Narrative Transportation as a Factor in the Psychological Impact of Films

Abstract

<p>The article presents an approach to studying the psychological impact of cinema in the context of narrative influence. The theory of transportation developed by M. Green and T. Brock (Transportation Theory) and the concept of transportation introduced by them as a special state of involvement and immersion in a narrative. It helps to enhance the psychological impact and can lead to a change in a person&rsquo;s beliefs related to the content of the narrative. There are two main groups of factors, which determine the level of narrative transportation: the quality of the narrative and the individual psychological characteristics of the recipient. The empirical study conducted on 1171 university students aged 17 to 29 years (49.3% men and 50.7% women; M=19.8, SD=1.9) showed that the level of narrative transportation differs depending on gender, which may be due to the greater proximity of a particular film to a certain audience. The sudy revealed a connection between transportation, empathy, as well as , openness to experience and extraversion. Empathy was the most significant predictor of transportation. The feedback of the respondents with high and low levels of transportation helped us to identify the characteristics of transportable narratives. Among them were that the film had an idea, the importance and relevance of the problems posed, a potential impact, as well as the plot of the film, its logic and dynamism, the realism of what was shown, and the attractiveness of the story itself</p>