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Understanding Narrative Transportation Using Gemini Deep Research

April 9, 2025/in AI, Artificial Intelligence, Language, Narrative, Nonfiction, Storytelling/by Mark Lovett

In a previous post I discussed Embracing Narrative Transportation as a way to enhance the impact of your personal stories. And while I enjoy writing articles about storytelling, I’ve been exploring AI (Artificial Intelligence) to broaden my research capabilities.

I have to say, it’s amazing to watch these Chatbots in action. They are fast, and comprehensive in their reach, but they don’t replace humans as they still don’t have human experiences that we have, but they are able to locate and analyze information faster than any human.

So I decided to see what some of the latest chatbots had to say about the topic of Narrative Transportation with regards to crafting impactful personal stories. In part three, I asked Gemini Deep Research what it thought. While it’s a long article, if you have an interest in AI, it’s an interesting read.

Input:

In this case, I asked Gemini Deep Research to examine how the principles of narrative transportation could be used to create impactful personal stories.

Output:

Here’s what Google Deep Research had to say:

Understanding Narrative Transportation for Impactful Personal Storytelling

I. Defining the Power of Narrative Transportation in Personal Storytelling

The human experience is inherently social, and at its core lies the fundamental act of storytelling. From ancient oral traditions to modern digital platforms, individuals have consistently sought to connect with one another through the sharing of narratives. Personal stories, in particular, hold a unique power to forge connections, impart wisdom, and inspire action. These narratives, when crafted and delivered effectively, can resonate deeply with audiences, leaving a lasting impression that transcends mere information exchange.

A crucial element in achieving this profound impact is the psychological phenomenon known as Narrative Transportation. This process allows individuals to become fully absorbed in a story, experiencing a sense of being transported into the narrative world, which in turn significantly enhances the story’s influence 1.

Understanding and harnessing the principles of Narrative Transportation can provide invaluable guidance for individuals seeking to craft personal stories that truly resonate and leave a meaningful mark on their listeners or readers. This report aims to delve into the theoretical underpinnings of Narrative Transportation, explore its multifaceted mechanisms and far-reaching effects, and ultimately translate these academic insights into practical, actionable guidance for anyone aspiring to tell impactful personal stories.

II. Exploring Core Components and Definitions of Narrative Transportation

At its essence, Narrative Transportation is an experiential state characterized by a profound sense of immersion within a narrative 2. It is a process through which an individual’s mental energies, encompassing attention, emotions, and imagery, become predominantly focused on the unfolding events within the story 3. This deep concentration often leads to a feeling of being lost in the narrative, where the boundaries between the real world and the story world temporarily blur 4.

Individuals experiencing Narrative Transportation become cognitively, emotionally, and imaginatively absorbed in the narrative, regardless of the medium through which it is conveyed, be it written text, spoken word, or audiovisual presentation 5. This state of absorption can be so complete that individuals may momentarily disconnect from their immediate surroundings, feeling as if they have been imaginatively transported into the world created by the storyteller 4.

Key features that characterize this phenomenon include a heightened focus of attention on the narrative, a strong emotional response often involving empathy for the characters, the formation of vivid mental images of the story’s events and settings, and a temporary detachment from the realities of their own environment 6.

This immersion can subsequently lead to a shift in the audience’s beliefs and attitudes, aligning them more closely with those presented within the narrative, and a reduced tendency to critically evaluate or counter-argue the story’s content 6. The impact of a transported narrative can also extend beyond the immediate experience, potentially influencing long-term behaviors and attitudes 6.

The concept of Narrative Transportation, while seemingly straightforward, has a rich history within psychological research. Richard Gerrig, a prominent figure in cognitive psychology, first formally defined the concept within the context of novels, using the metaphor of travel to describe the reader’s journey into the story world, where they become detached from their original reality due to deep engagement 2.

Melanie Green and Timothy Brock significantly expanded upon this initial conceptualization, developing a measure to assess the extent to which individuals become absorbed in a narrative and further describing transportation as the experience of being carried away by a story 2. Their work has been foundational in establishing Narrative Transportation as a distinct and influential psychological construct 3.

While Narrative Transportation shares similarities with other concepts describing immersive experiences, such as absorption, narrative involvement, identification, flow, and immersion, critical distinctions exist 6. For instance, flow is a more general state of optimal experience applicable to various activities, whereas transportation specifically entails empathy and mental imagery within the context of a narrative 6.

Immersion is often linked to aesthetic and visual elements, while Narrative Transportation relies on a story with a plot and characters 6. Identification focuses on involvement with story characters, whereas transportation pertains to engagement with the narrative as a whole 6. Understanding these nuances is crucial for appreciating the specific mechanisms and effects associated with Narrative Transportation in the realm of personal storytelling.

III. Factors that Foster or Impede Narrative Transportation

The depth of Narrative Transportation is influenced by a complex interplay of factors related to the story itself, the audience, and the surrounding situation 3. Certain characteristics inherent in a narrative can significantly enhance its ability to transport an audience. These story factors include the overall coherence and logical flow of events, the degree to which the plot is developed and engaging, and the depth and believability of the characters 5.

Stories that adhere to a consistent set of rules within their narrative world and maintain a sense of psychological realism, even in fantastical settings, tend to be more transporting 5. Elements such as suspense, dramatic tension, and emotional intensity also play a crucial role in capturing and sustaining audience attention, thereby fostering transportation 5. Furthermore, the personal relevance of the story to the audience and whether the narrative is presented in the first or third person can also impact the level of transportation experienced 2.

