Transportation Into Narrative Worlds: The Role of Prior Knowledge and Perceived Realism

TLDR

Transportation into a narrative world, defined as cognitive and emotional involvement that produces vivid mental images, is a key mechanism of narrative impact. The study had 152 undergraduates read a narrative about a homosexual man at a fraternity reunion, then rate their transportation, perceived realism, and respond to belief statements. Transportation correlated positively with perceived realism, and participants with relevant prior knowledge experienced greater transportation and more story‑consistent beliefs, a pattern that held regardless of prior experience.

Abstract

"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.