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We investigated augmented narrative advertising (ANA), which integrates storytelling with digitally embedded product placements using an augmented reality (AR) story filter. With a sample of 130 U.S. college students, we compared AR- and non-AR narrative advertising formats, while also examining the impact of product placement primes (PPPs) in a health context. Our findings illuminated the capability of ANA to prompt positive shifts in an individual's health beliefs, attitudes, and behavioral intentions within narratives, while also highlighting its advantages in product placement, thereby contributing to the discussion surrounding AR technology. Additionally, PPPs enhanced advertising effectiveness without compromising story engagement, indicating their compatibility with traditional advertising alongside ANA formats. Moreover, we delved into the underlying processes of transportation, elaboration, and engagement to deepen our comprehension of the persuasive prowess of ANA. Our study underscores the intricacies of ANA and emphasizes the necessity for further investigation. These insights provide valuable guidance for advertisers aiming to utilize AR technology to boost brand engagement and influence consumer behavior in the digital landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer is one of the most important societal challenges in the world, with over 23 million new cases/year and 10 million deaths/year, that will only be properly tackled with a stronger focus on prevention. This calls for an informed population, aware of risk factors and willing to adopt preventive behaviors and early cancer screenings. For that purpose, 2' Life-changing minutes was created, the first ever televised Entertainment-Education series on cancer prevention. This study aims to evaluate the impact of 2' Life-changing minutes , a novel E-E format for cancer prevention, on knowledge gains and behavior changes. Two complementary studies were performed involving a total of 1314 participants: a test-screening (TS) study targeting potential viewers of the series, and a natural-screening (NS) study targeting those that spontaneously watched the series on television. We found (i) very high levels of appreciation and narrative engagement, and also willingness to see more episodes; (ii) statistically significant knowledge gains, ranging from 17% to 44%, on all four topics tested; (iii) evidence of effective behavior change. Regression analysis showed that narrative engagement was the best predictor of behavior change [NS: odds ratio (OR) = 3.38, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.70–6.74, p  = 0.001; TS: OR = 2.05, 95% CI = 1.13–0.371, p  = 0.018]. This study demonstrates the series' real impact and serves as a proof-of-concept for a novel strategy of cancer prevention that is based around compelling health narratives, rather than information or data, to engage viewers, increase knowledge and induce behavior change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low HPV vaccination rates among Latina young adults perpetuate HPV-associated cancer disparities. Using qualitative methods, this study explored individual, interpersonal, and community factors that influence HPV vaccine delay and refusal among Mexican- and U.S.-born Mexican American young adult women. Participants (N = 30) between 18 and 26 years old were purposively sampled from two federally qualified health centers in Orange County, California. The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities research framework and narrative engagement theory guided semi-structured phone interviews coded inductively and deductively. Participants primarily attributed vaccine status to individual and interpersonal reasons. Emerging themes included low HPV vaccine knowledge, insufficient provider communication, negative perceptions about HPV and the vaccine, motherhood responsibilities, mother's communication about HPV, cultural family norms, health care access, and misinformation. Compared to U.S.-born Latinas, Mexican-born participants more frequently expressed avoiding health care discussions with family. HPV vaccine recommendations for young Mexican American women should include socioculturally tailored messages that may improve HPV vaccination acceptance and uptake.

