Are some narratives better than others?: The impact of different narrative forms on adolescents' intentions to text and drive

Courtney L Scherr; Helen Lillie; Chelsea L Ratcliff; Melinda Krakow; Miao Liu; Jakob D Jensen

doi:10.1111/risa.13878

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Are some narratives better than others?: The impact of different narrative forms on adolescents' intentions to text and drive

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Are some narratives better than others?: The impact of different narrative forms on adolescents' intentions to text and drive

Courtney L Scherr, Helen Lillie, Chelsea L Ratcliff, Melinda Krakow, Miao Liu and Jakob D Jensen

Risk analysis, Vol.42(10), pp.2176-2188

02/01/2022

DOI: 10.1111/risa.13878

PMCID: PMC9339580

PMID: 35104924

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/9339580View

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Abstract

Psychological reactance theory posits individuals seek to restore freedom when threatened. Communication scholars have hypothesized persuasive messages can constitute threats to freedom. The current study engages questions about the potential for different forms of narratives in public service announcements (PSAs) to trigger freedom threats by examining responses to a PSA campaign that utilized three forms of narrative (celebrity testimonials, peer testimonials, and accident stories) to decrease adolescent texting and driving intentions. Participants (N = 214) watched anti-texting and driving narratives, and completed measures of threat to freedom, anger, negative cognition, and attitudes/intentions toward texting/driving. Compared to celebrity/peer testimonial PSAs, accident stories triggered increased anger and, indirectly, decreased intentions to drive safely. The results also suggest the need for continued examination of the best way to model psychological reactance theory, and the value of further research explicating anger as a mechanism of message effects.

narratives

psychological reactance theory

Anger first model

intertwined model

risk communication

separated model

texting while driving

Details

Title: Subtitle: Are some narratives better than others?: The impact of different narrative forms on adolescents' intentions to text and drive
Creators: Courtney L Scherr - Northwestern University
Helen Lillie - University of Utah
Chelsea L Ratcliff - Department of Communication Studies, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA.
Melinda Krakow - University of Mississippi Medical Center
Miao Liu - Beijing Normal University
Jakob D Jensen - University of Utah
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Risk analysis, Vol.42(10), pp.2176-2188
DOI: 10.1111/risa.13878
PMID: 35104924
PMCID: PMC9339580
NLM abbreviation: Risk Anal
ISSN: 0272-4332
eISSN: 1539-6924
Language: English
Electronic publication date: 02/01/2022
Academic Unit: Communication Studies
Record Identifier: 9984309753702771

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