an ecosystem, users also have the responsibility to support products that protect language, translators, and future generations.
Psychological distance has long been regarded as a primary obstacle to driving pro-environmental changes. This study seeks to explore narrative attributes that can be strategically harnessed to solve the distal nature of climate change. By adopting a 2 (retrospective vs. prospective temporal perspective) × 2 (first-person vs. third-person narrator perspective) factorial experimental design, the findings suggested that climate change narratives in retrospective and first-person perspectives manifest superiority in reducing psychological distance, with narrative involvement as the explanatory mechanism. In addition, the two forms of narrative involvement, namely transportation and identification, play distinct roles in addressing various types of psychological distance.
The application of X-reality (XR) technologies is reshaping the business landscape and redefining the film production process and the role of the audience in films. This study presents a bibliometric and content analysis of 131 academic articles to explore the development and research trends of XR in the film industry. We identify five core themes within the topic: (1) technical considerations, (2) narrative considerations, (3) presence, (4) audience responses and (5) ethical considerations. Based on the identified themes, we provide insights into the intellectual structure of this developing and interdisciplinary topic and propose the framework called the XR Film Innovation Circle (XR-FIC). The study concludes by identifying the current research gaps and suggesting future directions, further emphasizing the rationales behind the suggested directions.
People experiencing homelessness balance competing priorities resulting in reduced capacity to meet the care demands of chronic conditions, including Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). Arts-based performances present an avenue to expose others to these challenges. This article describes the process of incorporating qualitative research findings in a community-based participatory theater production to expose audiences to the day-to-day realities of living with T2DM while simultaneously experiencing homelessness. We conducted five focus groups and two individual interviews with people living with T2DM who had experienced homelessness with guidance from a community-engaged research team. We then collaborated with a local theater company to present common themes from these focus groups in a co-created play about the experience of managing T2DM while being homeless. We performed a staged reading of the play and assessed audience members’ perceived stigma through a pre- and post-survey to determine if audience engagement within our theatrical production could reduce stigma toward individuals living with diabetes and/or people experiencing homelessness. This theatrical production is titled “Life Heist: Stealing Hope While Surviving Diabetes and Homelessness.” Our work illustrates the feasibility and effectiveness of using participatory theater to disseminate qualitative research findings.
Despite the widespread use of exploratory factor analysis in psychological research, researchers often make questionable decisions when conducting these analyses. This article reviews the major design and analytical decisions that must be made when conducting a factor analysis and notes that each of these decisions has important consequences for the obtained results. Recommendations that have been made in the methodological literature are discussed. Analyses of 3 existing empirical data sets are used to illustrate how questionable decisions in conducting factor analyses can yield problematic results. The article presents a survey of 2 prominent journals that suggests that researchers routinely conduct analyses using such questionable methods. The implications of these practices for psychological research are discussed, and the reasons for current practices are reviewed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Mental models are dynamic mental representations of situations, events, and objects. We argue that the mental models approach can expand our understanding of cultivation theory. We survey the research on mental models, situation models including the event indexing model, and cultural models. Based on this literature, we propose several ways in which cultivation theory can be expanded to provide a richer understanding of how the media influence people's perception of their social reality and understanding of their culture.
A taxonomy of emotions of literary response is presented. Some emotions occur as readers confront a text: they depend on curiosity as new material is assimilated to schemata, or on dishabituation as schemata accommodate. Further modes of emotion arise if readers enter the world of a story: they arise as a writer represents eliciting patterns of emotion and the reader responds with sympathy as story characters face these patterns, from personal memories of emotion, and by identification with characters' goals and plans. Based on cognitive theory and literary criticism, a theory of identification in fictional literature is presented, derived from Aristotle's concept mimesis. The usual translations, ‘imitation’ or ‘representation’, are misleading: mimesis means something closer to ‘simulation’, as in computers. Fictional simulations run on people's minds. For them to run successfully readers (a) adopt a character's goals and use their own planning procedures to connect actions together meaningfully, (b) form mental models of imagined worlds, (c) receive speech acts addressed to them by the writer, and (d) integrate disparate elements to create a unified experience. In providing materials for these functions, great writers allow readers to respond creatively, to feel moved emotionally, to understand within themselves some of the relations between actions and emotions, and sometimes to undergo cognitive change.
