Transportation into Narrative Worlds

Abstract

This chapter will examine narrative and Transportation Theory in entertainment-education. Narrative transportation is the feeling of being lost in the world of a narrative, of being completely immersed in a story and leaving the real world behind. Transportation involves cognition, emotion, and mental imagery, all focused on the story. Transportation is a key mechanism underlying the influence of narratives on individuals’ attitudes and beliefs, and is also associated with media enjoyment. Individuals who are more transported are more likely to adopt story-consistent beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. This chapter will go into detail about how transportation works, specifically with regard to counterarguing, emotional response, and mental imagery, with the goal of helping creators of entertainment-education integrate transportation theory into their creative output.

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87© The Author(s) 2021
L. B. Frank, P. Falzone (eds.), Entertainment-Education Behind the
Scenes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63614-2_6
CHAPTER 6
Transportation into Narrative Worlds
MelanieC.Green
From centuries-old fables to modern television series, entertainment-
education often involves telling stories. And stories work best when audi-
ences are immersed in them: readers or viewers leave the real world behind
and step into the world created by the authors. When people are trans-
ported to these narrative worlds and their interest is captivated, they may
experience strong emotions and have vivid mental images. They may not
notice their immediate surroundings or the passage of time. This feeling
of being “lost in a story” is the core of narrative transportation theory.
Narrative transportation has been dened as a combination of atten-
tion, imagery, and feelings, in which an individual becomes immersed in a
narrative world (Green & Brock, 2000; Green & Brock, 2002). Individuals
who are more transported are more likely to adopt beliefs, attitudes, and
behaviors that are implied by the story (e.g., Murphy etal., 2013). Even
though stories typically show specic people and events, audiences tend to
generalize the lessons from the stories and apply them to real-life situa-
tions. These effects have been demonstrated across a variety of different
topics and issues, including health, consumer products, and social issues.
A recent meta-analysis has summarized these effects (Van Laer, de Ruyter,
M. C. Green (*)
University at Buffalo, The State University of NewYork, Buffalo, NY, USA
e-mail: mcgreen2@buffalo.edu

88
Visconti, & Wetzels, 2014; see also Braddock & Dillard, 2016 for a meta-
analysis of narrative effects more broadly).
Transportation can also occur across different media. Individuals can be
transported into books, movies, spoken stories, or even virtual reality.
Research thus far does not indicate a consistent advantage for any particu-
lar medium (Braddock & Dillard, 2016; De Graaf, Hoeken, Sanders, &
Beentjes, 2012). These results may imply that the content of the story
itself is the most important element, so entertainment-education profes-
sionals can choose the medium that is most appropriate or practical for
their audience or that they believe will convey their story in the most effec-
tive way. For example, production costs are often much lower for print
narratives than video narratives, and some forms of media are easier to
distribute than others, especially if audience members may not have par-
ticular devices (e.g., they do not have computers or televisions). However,
it is also possible that even if the outcomes across media are similar, the
psychological processes evoked by different media may be somewhat dif-
ferent. Walter, Murphy, Frank, and Baezconde-Garbanati (2017) found
that a video version of a narrative created higher levels of cognitive and
emotional involvement than a print version, but also led to higher reac-
tance. Individual differences among audience members may also make one
format more or less effective than another. For instance, people who enjoy
exerting cognitive effort (those who are high in need for cognition) may
be more transported into texts versus lms, whereas those who prefer to
put in less effort may be more transported into video narratives (Green
etal., 2008).
Similarly, transportation can happen whether a story is about actual
events (such as a documentary) or whether it is the creation of an author’s
imagination. Transportation and persuasion can occur in both factual and
ctional narratives. For ctional narratives, psychological plausibility
appears to be important—even if the characters do not actually exist, audi-
ences should believe that they could exist or that these situations could
occur. Fictional narratives do not have to be strictly realistic, however; a
story could take place in outer space or a fantasy world, as long as the
events develop in a way that is consistent with the rules established within
that narrative world and the characters act the way real people would act.
