Narrative Engagement Scale

Storytelling is an important benchmark for society and culture. Mass communication researchers have long been interested in the role of narratives on the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of the audience. Research in this area suggests that narratives impact audience emotions and aid in the behavior change process. The Narrative Engagement Scale is built upon audience mental models. Mental models represent a theoretical framework that helps explain how audiences construct a mental model of meaning that combines story settings, characters, and situations. Initial construct validity of the Narrative Engagement Scale was assessed by some studies using confirmatory factor analysis. The Narrative Engagement Scale has been widely used in mass communication research when studying the many ways in which narratives influence audiences. The scale appears to be robust, as it has been tested with diverse samples, various stimulus content, different research methods and by a diverse group of researchers.