Previous research has demonstrated that form variables can increase television viewers' sense of presence. The current broadcasting of high-definition television (HDTV) programming makes testing this relation between form and presence possible in a new context, image quality. In this experiment, television viewers watched either HDTV or standard-definition television images and then rated their viewing experience on a pencil-and-paper questionnaire. The results demonstrate that HDTV provided viewers with a greater sense of presence than the current standard, thus providing empirical evidence for the claim that improved image quality will lead to television viewers' experiencing presence. Additionally, the results suggest that with the coming of HDTV, sensations of presence will be both stronger and more common.
Is there a difference between believing and merely understanding an idea? R. Descartes (e.g., 1641 [1984]) thought so. He considered the acceptance and rejection of an idea to be alternative outcomes of an effortful assessment process that occurs subsequent to the automatic comprehension of that idea. This article examined B. Spinoza's (1982) alternative suggestion that (1) the acceptance of an idea is part of the automatic comprehension of that idea and (2) the rejection of an idea occurs subsequent to, and more effortfully than, its acceptance. In this view, the mental representation of abstract ideas is quite similar to the mental representation of physical objects: People believe in the ideas they comprehend, as quickly and automatically as they believe in the objects they see. Research in social and cognitive psychology suggests that Spinoza's model may be a more accurate account of human belief than is that of Descartes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Despite the widespread use of exploratory factor analysis in psychological research, researchers often make questionable decisions when conducting these analyses. This article reviews the major design and analytical decisions that must be made when conducting a factor analysis and notes that each of these decisions has important consequences for the obtained results. Recommendations that have been made in the methodological literature are discussed. Analyses of 3 existing empirical data sets are used to illustrate how questionable decisions in conducting factor analyses can yield problematic results. The article presents a survey of 2 prominent journals that suggests that researchers routinely conduct analyses using such questionable methods. The implications of these practices for psychological research are discussed, and the reasons for current practices are reviewed.
This article reviews the construct and measurement of materialism and concludes that materialism is appropriately conceptualized as a consumer value. The development of a values-oriented materialism scale with three components--acquisition centrality, acquisition as the pursuit of happiness, and possession-defined success--is described. In validation tests high scorers (compared with low scores) desired a higher level of income, place greater emphasis on financial security and less on interpersonal relationships, preferred to spend more on themselves and less on others, engaged in fewer voluntary simplicity behaviors, and were less satisfied with their lives. Copyright 1992 by the University of Chicago.
Transportation was proposed as a mechanism whereby narratives can affect beliefs. Defined as absorption into a story, transportation entails imagery, affect, and attentional focus. A transportation scale was developed and validated. Experiment 1 (N = 97) demonstrated that extent of transportation augmented story-consistent beliefs and favorable evaluations of protagonists. Experiment 2 (N = 69) showed that highly transported readers found fewer false notes in a story than less-transported readers. Experiments 3 (N = 274) and 4 (N = 258) again replicated the effects of transportation on beliefs and evaluations; in the latter study, transportation was directly manipulated by using processing instructions. Reduced transportation led to reduced story-consistent beliefs and evaluations. The studies also showed that transportation and corresponding beliefs were generally unaffected by labeling a story as fact or as fiction.
In the past fifteen years, as the “narrative turn in the humanities” gave way to the narrative turn everywhere (politics, science studies, law, medicine, and last, but not least, cognitive science), few words have enjoyed so much use and suffered so much abuse as narrative and its partial synonym, story. The French theorist Jean-François Lyotard invokes the “Grand Narratives” of a capitalized History;1the psychologist Jerome Bruner speaks of narratives of identity;2the philosopher Daniel Dennett describes mental activity on the neural level as the continuous emergence and decay of narrative drafts;3the political strategist James Carville attributes the loss of John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election to the lack of a convincing narrative;4and “narratives of race, class and gender” have become a mantra of cultural studies. Gerald Prince regards the contemporary use of the term narrative as a hedging device, a way to avoid strong positions: “One says ‘narrative’ instead of ‘explanation’ or ‘argumentation’ (because it is more tentative); one prefers ‘narrative’ to ‘theory,’ ‘hypothesis,’ or ‘evidence’ (because it is less scientistic); one speaks of a ‘narrative’ rather than ‘ideology’ (because it is less judgmental); one substitutes ‘narrative’ for ‘message’ (because it is more indeterminate).”5Another narrative theorist, Peter Brooks, attributes the surging popularity of the word to a more positive cause: “While I think the term has been trivialized through overuse, I believe the overuse responds to a recognition that narrative is one of the principal ways we organize our experience of the world-a part of our cognitive tool kit that was long neglected by psychologists and philosophers.”
