A Conceptual Framework of Narrative Persuasion

Abstract

This article draws insights from several disciplines to propose an integrated perspective on mechanisms underlying narrative persuasion. One approach to narratives emphasizes a deictic shift into the narrative, resulting in an absorbed state of processing and a loss of one’s sense of self (e.g., transportation, narrative engagement, identification). Another approach focuses on processes to construct meaning from a narrative; that is, how narratives are actively compared with and applied to one’s life. The current work has conceptualized the relationship between these two broad processes as occurring in sequence, and as a pathway of narrative persuasion: A shift and absorption into the narrative leads to a process of reflecting on the narrative, which is antecedent to narrative influence.