Tamul, Daniel J.Hotter, Jessica C.2020-02-032020-02-032019-10-28Tamul, D. J., & Hotter, J. C. (2019). Exploring Mechanisms of Narrative Persuasion in a News Context: The Role of Narrative Structure, Perceived Similarity, Stigma, and Affect in Changing Attitudes. Collabra: Psychology, 5(1): 51. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.172http://hdl.handle.net/10919/96675Two exploratory studies demonstrate, for the first time, that narrative persuasion can diminish the stigma attached to social groups featured in journalistic narratives. Study 1 shows narrative format improves stigma toward Syrian refugees indirectly through narrative engagement, perceived similarity, and meaningful affect. Decreases in stigma also improved attitudes toward refugees. Study 2 replicates these findings against a separate participant pool, an additional story topic, and compares changes in engagement, stigma, and attitude to a non-narrative fact sheet and a control condition. A preregistered third study seeks to validate the finding that narratives can elicit destigmatization and disentangle the roles of story exemplars from story structure.15 pagesapplication/pdfenCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 InternationalNarrative persuasionrefugeesstigmaattitudejournalismArticle - Refereedhttps://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.17251