How Does Personalization in News Stories Influence Intentions to Help With Drought? Assessing the Influence of State Empathy and Its Antecedents
Personalized stories are a powerful tool for communicating about science, particularly when a scientific topic is complex or unfamiliar. One example of such a topic is drought, something many regions of the world face regularly. Like other environmental challenges, drought recovery efforts benefit f...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Communication |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2020.588978/full |
| _version_ | 1818875398404964352 |
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| author | Dara M. Wald Erik W. Johnston Ned Wellman John Harlow |
| author_facet | Dara M. Wald Erik W. Johnston Ned Wellman John Harlow |
| author_sort | Dara M. Wald |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Personalized stories are a powerful tool for communicating about science, particularly when a scientific topic is complex or unfamiliar. One example of such a topic is drought, something many regions of the world face regularly. Like other environmental challenges, drought recovery efforts benefit from a mobilized collective response through prosocial action, including volunteering and donations. The objective of this study was to examine how storytelling about drought influences emotional responses and empathic processes that in turn contribute to prosocial action. Using data collected from an online survey (N = 249) with undergraduate students, the current study tests the hypothesis that, relative to non-personalized stories, personalized news stories about drought will increase audiences' cognitive and emotional responses, including perceived suffering, narrative engagement, and state empathy. In addition, this study examines how emotional responses to personalized news stories influence readers' intentions to donate to farmers suffering from drought. Results reveal that personalized news stories are more likely than non-personalized stories to increase readers' state empathy and perceptions of others' suffering. Perceived suffering was directly related to the affective and cognitive dimensions of state empathy. Narrative engagement (i.e., transportation) was also directly related to the affective and cognitive dimensions of state empathy and indirectly associated with intentions to donate to assist those suffering from drought. Affective state empathy was directly associated with donation intentions, suggesting that an emotional response to media portrayals of suffering may promote prosocial intentions. We discuss the potential implications for using personalized news stories about drought and other natural disasters to motivate prosocial action. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T13:25:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4fb86373d9394b499585b3f74aeca801 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2297-900X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T13:25:52Z |
| publishDate | 2021-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Communication |
| spelling | doaj.art-4fb86373d9394b499585b3f74aeca8012022-12-21T20:19:33ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Communication2297-900X2021-02-01510.3389/fcomm.2020.588978588978How Does Personalization in News Stories Influence Intentions to Help With Drought? Assessing the Influence of State Empathy and Its AntecedentsDara M. Wald0Erik W. Johnston1Ned Wellman2John Harlow3Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, United StatesSchool for the Future of Innovation in Society and School of Complex Adaptive Systems, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United StatesW.P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United StatesEngagement Lab, Emerson College, Boston, MA, United StatesPersonalized stories are a powerful tool for communicating about science, particularly when a scientific topic is complex or unfamiliar. One example of such a topic is drought, something many regions of the world face regularly. Like other environmental challenges, drought recovery efforts benefit from a mobilized collective response through prosocial action, including volunteering and donations. The objective of this study was to examine how storytelling about drought influences emotional responses and empathic processes that in turn contribute to prosocial action. Using data collected from an online survey (N = 249) with undergraduate students, the current study tests the hypothesis that, relative to non-personalized stories, personalized news stories about drought will increase audiences' cognitive and emotional responses, including perceived suffering, narrative engagement, and state empathy. In addition, this study examines how emotional responses to personalized news stories influence readers' intentions to donate to farmers suffering from drought. Results reveal that personalized news stories are more likely than non-personalized stories to increase readers' state empathy and perceptions of others' suffering. Perceived suffering was directly related to the affective and cognitive dimensions of state empathy. Narrative engagement (i.e., transportation) was also directly related to the affective and cognitive dimensions of state empathy and indirectly associated with intentions to donate to assist those suffering from drought. Affective state empathy was directly associated with donation intentions, suggesting that an emotional response to media portrayals of suffering may promote prosocial intentions. We discuss the potential implications for using personalized news stories about drought and other natural disasters to motivate prosocial action.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2020.588978/fulltrait empathyaltruismprosocial behavioremotionsidentificationaffective news |
| spellingShingle | Dara M. Wald Erik W. Johnston Ned Wellman John Harlow How Does Personalization in News Stories Influence Intentions to Help With Drought? Assessing the Influence of State Empathy and Its Antecedents Frontiers in Communication trait empathy altruism prosocial behavior emotions identification affective news |
| title | How Does Personalization in News Stories Influence Intentions to Help With Drought? Assessing the Influence of State Empathy and Its Antecedents |
| title_full | How Does Personalization in News Stories Influence Intentions to Help With Drought? Assessing the Influence of State Empathy and Its Antecedents |
| title_fullStr | How Does Personalization in News Stories Influence Intentions to Help With Drought? Assessing the Influence of State Empathy and Its Antecedents |
| title_full_unstemmed | How Does Personalization in News Stories Influence Intentions to Help With Drought? Assessing the Influence of State Empathy and Its Antecedents |
| title_short | How Does Personalization in News Stories Influence Intentions to Help With Drought? Assessing the Influence of State Empathy and Its Antecedents |
| title_sort | how does personalization in news stories influence intentions to help with drought assessing the influence of state empathy and its antecedents |
| topic | trait empathy altruism prosocial behavior emotions identification affective news |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2020.588978/full |
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