Empathy and identification with the characters are particularly potent drivers of narrative transportation, allowing the audience to connect with the story on a deeper emotional level 4. In addition to the characteristics of the story itself, individual differences among audience members also contribute significantly to the transportation experience 3.

An individual’s general tendency to become absorbed in narratives, often referred to as transportability, is a key factor 3. Traits such as empathy, sensation seeking, need for cognition, openness to experience, and extraversion have also been shown to correlate with higher levels of narrative transportation 3. Prior knowledge and familiarity with the subject matter or setting of the story can further enhance transportation by making the narrative world more accessible and relatable 3.

Even the situational context in which a story is received can influence transportation 3. A quiet environment free from distractions allows for greater focus and immersion in the narrative 5. Conversely, interruptions or competing stimuli can significantly hinder an individual’s ability to become transported 5. Interestingly, the presence or reactions of others while experiencing a narrative, such as co-viewing a film, can also affect the level of transportation and its subsequent impact 8.

Certain elements can actively impede the process of Narrative Transportation. A lack of coherence or clarity in the narrative, the presence of errors or inconsistencies, or a narrative structure that is difficult to follow can disrupt audience immersion 8. If the audience perceives a lack of verisimilitude or psychological realism, or if their personal experiences contradict the events or claims within the story, transportation can be significantly diminished 3.

Furthermore, if the audience suspects that the storyteller has a hidden agenda or is being overtly manipulative, they may become less receptive to the narrative, hindering the transportation process 11. Even seemingly minor factors, such as a focus on superficial aspects of the story like grammar, can distract from the immersive experience 11. Understanding these facilitators and inhibitors of Narrative Transportation is crucial for individuals aiming to craft personal stories that effectively captivate and engage their audience.

IV. How Narrative Transportation Shapes Audience Beliefs, Attitudes, Emotions

A significant outcome of Narrative Transportation is its profound influence on an audience’s beliefs 5. When individuals become deeply immersed in a story, they tend to adopt beliefs that are consistent with the narrative’s content 5. This phenomenon occurs, in part, because transportation often leads to a reduction in counterarguing 5.

Engrossed in the narrative world, the audience is less likely to critically evaluate the information presented, making them more open to accepting the story’s perspective 5. Furthermore, the experience of transportation can make narrative events feel more like real experiences, further solidifying their impact on beliefs 13. This influence can extend to self-related beliefs, as narratives featuring characters with specific traits can temporarily affect the audience’s own perceptions of themselves 15.

The power of Narrative Transportation also extends to shaping attitudes 3. Attitudes formed or changed through transportation tend to be strong and resistant to counter-persuasion 13. By fostering connections with characters and evoking relevant emotions, personal stories can effectively influence how audiences feel about certain subjects or individuals 5.

The emotional impact of Narrative Transportation is particularly noteworthy 2. Transported individuals often experience strong emotions that are congruent with the events and emotional tone of the narrative 3. This emotional engagement, particularly empathy for the characters, is a key driver of transportation and a crucial element in making personal stories resonate with an audience 4.

Even narratives that evoke unpleasant emotions can be transporting, as they allow the audience to vicariously explore these feelings within the safety of the story world 5. The ability of Narrative Transportation to influence beliefs, attitudes, and emotions underscores its power as a tool for impactful personal storytelling.

V. Applying Narrative Transportation to Craft Compelling Personal Narratives

Drawing upon the theoretical framework of Narrative Transportation, several key principles emerge that can guide individuals in crafting more impactful personal stories. One fundamental principle is the importance of creating an immersive experience for the audience 2. This can be achieved through the use of vivid imagery and sensory details that allow the audience to mentally visualize the events and settings of the story 2.

Another crucial principle is the need to foster emotional engagement, particularly by creating relatable characters and situations that evoke empathy in the audience 2. A well-structured narrative with a clear beginning, rising action, climax, and resolution helps maintain audience engagement and facilitates transportation 5. Developing characters with understandable motivations and emotions that resonate with the audience is also essential 5.

For personal stories, adopting a first-person perspective can often enhance identification and create a stronger sense of immediacy, further promoting transportation 2. Finally, ensuring psychological realism, even within fictionalized elements, helps the audience remain immersed in the narrative 5. Translating these principles into practical strategies involves several key actions for personal storytellers.

Employing descriptive language that appeals to the senses is crucial for creating vivid mental images 4. Sharing personal vulnerabilities and emotions honestly can foster empathy and connection with the audience 27. Structuring the story with a clear arc, including moments of tension and resolution, will keep the audience engaged 25. Developing the “character” of the storyteller (oneself) and any other individuals in the narrative with relatable traits and motivations will enhance connection 25.

Choosing a first-person narrative style can create a sense of intimacy and draw the audience closer to the experience 26. Ensuring that the story’s events and character behaviors are believable within the given context, even if the context is unusual, will maintain audience immersion 8. By consciously applying these principles and strategies, individuals can significantly enhance the impact of their personal stories through the power of Narrative Transportation.

VI. Narrative Elements and Techniques for Enhancing Transportation

Several narrative elements and techniques can be strategically employed to deepen audience immersion and foster Narrative Transportation. The structure of the plot, including its pacing and the unfolding of events, plays a vital role in capturing and maintaining audience engagement 5. A well-paced story with rising action, a compelling climax, and a satisfying resolution can effectively draw the audience into the narrative world and keep them there 25. The development of characters, particularly the storyteller themselves in a personal narrative, is crucial for fostering emotional connection 5.