This article presents the results of a study focusing on the reception of a fictional story by Kurt Vonnegut translated from English into Catalan and Dutch in three conditions: machine translated, post-edited, and human translated. Participants (n = 223) rated the three conditions using three scales: narrative engagement, enjoyment, and translation reception. The results show that human translation had higher engagement, enjoyment, and translation reception in Catalan, compared to the post-edited and machine-translated translations. However, Dutch readers scored the post-edited translation higher than the human and machine translation, and the highest engagement and enjoyment scores were reported for the original English version. We hypothesize that when reading a fictional story in translation, not only are the condition and the quality of the translation key to understanding its reception, but also the participants' reading patterns, reading language, and, potentially, the status of the source language in their own societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Characters play an integral role in animated narratives, but their visual racial presentation has received limited attention. A diverse group of U.S. children watched a 15-min physical activity-promoting animated Sci-Fi narrative. They were randomly assigned to one of three conditions, which varied the lead characters' racial presentation: realistic racially unambiguous (Original: White children, Black mother), realistic racially ambiguous (Ambiguous: All with brown skin without specified race/ethnicity), and fantastical racially ambiguous (Fantastical: All with brown skin with fantastical hair-and-eye color schemes). We assessed narrative engagement, wishful identification, and physical activity intention. Controlling for social desirability and multigroup ethnic identity, children who watched Fantastical characters showed significantly higher narrative engagement than those who watched Original characters, but they did not statistically differ from those who watched Ambiguous characters. Structural equation modeling indicated that narrative engagement and wishful identification fully mediated the racial representation effect (Fantastical vs. Original) on physical activity intention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The increasing popularity of mixed reality technology in the cultural heritage domain presents an opportunity for cultural heritage conservation. Advancements in technology enable nations to safeguard their cultural heritage for future generations. This paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge on narrative theory by examining the efficacy of mixed reality (MR) technologies in the preservation and presentation of intangible cultural heritage (ICH). It also explores the implications of these technologies for narrative engagement, cultural identity perception, and economic impact. The study utilised a qualitative research design to collect primary data. This was done through semi-structured interviews with 20 experts in the fields of cultural heritage preservation, technology development, and cultural economics. Thematic analysis is used to identify themes, concepts, and findings from previous research. Interviews offer insights into practitioners' perspectives, experiences, and recommendations for future market research initiatives. The findings demonstrate the importance of narrative coherence, character development, and immersive techniques in increasing narrative engagement in MR cultural products. Additionally, factors such as cultural authenticity, ethical considerations, and collaborative approaches play a crucial role in shaping users' perceptions of cultural identity in MR environments. The study explores the economic opportunities and challenges of MR initiatives in the cultural heritage sector. It emphasises the potential for generating tourism revenue, influencing market trends, and promoting collaborative partnerships. This study provides practical implications for practitioners and cultural heritage professionals who aim to utilise MR technologies for the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage. The study contributes to the advancement of knowledge and practice in the field by addressing gaps in the literature and exploring the multifaceted dynamics of MR applications in cultural heritage initiatives. The study is unique in its interdisciplinary approach, incorporating narrative theory, cultural studies, and technology studies to comprehensively examine the potential and challenges of MR in preserving and presenting intangible cultural heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely acknowledged that people are emotionally affected by movies, but how does the physical structure of movies contribute to emotional engagement? To answer this question, we measured subjective and objective emotional tension as 40 viewers watched a series of short movies. We mapped the resulting data against the dynamic low-level structure of each movie, isolating the effects of clutter, luminance, motion, shot density, shot scale, and sound amplitude on emotional response. Across all measures, viewers' responses to the movies were notably synchronized, and this synchrony appears to be partly driven by low-level cinematic structure. These findings provide empirical support for several long-standing ideas that lie at the intersection of film theory and the psychology of emotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to present the protocol and the first results of experimental research within the framework of a thesis that deals with narrative engagement as a learning engagement in the player/learner both in serious games and leisure video games, framing them in formal and informal learning contexts. A multivariate analysis of the data collected was carried out through questionnaires and interviews beforehand, during, and after the video game sessions carried out over four months. At the end of this article, we present the first results of the aforementioned analysis considering the formal learning context. For this cycle of experimentation, participants reported greater engagement in learning when there was also greater narrative engagement. Although the results suggest a correlation between narrative and learning engagement, more studies are needed to obtain more conclusive data on the relationship between these two types of engagement experienced when playing these video games in informal learning.

