predictive of transportation in response to narratives of different modalities. We plan to explore the specificity of transportability and its relation—or lack of relation—to transportation in future studies.
Consistent with Green and Brock’s (2000) findings, transportation to partic-ular stories in turn predicted the endorsement of beliefs advocated in the story (Path B, Fig. 9.1). For example, after reading “Murder at the Mall,” in which a psychiatric patient kills a little girl, more transported readers tended to endorse statements calling for restrictions on the freedom of psychiatric patients. After watching the film clip from Norma Rae, which illustrates unfair working con-ditions and promotes workers’ rights, more transported viewers tended to en-dorse pro-worker attitudes to a greater extent than did their less transported counterparts. Although participants’ initial attitudes (measured weeks before, along with transportability) were correlated with their attitudes following the narrative (Path C, both Bs ⫽ .47; ps ⬍ .001), initial beliefs had no effect on transportation (Path D, Bs ⫽ ⫺.08 to .16; ps ⬎ .05). Most importantly, the effect of transportation on subsequent attitudes remained significant even when accounting for preexisting attitudes (Path B, Bs ⫽ .28 to .30, ps ⬍ .003), in-dicating belief change. Occasionally, we found a zero-order correlation between transportability and specific beliefs following exposure to the narrative. How-ever, in all cases, the relation between transportability and subsequent beliefs was entirely mediated by transportation.
In sum, we found support for the hypothesis that narrative persuasion, through transportation, is determined by features of both the reader and the narrative. We found that people vary in the extent to which they are transported by narratives, and that some narratives tend to transport readers more than oth-ers. We also found that the predisposition to be transported (transportability) reliably predicts the extent to which participants are transported by a particular story—the more transportable participants reported being more engrossed in the stories than the less transportable participants.
sto-rylines in its television series (e.g., National Campaign to Prevent Teen Preg-nancy, 2001). Yet we have little understanding of how, or indeed if, these strategies work.
We argue that the time has come to pit narrative against rhetoric, and to demonstrate that narrative can be effective and can “get under the radar” that detects persuasive attempts. We also suggest that future research identify how, when, and for whom narrative persuasion overcomes resistance. It is important that we determine whether narrative persuasion is indeed different from rhetor-ical persuasion—that each is characterized by different moderators and media-tors. Some support for unique moderators currently exists; Green and Brock (2000) found that need for cognition, a well-established moderator of rhetorical persuasion (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986), does not moderate narrative persuasion.
Similarly, we believe that our construct of transportability, which we have found moderates narrative belief change, will not moderate belief change in response to rhetorical persuasion attempts. Using transportability, we should be able to identify the people for whom narratives may be a particularly effective means of overcoming resistance. With regard to unique mediators, we feel that trans-portation should fail to serve as a mediator in rhetorical persuasion though it does mediate narrative persuasion. Furthermore, mediators of rhetorical persua-sion (e.g., number of counterarguments generated in response to the message) should fail to mediate the effects of narrative persuasion. We look forward to empirical research exploring these hypotheses.
Beyond these theoretical questions, we see a vital need for social psycholo-gists to begin applied research into the effects of narratives on attitudes and behavior. Narratives are being used to sell values and it is imperative that we evaluate the effectiveness of these attempts. Recent research on tobacco control has found that smoking is highly prevalent in feature films (e.g., Sargent, Tickle, Beach, Dalton, Ahrens, & Heatherton, 2001). In addition, there is research sup-porting the contention that positive depictions of tobacco use in film do indeed result in more favorable attitudes toward smoking and smokers (Dal Cin, Gib-son, Zanna, & Fong, 2003; Gibson & Maurer, 2000; Pechmann & Shih, 1999).
Happily, although popular narratives are persuasive on the “benefits” of smok-ing, Pechmann and Shih reported that including an antitobacco message before a film increases resistance to these pro-smoking images. This leaves us with some support for our belief that narrative persuasion functions, at least in part, by obscuring the persuasive intent of the communicator. Once alerted to the presence of pro-smoking images in the film, Pechmann and Shih’s adolescent participants seemed much less willing to swallow the message. It seems clear that message placement in public narrative has the power to influence us.
This influence may occur in very subtle ways. We are currently examining whether narratives can change implicit attitudes. Implicit attitudes (Greenwald
& Banaji, 1995) reflect the unconscious, automatic associations a person has toward attitude objects, such as members of visible minorities (e.g., Son Hing, Li, & Zanna, 2002). Oatley and his colleagues (Oatley, 2002; Oatley &
Gho-lamain, 1997) have discussed the emotional impact of narratives on their readers, and the identification readers develop with characters. The strength of the af-fective component of an attitude is directly related to resistance; that is, the stronger the affective component of the attitude, the more resistant the attitude is to change (see Brehm & Fuegen, this volume). If we integrate positive or negative emotions elicited by a narrative into our associative networks, it seems plausible that implicit attitude change might occur. We have already suggested that identification with story characters leads to positive associations with par-ticular beliefs. It seems plausible that on a purely implicit level, these positive responses may become integrated in the network of associations one already has regarding these beliefs. The individual need not be conscious of such positive associations, and indeed, may explicitly discount them (e.g., “The portrayal of African Americans in that movie was unrealistic”), but their inclusion in the greater network of associations should influence implicit attitudes and, quite possibly, behavior itself.
