Mother Goose and Mother Nature: Designing Stories to Communicate Information About Climate Change

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-18-2018

Publication Title

Communication Studies

First page number:

1

Last page number:

22

Abstract

Narratives have the ability to highlight climate change information in a relatable and engaging format. The purpose of the present investigation was to test the effects of five story structure types containing climate change information on perceived message effectiveness. Furthermore, we measured whether political affiliation moderated persuasive effectiveness of climate change messages among U.S. eligible voting adults (N = 594) who identified as Republican, Democrat, and Independent. The highest rated story overall was situated in the past, was realistic, and had clear moral values, indicating that certain appealing stories can serve as effective conduits for persuasive messages across the political spectrum. There were few differences between political affiliations, namely, that Democrats and Republicans rated messages differently on effectiveness when they differed on moral themes.

Keywords

Narratives; Narrative persuasion; Climate change; Message design

Disciplines

Publishing | Social Influence and Political Communication

Language

English

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