For example, fantasy stories such as Harry Potter have shown promise in
reducing prejudice (Vezzali, Stathi, Giovannini, Capozza, &
Triletti, 2015).
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Furthermore, although longer stories may provide more opportunity
for audiences to become deeply transported, research suggests that even
relatively brief and simple narratives, such as one-page advertisements or
short stories, can be transporting (e.g., Escalas, 2004; Mazzocco, Green,
Sasota, & Jones, 2010). These shorter stories may benet from drawing
on more universal themes or well-known story structures (e.g., success at
overcoming an obstacle; the power of love). In practice, the length of an
entertainment-education intervention may be determined in part by the
context in which the intervention will be delivered. For example, our team
developed a heart attack awareness intervention game that was originally
intended to be delivered in waiting rooms at doctors’ ofces; this con-
straint meant that it needed to be quite short to ensure that individuals
could complete it. When we changed our delivery platform to the Internet,
we were able to expand the length of the game. Similarly, in online research
studies, our participants do not generally want to read lengthy narratives;
however, there are many examples of successful web, television, and radio
series that capture audience attention for hours or even across years.
Narrative transportation shares some similarities with other types of
immersive experiences. For example, identication and transportation are
both mechanisms through which a narrative can change reader’s attitudes
and beliefs. However, identication occurs when readers are able to expe-
rience the narrative through the perspective of a story character (Busselle
& Bilandzic, 2009; Cohen, 2001), whereas transportation is a more gen-
eral immersion in the story world. Identication can be conceptualized as
the reader adopting the goals and motivations of the character.
Identication and transportation are often, but not always, highly corre-
lated. Indeed, a challenge for entertainment-education is that in narratives
with multiple characters, some audience members may identify with char-
acters that are “bad” role models or who engage in negative behaviors.
How Does TransporTaTion LeaD ToCHange?
There are several ways that transportation may lead to attitude and behav-
ior change. These mechanisms include reduced counterarguing, connec-
tions with characters, increases in perceived realism, mental imagery of
story events, and emotional engagement.
6 TRANSPORTATION INTO NARRATIVE WORLDS

90
Reduced Counterarguing
One barrier to attitude or behavior change is that individuals may resist or
argue against a message. Because they may seem less threatening or more
accessible than traditional educational messages, stories or entertainment-
education can help overcome this resistance. Transporting stories seem to
create a more open, accepting mindset for individuals.
In some cases, transported individuals may not be aware that a narrative
is persuasive. Due to the entertaining nature of some narratives, readers do
not expect to be inuenced and thus spend less time actively considering
the embedded message of the story. Attitudes and behaviors depicted in
the narrative may thus be accepted by the reader without much attention.
Furthermore, transportation may reduce the motivation to counterargue
or argue against the message or implications of a story. When readers are
transported in an entertaining narrative, they may not want to interrupt
their enjoyment to argue with the story (i.e., the story’s events, claims, or
overall message). Counterarguing can therefore be reduced even in cases
where the persuasive intent is more obvious (e.g., the story of a cancer
survivor urging others to quit smoking).
However, depending on the type of story, sometimes counterarguing
can be a sign of engagement: individuals may argue against the claims or
actions of villains or negative role models, thus supporting the main mes-
sage or moral of the narrative.
Connections withCharacters
Individuals may see themselves in story characters, may come to see story
characters as friends, or may admire the characters. Through these types of
connections, audience members may also change their attitudes and beliefs
in accordance with those of a narrative character, or story protagonist.
Audience members see and relate to the experiences of the characters, and
those experiences may inuence how the audience thinks or acts.
Identication with, and liking of, story characters has been shown to
increase the adoption of beliefs advocated by the character (De Graaf
etal., 2012). Readers may even alter their self-concept to become more
similar to characters they liked or identied with, at least temporarily.
