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Using imaginary worlds for real social benefits
Abstract
We argue that imaginary worlds gain much of their appeal because they fulfill the fundamental need of human beings to feel connected to other humans. Immersion into story worlds provides a sense of social connection to the characters and groups represented in the world. By fulfilling the need to belong, imaginary worlds provide a buffer against rejection and loneliness.
In this article, we focus on the development of Rome: The Game – a large, lower-division online course crossed-listed in the History of Art and Architecture Department and Writing Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara – that features a choose-your-own-adventure-style interactive narrative. We explore the design principles underpinning the development of this type of gamified course, the mechanics of the course itself, student experiences, and learning outcomes. Citing relevant research in several fields – such as game studies, educational psychology, and communication studies – we argue that creating an online course in the style of an interactive, narrative-driven digital game presents a model for engaging and effective active learning in an online environment – one that goes beyond conventional virtual learning to offer an innovative, active, and deeply immersive model for online teaching.
Although extensive research has explored individuals’ engagement with media, the topic of elective reexposure to narratives remains underexplored. The ability of fictional narratives to meet social needs may help explain the appeal of rereading, as well as individual differences in the tendency to reread. We present a measure of the tendency to reread books and examine associations between the tendency to reread and other individual difference factors. Our findings suggest that the tendency to reread is a construct that is unique from the tendency to read in general, and that it is associated with unfulfilled belongingness needs, insecurity about social acceptance, deep engagement with narrative worlds, and other distinct personality characteristics. These findings suggest that the tendency to reread may signal a heightened tendency to engage with narratives to fulfill unmet social goals.
Belongingness needs have generally been thought to be filled through traditional strategies, but recent research suggests that nontraditional strategies (e.g., parasocial relationship partners, TV shows) may work as well. No work has yet examined the comparative importance of these different social behaviors in contributing to social need fulfillment. The current work utilized a visual measure to assess frequency, variety, and degree of contribution to social fulfillment of 17 social behaviors. Overall, the conceptualization of the need to belong as flexible and able to be satisfied by a variety of social behaviors was supported; both traditional and nontraditional social strategies were related to positive outcomes. Results suggest that nontraditional strategies may contribute an added layer of vibrancy to our social lives.
The purpose of this research was to develop a measure that systematically assesses the various components of film and television fan identity and to test its connection to well-being. Across two studies, the multidimensional Fan Identity Scale was developed and validated. The resulting 9-item survey yielded three factors that encompassed both personal and social dimensions of fan identity. In Study 2, the relationship between these dimensions and three facets of well-being was also explored. Results indicated that overall fan identity predicted overall well-being. In addition, social fan identity predicted relational well-being and marginally predicted physical well-being. Avenues for future research involving the Fan Identity Scale are discussed.
Although previous research suggests that connection to large, mostly anonymous groups is important for the fulfillment of psychological needs and a sense of psychological well-being, no measure exists to assess individual differences in this area. In 5 studies, we developed and provided support for the validity of the Tendency for Effervescent Assembly Measure (TEAM). Utilizing data from student and community samples, we conducted exploratory factor analyses to guide item selection for the scale (Study 1), evaluated the structure of the scale in an independent sample (Study 2), examined the convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity of the scale (Study 3), and assessed measurement invariance of the scale across different demographic groups (Study 4). Study 5 explored the role of social needs fulfillment in effervescent assembly, as well as examined the relationship of the scale with recent collective effervescence experiences. Results revealed that our final 11-item scale was unidimensional, with excellent internal consistency and good test–retest reliability over 2 months. Measurement invariance was established across gender, ethnicity, and religion, providing support for the validity of the measure across demographic subgroups. Importantly, the TEAM predicted decreased loneliness, increased positive feelings, a sense of meaning in one’s life, self-awareness, and spiritual transcendence, above and beyond the effects of the big 5 factors of personality and collective and relational interdependence. Furthermore, results suggested that positive outcomes associated with the TEAM are because of social need fulfillment.
Fiction literature has largely been ignored by psychology researchers because its only function seems to be entertainment, with no connection to empirical validity. We argue that literary narratives have a more important purpose. They offer models or simulations of the social world via abstraction, simplification, and compression. Narrative fiction also creates a deep and immersive simulative experience of social interactions for readers. This simulation facilitates the communication and understanding of social information and makes it more compelling, achieving a form of learning through experience. Engaging in the simulative experiences of fiction literature can facilitate the understanding of others who are different from ourselves and can augment our capacity for empathy and social inference.
© 2008 Association for Psychological Science.
The purpose of this article is to determine whether the positive association between social support and well-being is attributable more to an overall beneficial effect of support (main- or direct-effect model) or to a process of support protecting persons from potentially adverse effects of stressful events (buffering model). The review of studies is organized according to (a) whether a measure assesses support structure or function, and (b) the degree of specificity (vs. globality) of the scale. By structure we mean simply the existence of relationships, and by function we mean the extent to which one’s interpersonal relationships provide particular resources. Special attention is paid to methodological characteristics that are requisite for a fair comparison of the models. The review concludes that there is evidence consistent with both models. Evidence for a buffering model is found when the social support measure assesses the perceived availability of interpersonal resources that are responsive to the needs elicited by stressful events. Evidence for a main effect model is found when the support measure assesses a person’s degree of integration in a large social network. Both conceptualizations of social support are correct in some respects, but each represents a different process through which social support may affect well-being. Implications of these conclusions for theories of social support processes and for the design of preventive interventions are discussed.
