The DOI matches its Crossref record; 81 of the 83 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Role of Causality in Information Acceptance in Narratives: An Example From Science Communication
Abstract
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.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Causal junctures aid meaning making because they leverage the causal logic of the story to convey which information is valuable and show possible ways to make sense of the story world (Dahlstrom, 2010).”
From Stories in Action. (2022) · cites this paper as Dahlstrom, 2010
In the citing paper
“In one study (Dahlstrom, 2010), scientific assertions placed at causal locations of a narrative resulted in greater levels of acceptance of information than the same assertions placed at noncausal locations within the same narrative.”
From Stories in Action. (2022) · cites this paper as Dahlstrom, 2010
In the citing paper
“Specifically, the information at causal locations was perceived as more truthful in the real world than the same information placed at noncausal locations.”
From Stories in Action. (2022) · cites this paper as Dahlstrom, 2010
In the citing paper
“Second, stories represent causal relations that people then use to make sense of the world (Dahlstrom, 2010; Eliaz & Spiegler, 2020; Kendall & Charles, 2022).”
From Stories in Action. (2022) · cites this paper as Dahlstrom, 2010
Citations
Cites
A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
Festinger, L. (1957) · doi:10.1515/9781503620766 · Cited by 24,241
A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
Morvan, C., & O’Connor, A. (2017) · Macat Library eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781912282432 · Cited by 18,284
Bruner, J. (1986) · doi:10.4159/9780674029019 · Cited by 8,657
Actual Minds, Possible Worlds.
Mergler, N. L., Schleifer, R., & Bruner, J. S. (1986) · MLN · doi:10.2307/2905728 · Cited by 6,626
(1998) · Cited by 4,875
The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives.
Green, M. C., & Brock, T. C. (2000) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.79.5.701 · Cited by 4,861
A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeals: Implications for Effective Public Health Campaigns
Witte, K., & Allen, M. (2000) · Health Education & Behavior · doi:10.1177/109019810002700506 · Cited by 3,216
The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion
Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986) · Communication and Persuasion · doi:10.1007/978-1-4612-4964-1_1 · Cited by 3,202
Corfman, K. P., & Lynch, J. G. (1983) · University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) · Cited by 2,944
Constructing inferences during narrative text comprehension.
Graesser, A. C., Singer, M., & Trabasso, T. (1994) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.101.3.371 · Cited by 2,578
Persuasion theory and research
O’Keefe, D. J. (1990) · Cited by 1,555
Slater, M. D., & Rouner, D. (2002) · Communication Theory · doi:10.1111/j.1468-2885.2002.tb00265.x · Cited by 1,458
Issues in Science and Technology
National Research Council (2000) · National Academies Press eBooks · doi:10.17226/892 · Cited by 1,430
Moyer-Gusé, E. (2008) · Communication Theory · doi:10.1111/j.1468-2885.2008.00328.x · Cited by 1,365
Understanding Media Enjoyment: The Role of Transportation Into Narrative Worlds
Green, M. C., Brock, T. C., & Kaufman, G. F. (2004) · Communication Theory · doi:10.1111/j.1468-2885.2004.tb00317.x · Cited by 1,270
Gerrig, R. J. (1993) · Yale University Press eBooks · doi:10.12987/9780300159240 · Cited by 1,212
Gerrig, R. J. (2018) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780429500633 · Cited by 974
Kreuter, M. W., Green, M. C., Cappella, J. N., Slater, M. D., Wise, M. E., Storey, D., Clark, E. M., O’Keefe, D. J., Erwin, D. O., Holmes, K., et al. (2007) · Annals of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/bf02879904 · Cited by 968
Transportation Into Narrative Worlds: The Role of Prior Knowledge and Perceived Realism
Green, M. C. (2004) · Discourse Processes · doi:10.1207/s15326950dp3802_5 · Cited by 941
The Construction of Situation Models in Narrative Comprehension: An Event-Indexing Model
Zwaan, R. A., Langston, M. C., & Graesser, A. C. (1995) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.1995.tb00513.x · Cited by 925
Estimating and testing mediation and moderation in within-subject designs.