Creating believable and relatable characters with whom the audience can empathize significantly enhances transportation 4. The setting and atmosphere of the story also contribute to immersion. Vivid descriptions that evoke a strong sense of place can transport the audience into the story world, making the experience more tangible and engaging 26. Connecting the personal story to broader themes that resonate with universal human experiences can also deepen the audience’s engagement and make the narrative more impactful 26.

Specific storytelling techniques can further enhance Narrative Transportation. The use of sensory details and imagery, employing language that appeals to sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch, creates vivid mental pictures in the audience’s mind, drawing them deeper into the narrative 4.

Realistic and engaging dialogue can bring characters to life and make the story feel more immediate and relatable 26. Building suspense and tension by creating anticipation and uncertainty can keep the audience on the edge of their seats, maintaining their focus and emotional investment in the story 5.

Adopting a first-person perspective (“I”) can foster a closer connection between the storyteller and the audience, allowing the audience to experience the events through the storyteller’s eyes, which can enhance identification and transportation 2. Finally, the principle of “show, don’t tell” encourages storytellers to illustrate events and emotions through action, description, and dialogue rather than simply stating them, creating a more immersive and engaging experience for the audience 40.

Table 1: Narrative Techniques and their Impact on Narrative Transportation

Narrative Technique	How it Enhances Transportation	Snippet References
Vivid Sensory Details	Creates mental imagery, engages imagination	4
First-Person Narration	Fosters identification, creates intimacy and immediacy	2
Building Suspense & Tension	Maintains attention, heightens emotional engagement	5
Relatable Characters	Encourages empathy, fosters connection	5
Coherent Plot Structure	Facilitates cognitive immersion, maintains engagement	5

VII. Limitations and Considerations of Narrative Transportation

While Narrative Transportation is a powerful tool for enhancing the impact of personal stories, it is crucial to acknowledge its potential limitations and consider the ethical implications of its use. One significant drawback is the potential for negative persuasion 5. If a personal story, even if highly transporting, promotes harmful beliefs or attitudes, it can have detrimental effects on the audience.

For instance, a narrative that normalizes risky behaviors or reinforces negative stereotypes could inadvertently lead transported individuals to adopt these perspectives 5. Therefore, personal storytellers must be mindful of the messages they convey and strive to promote positive and ethical values. Another consideration is the potential for the audience to perceive an underlying agenda 11.

If the persuasive intent of the storyteller is too overt, or if the audience suspects manipulation, the effectiveness of Narrative Transportation may be diminished. Transparency and authenticity are key in personal storytelling. While aiming for impact often involves some degree of persuasion, the primary focus should be on genuine connection and sharing of experience. Overly manipulative narratives can erode trust and hinder the transportation process 11.

Ethical considerations are paramount when utilizing Narrative Transportation to craft impactful personal stories. Storytellers have a responsibility to be authentic and honest in their narratives 35. Avoiding manipulation and respecting the audience’s autonomy are essential ethical principles 43. Personal narratives should aim to connect and resonate with the audience without seeking to exploit their emotional engagement for potentially harmful ends.

Furthermore, storytellers should be sensitive to the potential for their narratives to evoke emotional distress or promote negative persuasion, particularly when dealing with sensitive or controversial topics 5. By carefully considering these limitations and adhering to ethical guidelines, individuals can harness the power of Narrative Transportation in a responsible and meaningful way.

VIII. Case Studies of Impactful Personal Stories Through a Transportation Lens

While the provided material does not contain specific in-depth case studies of personal storytelling analyzed through the lens of Narrative Transportation, several examples within the snippets illustrate the principles at play in various narrative contexts. For instance, a study mentioned a story about a gay man attending a fraternity reunion, which led to higher transportation among participants familiar with fraternity life or who had LGBTQ+ friends and family 5.

This example highlights the role of audience factors, specifically prior knowledge and personal connection, in enhancing narrative transportation. The familiarity with the setting and characters likely made the story more relatable and easier to imagine, leading to greater immersion. Another example involves Manga comics where a character fights bad guys by eating healthy food, which reportedly led children to change their food choices 14. This illustrates how transportation into a narrative, even a fictional one, can influence beliefs and behaviors related to health.

The engaging format and relatable characters likely fostered transportation, making the message about healthy eating more impactful. Furthermore, a study tested a counter-stereotypical story about a Muslim-Arab woman in the United States, finding that a longer story with descriptive dialogue reduced prejudice and increased empathy among participants 10. This demonstrates how well-developed characters and vivid language can foster empathy and transportation, leading to positive shifts in attitudes towards a particular group.

An advertisement for a car depicting a smiling couple driving to a beach is also cited as an example of how narrative transportation can promote a product’s benefits without the audience consciously realizing they are being persuaded 24. The vivid imagery and aspirational scenario likely transport viewers into a desirable situation, associating positive emotions with the product.

These examples, while not all strictly personal narratives, underscore the key principles of Narrative Transportation in action. They demonstrate how relatable characters, vivid imagery, engaging plots, and connections to the audience’s experiences can lead to greater immersion and influence beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. By analyzing these instances, individuals seeking to craft impactful personal stories can glean valuable insights into effective techniques for fostering narrative transportation.

IX. Understanding Narrative Transportation within Broader Narrative Theories

Narrative Transportation Theory finds its place within the broader academic landscape of narratology, the study of narrative and narrative structure, and narrative psychology, which examines how individuals and groups make sense of their lives through stories 2. Narratology, as a field, explores the fundamental elements of storytelling and how these elements affect human perception 48.

