title: When Bad Things Happen to a Protagonist Like You: The Role of Self in Resistance to Negatively Framed Health Narratives.
abstract: This study examines when and how shared risk-relevant experience (autobiographic similarity) influences resistance to negatively framed health narratives. We conducted a 2 (narrative perspective: 1st vs. 3rd person) × 2 (processing motive: experiential vs. analytical) randomized experiment with a short narrative depicting the negative effects of an illicitly used study drug. For those autobiographically similar to the study drug user, a 1st-person narration (vs. 3rd-person) produced greater transportation only when participants processed to understand the story (experiential condition), whereas the reverse was found when participants processed for the persuasive message (analytical condition). Transportation was a significant mediator that transferred these interactive effects onto greater perceived risk only among those with autobiographic similarity. This study highlights the active role played by the audience's self-concept in narrative persuasion and addresses boundary conditions for overcoming defensive resistance.
authors.affiliation: a Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information , Nanyang Technological University , Singapore.
authors.forename: Hye Kyung
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: b Department of Communication , Cornell University , Ithaca , New York , USA.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Shapiro
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D005260:Female; D058015:Health Communication / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D033262:Narration; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012649:Self Concept; D055815:Young Adult