As we have already mentioned, there are those (including the U.S. govern-ment) who lobby Hollywood day in and day out to include pro-social messages in television shows (Quenqua, 2002). A survey of regular viewers of the popular prime-time medical drama ER (Brodie et al., 2001) found that viewers surveyed after watching a specific episode reported greater awareness of the health issue discussed in the episode than did viewers surveyed prior to the airing of the episode. Also, half of regular viewers reported that they discussed health issues from the show with family and friends, one-third reported that they used infor-mation from ER in making health decisions, and one in seven reported con-tacting a health professional about a health problem as a result of information in the show. Messages on everything from teen pregnancy to sexual assault to cancer prevention could be included in popular media (see also Diekman, McDonald, & Gardner, 2000). Even if the effect of such initiatives is statistically small, when distributed across millions of viewers, the impact could be wide-spread and substantial. With what other interventions can we reach millions of people willing to attend to our message?
The potential of narratives as a vehicle for communicating information is even more apparent when we consider the possibility of multiple message ex-posures. Many people enjoy particular genres of fiction (romance, mystery/
crime, science fiction, medical drama, etc). For example, though romance novels may not be considered great literature, millions of people around the globe read these stories. In 2001, Harlequin Enterprises, a major publisher of romance nov-els, sold 150 million books in 94 international markets (Torstar Corporation, 2001). Specific narratives within a genre tend to follow the same general sto-ryline and contain similar messages or themes. Diekman et al. (2000) conducted a content analysis of contemporary romance novels and concluded that these stories illustrate a “swept away myth” (p. 184) that love equals being swept away by passion. Unfortunately, such spontaneity results in romance novel pro-tagonists having unprotected sex; Diekman et al. found that the vast majority (89.7%) of novels sampled failed to make any mention of condom use.
Fur-thermore, in the limited number of stories in which safer sex was mentioned, almost half had the female protagonist rejecting condom use. Diekman et al.
found that higher levels of romance novel reading were associated with less positive attitudes toward condoms and less intention to use condoms in the future. They also found that participants presented with romance novel excerpts in which the protagonists use a condom reported more positive attitudes toward condoms than did participants who read the same excerpts without mention of condom use. Thus, it seems clear that preference for a certain genre may lead readers to endorse beliefs pervasive in that genre—beliefs that may or may not be accurate or healthy.
We believe that the power of narratives in our culture is considerable, and failure to acknowledge this power would be irresponsible. Narrative may be a useful tool in overcoming resistance to persuasion, primarily because narratives may not throw up the barriers of closed-mindedness. Audiences should be re-ceptive to a message that is presented in the context of a plausible, entertaining story. This can be beneficial, but when narratives are used to convey harmful messages (such as negative portrayals of minorities or positive depictions of smoking or unsafe sex) it can also be dangerous. Therefore, we should also be concerned with increasing resistance to narrative persuasion. As a potentially powerful tool for overcoming resistance to advocacy and rhetorical persuasive attempts, we feel that the study of narrative persuasion is not only fascinating, but also vitally important.
AUTHOR NOTE
Support for this project was provided in part by an Ontario Graduate Scholarship and a Centre for Behavioural Research and Program Evaluation, Canadian Can-cer Society/National CanCan-cer Institute of Canada Student Research Award awarded to the first author; a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Grant awarded to the second author; and a National Cancer Institute Research Grant awarded to the third author. The research discussed in this chapter was presented at the third annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Savannah, GA, February, 2002.
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10
Forewarnings of Influence Appeals: Inducing
Resistance and Acceptance
Jeffrey M. Quinn Wendy Wood
Texas A&M University
According to conventional wisdom, “forewarned is forearmed.” That is, warning of an impending request allows people to prepare for it and ultimately to resist it. For instance, advance knowledge that a telemarketer is about to call and deliver an unwanted sales pitch or that a friend is about to ask a burdensome favor should allow the target of such appeals to mount a successful defense.
The idea that warnings generate resistance also is evident in reviews of persua-sion research, which typically discuss forewarning effects along with other re-sistance techniques (e.g., Eagly & Chaiken, 1993). The assumption that warnings yield resistance can also explain a common practice in psychology experiments on attitude change. Experimenters often avoid warning participants of an im-pending persuasive communication, presumably to maximize participants’ sus-ceptibility to persuasion (Papageorgis, 1967, 1968).
In the present chapter, we consider whether warnings do in fact yield resis-tance to impending appeals—whether people who are forewarned are better able to resist temptation and stand firm in their beliefs. We review the experimental research on forewarnings, consider the various motives that warnings can induce, and evaluate how warnings affect thought about the issue in the appeal. In the reviewed research, some warnings informed recipients of a communicator’s in-tent to persuade by noting that “you will hear a tape recorded message . . . designed to change your mind” (Hass & Grady, 1975, p. 462). Others specified
the topic and position of the coming appeal, such as, “you will hear a tape recorded message advocating an increase in the New York City subway fare to 50 cents” (Hass & Grady, 1975, p. 462). Warning effects were then examined on people’s attitudes before they received the appeal as well as on people’s reactions to the appeal when it was delivered. At the end of the chapter, we consider the implications of forewarning research for the general phenomenon of resistance.