Narrative Transportation, with its focus on the psychological experience of being immersed in a narrative world, provides a valuable lens through which to understand how the structural and contextual aspects of stories impact audiences on a cognitive and emotional level 2. Cognitive narratology, a more recent development within the field, specifically examines how humans make sense of stories and use them as sense-making instruments 48.

The effects of Narrative Transportation, such as shifts in beliefs and attitudes, directly align with cognitive narratology’s interest in how narratives shape our understanding of the world 47. Narrative psychology, on the other hand, delves into how narratives operate within individuals and collective groups, shaping identities and influencing cognitive processes 47. Narrative Transportation can be viewed as a key mechanism through which personal and collective narratives exert their influence on self-understanding and behavior 47.

When individuals become transported into a personal story, it can lead to reflection on their own lives and potentially influence their self-perception, a central concern of narrative psychology. Furthermore, Narrative Transportation offers a distinct perspective compared to other persuasion theories, such as Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) 6.

While ELM posits that persuasion occurs through either central (logical and thoughtful processing) or peripheral (reliance on cues and heuristics) routes, Narrative Transportation suggests persuasion can also occur through an experiential and emotional pathway 6.

In the context of personal storytelling, where emotional connection and relatability are often paramount, understanding this distinction is crucial. Narrative Transportation highlights the power of engaging the audience’s emotions and imagination to foster belief and attitude change, offering a complementary approach to more traditional, argument-based persuasion methods.

X. Conclusion: Harnessing Narrative Transportation for Personal Storytelling

In conclusion, Narrative Transportation is a potent psychological phenomenon that significantly enhances the impact of storytelling, particularly in the realm of personal narratives. It is characterized by a deep sense of immersion in a story, where attention, emotions, and imagery converge on the narrative world, leading to a temporary detachment from reality 2.

This state of absorption can profoundly influence an audience’s beliefs, attitudes, and emotions, often leading to greater acceptance of the story’s perspective and reduced critical evaluation 5. By understanding the factors that foster (such as vivid imagery, emotional engagement, coherent plot, relatable characters, and first-person perspective) and hinder (such as errors, lack of realism, and perceived manipulation) transportation 2, individuals can strategically craft their personal stories to maximize audience immersion and resonance.

The principles derived from Narrative Transportation Theory provide actionable guidance for storytellers, emphasizing the importance of creating immersive experiences, fostering empathy, structuring narratives effectively, developing relatable characters, and considering the impact of narrative perspective 2. While the power of Narrative Transportation is undeniable, it is crucial for storytellers to be mindful of the ethical considerations involved, ensuring authenticity, avoiding manipulation, and promoting positive messages 5.

By consciously harnessing the principles and techniques of Narrative Transportation, individuals can elevate their personal storytelling, creating narratives that not only captivate their audience but also leave a lasting and meaningful impact. Future research could further explore the application of these principles across diverse cultural contexts and media to refine our understanding of how Narrative Transportation can be most effectively leveraged in personal storytelling.

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Understanding Narrative Transportation Using NotebookLM

April 8, 2025/in AI, Artificial Intelligence, Language, Narrative, Nonfiction, Storytelling/by Mark Lovett

So I decided to see what some of the latest chatbots had to say about the topic of Narrative Transportation with regards to crafting impactful personal stories. In part two, I asked NotebookLM what it thought. While it’s a long article, if you have an interest in AI, it’s an interesting read.

Input:

As Google’s NotebookLM queries the sources that have been uploaded to a specific notebook, I added 42 sources that discussed some aspect of narrative transportation. Then I asked 8 questions, which are listed in the following text, along with the output from NotebookLM

Output:

Here’s what NotebookLM had to say:

Overview

The provided texts collectively explore the multifaceted nature and impact of narrative. Monika Fludernik‘s work offers a comprehensive introduction to narratology, defining narrative elements and theoretical frameworks for understanding storytelling across various media. Lisa Libby and Melanie Green examine the psychological phenomenon of narrative transportation, investigating how engagement with stories influences beliefs, attitudes, and self-perception, even in the face of conflicting information.

Helenq Bilandzic focuses on measuring narrative engagement, identifying its components and relationship to concepts like identification. Martin Payne’s “Narrative Therapy” discusses the application of storytelling principles in therapeutic contexts, emphasizing the power of personal narratives in shaping identity and facilitating change. Finally, Lucas Bietti and Kurt Braddock, along with Michael Dahlstrom and William Buchanan, investigate the adaptive functions of storytelling and the persuasive effects of narrative on beliefs and cognitive processes like recall and comprehension, highlighting the immersive “experience” of transportation into a story world.

Questions

(1) What are the core components and definitions of Narrative Transportation as described in the provided documents?

Narrative transportation is an experiential state of immersion in which all mental processes are concentrated on the events occurring in the narrative. It’s the process that enables narrative persuasion, occurring when a person becomes so immersed in a story that they feel as if they are truly experiencing it.

Here are some core components and definitions of narrative transportation as described in the sources:

- Definition: Narrative transportation is defined as a convergent mental process where all mental systems and capacities become focused on events occurring in the narrative. It involves individuals becoming absorbed into a story world. This psychological state varies depending on the text or media product, the recipient, the situation, and interactions between these factors.