Some stories generate in us a peculiar experience of intense narrative engagement. This common experience, which we call narrative immersion, has been the object of a vast literature in psychology and other disciplines. Philosophers, however, have only recently engaged with this topic and the tendency has been to explain it by postulating specific kinds of mental states. We propose a different approach, explaining narrative immersion by means of a particular distribution of attention over the content of ordinary mental states. First, we provide a characterization of narrative immersion based on studies by psychologists and other theorists. Then, we discuss alternative views and develop our own proposal. We articulate how attention works as we engage with the narrative, and how the adequate distribution of attention over the mental states involved in understanding the storyworld can offer the resources to explain the characteristic features of narrative immersion. Unlike alternative proposals, ours avoids the need to postulate controversial mental states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The benefits of nature tourism, or nature-based travel, are plentiful. For example, participation in nature tours has positively impacted environmental attitudes and behaviors. Unfortunately, while psychologically beneficial, nature-based tourism can hurt the environment through a myriad of factors. Therefore, we must continue to explore ways to make the benefits of nature-based travel more sustainable and impactful. Research suggests that nature-based travel in virtual reality (VR) may impart numerous travel benefits, such as improving conservational behavior and interconnectedness with nature. While these early findings are promising, questions remain regarding the theoretical mechanisms underlying the effects of nature-based VR travel. Therefore, this study explores how VR may provide an avenue to make nature tourism more environmentally friendly while simultaneously making people more environmentally connected and conscious. Furthermore, a theoretical framework is posited that combines concepts from the spatial presence and narrative persuasion literature to help explain the effects. To accomplish these goals, an experiment was conducted using a two-condition (VR travel vs. TV control) between-subjects factorial design with random assignment. The participants were 66 college students from a large Midwestern University in the United States. Results indicated that there wasn't a statistically significant difference between the VR travel condition and the television (TV) control condition regarding the environmental outcome variables. However, while the nature-based VR travel experience did not appear to influence the environmental outcome variables directly, it did indirectly affect them through the mediating roles of spatial presence and narrative engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored whether boundary expansion is related to increased life satisfaction. In order to examine this possibility, we conducted two studies. In Study 1, we used an experiment to promote either state boundary expansion or state escapism. Although the manipulation was unsuccessful, we did find a positive correlation between expansion and life satisfaction, while escape was not related to life satisfaction. Study 2 examined the relationship between trait boundary expansion and life satisfaction using a large national survey. Results showed that boundary expansion was positively related to life satisfaction and escape was negatively related to life satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to support a mandatory reading of a novella for high school students by a serious game. The study includes 41 students. The first class is included in the experimental study, which uses a serious game to read the novella. The second class served as the control group and engaged only in analog reading. The evaluation is based on a questionnaire with reading, user, and narrative engagement items. Furthermore, the assessment consists of indepth interviews with teachers and students. The findings positively affected students' engagement in the experimental group. Primarily focused attention and reward are higher in the experimental group. However, there was no difference in the narrative engagement between the two groups, indicating that the story (digital or not) is well explained. The qualitative findings revealed positive comments, especially for the reading engagement and the story world. The novelty in this study is the outlined game design process, guided by elements in the foundation, game design, prototyping, and implementation. For the game design, we outlined how to transform the principles from Sweetser and Wyeth to applied design implementations. An important aspect was to illustrate the protagonist with schizophrenia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to support a mandatory reading of a novella for high school students by a serious game. The study includes 41 students. The first class is included in the experimental study, which uses a serious game to read the novella. The second class served as the control group and engaged only in analog reading. The evaluation is based on a questionnaire with reading, user, and narrative engagement items. Furthermore, the assessment consists of in-depth interviews with teachers and students. The findings positively affected students’ engagement in the experimental group. Primarily focused attention and reward are higher in the experimental group. However, there was no difference in the narrative engagement between the two groups, indicating that the story (digital or not) is well explained. The qualitative findings revealed positive comments, especially for the reading engagement and the story world. The novelty in this study is the outlined game design process, guided by elements in the foundation, game design, prototyping, and implementation. For the game design, we outlined how to transform the principles from Sweetser and Wyeth to applied design implementations. An important aspect was to illustrate the protagonist with schizophrenia.

