The Effects of Narrative Persuasion on Civic-Mindedness

Abstract

This study examines whether exposure to videos containing a narrative (as opposed to a similar video containing no narrative) would create narrative persuasion, evidenced by participants’ relevant belief change and increased civic-mindedness. After seeing one of three narrative videos or a control video, participants’ rated the perceived warmth and competence of the relevant groups, and their own feelings toward these groups. These were expected to change as a result of the participants’ exposure to a narrative related to the group which they evaluated. Participants’ also rated their own civic-mindedness. The results provided evidence to support the hypotheses, as the participants’ showed increased positive evaluations of the group to which they were exposed in the narrative videos. Future directions are discussed.