Key Components: Several key cognitive and emotional components contribute to narrative transportation:
- Focused Attention: Receivers become so focused on the story that they do not think about distractions in their environment. A high level of focus or attention to the narrative is considered a necessary but not sufficient condition for transportation.
- Emotional Engagement (including Empathy): There is a strong emotional response to the story with empathy for the characters. Transportation involves empathy, where story receivers try to understand the experience of a story character, knowing and feeling the world in the same way.
- Mental Imagery: Receivers have a mental image of the story in their heads or try to predict what might happen in the future of the story. Story receivers generate vivid images of the story plot, feeling as though they are experiencing the events themselves.
- Cognitive Detachment from Reality (Suspended Reality/Loss of Access to the External World): When transported, story receivers lose track of reality in a physiological sense. They mentally leave the real world behind and become entirely focused on the story world, although recent perspectives emphasize this is a dynamic process. This also includes a lack of awareness of surroundings.
Related Concepts and Distinctions:
- Narrative transportation is distinct from a narrative itself, which is an antecedent of narrative transportation. Narratives are defined as a connected series of events that typically include the actions and experiences of one or more protagonists that are causally related.
- While similar to other experiential constructs like absorption, flow, and immersion, narrative transportation has specific characteristics. Absorption is a personality trait, while transportation is temporary. Flow is more general, while transportation specifically entails empathy and mental imagery. Immersion is more related to aesthetic and visual elements, whereas transportation relies on a story with plot and characters. Identification emphasizes involvement with characters, while transportation concerns involvement with the entire narrative.
Outcomes: Narrative transportation can lead to several outcomes:
- Belief and Attitude Shift: Transportation can influence receivers’ beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors, aligning them with the story’s content.
- Reduced Counterarguing: When engrossed in a narrative, the receiver is less likely to challenge the story’s content.
- Story-consistent beliefs and favorable evaluations of protagonists.
Factors Influencing Transportation: The degree of transportation depends on various factors related to the story (e.g., narrativity, quality, coherence, characters), the recipient (e.g., transportability, need for affect), the medium, and the situation. Narrativity, which includes content dimensions and structural features like a sequence of causally related events unfolding over time, contributes to transportation by enabling an easy flow of comprehension.

In essence, narrative transportation is a psychological state of deep engagement with a story, involving focus, emotion, imagination, and a temporary detachment from the real world, which can subsequently influence beliefs and attitudes.

(2) According to these documents, what factors contribute to or hinder an individual’s experience of Narrative Transportation?

According to the documents, several factors contribute to or hinder an individual’s experience of Narrative Transportation. These factors can be broadly categorized into story characteristics, recipient traits and individual differences, situational factors, and medium characteristics.

Story/Narrative Characteristics: These are features inherent to the narrative itself that can influence how easily a person becomes transported.

Narrativity and Literariness: Stories with high narrativity, meaning they include protagonists with goals, ensuing conflicts, and follow canonical affective trajectories, tend to elicit stronger narrative transportation. Well-crafted, high-quality narratives are generally more transporting. Literariness can also contribute to transportation.
Coherence: A story that provides clear and sensible links between story events, character actions, and other elements is more transporting.
Character Development:Well-developed characters contribute to higher transportation. Identifiable characters, where the story receiver can clearly pinpoint the personas, facilitate transportation by allowing for vicarious experience of beliefs and emotions.
Emotional Intensity and Range: Stories with a greater emotional range or intensity can be more transporting.
Suspense and Dramatic Tension: The presence of suspense or dramatic tension can increase transportation.
Psychological Realism (Believability):Even in fantasy settings, the plot and characters should be plausible and act like real people to enhance transportation. Narratives that lack verisimilitude (realism or the appearance of being true) tend to be less transporting. However, this realism refers more to psychological realism than literal similarity to the real world.
Clarity and Ease of Comprehension: Narratives that are easy to read and understand facilitate transportation. Conversely, written narratives that are difficult to read, understand, or imagine tend to be less transporting.
Vividness and Detail: Rich detail may make stories more transporting. Stories containing rich, concrete imagery can increase levels of transportation.
Novelty: Foregrounding in a narrative can increase perceived novelty, potentially contributing to transportation.
Story Line Appeal and Quality of Production: These are suggested as important text factors influencing transportation.
Unobtrusiveness of Persuasive Subtext: When persuasive messages are presented subtly, transportation may be higher.
Similarity of Characters with the Self (Homophily): Characters who are similar to the reader can increase transportation. Personally relevant stories also tend to be more transporting.
Narrative Perspective: While third-person perspective stories can be transporting, there is some evidence that the first-person perspective might be particularly effective.
Coherence of Narrative Elements: A series of interrelated events that constitute a developed narrative, where the reader relies on the author, and the author relies on the reader’s ability to interpret, contributes to the experience.
Causal Information: Information that is part of the causal chain of the story may lead to greater engagement.

Recipient Traits and Individual Differences: These are characteristics of the individual reading or experiencing the narrative.

Transportability: This is a generalized tendency toward being transported by a narrative. Individuals high in transportability are more likely to become transported. This trait involves subdimensions like suspense/curiosity propensity, emotional engageability, and ease of accepting fictional worlds.
Need for Affect: Individuals with a higher need for affect (a tendency to avoid emotion-inducing situations) are more likely to be transported into narratives.
Imaginative Engagement: A higher capacity for imaginative engagement is linked to increased transportation.
Narrative Comprehension Ability: How well a person understands the story, characters, and conflicts can affect transportability.
Tendencies Toward Mental Imagery Production: Individuals who are better able to imagine the events and characters in a narrative are more likely to be transported. However, individuals with a low ability to generate vivid mental imagery might be more transported by visual media like films than by texts.
Tendency Toward Emotional Responding: Individuals with a greater tendency toward emotional responding may have higher transportability.
Prior Knowledge: Familiarity with a story topic can increase transportation. Prior knowledge that makes it easier to understand and connect with characters can also make transportation more likely. However, if personal experience contradicts the story, transportation can be disrupted as individuals may adopt a critical mode of processing.
Attention: Paying attention to a story is a prerequisite for transportation.
Self-Concept Accessibility: The level of accessibility of an individual’s self-concepts upon entering a narrative world can influence experience-taking, which is related to transportation. High self-concept accessibility did not appear to increase distraction or reduce absorption but was associated with lower levels of experience-taking.
Literary Expertise: Readers with literary expertise may process texts differently due to their memory representations, including genre expectations.
Demographic Factors: Some research suggests that younger individuals and females may experience more narrative transportation. Education level has also been linked to transportation.

