Overcoming resistance through narratives: Findings from a meta-analytic review

Abstract

To understand the mechanisms underlying narrative persuasion, a growing body of theoretical and empirical work suggests that narratives reduce audience resistance, possibly via narrative engagement. To synthesize this research, we performed a two-part metaanalysis using three-level random-effects models. Part I focused on experimental studies that directly compared narratives and non-narratives on resistance. Based on 15 effect sizes from nine experimental studies, the overall effect size was d = -.213 (equivalent r = -.107; p < .001), suggesting that narratives generated less resistance than nonnarratives. Part II was a synthesis of studies of the relationship between narrative engagement and resistance, consisting of 63 effect sizes from 25 studies. Narrative engagement and resistance were negatively correlated (r = -.131; p < .001), and this relationship wasmoderated by narrativemessage characteristics, including genre, length,medium, and character unit. Implications of our findings and directions for future research are discussed.