Disparities in cervical cancer and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination persist among Vietnamese and Latina women. Through a partnership with Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties (PPOSBC) in Southern California, we conducted in-depth interviews with young adult Latina ( n = 24) and Vietnamese ( n = 24) women, and PPOSBC staff ( n = 2). We purposively sampled vaccinated women to elicit HPV vaccine decision narratives to uncover rich data on motivators, cultural values, and implicit vaccine attitudes. Unvaccinated women were interviewed to identify barriers. Women were also asked to discuss their observations of men's HPV vaccine attitudes. Narrative engagement theory guided the study privileging the meaning women ascribed to their experiences and conversations related to vaccine decision making. Vaccine decision narratives included (a) mother-daughter narratives, (b) practitioner recommendation of HPV vaccination, (c) independence narratives among Vietnamese women, (d) HPV (un)awareness narratives, and (d) school exposure to HPV knowledge. Barriers to vaccinating included trust in partner HPV status, and family silence and stigma about sexual health. Participants conveyed the importance of including messages aimed at reaching men. Practitioners described insurance barriers to offering same day vaccination at PPOSBC health center visits. Narrative communication theory and methodology address health equity by privileging how Vietnamese and Latina women ascribe meaning to their lived experiences and conversations about HPV vaccination. Identifying authentic and relatable vaccine decision narratives will be necessary to effectively engage Vietnamese and Latina women. These findings will guide the process of adapting an existing National Cancer Institute research-tested HPV vaccine intervention.

The TEBOTS model predicts that narratives are sought after more often in times of depletion. The present study aimed at expanding this idea by testing whether engagement with narratives is also intensified under self-threatening conditions. Further, we examined whether narratives can serve coping functions. In a 3(Threat: mortality salience vs. ostracism vs. control condition) × 2(Review of the narrative: positive vs. negative) online experiment (N = 228), we tested whether self-threats and the expectation towards the narrative increase entertainment experiences and facilitate self-serving attributions. The results demonstrated that self-threats and a positive review indeed increased the entertainment experience. Narratives could support coping with an existential threat through enhancing self-serving attributions. The findings are discussed in light of the TEBOTS model and its application in the context of self-threats.

Retrospective imaginative involvement (RII) describes people's asynchronous cognitive involvement with a narrative. Accordingly, RII focuses on what people do with narratives (and how they think about them) after the original story has ended. RII is conceptualized in keeping with the model of narrative comprehension and engagement and the theory of expanding boundaries of the self. The current paper explores the implications of these theories for RII by looking at RII in relation to characters, events, universe, and backstory. The results demonstrate that RII is a multifaceted construct that can be applied to numerous narrative elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The perceived distance of the camera from the subject of a filmed scene, namely shot scale, is a prominent formal feature of any filmic product, endowed with both stylistic and narrative functions. To measure how shot scale affects both lower and higher complexity responses in viewers, we first investigate how the distribution and rotation of Close, Medium, and Long Shots relate to viewers’ rating on film mood, assessed in terms of hedonic tone, energetic arousal, and tense arousal on an extensive set of 50 film clips. Then we examine the effect of shot scale on viewers of violent scenes in terms of narrative engagement and its sub-scales: narrative understanding, attentional focus, emotional engagement, and narrative presence. To enable such analysis, shot scale classification is automatized by means of Convolutional Neural Networks trained on the filmographies by six directors for a total of 120 full-length movies analysed at one frame per second. Based on large corpora, this study provides methods for further investigating the relationship between shot scale and the viewers’ emotional involvement. Beyond stylistic analysis, gaining valuable insight into the mechanism of narrative effects of film stories could be useful for purposes such as movie recommendation and film therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigates the impact of the narrative engagement mechanism on destination image and tourist behaviour during the Covid-19 crisis. This study used primary data collected from 390 respondents via a scenario-based survey. The results show that the authenticity, conciseness, and reversal of destination stories significantly influence the customers' narrative engagement, which further influences the destination's image and behavioural intentions affected by Covid-19. However, narrative engagement and the destination story did not lead to visitors' affective destination images. This study offers a practical contribution on how a personal travel story helped destinations affected by Covid-19 survive the crisis. Additionally, the study has substantial implications for local destination marketing organisations in expanding recovery strategies and redeveloping images in the future. The study also provides theoretical contribution as the dynamic change in local destination images (cognitive and affective) during the Covid-19 crisis have rarely been explored in academic studies.