Judd, C. M., Kenny, D. A., & McClelland, G. H. (2001) · Psychological Methods · doi:10.1037/1082-989x.6.2.115 · Cited by 846
Busselle, R. W., & Bilandzić, H. (2008) · Communication Theory · doi:10.1111/j.1468-2885.2008.00322.x · Cited by 828
Narratives and cancer communication
Green, M. C. (2006) · Journal of Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00288.x · Cited by 682
Causal relatedness and importance of story events
Trabasso, T., & Sperry, L. L. (1985) · Journal of Memory and Language · doi:10.1016/0749-596x(85)90048-8 · Cited by 664
Earman, J., & Mackie, J. L. (1976) · The Philosophical Review · doi:10.2307/2184048 · Cited by 637
Knowledge and Memory: The Real Story
Schank, R. C., & Abelson, R. P. (1995) · CogPrints (University of Southampton) · Cited by 593
Mental Models in Narrative Comprehension
Bower, G. H., & Morrow, D. G. (1990) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.2403694 · Cited by 576
Trivialization: the forgotten mode of dissonance reduction.
Simon, L., Greenberg, J., & Brehm, J. W. (1995) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.68.2.247 · Cited by 466
Telling Stories About Global Climate Change
McComas, K. A., & Shanahan, J. E. (1999) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/009365099026001003 · Cited by 418
A Theoretical Agenda for Entertainment-Education
Singhal, A., & Rogers, E. M. (2002) · Communication Theory · doi:10.1111/j.1468-2885.2002.tb00262.x · Cited by 395
The cement of the universe : a study of causation
Mackie, J. L. (1980) · doi:10.1093/0198246420.001.0001 · Cited by 391
Persuasive effects of fictional narratives increase over time
Appel, M., & Richter, T. (2007) · Media Psychology · doi:10.1080/15213260701301194 · Cited by 376
de Wit, J. B. F., Das, E. H. H. J., & Vet, R. (2008) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/0278-6133.27.1.110 · Cited by 363
Trabasso, T., & Suh, S. (1993) · Discourse Processes · doi:10.1080/01638539309544827 · Cited by 360
Does narrative information bias individual's decision making? A systematic review
Winterbottom, A., Bekker, H., Conner, M. T., & Mooney, A. F. (2008) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.09.037 · Cited by 357
The Multiple Affective Outcomes of AIDS PSAs
Dillard, J. P., Plotnick, C. A., GODBOLD, L. C., Freimuth, V. S., & Edgar, T. (1996) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/009365096023001002 · Cited by 338
Updating situation models during narrative comprehension
Morrow, D. G., Bower, G. H., & Greenspan, S. L. (1989) · Journal of Memory and Language · doi:10.1016/0749-596x(89)90035-1 · Cited by 329
The Utility of Exemplars in Persuasive Communications
Brosius, H., & BATHELT, A. (1994) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/009365094021001004 · Cited by 297
Television Dramas and Support for Controversial Public Policies: Effects and Mechanisms
Slater, M. D., Rouner, D., & Long, M. (2006) · Journal of Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00017.x · Cited by 280
Marsh, E. J. (2003) · Journal of Memory and Language · doi:10.1016/s0749-596x(03)00092-5 · Cited by 276
The Temporal Effects of Story and Statistical Evidence on Belief Change
Baesler, E. J., & Burgoon, J. K. (1994) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/009365094021005002 · Cited by 273
Communicating Health Information Through The Entertainment Media
Brodie, M., Foehr, U., Rideout, V., Baer, N., Miller, C., Flournoy, R., & Altman, D. E. (2001) · Health Affairs · doi:10.1377/hlthaff.20.1.192 · Cited by 252
Testimonials Versus Informational Persuasive Messages
Braverman, J. (2008) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/0093650208321785 · Cited by 231
Entertainment education and the persuasive impact of narratives.
