Involved, Transported, or Emotional? Exploring the Determinants of Change in Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavior in Entertainment-Education

Abstract

This study examined how 3 constructs—involvement with a specific character, involvement with the narrative (Green and Brock's construct of transportation), and viewers' emotional reaction to the narrative—produce entertainment-education (EE) effects. A pretest/posttest survey of 167 regular viewers measured the effects of exposure to a lymphoma storyline on a television drama, Desperate Housewives. Transportation or involvement with the narrative was the best predictor of change in relevant knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Although involvement with a specific character has been hailed an important direct predictor of EE effects, a structural equation model indicated that character involvement may be more important for its ability to heighten transportation and emotion, which, in turn, produce changes in viewers' knowledge, attitudes, and behavior.