Although transportation is distinct from identication, transportation is
often correlated with identication and liking for protagonists. Additionally,
even negative characters (villains) may also lead to attitude change by
M. C. GREEN

91
inspiring readers or viewers to reject the views or actions of such charac-
ters. For example, in our initial development of a story to increase chil-
dren’s physical activity through active video games (Lu, Green, &
Thompson, 2019), most participants said they would be inspired to be
active by running, jumping, and playing like the story’s heroes (twins with
superpowers), but a small number said they would be motivated for physi-
cal activity by the villain—to be able to defeat him!
One related way in which a narrative might prompt self-examination
and change is by reminding readers of experiences in their own lives that
relate to those in the narrative. Strange and Leung (1999) highlighted the
role of “remindings”—links between story content and the reader’s past
personal or media-based experiences—in narrative impact. Individuals
who were more immersed in a story showed greater generalization of the
beliefs implied by the story, but additionally, whether or not the story
brought to mind events from the readers’ real lives seemed to be impor-
tant in determining narrative impact.
Mental Imagery
The transportation-imagery model (Green & Brock, 2002) highlights the
role of visual imagery in transportation-based belief change. The experi-
ence of being transported into a story links the vivid images with beliefs
implied by the story (e.g., the image of a person with a smoking-related
illness may be linked with beliefs about the importance of quitting smok-
ing). This connection between images and beliefs may be one basis for the
power of narrative persuasion. Additionally, over time, the memory or use
of the image may remind people of the story as a whole, thus reinforcing
the story-related beliefs. Thus, narratives that inspire the formation of rich
mental images can increase the persuasive power of a story. This imagery
can be created by descriptions in a text or presented visually. For example,
in one of our studies using manga comics to encourage more fruit con-
sumption, the illustrations showed the main character appearing notice-
ably stronger and more energetic after eating fruit (Leung, Green, Tate,
Cai, & Ammerman, 2017).
Emotional Engagement
The core of many stories is the feelings they inspire: stories can make us
cheer, laugh, or cry. Narratives are particularly powerful when they evoke
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strong emotions. Current research is exploring not only the actual emo-
tions evoked by a narrative, but also the pattern of emotional experience
that may occur as readers progress through a story (emotional ow; Nabi
and Green, 2015). A change from one emotional tone to another across
the course of a story can help maintain interest for audiences, particularly
for longer narratives. For example, stories can create and then resolve sus-
pense about the outcomes. However, recent research suggests that emo-
tional shifts may be less effective in some kinds of shorter narratives,
perhaps particularly when the emotions are expressed by the character or
narrator rather than implied by the events in the story (Ophir, Sangalang,
& Cappella, 2021).
Story Structure/Causality
Research by Dahlstrom (2012) suggests that events that are part of the
cause-and-effect structure of the story are better recalled and more per-
suasive, even over time, than less-central story elements. Thus, it may be
most effective to have the intended persuasive or educational message as
part of the main plot of a story, rather than as a digression or something
merely mentioned by the characters.
However, one possible consideration is that stories that appear too
manipulative may inspire reactance; audiences may feel as though they are
being pushed too hard to accept a particular position, and therefore they
may reject the message. In some cases, then, a subtler approach such as
including the persuasive message as a less central part of the story may
have benets. Indeed, early theorizing promoted narratives as a way to
disguise or minimize persuasive intent. However, although stories can
reduce resistance to persuasion in this way, there are many examples of
entertainment-education that are effective even though the persuasive
intent is obvious, particularly if the message is one that the audiences
would generally support (e.g., disease prevention).
How is TransporTaTion MeasureD anDManipuLaTeD?
In research contexts, transportation is typically measured with a self-report
scale. After reading a story, individuals are given a set of statements such
as, “The narrative affected me emotionally.” The scale includes items
about emotional involvement in the story, cognitive attention to the story,
feelings of suspense, lack of awareness of surroundings, and mental
M. C. GREEN

93
imagery. The original scale included 15 items, including 11 general trans-
portation items and 4 imagery items all relating to a specic narrative,
measured on a seven-point scale ranging from “not at all” to “very much.”