Situational Factors: These are elements of the environment or context in which the narrative is experienced.

Pre-Narrative Instructions: Instructions given to readers or viewers before engaging with the narrative can affect transportation. For example, instructions to relax and enjoy the narrative can increase transportation, while instructions to focus on surface aspects like grammar can decrease it.
Prior Expectations (e.g., Reviews): Positive expectations created by prior positive reviews of a story can encourage greater transportation. Conversely, negative reviews might hinder it.
Distraction and Cognitive Load: Anything that distracts the individual or increases cognitive load can interfere with transportation.
Co-viewing: The presence and reactions of other people while experiencing a narrative (e.g., watching a movie) can influence transportation and its effects.

Medium Characteristics: The format in which the narrative is presented can also play a role.

Type of Medium: Different media (e.g., written, audio, video, virtual reality) can influence the extent of narrative transportation. For example, virtual reality stories may evoke stronger physiological responses.
Features of the Medium: Elements such as music in video narratives can affect transportation. The sensory capabilities of a medium (e.g., VR haptic interfaces) can influence how stories can be told and experienced.
Visual Narrativity: For visual narratives, the presence of setting, a focal actor, and elements for viewer resonance contribute to visual narrative transportation.

It’s important to note that these factors can interact with each other, and the experience of narrative transportation is often a dynamic process that can fluctuate over time.

(3) How does Narrative Transportation, as explained in these texts, affect an audience’s beliefs, attitudes, and emotions in relation to a story?

Narrative Transportation, as explained in these texts, significantly affects an audience’s beliefs, attitudes, and emotions in relation to a story by immersing them in the narrative world, leading to various psychological and persuasive outcomes. This immersion, characterized by focused attention, emotional engagement, and vivid mental imagery, has several key effects:

Belief Change:

Reduced Counterarguing: When individuals are transported into a narrative, they are often less likely to critically evaluate the information presented and may have a reduced tendency to counterargue claims made in the story. This can lead to the acceptance of story-consistent beliefs.
Perceived Realism: Higher levels of transportation can lead story receivers to perceive the story and its plot as more realistic and truthful, even if they know it is fictional. This perception of truthfulness can then prompt them to adopt story-consistent beliefs.
Influence of Characters’ Beliefs: Strong feelings and connections formed with story characters during transportation can enhance the influence of those characters’ experiences and beliefs on the audience’s own beliefs.
Memory Reinforcement: The mental imagery formed during transportation can be recalled later, potentially re-evoking the original communication and reinforcing story-relevant beliefs over time.
Generalization of Lessons: Audiences tend to generalize lessons learned from transported narratives and apply them to real-life situations, even if the stories focus on specific individuals and events.
Causal Information Acceptance: Information presented at causal locations within a narrative tends to be perceived as more truthful regarding the real world, and this effect can persist over time.

Attitude Change:

Favorable Evaluations: Transportation can lead to more positive feelings and evaluations of sympathetic characters within the narrative.
Story-Consistent Attitudes: The engrossing experience of narrative transportation can result in more positive attitudes towards the story itself and story-consistent attitudes toward the experiences described within it.
Mediation by Affect and Cognition: Narrative transportation can cause both affective (emotional) and cognitive responses, which in turn mediate changes in attitudes. Higher transportation is associated with increased story-consistent affective responses and narrative thoughts, and decreased critical thoughts.
Persuasion: Narrative transportation is a key mechanism of narrative persuasion, influencing changes in consumers’ attitudes and intentions. Individuals more transported into narratives often show more positive attitudes towards related topics, such as products or social policies.
Reduced Resistance: Stories, particularly when transporting, can be less threatening than direct persuasive messages, helping to overcome resistance to attitude change.

Emotional Impact:

Emotional Engagement: Transportation inherently involves emotional engagement with the narrative. Transporting narratives are effective partly because they evoke emotions.
Vicarious Experience: Through transportation, audience members can vicariously experience the emotions of the characters, leading to emotional responses aligned with the narrative events.
Emotional Flow: The pattern of emotional experiences throughout a story, including shifts in emotional tone and the creation and resolution of suspense, can help maintain audience interest and increase transportation.
Intensity of Response: Greater levels of narrative transportation can cause story receivers to perceive the story as more realistic, leading to more intense and story-consistent emotional responses.
Connection to Characters: Emotional connections formed with characters during transportation contribute to the overall emotional impact of the story.

In summary, Narrative Transportation acts as a powerful process that allows audiences to become deeply involved in a story world. This immersion reduces critical processing, enhances emotional engagement, and fosters connections with characters and the narrative, ultimately leading to shifts in their beliefs, attitudes, and emotional states that are often consistent with the story’s content and implications. This effect is distinct from more analytical forms of persuasion.