Over the years, the various mediums available for storytelling have progressively expanded, from spoken to written word, then to film, and now to Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). In 2016, the cutting-edge Head-Mounted Display (HMD) AR Microsoft HoloLens was released. However, though it has been several years, the quality of the user experience with narration using HMD-based AR technology has been rarely discussed. The present study explored interactive narrative in HMD-based AR regarding different user interfaces and their influence on users' presence, narrative engagement and reflection. Inspired by an existing exhibition at the National Holocaust Centre and Museum in the U.K., a HoloLens narrative application, entitled The AR Journey, was developed by the authors using two different interaction methods, Natural User Interface (NUI) and Graphical User Interface (GUI), which were used to perform an empirical study. As revealed from the results of the between-subject design experiment, NUI exhibited statistically significant advantages in creating presence for users without 3D Role Playing Game (RPG) experience, and GUI was superior in creating presence and increasing narrative engagement for users with 3D RPG experience. As indicated by the results of the interviews, the overall narrative experience in HMD-based AR was acceptable, and the branching narrative design was engaging. However, HoloLens hardware issues, as well as virtuality and reality mismatch, adversely affected user experience. Design guidelines were proposed according to the qualitative results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated secondary-school pupil responses to modern adaptations of a historical literary text. In an experiment, 167 Dutch pupils each evaluated one of five versions of a fragment of the canonical Dutch nineteenth-century novel Max Havelaar (1860): original, modern Dutch translation, simplified modern Dutch version, Spike and Suzy comic strip, and graphic novel. Pupils first expressed their opinion about the fragment. They subsequently rated the fragment on four dimensions of narrative engagement (narrative understanding, attentional focus, narrative presence, and emotional engagement) as well as reading enjoyment, and intention to continue reading. Results showed no differences between the text versions in narrative presence, emotional engagement, reading enjoyment, and intention to continue reading. However, the original version was considered more difficult to understand than the simplified modern Dutch and Spike and Suzy comic strip versions. It also led to less attention than the simplified modern Dutch version. Reading enjoyment was relatively high for all versions. Pupils' opinions reflected different aspects of their reading experience, including narrative engagement, reading enjoyment, language use, content, and the historical reality of the story. Although the quantitative findings suggest that pupils respond in similar ways to different versions of Max Havelaar, the qualitative findings indicate that individual reading experiences can differ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Einstellungen werden als Kompetenzdimension in Bildungsprozessen bisher kaum adressiert. Bei der gezielten Veränderung von Einstellungen durch (mediale) kommunikative Mittel (‹Persuasion›) weist ‹Edutainment› einige Erfolge vor. Während argumentbasierte Persuasion eine intensive Auseinandersetzung mit Inhalten und Argumenten erfordert (‹Elaboration›), setzt die Persuasion mit Geschichten darauf, dass sich Rezipientinnen und Rezipienten die gezeigten Verhaltensweisen und Einstellungen u.a. über die Erfahrung, in die Story einzutauchen, und Identifikation mit den Figuren aneignen. In der Praxis kombiniert Edutainment Film-Geschichten oft auch mit expliziten Informationen oder Argumenten. Da hier verschiedene Mechanismen greifen, soll in dieser experimentellen Studie geklärt werden, wie Medienangebote mit ‹hybridem› Inhaltsformat, die Geschichten und Argumente parallel darbieten, auf Einstellungen und andere Verhaltensdeterminanten wirken. Im Vergleich mit einem rein narrativen Format wird (1) die Wirksamkeit des hybriden Formats geprüft und anhand von Modellen Narrativer Persuasion erstmalig (2) dessen Wirkweise exploriert. Die Befunde zeigen, dass das hybride Format signifikant höhere Persuasionswirkung entfaltet in den Bereichen, die die zusätzlichen parallelen Erklärungen inhaltlich abdecken, und dass v.a. Personen mit schlechteren kognitiven Voraussetzungen (z.B. geringe Aufmerksamkeit, wenig Interesse,…) davon profitieren. Die Erkenntnisse zur Wirkweise synchron-hybrider Inhaltsformate geben wertvolle Hinweise zur Weiterentwicklung der Theorie in diesem Bereich. Zugleich besteht weiterer Forschungsbedarf zur komplexen Rolle von Widerstand und sozialem Druck im Persuasionsprozess.