The 15-item transportation scale was rened to a short form scale with
six items (Appel, Gnambs, Richter, & Green, 2015). The short form may
be especially useful for eld settings or other contexts where questionnaire
brevity is important. The six-item Transportation Scale–Short Form (TS–
SF) is as sensitive as the long form and is available in English and German.
A closely related measure is Busselle and Bilandzic’s (2009) narrative
engagement scale, which measures four dimensions of engagement in nar-
ratives: narrative understanding, attentional focus, emotional engagement,
and narrative presence. This scale tends to be highly correlated with mea-
sures of transportation, but it is useful in cases where researchers want to
focus on specic dimensions of the narrative experience.
Entertainment-education practitioners may not usually have the oppor-
tunity to manipulate transportation, but studies suggest that transporta-
tion can also be manipulated through pre-narrative instructions (e.g., to
relax and enjoy the narrative) or information (e.g., a positive vs. a negative
review of the story). One implication is that creating positive expectations
for the story may be helpful. However, narrative quality seems to be the
strongest determinant of transportation (see Tukachinsky, 2014, for a
review).
wHaT DeTerMines wHeTHer inDiviDuaLs wiLL
BeTransporTeD?
Features oftheStory
Some stories are better than others. In general, a high-quality story will be
more transporting than a low-quality story. Kreuter et al. (2007) sug-
gested a list of features that might contribute to high-quality narratives.
One feature is the coherence of the story, where a story provides clear and
sensible links between story events, character actions, and other elements
of the narrative. Others included character development, the emotional
intensity or range of the story, suspense or dramatic tension, and psycho-
logical realism (e.g., the plot and characters should be plausible even if the
story takes place within a fantasy world). According to Kreuter et al.
(2007), features of high-quality narratives could also include cultural
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appropriateness (use of conventions and language familiar to the intended
audience) and strong production values (particularly for visual narratives
such as movies or television programs).
Busselle and Bilandzic’s theory of narrative engagement (a concept
very similar to transportation) suggests that immersion or engagement in
a narrative arises from the process of mentally simulating or imagining the
narrative events (see also Mar and Oatley, 2008). If the ow of this simula-
tion is interrupted by an error or a lack of realism in the text, then the
feeling of immersion is lost (and indeed, individuals may become skeptical
of the story’s claims). The implication for message design is that stories
should avoid elements that would be inconsistent with users’ knowledge
of either the real world or the established rules of a ctional or narra-
tive world.
Match Between theAudience andtheStory
The more familiar a reader is with the material in a narrative, the easier it
is for him or her to be transported in it. For example, in one study, readers
who were members of fraternities or sororities (social clubs at universities
in the United States) were more transported into a story that was set at a
fraternity (Green, 2004). There is also some evidence that greater feelings
of mental uency or ease of processing may lead to greater transportation
(Vaughn, Childs, Maschinski, Nino, and Ellsworth, 2010). For example,
individuals who read a story set in winter during the winter were more
transported into it than people who read the same story in the springtime.
The idea is that concepts related to winter were more accessible in people’s
minds in the wintertime, thus making the story easier to imagine.
Therefore, creating points of similarity between the audience and the story
can be helpful in creating transportation.
Reader preferences can also affect responses. Individuals often have
preferences for different genres and types of stories: some individuals may
love romance stories whereas others prefer science ction. People are more
likely to enjoy and become transported into their preferred genres.
Features oftheAudience
Some individuals are more likely to become immersed in stories than oth-
ers, an individual difference that has been called transportability. Highly
transportable individuals can become easily immersed in stories, even brief
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ones. Additionally, an individual difference called need for affect (how
much people want to experience strong emotions) may also affect story
immersion. People who are high in need for affect tend to enjoy and seek
out emotion-evoking experiences. They enjoy feeling extremes of happi-
ness, sadness, and other emotions. Because stories tend to show emotion-
inducing events, such people are also more likely to become transported
into (and persuaded by) stories.
