Sharing Narrative and Non-Narrative Obesity Messages as a Way to Connect with Others Online: Testing the Roles of Social Exclusion and Empathy

• In Event: HIGH-DENSITY: Narratives and Health Communication

Abstract

Understanding that online message sharing is motivated by desire to connect with others, we examine when people intend to share a narrative vs. non-narrative obesity-related message online. We predicted when audience members feel socially excluded, they are less likely to share a narrative obesity message than a non-narrative one, since their desire to connect with others can be more satisfied by reading a narrative message than by reading a non-narrative message. An online experiment (N = 359) with a 3 (social exclusion: rejected, ignored, control) X 2 (message type: narrative, non-narrative) between-subjects design supported our predictions. The participants in the ignored and rejected conditions were less likely to share a narrative than a non-narrative message, while those in the control condition showed no difference. Furthermore, increased empathy with a character in the narrative was associated with decreased desire to share the narrative message when participants experienced rejection.

Authors

• Tae Kyoung Lee, University of Utah

• Ye Sun, U of Utah