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Cited by 745

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 83 of the 83 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Fictionality and Perceived Realism in Experiencing Stories: A Model of Narrative Comprehension and Engagement

Busselle, Rick, Bilandzic, Helena·2008·Communication Theory

Abstract

This article offers a theoretical framework to explain circumstances under which perceptions of “unrealness” affect engagement in narratives and subsequent perceived realism judgments. A mental models approach to narrative processing forms the foundation of a model that integrates narrative comprehension and phenomenological experiences such as transportation and identification. Three types of unrealness are discussed: fictionality, external realism (match with external reality), and narrative realism (coherence within a story). We gather evidence that fictionality does not affect narrative processing. On the other hand, violations of external and narrative realism are conceived as inconsistencies among the viewer’s mental structures as they construct mental models of meaning to represent and comprehend the narrative. These inconsistencies may result in negative online evaluations of a narrative’s realism, may disrupt engagement, and may negatively influence postexposure (reflective) realism judgments as well as lessen a narrative’s persuasive power.

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Crossref · 10.1111/j.1468-2885.2008.00322.x

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Metadata

Authors
Busselle, R., & Bilandzic, H.
Venue
Communication Theory
Published
2008-05
Volume
18
Issue
2
Pages
255-280
ISSN
  • 1050-3293 (ISSN-L)
  • 1468-2885
OpenAlex
W2093767824
Cited by
745
References
83
FWCI
422.33
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Fictionality and Perceived Realism in Experiencing Stories: A Model of Narrative Comprehension and Engagement. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1111/j.1468-2885.2008.00322.x
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Busselle, R., & Bilandzic, H. (2008). Fictionality and Perceived Realism in Experiencing Stories: A Model of Narrative Comprehension and Engagement. Communication Theory. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2885.2008.00322.x

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Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.