(4) Based on the uploaded documents, what are the key principles of Narrative Transportation that can be applied to crafting impactful personal stories?

Based on the uploaded documents and our conversation history, several key principles of Narrative Transportation can be applied to crafting impactful personal stories:

Narrative Quality and Coherence: A well-crafted personal story should have a clear and logical flow of events. The connections between different parts of the story, including cause-and-effect relationships, should be sensible and easy to follow. Ensuring that the actions and motivations of the storyteller (and any other characters involved) are consistent will enhance the coherence.
High Narrativity: Personal stories should possess strong narrativity, which encompasses both the content (the sequence of events and the individuals involved) and the discourse (how the story is told using literary devices). A compelling personal story will have identifiable elements of a story, such as a beginning, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution (even if implicit).
Vivid Imagery: To facilitate transportation, a personal story should incorporate rich and descriptive language that allows the audience to form vivid mental images of the events, settings, and people involved. Engaging sensory details (what was seen, heard, felt, etc.) can significantly enhance this aspect.
Emotional Engagement: Impactful personal stories evoke emotions in the audience. Sharing your own genuine emotions and describing events in a way that resonates emotionally with listeners or readers is crucial. The emotional arc of your story, including moments of tension, joy, sadness, or reflection, can contribute to greater transportation.
Focused Attention: A well-crafted personal story will capture and maintain the audience’s attention. This can be achieved through compelling plot points, intriguing details, and a pace that keeps the audience engaged without overwhelming them.
Identifiable Characters (Especially Yourself): Even in a personal story where you are the central figure, making yourself relatable and allowing the audience to understand your experiences and emotions will foster empathy and connection. Sharing your inner thoughts, motivations, and vulnerabilities can help the audience identify with you.
Psychological Realism: While personal stories are factual, presenting them in a way that feels psychologically plausible – where the emotions and reactions feel genuine and understandable – can enhance transportation. Even when recounting unusual events, grounding the narrative in relatable human experiences is important.
Personal Relevance and Similarity: When crafting a personal story, consider how it might resonate with your intended audience. Highlighting themes, experiences, or emotions that the audience can relate to or find relevant to their own lives can increase their level of transportation. Similarities between the storyteller and the audience can also lead to higher levels of transportation.
Perspective: While not explicitly stated as a necessity, using the first-person perspective (“I”) in a personal story can naturally enhance the feeling of direct experience and foster a closer connection between the storyteller and the audience, potentially increasing transportation.

By thoughtfully applying these principles, individuals can craft personal stories that are not just accounts of events, but immersive experiences that can affect an audience’s beliefs, attitudes, and emotions, making the stories more impactful and memorable.

(5) What narrative elements or techniques, identified in these documents, are most effective in fostering Narrative Transportation in personal storytelling?

Based on the uploaded documents and our conversation history, several narrative elements and techniques are identified as being most effective in fostering Narrative Transportation in personal storytelling:

Coherence and Narrative Quality: A personal story that flows logically, with clear connections between events, character actions, and other elements, is more likely to be transporting. When the cause-and-effect links are sensible, the audience can more easily become immersed.
Strong Narrativity: This involves both the what (narrative content – the sequence of events and characters) and the how (narrative discourse – the literary devices used to tell the story). A well-defined sequence of events with relatable characters provides a foundation for transportation.
Vivid Mental Imagery: Using rich and descriptive language that appeals to the senses helps the audience create mental images of the story world and events, a key component of transportation. Concrete details and sensory information make the story more engaging and immersive.
Emotional Engagement:Stories that evoke genuine emotions in the audience are more transporting. Sharing your own emotions authentically and describing experiences in an emotionally resonant way allows the audience to connect with the story on a deeper level. The emotional arc of the story, including moments of suspense, joy, or reflection, also plays a crucial role.
Focused Attention: While the storyteller primarily influences this through the above elements, crafting a story that captures and holds the audience’s attention is vital for transportation. Avoiding unnecessary digressions and maintaining a compelling pace can aid in this.
Identifiable Characters (Especially the Teller): Making yourself and any other individuals in your personal story relatable and understandable fosters empathy and identification, which are closely linked to transportation. Sharing thoughts, feelings, and motivations can help the audience connect with your experience.
Psychological Realism: Even when recounting extraordinary personal events, grounding the story in believable human psychology – ensuring that actions and reactions feel plausible – enhances transportation. The audience should be able to understand the characters’ (including your own) motivations and emotional states.
Personal Relevance and Similarity: When the audience perceives the personal story as relevant to their own lives or identifies similarities between themselves and the storyteller or the situation, transportation is more likely. Highlighting universal themes or relatable experiences can bridge this gap.
Perspective (First-Person):While not explicitly stated as a definitive rule in the sources, using the first-person perspective (“I”) in personal storytelling naturally creates a sense of immediacy and direct experience, potentially drawing the audience more directly into your narrative and fostering transportation.

In essence, crafting impactful personal stories that foster Narrative Transportation involves telling a well-structured and coherent story with vivid details that evoke emotions, allowing the audience to connect with the storyteller and experience the narrative in a way that feels real and relevant to them.

(6) Are there any limitations or potential drawbacks of relying on Narrative Transportation to create impactful personal stories, according to these sources?

