Narrative transportation, identification, and storytelling in environmental (science) communication.
The text below is part of an academic research. The full research can be downloaded below.
Retrospective reflection is a process whereby similarities between the story and consistent memories from the own personal story bank are brought to the viewer’s mind. In this process, visual elements remind a viewer of real-world encounters and enhance story enjoyment (Hamby et al., 2016). Therefore, stories do not have to be ‘real’ to influence a viewer, but they must correspond with the viewers’ beliefs and experiences to be accepted as reality. According to Gilbert (1991), participating individuals are more likely to recall story consistent beliefs because falsifying a message takes additional effort. Larsen and László (1990) describe retrospective reflection as ‘personal resonance’. A story that evokes memories enhances appreciation of the story, legitimises and substantiates the narrative and increases persuasion (Bruner, 1986; Fisher, 1989). This is comparable with the concept of biased assimilation, whereby individuals tend to engage and accept information that affirms their existing understanding of themselves and the world, “and tend to reject information that does not” (Jones Michael & Anderson Crow, 2017, p. 2).
Narrative self-referencing is described as an individual’s recall or generation of autobiographical memories in a story format. Individuals could recognise something in a story, that reminds them of an experience in their past. An affective transference occurs during this process; the positive experience of thinking about the self, enhances persuasion-related outcomes. Narrative self-referencing is a mechanism used to enter a story world. Participating individuals could be transported into their self-focused story (Hamby et al., 2016). Narrative self-referencing and retrospective reflection differ on several aspects, but are related to each other. Narrative self referencing involves the creation of a story about the self, which evokes positive emotions (Zwaan & Radvansky, 1998; Hamby et al., 2016).
Retrospective reflection occurs after narrative self-referencing and is a consequence of entering a story world. It includes the recall of memories related to the self and others and provides a base to contrast the individual’s mental model of the story, to the individual’s mental model of the ‘real world’ (Zwaan & Radvansky, 1998). Imagine someone at home, watching a good movie. He is about to partake in a very emotional and intense climax. Suddenly, his partner comes home from work and starts moaning about a new colleague. It pulls him out of the story and brings him back to reality. Narrative transportation might be a mental process, but both the setting and the medium influence this subconscious experience.
Three main aspects influence narrative transportation and therefore retrospective reflection, which is vital to narrative persuasion. First of all, participating individuals must be immersed in a story. To achieve this, individuals must be able to process the story. This process has internal and external factors. Internal factors for failing to process a story could be: not understanding the (academical) language. Therefore, scientists or environmental communicators need to make the language accessible. External factors could be: sound from the environment (e.g. ringing cell phone, crying baby), or the volume of the medium (e.g. TV, laptop) could be too low (Green & Brock, 2000).
The second aspect to engrossing people in a story is empathy. Empathy occurs when fidelity between the viewer and the character is high. Fidelity can be described as the degree to which a story lines up with what individuals know to be true in their own life. One factor that can lead to empathy is identification (Green & Brock, 2000). Zillman (2000) refers to our moral similarities with characters. We tend to like characters who seem morally right to us and, eventually, we empathise with them. Central to identification with characters is the adoption of their goals, needs, thoughts and behaviours. Film theorists such as Houston (1984) claim that offering one perspective or narration the participating individuals can identify with, enhances identification and transportation. This contradicts the theory of Mazzocco and Green (2011). They suggest that presenting a mix of stories may be an ideal strategy to enhance narrative persuasion, because of the differences between individuals. Cohen’s (2001) definition for identification is “a process that consists of increasing loss of self-awareness and its temporary replacement with heightened emotional and cognitive connections with a character” (p. 251).
The third aspect is the plot structure. Playing with chronological order and creating gaps of information activates the imagination and curiosity of the viewer. The participating individuals will fill these gaps with figments of their own imagination, making the story more real and logical to them. Therefore, one could say, everybody experiences narratives in their own way (Green & Brock, 2000). The achievement of such an altered state of awareness relies upon the process of transportation into the story. When participating individuals re-enter the real world, they have been transformed and might have a different mindset or perspective of the world (Oatley, 1999).
Houston (1984) argued that television viewing cannot foster identification or transportation. He argues this, because television viewing tends to be an interrupted activity. The shots and program formats are shorter, and there are commercial breaks. It blends viewing with other activities, in comparison to a dark and quiet cinema, where the viewer is in line with the projector and the screen. The television viewer sits opposite the direction of projection (Houston, 1984), and can see reflections of the ‘real world’ on the (television) screen.