Michael F. Dahlstrom

Using narratives and storytelling to communicate science with nonexpert audiences

Although storytelling often has negative connotations within science, narrative formats of communication should not be disregarded when communicating science to nonexpert audiences. Narratives offer increased comprehension, interest, and engagement. Nonexperts get most of their science information from mass media content, which is itself already biased toward narrative formats. Narratives are also intrinsically persuasive, which offers science communicators tactics for persuading otherwise resistant audiences, although such use also raises ethical considerations. Future intersections of narrative research with ongoing discussions in science communication are introduced.

Reporting a Potential Pandemic A Risk-Related Assessment of Avian Influenza Coverage in U.S. Newspapers

While quality mediated information does not guarantee accurate public risk perceptions, it provides the public with the means to construct informed risk assessments. This study analyzed four major U.S. newspapers to assess the quality of coverage related to risks posed by avian flu. “Quality of coverage” was examined with a five-dimension conceptualization that included measures of risk magnitude, self-efficacy, risk comparisons, sensationalism, and thematic and episodic framing. Findings revealed that coverage was dominated by episodic frames, exhibited high sensationalism, and contained minimal information promoting self-efficacy. Conversely, coverage exhibited high quality in terms of risk magnitude and risk comparison information.

The Role of Causality in Information Acceptance in Narratives: An Example From Science Communication:

Narratives represent a powerful and ubiquitous form of communication that influence what individuals believe about the world. While the field of narrative persuasion investigates how narratives affect attitudes and behaviors, it rarely considers structural variables discussed in the field of discourse psychology. This study examines the utility of bridging these fields by testing the persuasive influence of novel science information relative to the internal causal structure of a narrative. Results suggest that information placed at causal locations of a narrative result in greater acceptance of information than the same information placed at noncausal locations within the same narrative. These findings suggest that the within-narrative variable of causality can influence the persuasive impact of information inserted into a narrative. In response, this study identifies a significant source of variance that has thus far been overlooked in studies of narrative persuasion.

Influence of Evidence Type and Narrative Type on HPV Risk Perception and Intention to Obtain the HPV Vaccine

This research examines the influence of evidence type (statistical, narrative, or hybrid) and narrative type (first-person or third-person) on risk perception about human papillomavirus (HPV) and behavioral intention to get the HPV vaccine. In total, 174 college students who had not received the HPV vaccine participated in a controlled experiment. Results show that the hybrid message containing both statistical and narrative descriptions of HPV resulted in greater perceived risk of getting HPV than either of the messages containing just one type of evidence—statistical or narrative. Moreover, the first-person narrative message led to greater risk perception about HPV than the third-person narrative message. Both evidence type and narrative type had an indirect effect on intention to get the HPV vaccine free of cost through HPV risk perception. Implications of the findings for vaccine risk communication are discussed.

Ethical Considerations of Using Narrative to Communicate Science

This article discusses three ethical considerations science communicators face when considering narrative as a communication technique for science policy contexts: (a) What is the underlying purpose of using narrative: comprehension or persuasion? (b) What are the appropriate levels of accuracy to maintain? (c) Should narrative be used at all? These considerations intersect with perceptions of the appropriate roles of communication and of scientists within democracy. By providing a clearer articulation of these ethical considerations, the authors hope that narrative can become a more useful communication technique toward informed science policy decisions.

The Persuasive Influence of Narrative Causality: Psychological Mechanism, Strength in Overcoming Resistance, and Persistence Over Time

The impact of narrative persuasion depends on the location of its persuasive information relative to the cause-and-effect structure within the narrative, yet, the bounds of this structural influence remain unknown. This study examines the a) underlying psychological mechanism, b) strength in overcoming psychological resistance, and c) persistence over time of narrative causality effects on information acceptance. Results suggest causality effects occur during initial stages of comprehension, which serve to shield the influence from external moderators, such as preexisting worldviews. The effect also remained constant over a two-week delay. Results serve to psychologically explain the narrative causality effect and suggest it remains robust over a wide range of conditions, potentially being useful for persuasion of otherwise resistant audiences.

Diversity of Television Exposure and its Association with the Cultivation of Concern for Environmental Risks

Cultivation theory claims that individuals who watch a greater amount of television are more likely to accept the representation of reality as presented on television. This study introduces the variable of exposure diversity and attempts to investigate if the diversity of television channels viewed plays a significant role beyond the amount of television viewed in the cultivation of concern about environmental risks. Data from the 2002 annual Life Style Study conducted by Synovate for DDB-Chicago was paired with a corresponding content analysis of environmental television coverage. Ordinary-Least-Squares regression suggests that exposure diversity is associated with concern of environmental risks above and beyond both the effects of the amount of television watched and individual differences, suggesting the variable of exposure diversity holds promise for further explicating cultivation theory.

The Moderating Influence of Narrative Causality as an Untapped Pool of Variance for Narrative Persuasion

This study examines if accounting for the causal location of information within a narrative can improve the predictability of narrative persuasion. Using perceived realism as a variable of narrative persuasion and environmental communication as a context, results reveal a significant moderating influence of the location of information relative to the cause-and-effect structure of the narrative. Specifically, external realism increased the acceptance of narrative information, but only after accounting for the additional variance of location and only for the subset of information on the causal line of the narrative. Future studies should continue to explore how the variance associated with this narrative causality can be leveraged toward a more nuanced understanding of narrative persuasion.

Escaping) the paradox of scientific storytelling

Compelling stories about science can motivate people to engage and respond to relevant problems facing society. While science plays a unique role in society, providing the best available evidence for policy choices, understanding the world, and informing citizens’ daily lives, it does not hold any intrinsic advantage in creating captivating stories for mass audiences. Instead, science must compete with other storytellers, many of whom are not bound to scientific evidence. This presents a paradox—how can science preserve its credibility as curator of knowledge while engaging audiences with a communication format that is agnostic to truth?

Perceived Influence of Proenvironmental Testimonials

ABSTRACT Recommendations for communicators to make environmental issues more concrete in public align with the tenets of exemplification theory. Audiences may also engage with messages that they perceive as influencing them more than others, an outcome that aligns with the third-person effects framework. What is not well known is how these two areas of research intersect, namely, how exemplars about environmental issues may impact perceived message influence on the self-relative to others. This study examines the effects of testimonials on the perceived influence of environmental messages. Two experiments, each conducted simultaneously in Singapore and the Midwestern US, suggest that university students perceive themselves to be more influenced than others by proenvironmental messages. The second experiment shows that this perceptual bias is related to message desirability and individuals’ environmental values. Both experiments reveal location-specific effects, which is useful for understanding how to communicate environmental problems to global audiences.