Need for cognition is an individual difference in how much people
enjoy exerting cognitive effort (Cacioppo, Petty, and Kao, 1984). In other
words, people who are high in need for cognition like to think about
things, even issues that do not directly affect them. For instance, they
might like solving puzzles or debating social issues. People high in need
for cognition are more likely to enjoy media that requires more mental
effort (e.g., reading a book compared to watching a television show).
Such individuals also may be more likely to enjoy interactive narratives,
which allow (or require) the reader to make choices to determine which
way the story will go (Green & Jenkins, 2014). Interactive narratives
require a higher degree of thinking or engagement.
Thus, although stories and games can be a very effective method of
communication, even the best stories may not work for everyone.
eTHiCaL iMpLiCaTions ofusing sTories
Stories can be a powerful and benecial tool for change. However, like any
form of persuasion, stories can promote negative messages as well as posi-
tive ones. Creators should be careful about the unintended messages their
stories might send. For example, people are very sensitive to descriptive
norms—what they believe other people are doing. Therefore, in their
efforts to discourage particular behaviors, entertainment-education pro-
grams should not make it appear as if most people are engaging in those
undesired behaviors (e.g., “everyone” is having unsafe sex and texting
while driving).
Additionally, particularly in health contexts, care should be taken so
that individuals are not unduly inuenced by a story that may not be as
relevant to their own situation. In our work, for example, individuals mak-
ing a hypothetical treatment decision were inuenced not only by relevant
story content (the match of the patient’s risk factors with a story they
read) but also by irrelevant details (whether the person in the story had
similar hobbies to the target patient; Simons & Green, 2013). More
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96
broadly, audience members may have difculty separating out which parts
of the story should be generalized and which should not, or may be dis-
tracted by elements of the story which are not relevant to the intended
message.
Finally, there may be some contexts where stories are less appropriate;
individuals may need or prefer straightforward information rather than an
entertainment-education approach. In some cases, a story may be viewed
as less credible or may not be able to present all of the necessary facts.
Lessons LearneD anDBesT praCTiCes
Every theory has boundary conditions. Inter ventions have the best
chance of succeeding when they are guided by theory. Theory can help
provide an understanding of the psychological processes that audience
members experience. It can help message designers focus on important
elements of their messages. However, every theory has boundar y condi-
tions—circumstances in which they may not work. So, some theories may
be more useful than others for particular topics or situations. For example,
our informal observations have been that transportation does not seem to
be the main inuence on persuasion for stories where the persuasive mes-
sage is conveyed simply by the statements of the characters, rather than
implied by the story events. Transportation works better when stories
“show, not tell.”
Similarly, although stories can be very powerful, there are some cases
where simple informational messages may be preferred. Stories may be
misunderstood by the audience, or the main educational point may be
overlooked due to audience focus on other aspects of the story.
Many paths to transportation. There are a variety of features that can
make stories transporting. A story might have an exciting, suspenseful
plot. It might provide deep insights into characters. Or it might have
beautiful animation or impressive special effects. Stories do not necessarily
have to have each of these elements—stories can be transporting in differ-
ent ways. For example, the show South Park was very popular despite not
having a sophisticated animation style. There are different pathways to
reach the same goal of immersing the audience.
Similarly, there are multiple paths to allow audiences to connect with
characters. In one game intervention that our team developed, we created
a variety of characters to match our target audience on race and gender
(e.g., one character was a white woman, one was a Hispanic man, and one
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was an African-American man). Of course, representation is important,
especially when one is trying to reach an under-represented target audi-
ence. However, it turned out that one character was the clear favorite
among the majority of our players: an older, African-American character
named Big Joe. Big Joe ran a pizza shop, and his dialogue showed that he
had a strong sense of responsibility and deeply cared for his customers.