Media enjoyment is theorized by synthesizing empirical literature from uses and gratifications with Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory. This article argues that enjoyment of media results from a flow experience realized when media message content balances with individual ability to interpret that message. Further, it theorizes that media experience, along with individual differences in cognitive abilities, facilitates or prevents flow state in media users. Therefore, it is a balance between individual differences in cognitive abilities and media message challenges that explains enjoyment of media use. The authors offer the case of video game usage as an exemplar, and examples of cognitive tasks are provided and linked to game genre content.
The popular notion of identification with characters in drama is examined, and its usefulness in explaining emotional reactivity to drama is questioned. The concept of empathy is developed as an alternative, and its usefulness is demonstrated. Empathy theory is reviewed, and selected supportive findings are presented. Reflexive, acquired, and deliberate forms of empathy are distinguished as motor mimicry, empathy proper, and perspective taking. Special attention is given to conditions under which empathy reverses to counterempathy. The development of affective dispositions toward characters featured in drama is considered crucial, and the dynamics of character development are examined in terms of dispositional consequences. Empathic reactions are linked to positive affective dispositions and counterempathic reactions to negative affective dispositions. Emotional involvement with drama is explained on the basis of dispositionally controlled empathy and counterempathy.
"Transportation into a narrative world" (Green & Brock, 2000, 2002) has been identified as a mechanism of narrative impact. A transported individual is cognitively and emotionally involved in the story and may experience vivid mental images. In the study reported here, undergraduate participants (N = 152) read a narrative about a homosexual man attending his college fraternity reunion, rated their transportation into the story, rated the perceived realism of the story, and responded to statements describing story-relevant beliefs. Transportation was positively correlated with perceived realism. Furthermore, individuals with prior knowledge or experience relevant to the themes of the story (e.g., had homosexual friends or family members, were knowledgeable about American fraternities) showed greater transportation into the story. Highly transported readers showed more story-consistent beliefs, and the positive relationship between transportation and story-consistent beliefs held for those both with and without previous relevant experience.
We examined the effects of mood and the content (a priori valence and involvement) and formal (presentation modality: text vs. video) characteristics of messages presented on a small screen on emotional responses and involvement among 47 young adults. Mood was induced by autobiographical memories varying in affective valence and arousal. Facial electromyography (EMG) and cardiac interbeat intervals were used as physiological indexes of valence and arousal. Both mood and the emotional tone of a message exerted an independent influence on the emotional response to the message. A strong valence-related mood-congruency effect emerged in predicting involvement. The text modality elicited higher involvement, arousal ratings, and orbicularis oculi EMG activity compared to the video modality when in a depressed mood, whereas the reverse was true when in a joyful, relaxed, or fearful mood. The results point to the possibility of mood-adapted media services.
A Monte Carlo study involving 10,080 factor analyses examined the optimal value of k for promax factor rotations. The value of k was varied from 2 to 10 using three versions of promax. Error and bias of the sample factor pattern were found to be lower when k [.lessequal] 5 than when k > 5 but changed only slightly as k varied between 2 and 5. The best value of k was 2, 3, or 4, depending on the version of promax. It is concluded that in factor analytic studies using promax, the value of k may be appropriately set at 2, 3, or 4.
This article reports the results of two studies designed to compare predictors of enjoyment of reality-based and fictional television programming. In Study 1, 260 adults completed a survey of their cognitive and emotional reactions to either the fictional or reality-based programming that they generally watch. In Study 2, 502 adults completed a similar survey but with a particular reality-based or fictional program in mind. Results suggest first that though voyeurism (i.e., curiosity about others) appears to be a key distinguishing gratification between reality and fictional programming, it is not always a predictor of reality television enjoyment. Indeed, many predictors of enjoyment, like happiness, parasocial relationships, social comparison, self-awareness, negative outcome, and dramatic challenge, varied as much among types of reality programs as between reality and fiction. Of particular interest, three variables—learning, suspense, and transportation—had opposite effects on enjoyment, depending on their programming context. The implications of these findings, as well as the role of perceived realism and our ability to explain more variance in enjoyment of reality versus fictional programming, are addressed. Apart from its insight into the reality television phenomenon, this research helps to more clearly articulate the cognitive and emotional underpinnings of enjoyment and further offers a unique theoretical perspective on the connection between the uses and gratifications paradigm and the construct of enjoyment.
