Menninghaus et al. have proposed a model that suggests that negative emotions gain attention and involvement for stories, but that the distancing mechanisms of art and fiction provide a means of safely enjoying such emotions. We suggest that these distancing-embracing processes may have not only aesthetic effects, but also practical ones as well. Specifically, we believe that there may be an interesting extension of the authors' model to the use of stories for prosocial ends. Previous research suggests that individuals regularly learn and generalize from fictional stories (for reviews, see Slater Reference Slater, Green, Strange and Brock2002; van Laer et al. Reference van Laer, de Ruyter, Visconti and Wetzels2014). A possible implication of the Distancing-Embracing model is that fictional stories may be particularly useful in cases where true stories about challenging topics might evoke an overwhelming amount of negative emotion for readers or viewers.
For example, journalists or charities may share stories of individuals in need to inspire readers to help. However, a challenge that such efforts face is that readers (or viewers) may find the negative events described in a story too overwhelming. That is, they may feel personal distress or may not wish to be responsible for providing help. Readers may then engage in emotion regulation, shutting down their emotional reactions to the story. As a result, they can experience reduced empathy and reduced willingness to help. This process has been investigated in studies of the collapse of compassion, which show the ironic result that people are more willing to help a single individual than a large group in need (e.g., Cameron & Payne Reference Cameron and Payne2011). A similar model, the Arousal: Cost-Reward model of helping behavior, suggests that people experience aversive physiological arousal when presented with someone in need of help (Dovidio et al. Reference Dovidio, Piliavin, Gaertner, Schroeder, Clark and Clark1991). If individuals perceive helping to be costly, they may reduce that arousal in ways other than helping (e.g., avoiding the situation).
One implication of the Distancing-Embracing model is that persuaders may be able to use the Distancing function of art or fiction to increase prosocial behavior. For example, a reader may be presented with the story of a fictionalized earthquake victim. Because the story is fictional, a reader may be willing to fully empathize with the victim and experience the negative emotions that may accompany the description of hardship that the victim endured. In other words, the Distancing processes help avoid the emotion regulation that may otherwise reduce empathy. However, if the readers are then given the opportunity to help real earthquake victims (by donating or volunteering), they may be more likely to do so.
We have been investigating these emotion regulation processes in our lab in the context of restorative narratives (see Tenore Reference Tenore2014). Restorative narratives are stories of human tragedy or trauma that focus on the recovery and resilience of the individual(s) who has experienced the adversity (e.g., earthquake victim). We propose that by highlighting themes of hope and forward progress, the audience is not as overwhelmed with negative emotion, and the need to regulate emotion is reduced. In a series of studies, we compared restorative with nonrestorative versions of narratives about individuals facing adversity. In one study, we examined responses to a video about a man named Ruben who survived a devastating tornado. Participants who watched the restorative version, in which Ruben gets his dream job, reported a greater willingness to volunteer at a disaster relief organization than those who watched the nonrestorative version, in which Ruben loses his job because of posttraumatic stress disorder. In another study, we replicated this finding using written narrative versions of a news story (restorative, nonrestorative) about victims of Hurricane Katrina. Reading the restorative news story led to a greater willingness to volunteer at disaster relief organizations (Fitzgerald & Green Reference Fitzgerald and Green2017). Moreover, those who read the restorative narrative reported experiencing more meaningful affect (Oliver et al. Reference Oliver, Hartmann and Woolley2012), including emotions such as “touched,” “moved,” and “emotional.”
In the studies described above, we did not vary whether the stories were described as fact or fiction (and, indeed, all of the materials were based on events that actually occurred). Rather, the content of the story influenced the need for emotion regulation. However, the Distancing-Embracing model implies that using a fiction label may be another route to helping individuals manage their emotions in response to stories with negative emotional content.
Suggestive evidence for this extension of the Distancing-Embracing model comes from another line of work in our lab. Beyond tragedy or trauma, another circumstance that may evoke negative emotion is reading stories about members of a potentially stigmatized group. In one recent study, we asked undergraduates to read a story about a female student who experienced events in her physics course that had the potential to evoke stereotype threat (e.g., a professor asking if she had help with the math on an assignment). Results suggested that individuals were more sympathetic to the student and more likely to recognize potential bias from her instructor when the story was labeled as fictional rather than factual, particularly in a first-person version of the story. Labeling the story as fictional may have increased individuals' ability to empathize by creating emotional distance from the potential personal threats of either experiencing sexism or being accused of sexism (Green et al. Reference Green, Kaufman, Fitzgerald, Freeman and Flanagan2017).
Of course, this proposed extension of the Distancing-Embracing model requires more direct empirical testing, and may have important boundary conditions (e.g., a request for help may be more effective if it does not come immediately after the narrative, to avoid reactance.)
The Distancing-Embracing model provides a valuable model of individuals' emotional experience while reading. We suggest that this model also may provide insight into certain types of persuasive processes; the distancing created by fiction may provide a pathway to embracing real others.
