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Media articles about women in STEM often emphasize gender in ways that may reinforce stereotypes. In an archival study examining 172 articles from four major US and UK newspapers on women, Nobel laureates from 1903 to 2020, we find that over time, reporters are more likely to describe the scientist as a woman and less likely to mention her husband’s job. A follow-up experiment (N = 452) revealed no significant effects of an article that emphasizes the gender of a woman scientist on gender biases. These findings suggest that articles about women in STEM may emphasize gender rather than scientific accomplishments, but the ways in which they do so have changed over time and this emphasis may not affect readers’ gender bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the prevalence of cliffhangers in popular narrative entertainment, little research has attempted to investigate the impact of these purportedly high-suspense, unresolved narrative endings on audience responses. Guided by affective disposition theory (ADT), in two between-subjects experiments (NStudy 1 = 202; NStudy 2 = 273) we investigated the extent to which audiences reported greater suspense, enjoyment, and desires for a future narrative installment in written narratives ending in a cliffhanger compared to narratives ending in a protagonist or antagonist victory. Results revealed (1) cliffhanger audiences desired a future story installment more than audiences who read a story ending featuring a protagonist victory (both studies) and antagonist victory (Study 2), and (2) no significant differences in audiences' enjoyment or suspense for those who read a story ending in a cliffhanger compared to those who read an ending featuring either resolution. These findings suggest that cliffhangers may serve as a useful narrative device for maximizing audience retention throughout a series without necessarily sacrificing viewers' enjoyment of the narrative. Results are discussed in terms of their theoretical implications for understanding cliffhangers as a disruption in the story evaluation process outlined by ADT. Practical implications for writers who may consider adopting cliffhangers in their narratives are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stories may provide a useful way of communicating about health and promoting engagement for health promotion campaigns. In this study, we examined the effectiveness of a particular type of narrative, restorative narratives (stories that highlight hope and resilience), relative to negative narratives (stories that focus on suffering or challenges). We also tested the effect of labeling the story as fact or fiction. The results suggested that restorative narratives may foster greater prosocial behavior than negative narratives and effectiveness does not differ depending on whether a story is labeled as "factual" or "fictional." Our findings offer encouraging implications for future promotional efforts by health organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to determine whether exposure to a manga comic (Japanese comic art) with messages promoting fruit consumption influenced psychosocial variables associated with increased fruit intake in middle-school youth. A three-group, randomized, single-session study was conducted in two public middle schools in central North Carolina. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (a) comic (manga comic promoting fruit consumption, (b) newsletter (newsletter about fruit), or (c) attention-control (newsletter about ancient Greece). Participants included N = 263 youth, with a mean age of 13.18 years (SD = 1.12). Outcome expectations, self-efficacy, and knowledge related to fruit intake were measured at baseline and immediately after reading. Secondary outcomes included transportation (degree to which participants are immersed in their media) and enjoyment, measured at posttest. Data were analyzed using regression analyses. Comic group participants tended to have greater change in outcome expectations related to fruit intake compared to the attention-control group and greater transportation and enjoyment than the newsletter and attention-control groups. Study results are promising and suggest that manga comics may be a useful format to promote positive health beliefs in youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has demonstrated the ability of fictional narratives to educate about social and health issues. Although some entertainment-education efforts have used live theater as a mechanism for social change, very few use social science methods to demonstrate exposure effects. This project used live theater to increase understanding and knowledge about intimate partner violence, a pervasive and costly social and health problem. Audiences watched either a play about abusive relationships—emphasizing psychological abuse and the role of coercion and control—or a control play. Compared with controls, those who watched the abuse play were more knowledgeable and less accepting of myths about abusive relationships in a way that mirrored play content. Although both plays were highly transporting, transportation did not explain a significant amount of variance in the attitudes toward intimate partner violence. These results provide rare evidence for theater as a tool for social change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The study of narrative persuasion has increased dramatically in the past decade. Whereas much of this research focuses on story and character involvement, the role of emotion—and emotional flow specifically—has been understudied. In this article, we explore the multiple ways that the desire for and the experience of emotional shifts may promote the persuasive influence of narratives. First, we propose that the desire for an emotional shift (e.g., mood management) can guide message selection. Then, the emotional flow, or the series of emotional shifts in response to the unfolding story, may promote and sustain continued engagement with the narrative world. As such, influence of the narrative is likely enhanced. We then argue that the heightened state of narrative engagement and its associated emotional states have implications for post-message attitudes, both short-term attitude change as well as over-time change via emotion-driven topic involvement and social sharing. A research agenda for greater integration of emotion into narrative research is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

One popular concept to capture the experience of being immersed into the world of a story is that of transportation. This article examines the factorial validity of the Transportation Scale (TS) and introduces a short and psychometrically sound alternative for the assessment of transportation. Exploratory bifactor modeling in Study 1(N =179) provided support for the hypothesized factor structure of the original TS with three facets and a general transportation factor. Based on these analyses, a six-item short version of the scale, the Transportation Scale–Short Form (TS–SF), was developed. Study 2(N =131 andN =246) as well as Study 3(N =301) corroborated the short form's factorial structure, reliability, and validity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Identification and transportation are believed to be major moderators of the impact of media consumption on its consumers. A study (N = 118) was conducted to examine the effects of identification and transportation on activation of media concepts in the 'real world' lives of media consumers. Results indicated that under conditions of high identification, participants temporarily displayed increased activation of trait characteristics displayed by a character in a film clip within their self-concept. Supportive albeit inconsistent evidence of a similar role for transportation was also obtained. These findings indicate that traits exhibited by media characters may spill over into the self-concept of the viewer, and identification and transportation appear to play a significant role in such increased activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two studies investigated the effect of fact or fiction labeling on the processing of advocacy communication. Labeling a communication as fact, rather than fiction, appeared to enhance critical processing (scrutiny). In 2 experiments, 392 students, who were low or high in need for cognition (NC) read a speech (nonnarrative). This discrepant speech, reported to be an actual event or a dramatic creation, enabled variation of label (fact/fiction), argument quality (strong/weak), and personal-outcome relevance (unspecified, Experiment 1; enhanced/reduced, Experiment 2). When personal relevance was unspecified (or reduced), speeches with a fact label instigated scrutiny for low-NC individuals; high-NC individuals engaged in scrutiny regardless of fact/fiction label. Under enhanced relevance, scrutiny was observed regardless of fact/fiction label and NC level. Across the experiments, communications labeled as fact were no more persuasive than those labeled as fiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"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 b 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]