Experiencing narrative worlds: A latent state-trait analysis

Abstract

Transportation describes the degree to which individuals get absorbed in the fictional world of a story. Although conceived as a psychological state evoked by the processed narrative, it has also been associated with trait-like characteristics. An experimentally enhanced latent state-trait (LST) model was used to assess the degree to which transportation reflects (a) stable individual differences, and (b) systematic situational effects and/or person-situation interactions. After reading each of four stories 149 undergraduates rated their degree of being transported into the respective narratives. The contents of the stories were experimentally varied to (a) either facilitate or hinder transportation, and (b) present strong or weak arguments for the idea put forward in the stories. The LST analyses and experimental manipulations concordantly revealed that transportation captures pronounced situational effects related to the presented stories and to some degree also interindividual differences. In line with transportation theory, argument strength had no effect on the state component of transportation. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.