The voice actor who played the role also did a fantastic job of conveying a
sense of kindness and warmth. Many of our players noted that Big Joe
reminded them of their fathers or grandfathers. The similarity in values
and priorities outweighed the similarities or differences in demographic
variables such as age, gender, or race.
Narrative quality. Because the quality of the story is a major inuence
on transportation, it is often helpful for researchers or health professionals
to work with professional writers, animators, or other types of content
creators. In our experience, these partnerships work best when the creative
side of the team has at least some knowledge about behavioral science
principles, and even more importantly, when the creative side is open to
feedback and revision from the research side of the team. Writers or other
professionals who hold too rmly to their artistic vision at the expense of
communicating the educational message are not ideal collaborators; simi-
larly, the more research or health side of the team should also be open to
learning from the experience of the experts on the creative side. For exam-
ple, sometimes researchers may need to adapt or modify their theories to
create an intervention that is plausible or resonates with a particular audi-
ence, and the creative team may have valuable insights about what will or
will not work for creating audience engagement. Clear discussions at the
start of the project about expectations for both sides may help avoid prob-
lems later. Additionally, keeping in mind the primary purpose of the proj-
ect may help guide decision-making: if the main goal is theory-testing, the
research side of the team should make the nal decisions, whereas if the
goal is to maintain television ratings or other more entertainment-focused
outcomes, the creative team may take priority. If the goal is to create as
much attitude or behavior change as possible, there may be more exibil-
ity about trying new creative directions while keeping in mind principles
from communication research. A strong partnership can help create the
appropriate balance of entertainment and education.
Amount of exposure. It is certainly possible for a single story, even a
short one, to change individuals’ attitudes and behaviors. This type of
change may be especially likely if the story gives the audience new
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information, as opposed to trying to change an existing attitude. However,
it is a challenge for one single story to have a large impact on people, espe-
cially given the crowded media environment that many people experience
today. Therefore, stories that allow for repeated exposure in some way
(e.g., multiple episodes of a series; story-based commercials shown more
than once; posters that remind people of key episodes or messages from a
narrative) may be helpful for longer-term impact.
Importance of pretesting or formative research. Not all stories will
work for all audiences. Therefore, it is important to do some preliminary
testing of potential entertainment-education storylines or drafts with
members of the intended audience or target population. (This may be
especially necessary if members of the research or creative team do not
come from that population, such as adults writing for children.) This pre-
testing might involve focus groups or a pilot test with a smaller group of
participants. For example, in a recent project examining whether narra-
tives could increase the use of active video games among children, our
team tested four potential stories. Just for fun, the members of the team
each guessed which story would be the favorite among the children—and
we were mostly wrong! Similarly, in the rst draft of a narrative game
aimed at older adults to promote awareness of heart attack symptoms, we
had created a fantasy world complete with magic and wizards. Our focus
groups did not care for this approach—they felt that it trivialized the seri-
ous issue of heart attacks—and the nal version of the game used more
realistic, everyday stories instead. The feedback from the target audience
at an early stage of the project was essential in shaping the nal product
and increasing chances of success.
Coherence of story. Although there are many ways to help increase
transportation into a story, breaks in the coherence of the story seem to be
a primary way of reducing transportation. When a story stops making
sense in some way, the audience becomes annoyed or confused. If a char-
acter acts in a way that is very different from the way readers expect or if a
story takes a completely implausible turn, it is hard for readers to stay
immersed in the story. Making sure the plot is coherent is an important
way of supporting transportation.
Keep the message central to the plot. As noted above, events that are
central to the cause-and-effect structure of the plot are better remembered
by audiences. Therefore, the key educational messages may be best deliv-
ered by being part of events in the core plot of the story. The story should
show the behaviors, consequences, and/or the recommended courses of
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action, rather than relegating them to a less central role in the story.
However, creators should be careful to do this in a way that does not
evoke reactance from the audience.
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