The Effect of Narrative on Beliefs, Attitudes, Intentions, and Behavior: A Meta-Analysis

• In Event: Narrative Persuasion Research

Abstract

Narratives are often credited with the capacity to change opinions. However, empirical tests of this prediction, typically conducted as a comparison to other forms of evidence (e.g. statistics), have provided mixed results. To provide a more precise test narrative’s unique effect on beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors, meta-analyses were conducted on studies that tested narrative’s persuasive effects on these four outcomes. Results suggested a positive relationship between exposure to a narrative and narrative-consistent beliefs (N = 15,784; r = .16), attitudes (N = 12,674; r = .21), intentions (N = 12,411; r = .15), and behaviors (N = 3,178; r = .20). Moderator analyses yielded no evidence that variance in the persuasive effectiveness of narratives was due to methodological or theoretical factors identifiable in the current data, but consistently low ratios of expected variance to observed variance suggest the presence of yet untested moderators.

Authors

• Kurt Howard Braddock, Pennsylvania State University

• James Price Dillard, Pennsylvania State U