Slater, M. D. (2002) · Cited by 231
Causal reasoning in the comprehension of simple narrative texts
Fletcher, C. R., & Bloom, C. P. (1988) · Journal of Memory and Language · doi:10.1016/0749-596x(88)90052-6 · Cited by 228
Emotions and the Story Worlds of Fiction
Oatley, K. (2002) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 215
What readers bring to the processing of fictional texts
Prentice, D. A., Gerrig, R. J., & Bailis, D. S. (1997) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/bf03210803 · Cited by 212
van den Broek, P., Lorch, E. P., & Thurlow, R. (1996) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1996.tb01900.x · Cited by 199
Reporting a Potential Pandemic
Dudo, A. D., Dahlstrom, M. F., & Brossard, D. (2007) · Science Communication · doi:10.1177/1075547007302211 · Cited by 187
Self-citation"Being Hooked" By Editorial Content: The Implications for Processing Narrative Advertising
Chang, C. (2009) · Journal of Advertising · doi:10.2753/joa0091-3367380102 · Cited by 183
Fictional Narratives Cultivate Just-World Beliefs
Appel, M. (2008) · Journal of Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2007.00374.x · Cited by 170
Transportation and Transportability in the Cultivation of Genre-Consistent Attitudes and Estimates
Bilandzić, H., & Busselle, R. W. (2008) · Journal of Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2008.00397.x · Cited by 157
Busselle, R. W., & Greenberg, B. S. (2000) · Mass Communication & Society · doi:10.1207/s15327825mcs0323_05 · Cited by 145
Content Integration and Source Separation in Learning From Multiple Texts
(1999) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781410603135-16 · Cited by 143
How does the mind construct and represent stories
Graesser, A. C., Olde, B. A., & Klettke, B. (2002) · Cited by 138
Wheeler, C., Green, M. C., & Brock, T. C. (1999) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/bf03210821 · Cited by 130
Television Exposure, Perceived Realism, and Exemplar Accessibility in the Social Judgment Process
Busselle, R. W. (2001) · Media Psychology · doi:10.1207/s1532785xmep0301_03 · Cited by 127
Slater, M. D., Buller, D. B., Waters, E., Archibeque, M., & Leblanc, M. (2003) · Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior · doi:10.1016/s1499-4046(06)60056-0 · Cited by 124
Mazor, K. M., Baril, J. L., Dugan, E., Spencer, F. A., Burgwinkle, P., & Gurwitz, J. H. (2007) · Patient Education and Counseling · doi:10.1016/j.pec.2007.08.010 · Cited by 118
Trusting the Tale: The Narrativist Turn in the Human Sciences
Kreiswirth, M. (1992) · New Literary History · doi:10.2307/469223 · Cited by 111
Merely Telling Stories? Narrative and Knowledge in the Human Sciences
Kreiswirth, M. (2000) · Poetics Today · doi:10.1215/03335372-21-2-293 · Cited by 109
Southwell, B. G., & Torres, A. (2006) · Communication Monographs · doi:10.1080/03637750600889518 · Cited by 100
Wise, M. E., Han, J. Y., Shaw, B. R., Mctavish, F. M., & Gustafson, D. H. (2008) · Patient Education and Counseling · doi:10.1016/j.pec.2007.11.009 · Cited by 97
Fact Versus Fiction Labeling: Persuasion Parity Despite Heightened Scrutiny of Fact
Green, M. C., Garst, J., Brock, T. C., & Chung, S. (2006) · Media Psychology · doi:10.1207/s1532785xmep0803_4 · Cited by 87
Causality and the allocation of attention during comprehension.
Fletcher, C. R., Hummel, J. E., & Marsolek, C. J. (1990) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1037//0278-7393.16.2.233 · Cited by 81
Science on Television: How It Affects Public Conceptions.
