Stories and Risk Perceptions: The Effects of Subjective Numeracy and Transportation Into Narrative Worlds

• In Event: Risk Communication and Health

Abstract

In medical settings, people often base their perceptions of risk on a mix of numeric and narrative information. However, prior research has not examined individuals’ levels of engagement or transportation into the narrative information. We investigated how individuals of varying numeracy and transportability (the general tendency to be immersed into stories) perceived risk when exposed to both numeric and narrative information. Undergraduates (N = 218) read about a fictitious disease in a 2 (narrative quality: high or low) x 2 (risk: high or low) between subjects design. Greater transportation into the narrative world led to stronger emotional responses and intent to change. Furthermore, story quality interacted with subjective numeracy to influence risk judgments. Individuals with higher subjective numeracy more accurately assessed risk when compared with those with low subjective numeracy, but only when information is non-threatening and when they are not influenced by high quality narratives. This research suggests that the transportingness of a story is an important variable to consider in determining the effects of health risk information.

Authors

• Melanie C. Green, University at Buffalo (SUNY)

• Remi Moore, U of North Carolina - Chapel Hill