Role of Transportation in the Persuasion Process: Cognitive and Affective Responses to Antidrug Narratives

Abstract

This study examined transportation effects of first- and third-person narratives as well as the role of transportation in the persuasion process. In particular, the authors evaluated the role of transportation in affecting cognitive and affective responses. Last, they addressed the relation between (a) cognitive and affective responses and (b) antidrug expectancies. Participants were 500 undergraduate students at a large northern university in the United Kingdom who were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions: first- or third-person narratives on cocaine use. The results demonstrated that there was no difference between first- and third-person narratives in terms of transportation. However, overall, greater transportation was associated with more favorable cognitive responses, and more favorable cognitive response was associated with stronger anticocaine expectancies. In terms of affective responses, results indicated the mediating role of sadness and contentment in the association between transportation and anticocaine expectancies. In particular, increased transportation was associated with greater sadness and lower contentment. Lower sadness and contentment were associated with stronger anticocaine expectancies. Important theoretical and empirical implications are discussed.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a social science small grant #SGS/35585 from Nuffield Foundation, London, England, United Kingdom.

Notes

^{1 1}We used expectancies as our outcome variables because we were interested in examining the effects of narratives on consequences of performing the target behavior, as has been outlined in the integrative model of behavior change (Fishbein, 2000), a modified version of the theory of reasoned action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). However, our study was not a test of the integrative model, and space limitations precluded a detailed explanation.

^{2 2}Factor analyses for the stories: Story 1 (Natasha) eigenvalue = 3.95, 35.90% variance explained (var.), loadings above .4, Story 2 (Mike) eigenvalue = 3.89, 35.38% var., loadings above .4, Story 3 (Dawn) eigenvalue = 3.48, 34.84% var., loadings above .4, and Story 4 (Martin) eigenvalue = 3.57, 35.74% var., loadings above .4. The scores were summed and averaged with a higher score indicating higher transportation for each of the stories Story 1 (Natasha: α = .82, M = 3.01, SD = 0.57), Story 2 (Mike: α = .81, M = 2.99, SD = 0.56), Story 3 (Dawn: α = .79, M = 3.00, SD = 0.53), and Story 4 (Martin: α = .80, M = 2.87, SD = 0.54).

^{3 3}We had a three-item scale measuring positive cocaine expectancies. Likelihood of each belief was measured using the stem, “How likely is it that the following would happen to you if you used cocaine nearly every month for the next 12 months?” and a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (very unlikely) to 5 (very likely). The items on the scale were as follows: “fit in with a group I like,” “have a good time with friends,” and “get away from my problems.” Exploratory factor analyses (principal component with varimax rotation) showed a single-factor solution, eigenvalue = 1.97, 65.75% var., loadings above .7. The three items were averaged with a higher score indicating greater prococaine expectancies (α = .74, M = 2.39, SD = 1.09).

Using bootstrapping procedures, we conducted mediation analysis to examine the mediating role of favorable cognitive and positive and negative affective responses in the relation between transportation and prococaine expectancies. The total indirect effect of transportation on pro-cocaine expectancies through favorable cognitions, surprise, anger, fear, sadness, guilt, happiness, and contentment was not statistically significant, as the confidence interval contained a zero. More details are available from the authors.

^{4 4}We performed additional analyses to test for alternate models. Using bootstrapping procedures, we conducted mediation analysis to examine the following paths (and none of these models were significant): cognitions to transportation to anticocaine expectancies, surprise to transportation to anticocaine expectancies, anger to transportation to anticocaine expectancies, fear to transportation to anticocaine expectancies, sadness to transportation to anticocaine expectancies, guilt to transportation to anticocaine expectancies, happiness to transportation to anticocaine expectancies, and contentment to transportation to anticocaine expectancies. Details are available from the authors.

^* p < .01. ^** p < .001.

^a Male = 0, female = 1.

^b Cocaine use was coded 0 = no, 1 = yes.

^c Narrative person was coded 0 = first person, 1 = third person.

Note. Based on 5,000 bootstrap samples.