Suicidal behaviors and academic difficulties are characteristics that stigmatize youth as "bad" or "troubled" students. Alternative school programs aim to help students struggling with mental health and academic issues. This study explores how high school students make meaning of experiences of suicidality and resilience with respect to mainstream constructs of mental health, education, and identity. Three cases were selected from a sample of 44 interviews with alternative high school students: an 18-year-old White cisgender heterosexual male, a 17-year-old White transgender male (sexuality unspecified), and an 18-year-old Latina cisgender bisexual woman. A preliminary analysis of participant interviews with histories of severe suicidality informed this case selection. Using narrative analysis, common themes emerged: contamination versus redemption, the importance of having space, the physical experience of suicidality, and critical turning points in rejecting stigmatized identities. The findings have implications for practice and research focused on building student resiliency against suicidality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marketers, filmmakers, and cinema-goers assume that genre has a large effect on how the audience responds to and engages with a film. However, trait measures such as transportability suggest that, in some cases, individual differences may shape audience engagement more than genre does. To investigate this disparity, we compared viewers' enjoyment, identification with characters, and story world absorption (including three subscales: Transportation, Attention, and Emotional Engagement) for film clips from two very different genres (an emotional family film vs. an action chase scene) in a within-subjects design. Across two studies--an exploratory study and a preregistered replication--we found that participants' feelings of being transported into the narrative (a dimension of story world absorption) were more highly correlated across films than other measures were and tended to be less related to genre preference than the other audience response measures were. This pattern of results suggests that feelings of transportation may be more dependent on individual differences, and less sensitive to genre, than other forms of audience response. An exploratory analysis of a short scale measuring trait transportability suggested this measure was not the basis of the individual differences theorized to underlie transportation. Our results further highlight the importance of examining viewer engagement with narrative as a multidimensional, rather than unitary, concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined direct and indirect effects of adolescent narrative engagement on substance use behaviors via refusal self-efficacy. This study also tested moderation effects of communication about substance use with parents, siblings, and friends on substance use behaviors. Students in 8th grade (N = 225) participated in surveys at two different time points. Path analyses revealed a positive association between identification with main characters and refusal self-efficacy as well as negative associations between refusal self-efficacy and the past 30-days substance use. Communication with parents and friends significantly moderated the relationship between refusal self-efficacy and the past 30-days substance use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing number of news organizations are reporting stories about responses to persistent societal problems, a reporting form known as solutions journalism. While this type of reporting practice is typically text-based, visual reporting can also be solutions journalism. Photojournalism theory and practice pose particular insights for advancing academic understanding of solutions journalism. This study uses an experiment to examine effects of exposure to problem-oriented versus solution-oriented photojournalism for three different story topics. The study examines important variables such as narrative engagement, interest, self-efficacy, and behavioral intentions. Study data suggest that narrative engagement can play an important role in involving audiences in visual solutions reporting, with data showing that solutions visual reporting is more engaging on average. Further, when audiences are more engaged in the visual solutions reporting, participants report more positive outcomes for interest, self-efficacy, and behavior intentions. Study findings have implications for both journalism theory and for the practice of visual solutions journalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Czechoslovak prison system is closely bound up with the political situation, and period before the year 1989 was no exception. Its transformation reflects changes in society and politics. The role of the prison system, attitudes to prisoners, as well as modernising trends are all a reflection of the dominant master narratives of that time. This study examines how university-educated employees who were in expert positions within the prison system (psychologists, doctors, a librarian, educators, top management) between 1965 and 1992 adapted to the prison system in place or tried to transform it at the time, and how they reflect on their engagement with it at present. By exploring these questions, we are ultimately asking how their experience as prison staff in communist prisons influenced their professional (narrative) identity and course of life, and how dominant social and political narratives under the communist rule impacted their individual