Open AccessStory Perspective and Character Similarity as Drivers of Identification and Narrative Persuasion
Author(s) -
Hoeken Hans,
Kolthoff Matthijs,
Sanders José
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
human communication research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.002
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1468-2958
pISSN - 0360-3989
DOI - 10.1111/hcre.12076
Subject(s) - persuasion , narrative , character (mathematics) , perspective (graphical) , psychology , linguistics , identification (biology) , similarity (geometry) , sociology , computer science , social psychology , artificial intelligence , philosophy , botany , geometry , mathematics , image (mathematics) , biology
Identification with a character is an important mechanism of narrative persuasion. In 2 studies, the impact of character similarity on identification was pitted against that of story perspective. Participants read stories in which a lawyer (Study 1) and a general practitioner ( GP ; Study 2) had a conflict with another character. Perspective was manipulated by describing the events as experienced and narrated by the lawyer ( GP ) or their opponent. In Study 1 (N = 120), 60 participants were law students, in Study 2 (N = 120) 60 were medical students. Both perspective and program of study influenced identification, which mediated the impact of perspective on attitude. If participants felt highly similar to the professional's opponent, the mediating effect of identification was blocked .