We all like a good story and when it comes
stories about politics and our world in general, we love it when we can
identify with the “good guys” and clamor for more of the same. Often we don’t
seem to care if the story is fact or fiction, we respond.
This
leads us straight to the question of how easy is it to influence us with a
carefully crafted piece of prose. This doesn’t have to be intentional
propaganda apparently, but just a piece of fiction in which we can identify
with the protagonist. Kaufman and Libby put this to the test with groups of
undergrads at Ohio State were they ran six studies which they reported in the
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (1,2).
The
students were given reading assignments with stories with protagonists whom
they could readily associate with, and their subsequent opinions and behavior was recorded. For example, after they had mopped up a story where the protagonist
had battled against all odds so that they could cast their democratic vote, the
readers were all inspired to vote in the coming election at a higher rate than
the students who hadn’t had the reading assignment.
On
the one hand, this sounds like their awareness of their responsibilities was
triggered by their reading – a good thing most of us would say. But could it be
that they were a little more malleable than we would like to imagine we are?
The
studies got more subtle with the last two stories. One dealt with an
African-American and his hard life. It came in two versions. The first declared
his ethnicity up front and the other late in the story. The readers of the
latter variation were more sympathetic.
The
other study used a story of a gay character, but one story delayed the
discovery of his sexual preference until late and again, a greater
understanding of his problems was evident with the readers than the group who
were aware from the beginning of the story.
So
it seems that if we get to connect with the protagonist of a story, we tend to
get into character. I wait with baited breath to see a similar study with
movies and see if the effect is stronger. Perhaps, though, we should just be
careful and not believe all we read.
- G. F. Kaufman & L. K. Libby, J. Person. Soc. Psych., 2012. DOI: 10.1037/a0027525
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2012/may/09/fictional-character-take-over