lives. The study adopts a qualitative, idiographic and social constructivist narrative engagement approach to capture the interplay between the prison system and individuals within it. It finds that former employees constructed three different identity configurations reflecting their engagement with the prison system. The consequences of these configurations for prison employees, prison system and society in general are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boys' Love stories (BL) are a genre of male-male homosexual romance in China. The readers of BL typically are heterosexual young women. BL readers usually argue that they are fighting against traditional gender roles and at the same time promoting liberal social attitudes toward gay men. Some gay men and LGBT scholars criticize BL for reinforcing stereotypes. The current experiment assigned women participants to read either BL or heterosexual romances with identical plots and then self-report their reading experiences. Results suggest that women have a pro-BL bias, meaning they believe BL naturally depict more relationally equal romantic relationships than heterosexual romances. This bias leads to greater identification with characters and ultimately increases the narrative engagement with BL. These findings have important implications for understanding the effects of BL on stereotypical perceptions of gay men in Chinese society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Narrative engagement is a fundamental factor in understanding the enjoyment of narratives and their effects. This study seeks to develop a measure of engagement for youngsters and to gather evidence of validity and reliability for a sample of European adolescents. After watching a dramatic film, 310 European high school students (68.71% Italian, 17.74% Spanish and 13.55% German) responded to the proposed narrative engagement scale. The results confirmed the existence of a common factorial model of four factors for Germans and Italians and invariance measurement between samples. The mean score comparison shows that German adolescents have a greater understanding of the narrative than Italians. Also, Germans demonstrated greater emotional understanding than Spaniards. These results contribute to the comprehension of the narrative engagement and illuminate the conceptualization of the psychological phenomena related to the reception of dramatic narratives by youngsters of different cultures across Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of a study involving the translation of a fictional story from English into Catalan in three modalities: machine-translated (MT), post-edited (MTPE) and translated without aid (HT). Each translation was analysed to evaluate its creativity. Subsequently, a cohort of 88 Catalan participants read the story in a randomly assigned modality and completed a survey. The results show that HT presented a higher creativity score if compared to MTPE and MT. HT also ranked higher in narrative engagement, and translation reception, while MTPE ranked marginally higher in enjoyment. HT and MTPE show no statistically significant differences in any category, whereas MT does in all variables tested. We conclude that creativity is highest when professional translators intervene in the process, especially when working without any aid. We hypothesize that creativity in translation could be the factor that enhances reading engagement and the reception of translated literary texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social cognition, the skillset involved in interpreting the cognitive and affective states of others, is essential for navigating the social world. Research has indicated that reading about fictional social content may support social cognitive abilities; however, the processes underpinning these effects remain unidentified. This study aimed to examine the effect of narrative engagement on social cognition. A text pretest (N = 11), a manipulation pilot (N = 29) and full experiment (N = 93) were conducted. In the full experiment, the manipulation failed to vary levels of narrative engagement (transportation, identification and affective empathy) with a passage from a popular fiction text. A correlation analysis revealed positive associations between narrative engagement dimensions and social cognition. An exploratory between-groups analysis comparing reading to no-reading found a significant gain in explicit mental state attribution in the reading group, when controlling for demographic and dispositional differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the role of musically-triggered narrative engagement in translation performance. An experimental study was conducted to investigate the potential of music to induce narrative engagement (NE), based on findings that suggest the influence of NE-relevant dimensions such as visualization and emotional involvement in translation. Participants translated two literary texts with opposing emotional content (happy and sad) in two different sound conditions (with and without music). Three hypotheses were formulated predicting a beneficial effect of music for narrative engagement as well as positive correlations between narrative engagement and translation quality and creativity. Results suggest an increase of visualization in the music condition and a correlation between visualization levels and accuracy scores. Retrospective questionnaires indicate a positive appraisal of the experience of translating with music at both the cognitive and emotional level, although further investigations is