Narrative transportation, identification, and storytelling in environmental (science) communication.
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Each medium tells a different story. Recent research by Walter et al. (2017) discovered that participants in audiovisual media experienced increased cognitive involvement, higher than participants who were exposed to the same persuasive narrative in print media. Walter et al. (2017) discuss that print narratives may be more persuasive, since they provide more control for exposure, compared to audiovisual narratives. Readers can reread a sentence and visualise their own story-world, whereby in audiovisual media, the story-world is visualised for viewers, and the exposure to (audio)visual media and pacing of the story is set. Whether perceived control is a decisive factor in narrative persuasion is still questionable. It was not assessed in their study and is still a speculation. This form of control may also offer the participating individual the opportunity to pause in a story, and create space for (rational) thinking, which can increase resistance to persuasion (Perloff, 2013). Nevertheless, this claimed lack of control of audiovisual narratives stated by Walter et al. (2017) is arguable, as (portable) media devices and platforms offer options to pause, rewatch, or manipulate the pacing of the story.
Another factor that should be taken into account when constructing persuasive narratives, is the need for cognition. Mazzocco and Green (2011) measured individuals in need for cognition (NFC); a personality difference between individuals who enjoy effortful thinking, such as solving puzzles, debating issues, or considering complex problems (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982). Results showed that narratives were highly persuasive, but only to individuals who were highly transportable. Some individuals are more capable of being transported into a story-world than others. Individuals who have a bigger imagination should be more capable of ‘filling in the gaps’ and constructing the narrative world, compared to individuals who have less imaginative skills.