Achieving Destigmatizing Outcomes by Overcoming Resistance to Persuasion through Combined Entertainment Experiences

ABSTRACT Drawing on theory from entertainment experiences and (narrative) persuasion research, this study investigates destigmatizing responses to a genre-hybrid (human-interest and stand-up comedy) nonfiction television program about minority groups. Using an online between-subjects experiment with 417 participants, we found that the combination of human-interest and stand-up comedy can simultaneously stimulate hedonic and eudaimonic experiences, and that this combination reduces trivialization, but not counterarguing responses compared to its separate genre components. Results also show that combining stand-up comedy with human-interest led to higher perceptions of self-efficacy regarding future intergroup contact with minorities, and that this relation was mediated via counterarguing and trivialization. This study is the first to show the potential and unique workings of hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment experiences to reduce resistance to persuasion to achieve destigmatizing outcomes.