Exploring the effects of perceived character and cued typicality in health narratives

ABSTRACT

Communication scholars have conducted a significant amount of research to explore the conditions under which exposure to narrative messages affects individuals’ attitudes and behaviors. Perceived character typicality, defined as the degree to which characteristics of a character are perceived to be present among the portrayal’s real-world counterparts, as well as cued typicality, defined as statements about a population that indicate whether the character or the narrative is typical or not, have not been examined in understanding the effectiveness of health messages. The present research explored the effects of perceived character typicality and contextually-embedded typicality cues on persuasive outcomes. It also investigated the underlying mechanisms mediating the impact of narratives with character or cued typicality. A 2 (character typicality: typical vs. nontypical character) × 3 (typicality cues: typical cues vs. nontypical cues vs. no cues) between-subjects experiment was conducted, focusing on the risks of sun exposure without applying sunscreen. The findings showed that a narrative with a character perceived as typical led to higher perceived realism, more positive attitude toward sunscreen use, and less message novelty than a narrative with a character perceived as nontypical. Typical cues had more positive impact on issue attitude than nontypical cues.