Dissertation
Dramatic tension, social support & weight loss narrative persuasion
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
Mar 2024
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00010426
Abstract
Pilot interviews with 11 millennial females from the U.S. who were interested in weight loss informed the creation of narrative stimuli for an experiment. This experiment explored how levels of dramatic tension (DTG) and the portrayal or absence of social support (SSG) during the protagonist's weight loss journey affected readers' optimistic bias towards weight-related health risks, self-efficacy towards weight loss behaviors, and internalized weight bias. The experiment involved 176 participants randomly divided between four narrative weight loss narrative conditions in a 2 (level of dramatic tension in the narrative: low/high) x 2 (protagonist social support: present/absent) between-subjects factorial design. Analysis revealed that identification with the protagonist served as a significant mediator between dramatic tension (DTG) for both self-efficacy and weight bias internalization outcomes, emphasizing the key role relatable characters play in achieving narrative influence. Additionally, high dramatic tension had significant and opposing effects on the two factors of internalized weight bias examined. High dramatic tension increased character identification and reduced self-devaluation, but at the same time, it also increased the distress factor of internalized weight stigma. Furthermore, although significant interaction effects between DTG and SSG were observed for self-efficacy related to physical activity, healthy eating, and weight loss, these effects did not extend to optimistic bias towards weight-related risks or the factors of internalized weight bias. Finally, social support did not produce significant main effects for any of the dependent variables; however, this study featured close-tie social support in the narratives. Therefore, the lack of main effects for social support could be due to the close-tie social support not reflecting participants' lived realities.
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Details
- Title
- Dramatic tension, social support & weight loss narrative persuasion
- Creators
- Abby M. Mayer
- Contributors
- Hyunmin Lee (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- xii, 173 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- College of Arts and Sciences; Communication; Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991021867512304721