A hypothesized need to form and maintain strong, stable interpersonal relationships is evaluated in light of the empirical literature. The need is for frequent, nonaversive interactions within an ongoing relational bond. Consistent with the belongingness hypothesis, people form social attachments readily under most conditions and resist the dissolution of existing bonds. Belongingness appears to have multiple and strong effects on emotional patterns and on cognitive processes. Lack of attachments is linked to a variety of ill effects on health, adjustment, and well-being. Other evidence, such as that concerning satiation, substitution, and behavioral consequences, is likewise consistent with the hypothesized motivation. Several seeming counterexamples turned out not to disconfirm the hypothesis. Existing evidence supports the hypothesis that the need to belong is a powerful, fundamental, and extremely pervasive motivation.
Transportation was proposed as a mechanism whereby narratives can affect beliefs. Defined as absorption into a story, transportation entails imagery, affect, and attentional focus. A transportation scale was developed and validated. Experiment 1 (N = 97) demonstrated that extent of transportation augmented story-consistent beliefs and favorable evaluations of protagonists. Experiment 2 (N = 69) showed that highly transported readers found fewer false notes in a story than less-transported readers. Experiments 3 (N = 274) and 4 (N = 258) again replicated the effects of transportation on beliefs and evaluations; in the latter study, transportation was directly manipulated by using processing instructions. Reduced transportation led to reduced story-consistent beliefs and evaluations. The studies also showed that transportation and corresponding beliefs were generally unaffected by labeling a story as fact or as fiction.
The social identity/self-categorization model of stress suggests that social identity can play a role in protecting group members from adverse reactions to strain because it provides a basis for group members to receive and benefit from social support. To examine this model, two studies were conducted with groups exposed to extreme levels of strain: patients recovering from heart surgery (Study 1), bomb disposal officers and bar staff (Study 2). Consistent with predictions, in both studies there was a strong positive correlation between social identification and both social support and life/job satisfaction and a strong negative correlation between social identification and stress. In both studies path analysis also indicated that social support was a significant mediator of the relationship between (a) social identification and stress and (b) social identification and life/job satisfaction. In addition, Study 2 revealed that group membership plays a significant role in perceptions of how stressful different types of work are. Implications for the conceptualization of stress and social support are discussed.
The term mentalizing was coined to refer to the process by which we make inferences about mental states. Much of the time these inferences are made automatically, without any thought or deliberation. It is important for us to be able to read the minds of others because it is their mental states that determine their actions. This assumption that behavior is caused by mental states has been called “the intentional stance” (Dennett, 1987) or “having a theory of mind” (Premack and Woodruff, 1978). There are many different types of mental states that can affect the way we interact with others. There are long-term dispositions: one person may be trustworthy and reliable while another is hopelessly volatile. There are short-term emotional states like happiness and anger. There are desires like thirst and their associated goal-directed intentions (e.g., fetching a bottle of wine from the fridge). There are the beliefs that we have about the world. These beliefs determine our behavior even when they are false (someone has secretly removed the wine from the fridge) or not shared by others (English wine can be very pleasant). Finally, we shall consider the role of communicative intent.
Although the idea of human beings being primarily and inextricably social has strong support in the psychological literature, an examination of how human beings actually choose to spend much of their time suggests a species more interested in solitude than social connection. In this chapter, we propose that a careful examination of seemingly nonsocial activities actually strongly supports a view of humans as primarily and inextricably social beings. We argue that the social self can be seen as strong, subtle, and sneaky. Specifically, because social motivations are so strong, they can be filled in unexpected ways that people may not even recognize. In other words, social motives sometimes work below the surface of consciousness in subtle and seemingly sneaky (i.e., unconscious and indirect) ways. For example, although we know we are being social when we call a friend on the phone or go to a party, our research suggests that we may also be socially motivated when we turn on the television, read a book, watch a football game, or go to a movie. We present evidence that supports a conception of a social self that propels us to actions that may not seem social to those around us, or even to ourselves, but that are actually fulfilling our very human and highly pervasive needs for social connection. We begin by discussing the seemingly nonsocial means people use to fulfill the need to belong. We then move on to reviewing evidence of ways in which people can be unaware of the strength of their social needs and of the social nature of their behavior. Finally, we conclude by discussing what this work suggests about human nature, modern behavior, and the social self.
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"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) 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.
The current research proposes that low self-esteem people can use parasocial relationships to experience movement toward the ideal self, a benefit they may miss in real relationships. In Study 1, low self-esteem undergraduate psychology students at a public university in the United States felt closest to celebrities who were similar to their ideal self. In Study 2, low self-esteem college students primed with their favorite celebrity became more similar to their ideal selves. In Study 3, low self-esteem college students primed with their favorite celebrity, but not a close relationship partner, became more similar to their ideal selves. Results are discussed in terms of the implications for parasocial relationships, self-esteem, and the flexibility of the need to belong.
We propose the narrative collective-assimilation hypothesis--that experiencing a narrative leads one to psychologically become a part of the collective described within the narrative. In a test of this hypothesis, participants read passages from either a book about wizards (from the Harry Potter series) or a book about vampires (from the Twilight series). Both implicit and explicit measures revealed that participants who read about wizards psychologically became wizards, whereas those who read about vampires psychologically became vampires. The results also suggested that narrative collective assimilation is psychologically meaningful and relates to the basic human need for connection. Specifically, the tendency to fulfill belongingness needs through group affiliation moderated the extent to which narrative collective assimilation occurred, and narrative collective assimilation led to increases in life satisfaction and positive mood, two primary outcomes of belonging. The implications for the importance of narratives, the need to belong to groups, and social surrogacy are discussed.