Narrativity and its effects on reading experiences, empathy, and intergroup attitudes.

According to various theoretical approaches, stories provide the opportunity to enhance empathy and intergroup attitudes.In two preregistered online experiments with U.S.-based participants recruited via an online panel, we examined how narrativity affects the impact of a graphic narrative on reading processes, empathy, and intergroup attitudes.In Experiment 1 (N 5 781), narrativity was manipulated by moving the climax from the end to the beginning, disrupting the narrative arc.Participants reading the high-narrativity version read faster, with smoother reading flow, and reported higher levels of transportation and cognitive empathy.However, no significant differences in affective empathy or intergroup attitudes were found.Empathy and transportation showed significant indirect effects of narrativity on intergroup attitudes, but the total effects were not significant.In Experiment 2 (N 5 813), the sequence of events was manipulated to reduce plot causality.Participants in the high-narrativity version reported higher cognitive empathy.Empathy again showed a significant indirect effect of narrativity on intergroup attitudes, although the total effect was not significant.This study highlights how narrative structure influences empathy and intergroup attitudes, demonstrating the potential and the limits of narrative design to foster intergroup attitudes.