needed to validate the scale and confirm its reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• VR cinemas are computer-generated immersive environments for avatar-based viewers. • They evoke experiences similar to movie theaters: a sense of community or presence. • VR cinemas can be alternatives to physical ones in enjoyment and emotional effects. • VR viewing increases empathy toward characters and narrative engagement. • Technology-oriented people sense higher enjoyment, presence, and social experience. Virtual reality cinemas offer computer-generated screening environments that resemble physical-world movie theaters for avatar-based viewers. Reflecting on virtual spectatorship in the context of social isolation, the present study investigates whether VR cinemas could provide an alternative for collective movie watching and whether they could facilitate an engaging experience similar to other, physical-world co-viewing environments. To measure these effects, we designed a behavioral experiment in which participants watched a feature film sequence either in VR or a physical screening room in the presence or absence of viewing companions. After viewing, participants' experiences—including emotional engagement, narrative empathy, presence, social experiences, and physical and mental well-being—were recorded using survey methods. We observed that VR viewing can produce an equally enjoyable film experience, as well as similar levels of emotional engagement and narrative empathy, while it leads to increased comprehension of characters' feelings and sense of narrative engagement. In addition, social viewing may mean less engagement and more distractions depending on the screening environment. We also found that even though previous virtual reality exposure negatively correlates with comfort and well-being during viewing, early adopters of technology and VR supporters are more likely to have an enjoyable and engaging film experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interventions involving simulated interactions aimed at mimicking real situations must be engaging to maximize their effectiveness. This study aimed to assess how a sample of middle school girls displayed behavioral and cognitive indicators of engagement when interacting with avatars representing game characters that were controlled by a human digital puppeteer. The simulation game, DRAMA-RAMA, is a component of an intervention intended to reduce at-risk girls' sexual and other risky behaviors. We used verbal/nonverbal behaviors and surveys to assess the game players' cognitive and behavioral involvement ( N = 131). Participants perceived the game scenarios and interactions as realistic and the characters as similar to people in real life. Participants' behavior indicated their involvement and interest in interacting with the game characters. Finally, participants tended to be appropriate but not effective when attempting to advise/support the characters. These findings have implications for assessing successful operationalization of communication designs in interactive virtual learning environments.

Using an integration of Norm Activation Theory, Value-Belief-Norm Theory and Narrative Persuasion, this study investigates the ability of an eco-dystopian science fiction film set in a world of excessive solar radiation to support intentions for pro-environmental behavior. Specifically, the influence of narrative engagement and explicit references to human responsibility for climate change are tested. A 2 (high vs. low narrative engagement) x 3 (human responsibility frame vs. temperature frame vs. no frame) plus control group (no film) experiment was conducted (n = 257). Results show that compared to the control condition, the film had an indirect effect on behavioral intentions by raising the personal norm (a sense of personal obligation to act). The temperature change and human responsibility frames did not show any influence, while narrative engagement had an indirect effect on intentions by increasing guilt. The results are discussed with regard to their theoretical and practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims at exploring the phenomenon of psychological transportation in translation from an experimental approach. Firstly, we investigate whether the emotions depicted in source texts may influence the level of transportation experienced by translators. Secondly, we try to determine whether different levels of transportation in the texts can make a difference in terms of translation performance. Based on previous work about narrative transportation in products of fiction, as well as the phenomenon known as the "paradox of pleasurable sadness", we depart from the hypothesis that sad texts lead to a higher degree of psychological transportation than happy texts (H1). Taking into account previous theories and empirical results about the benefits of visualization and emotional engagement in translation, we also predict that highly-transported participants will render higher-quality (H2) and more creative translations (H3) than low-transported participants. For this purpose, a pilot study was conducted consisting of two literary translation tasks with opposing-valence texts (happy vs. sad). Lack of statistically significant differences for our hypothesis suggests that some adjustments in the methodology would be needed to achieve conclusive results; however, we believe that further research on the impact of transportation in translation quality and creativity is still worthwhile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]