In a variety of domains, complexity has been shown to be an important factor affecting cognitive processing. Complex syntax is 1 of the ways in which complexity has been shown to burden cognitive processing. Research has also shown that the determination of a message's truth, or reality, is affected by message complexity. Cognitive burden has been shown to cause unrealistic events to be judged as more real. Two experiments investigate the effects of syntactic complexity on the typicality assessment of previously rated typical and atypical television scenarios. Complex syntax exhibited a curvilinear effect on reality assessment, such that highly typical events became more unreal and highly atypical events became more real, whereas moderately typical scenarios were unaffected. The cognitive load added by complex syntax appeared to limit the processing of both reality and unreality cues. Adding time pressure was expected to increase cognitive load; however, it appeared to reverse the effects of complex syntax. Participants' syntax recognition results suggested that the complex syntax did burden processing as predicted. Tests with response latencies indicated that atypical scenarios and scenarios described with complex syntax were more slowly recognized.
In this article, we propose and test a model of how readers construct representations of the situations described in simple narratives the event-indexing model According to the event-indexing model, events are the focal points of situations conveyed in narratives and are connected in memory along five dimensions time, space, protagonist, causality, and intentionality The results of a verb-clustering task provide strong support for the event-indexing model
Provides an intuitive introduction to the key elements of the authors' theory, the Transportation-Imagery Model, and presents the postulates and their implications. Next, this chapter compares the Transportation-Imagery approach to persuasion with dual-process models of rhetorical persuasion, specifically it contrasts the authors' theory with the Elaboration-Likelihood Model. Selected research implications are discussed. This chapter concludes with a discussion of possible areas in which the ideas of narrative persuasion can be applied. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article offers a theoretical framework to explain circumstances under which perceptions of "unrealness" affect engagement in narratives and subsequent perceived realism judgments. A mental models approach to narrative processing forms the foundation of a model that integrates narrative comprehension and phenomenological experiences such as transportation and identification. Three types of unrealness are discussed: fictionality, external realism (match with external reality), and narrative realism (coherence within a story). We gather evidence that fictionality does not affect narrative processing. On the other hand, violations of external and narrative realism are conceived as inconsistencies among the viewer's mental structures as they construct mental models of meaning to represent and comprehend the narrative. These inconsistencies may result in negative online evaluations of a narrative's realism, may disrupt engagement, and may negatively influence postexposure (reflective) realism judgments as well as lessen a narrative's persuasive power.
“Transportation into a narrative world” is an experience of cognitive, emotional, and imagery involvement in a narrative. Transportation theory (Green & Brock, 2000, 2002) provides a lens for understanding the concept of media enjoyment. The theory suggests that enjoyment can benefit from the experience of being immersed in a narrative world, as well as from the consequences of that immersion. Consequences implied by transportation theory include connections with characters and self-transformations.
In this experiment, we examine effects of television dramas on support for controversial public policies (gay marriage and the death penalty) and explore mechanisms that may explain such effects. The dramas influenced support for death penalty but not gay marriage. As predicted, exposure to the relevant drama eliminated the relationship between prior ideology (conceptualized as a continuous variable) and death penalty support. Moreover, the valence of the relationship between prior (increasingly liberal) ideology and salience of a relevant value (perceived importance of a safe and crime-free society) went from negative in the comparison condition to positive after exposure to the relevant drama. These and other results suggest that a television narrative can influence policy support by reframing the dramatic situation to reduce the effect of prior ideology and values and by minimizing processing of the story as intentionally persuasive discourse.
Forty-seven young adults participated in a series of focus group interviews designed to investigate how audiences conceptualize media realism. Contrasts in the way realism was defined and applied in the interviews and explicit statements by the participants supported previous findings that realism perceptions are multidimensional. The participants' discussions encompassed 6 distinct means of evaluating the realism of media texts: plausibility, typicality, factuality, emotional involvement, narrative consistency, and perceptual persuasiveness. Plausibility was the most readily discussed conceptualization. Different realism conceptualizations tended to be used for different media genres and the conceptualizations tended to focus on different features of the evaluated text. This article discusses the relationship of audience perceptions to scholars' conceptualizations and addresses implications for measuring media realism.