Menninghaus et al. have proposed a model that suggests that negative emotions gain attention and involvement for stories, but that the distancing mechanisms of art and fiction provide a means of safely enjoying such emotions. We suggest that these distancing-embracing processes may have not only aesthetic effects, but also practical ones as well. Specifically, we believe that there may be an interesting extension of the authors' model to the use of stories for prosocial ends. Previous research suggests that individuals regularly learn and generalize from fictional stories (for reviews, see Slater Reference Slater, Green, Strange and Brock2002; van Laer et al. Reference van Laer, de Ruyter, Visconti and Wetzels2014). A possible implication of the Distancing-Embracing model is that fictional stories may be particularly useful in cases where true stories about challenging topics might evoke an overwhelming amount of negative emotion for readers or viewers.
For example, journalists or charities may share stories of individuals in need to inspire readers to help. However, a challenge that such efforts face is that readers (or viewers) may find the negative events described in a story too overwhelming. That is, they may feel personal distress or may not wish to be responsible for providing help. Readers may then engage in emotion regulation, shutting down their emotional reactions to the story. As a result, they can experience reduced empathy and reduced willingness to help. This process has been investigated in studies of the collapse of compassion, which show the ironic result that people are more willing to help a single individual than a large group in need (e.g., Cameron & Payne Reference Cameron and Payne2011). A similar model, the Arousal: Cost-Reward model of helping behavior, suggests that people experience aversive physiological arousal when presented with someone in need of help (Dovidio et al. Reference Dovidio, Piliavin, Gaertner, Schroeder, Clark and Clark1991). If individuals perceive helping to be costly, they may reduce that arousal in ways other than helping (e.g., avoiding the situation).
One implication of the Distancing-Embracing model is that persuaders may be able to use the Distancing function of art or fiction to increase prosocial behavior. For example, a reader may be presented with the story of a fictionalized earthquake victim. Because the story is fictional, a reader may be willing to fully empathize with the victim and experience the negative emotions that may accompany the description of hardship that the victim endured. In other words, the Distancing processes help avoid the emotion regulation that may otherwise reduce empathy. However, if the readers are then given the opportunity to help real earthquake victims (by donating or volunteering), they may be more likely to do so.
We have been investigating these emotion regulation processes in our lab in the context of restorative narratives (see Tenore Reference Tenore2014). Restorative narratives are stories of human tragedy or trauma that focus on the recovery and resilience of the individual(s) who has experienced the adversity (e.g., earthquake victim). We propose that by highlighting themes of hope and forward progress, the audience is not as overwhelmed with negative emotion, and the need to regulate emotion is reduced. In a series of studies, we compared restorative with nonrestorative versions of narratives about individuals facing adversity. In one study, we examined responses to a video about a man named Ruben who survived a devastating tornado. Participants who watched the restorative version, in which Ruben gets his dream job, reported a greater willingness to volunteer at a disaster relief organization than those who watched the nonrestorative version, in which Ruben loses his job because of posttraumatic stress disorder. In another study, we replicated this finding using written narrative versions of a news story (restorative, nonrestorative) about victims of Hurricane Katrina. Reading the restorative news story led to a greater willingness to volunteer at disaster relief organizations (Fitzgerald & Green Reference Fitzgerald and Green2017). Moreover, those who read the restorative narrative reported experiencing more meaningful affect (Oliver et al. Reference Oliver, Hartmann and Woolley2012), including emotions such as “touched,” “moved,” and “emotional.”
In the studies described above, we did not vary whether the stories were described as fact or fiction (and, indeed, all of the materials were based on events that actually occurred). Rather, the content of the story influenced the need for emotion regulation. However, the Distancing-Embracing model implies that using a fiction label may be another route to helping individuals manage their emotions in response to stories with negative emotional content.
Suggestive evidence for this extension of the Distancing-Embracing model comes from another line of work in our lab. Beyond tragedy or trauma, another circumstance that may evoke negative emotion is reading stories about members of a potentially stigmatized group. In one recent study, we asked undergraduates to read a story about a female student who experienced events in her physics course that had the potential to evoke stereotype threat (e.g., a professor asking if she had help with the math on an assignment). Results suggested that individuals were more sympathetic to the student and more likely to recognize potential bias from her instructor when the story was labeled as fictional rather than factual, particularly in a first-person version of the story. Labeling the story as fictional may have increased individuals' ability to empathize by creating emotional distance from the potential personal threats of either experiencing sexism or being accused of sexism (Green et al. Reference Green, Kaufman, Fitzgerald, Freeman and Flanagan2017).
Of course, this proposed extension of the Distancing-Embracing model requires more direct empirical testing, and may have important boundary conditions (e.g., a request for help may be more effective if it does not come immediately after the narrative, to avoid reactance.)
The Distancing-Embracing model provides a valuable model of individuals' emotional experience while reading. We suggest that this model also may provide insight into certain types of persuasive processes; the distancing created by fiction may provide a pathway to embracing real others.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We gratefully acknowledge the support of National Science Foundation-DRL Awards 1420036 and 1462063 for the research on reading stories about members of a stigmatized group.