Gerbner, G. (1987) · Issues in Science and Technology · Cited by 78
Evaluating the Program Effects of a Radio Drama about AIDS in Zambia
Yoder, P. S., Hornik, R., & Chirwa, B. C. (1996) · Studies in Family Planning · doi:10.2307/2137953 · Cited by 74
Healthy viewing: the reception of medical narratives
Davin, S. (2003) · Sociology of Health & Illness · doi:10.1111/1467-9566.00364 · Cited by 67
Yaros, R. A. (2006) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/0093650206289154 · Cited by 65
Regulation is evil: An application of narrative policy analysis to regulatory debate in New Zealand
Bridgman, T. N., & Barry, D. (2002) · Policy Sciences · doi:10.1023/a:1016139804995 · Cited by 58
Causal coherence and the availability of locations and objects during narrative comprehension
Sundermeier, B. A., van den Broek, P., & Zwaan, R. A. (2005) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/bf03193063 · Cited by 55
Five dimensions of narrative comprehension: The event-indexing model.
Zwaan, R. A. (1999) · Cited by 54
Processing Social Information in Messages
Slater, M. D. (1990) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/009365090017003003 · Cited by 51
Durkin, S. J., & Wakefield, M. A. (2008) · Journal of Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10810730802412248 · Cited by 46
Whittier, D. K., Kennedy, M. G., Lawrence, J. S. S., Seeley, S., & Beck, V. (2005) · Journal of Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10810730590934271 · Cited by 46
Comprehension and Memory for Texts: Three Generations of Reading Research
(1999) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781410603135-6 · Cited by 44
Guttman, N., Gesser‐Edelsburg, A., & Israelashvili, M. (2008) · Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10410230801968070 · Cited by 41
Readers' experiences of characters' goals and actions.
Egidi, G., & Gerrig, R. J. (2006) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1037/0278-7393.32.6.1322 · Cited by 38
On Stabilizing the Binomial and Negative Binomial Variances
Laubscher, N. F. (1961) · Journal of the American Statistical Association · doi:10.1080/01621459.1961.10482100 · Cited by 31
Revealing Inference Processes During Text Comprehension
(1999) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781410603135-8 · Cited by 28
Power Beyond Reckoning An Introduction to Narrative Impact
(2003) · Psychology Press eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781410606648-7 · Cited by 23
Research works printed but not linked: 7
- Appel, M., 2007, Media Psychology, 10, 113
- 10.1037/0278-7393.16.2.233 · DOI
- Schank, R.C. & Berman, T.B. ( 2002). The persuasive role of stories in knowledge and action . In M. C. Green, J. J. Strange, & T. C. Brock (Eds.), Narrative impact: Social and cognitive foundations (pp. 287-313). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
- Singhal, A., 2002, Communication Theory, 12, 117
- Slater, M.D., 2002, Communication Theory, 12, 173
- Strange, J.J. ( 2002). How fictional tales wag real-world beliefs. In M. C. Green, J. J. Strange , & T. C. Brock (Eds.), Narrative impact: Social and cognitive foundations (pp. 263-286). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
- 10.2307/1131764 · DOI
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Using narratives and storytelling to communicate science with nonexpert audiences
Dahlstrom, M. F. (2014) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1320645111 · Cited by 1,159
Self-citationBoomerang Effects in Science Communication
Hart, P. S., & Nisbet, E. C. (2011) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/0093650211416646 · Cited by 1,221
Maibach, E. W., Leiserowitz, A., Roser‐Renouf, C., & Mertz, C. K. (2011) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0017571 · Cited by 403
The Role of a Narrative's Emotional Flow in Promoting Persuasive Outcomes
Nabi, R. L., & Green, M. C. (2014) · Media Psychology · doi:10.1080/15213269.2014.912585 · Cited by 361
The Transportation Scale–Short Form (TS–SF)
Appel, M., Gnambs, T., Richter, T., & Green, M. C. (2015) · Media Psychology · doi:10.1080/15213269.2014.987400 · Cited by 309
Metadata
- Authors
- Dahlstrom, M. F.
- Affiliations
- Iowa State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Dahlstrom, Michael F.
- Venue
- Communication Research
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2010-06-16
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 857-875
- ISSN
- 0093-6502 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-3810
- OpenAlex
- W2055350541
- Cited by
- 135
- References
- 83
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 111.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Communication Research (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Communication › Media Influence and Health
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Narrative Theory and Analysis
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Keywords
- narrative persuasion, causality, information acceptance, science communication, discursive psychology, persuasive influence
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