Media enjoyment is theorized by synthesizing empirical literature from uses and gratifications with Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory. This article argues that enjoyment of media results from a flow experience realized when media message content balances with individual ability to interpret that message. Further, it theorizes that media experience, along with individual differences in cognitive abilities, facilitates or prevents flow state in media users. Therefore, it is a balance between individual differences in cognitive abilities and media message challenges that explains enjoyment of media use. The authors offer the case of video game usage as an exemplar, and examples of cognitive tasks are provided and linked to game genre content.
This article reviews previous literature on presence, with a particular focus on its conceptualization and typologies. It first compares various types of presence-related terms (e.g., telepresence, virtual presence, mediated presence, copresence, and presence) and suggests that of those terms the term presence works best for the systematic study of human interaction with media and simulation technologies. After an extensive explication process, presence is newly defined as “a psychological state in which virtual objects are experienced as actual objects in either sensory or nonsensory ways.” Three types of presence—physical, social, and self presence—are defined based on the general definition of presence and the corresponding domains of human experience. Finally, implications of the current explication to the study of presence are discussed.
Any one work of literature reaches only a very few minds among the whole human population, and yet when a real meeting occurs of reader with a book, or reader with an author (via a book), it can be profound. I describe the phenomena of meeting, and their relation to personal reflection in theoretical terms, drawing on Bakhtin's (1984 [1963]) proposals of the novel as a place of dialogue. The intensity and type of such meetings varies with the degree to which a reader takes a spectator role, or identifies with a protagonist. I present empirical studies, which show how particular kinds of minds connect with particular kinds of short stories, and I discuss how in such places as reading groups, meetings among friends are affected by reading novels.
Zusammenfassung. In dem vorliegenden Beitrag wird über die Entwicklung eines umfassenden Fragebogens zum Leseerleben berichtet. Eine Untersuchung zur Itemselektion anhand einer studentischen Stichprobe ergibt 77 Items, die sich auf die folgenden 14 Dimensionen verteilen: Aufmerksamkeitsfokussierung, Aufgehen im Text, Vorstellbarkeit/Anschaulichkeit, Räumliches Dabeisein, Rezeptionsbeendigung, Spannung, Emotionale Beteiligung, Allgemeines Lesevergnügen, Identifikation, Parasoziale Interaktion, Kognitives Involvement, Thematisches Interesse, Analysierende Rezeption, Leichtigkeit des kognitiven Zugangs. Die zugehörigen internen Konsistenzen liegen in einem zufrieden stellenden bis sehr guten Bereich.
This article contrasts narrative self-referencing with analytical self-referencing. I propose that narrative self-referencing persuades through transportation, where people become absorbed in a story-in this case, in their storylike thoughts (Green and Brock 2000 ). When ad viewers are transported by these narrative thoughts, persuasion is not negatively affected by weak ad arguments. Conversely, analytical self-referencing persuades via more traditional processing models, wherein cognitive elaboration is enhanced by relating incoming information to one's self or personal experiences, which results in a differential persuasive effect of strong versus weak arguments. I also propose that ad skepticism moderates the effect of narrative transportation. My assertions are tested in two experiments in the context of mental simulation as a form of narrative self-referencing. (c) 2007 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..
Experiencing narrative worlds
- R J Gerrig
Gerrig, R. J. (1993). Experiencing narrative worlds. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
The power of fiction: Determinants and boundaries The psychology of entertainment media: Blur-ring the lines between entertainment and persuasion
- M C Green
- J Garst
- T C Brock
Green, M. C., Garst, J., & Brock, T. C. (2004). The power of fiction: Determinants and boundaries. In L. J. Shrum (Ed.), The psychology of entertainment media: Blur-ring the lines between entertainment and persuasion (pp. 161–176). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Kognitive Filmpsychologie. Verarbeitung und mentale Repräsen-tation narrativer Filme [Cogitive psychology of film: Processing and mental representation of narrative films
- P Ohler
Ohler, P. (1994). Kognitive Filmpsychologie. Verarbeitung und mentale Repräsen-tation narrativer Filme [Cogitive psychology of film: Processing and mental representation of narrative films]. Münster, Germany: MAkS Publikationen.
Mood management and selective exposure Communication and emotion: Essays in honor of Dolf Zillmann
- M B Oliver
Oliver, M. B. (2003). Mood management and selective exposure. In J. Bryant, D. Roskos-Ewoldsen, & J. Cantor (Eds.), Communication and emotion: Essays in honor of Dolf Zillmann (pp. 85–106). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
- Viswanathan M