Based on the uploaded documents and our conversation history, there are several limitations or potential drawbacks of relying on Narrative Transportation to create impactful personal stories:

Distraction by Irrelevant Details: While vivid details are crucial for transportation, an overabundance of them, or details that are irrelevant to the main point of the personal story, can be a significant drawback. These details might obscure the relevant elements of the story and detract from the intended impact. Listeners or readers could become focused on less important aspects, potentially missing the core message or the intended emotional or attitudinal shift.
Potential for Misinterpretation and Misapplication: If the audience becomes highly transported but fixates on tangential similarities between the story and their own lives, they might draw incorrect or unintended conclusions. This “distraction by details” could lead to decisions or perspectives that are not aligned with the storyteller’s intention.
Risk of Perceived Manipulation: If a personal story is perceived as being overly crafted or manipulative in its attempt to induce transportation, it could backfire. Audiences might become aware of the persuasive intent, which can lead to increased skepticism and reduced effectiveness of the story. The sincerity and authenticity often expected in personal stories are crucial to avoid this perception.
Ethical Considerations: Depending on the content of the personal story, high levels of transportation could raise ethical concerns. For instance, if the story inadvertently normalizes or glorifies harmful behaviors, a transported audience might be more susceptible to these negative implications. Accuracy, potential for manipulation, and the portrayal of oneself and others with respect are important ethical considerations.
Focus on the Story Over the Message: The very elements that make a personal story highly transporting – engaging plot, vivid characters, and emotional resonance – might overshadow the specific belief, attitude, or behavior the storyteller intends to influence. The audience might remember the story and their emotional experience but not necessarily internalize the intended lesson or perspective.
Individual Differences in Transportability: Not everyone is equally susceptible to narrative transportation. Factors like “transportability” (a person’s general tendency to become absorbed in narratives), prior experiences, and the situational context can influence how deeply someone is transported. Therefore, a personal story that is highly transporting for one person might have less impact on another.
The Role of Critical Thinking: While transportation often reduces counterarguing, if the personal story contains inconsistencies or elements that strongly contradict the audience’s existing knowledge or beliefs, high transportation might not entirely suppress critical thinking. Instead, these inconsistencies might disrupt transportation and reduce the story’s impact.

In summary, while Narrative Transportation is a powerful tool for crafting impactful personal stories, storytellers need to be mindful of the potential for distraction through details, the risk of appearing manipulative, ethical implications, the possibility of the story overshadowing the message, and individual differences in audience responses. Carefully balancing the elements that foster transportation with a clear focus on the intended message and maintaining authenticity are key to mitigating these potential drawbacks.

(7) Can you identify any examples or case studies of successful personal storytelling within these documents that illustrate the principles of Narrative Transportation?

Based on the uploaded documents, there aren’t explicit, detailed examples or case studies of successful personal storytelling that are thoroughly analyzed to illustrate the specific principles of Narrative Transportation we have discussed. While the sources touch upon the power of narratives and their persuasive effects, the emphasis is often on broader categories of stories, such as public narratives, fictional narratives used in research, or the use of autobiographical storytelling in therapeutic contexts without specific examples dissected for their Narrative Transportation elements.

However, we can infer some potential examples and connect them to the principles based on the information provided:

The “Shopping Trolley Soldier (John Mulligan)” mentioned in: This is referred to as a dramatic example of someone benefiting from writing therapy. While the specifics of Mulligan’s story and its telling are not detailed, its effectiveness in resolving emotional issues suggests that it likely employed several principles of Narrative Transportation. For example, to have a “dramatic” impact, the story likely had a degree of narrative quality and coherence, presented events in a way that evoked emotional engagement, and perhaps allowed for some level of identification or psychological realism for the reader to connect with Mulligan’s experiences. However, without more details, this remains an inferred example.
The use of autobiographical stories in therapy described in: The text outlines how clients can be asked to choose significant autobiographical stories and clarify them through writing and discussion. The potential for these stories to be “helpful” and for clients to gain insights about their lives by reflecting on their own narratives suggests that when these stories are shared (even if primarily with a therapist), they can be impactful. For Narrative Transportation to occur in this context, the client’s ability to articulate their experiences with coherence, including vivid details of memories, and to convey the emotional significance of these events would likely be crucial. The therapist’s questions to help clarify the story could also enhance these elements. Again, no specific story is provided as a case study.
Stories used in health communication research: While not strictly “personal” storytelling in the sense of an individual sharing their own life story, the reference to using storytelling strategies in health messages and the example of a video story about cervical cancer screening having positive effects implies that well-crafted narratives, even if based on others’ experiences or fictionalized for a purpose, can be impactful. These stories likely leverage principles like narrative quality, emotional engagement (perhaps through relatable characters), and the potential for identification to achieve their persuasive goals.

In summary, while the documents highlight the importance and effects of narratives, they do not offer specific, detailed examples of successful personal storytelling that are then explicitly analyzed to showcase how principles of Narrative Transportation were employed. We can infer that instances of impactful storytelling, whether in therapy or health communication, likely benefited from these principles, but the sources do not provide the detailed case studies requested.

(8) How do the different terms provided (Narrative Transportation Theory, Narrative Theory, Transportation Theory, and Narratology) relate to or differ from each other within the context of these documents?

Based on the provided documents and our conversation history, here’s how the different terms relate to or differ from each other:

Narrative Theory is the broadest term, encompassing a wide range of approaches to texts that are considered to be, partially or wholly, narrative. It is described as a set of approaches to understand, analyze, and evaluate narratives across various forms, including texts, images, spectacles, and events. Narrative theory draws upon various disciplines like linguistics, semiotics, psychology, and cultural studies to study the forms, functions, and effects of narrative.
Narratology is a specific branch or discipline within Narrative Theory. It is often referred to as the theory or science of narrative. Narratology aims to develop systematic frameworks and tools for analyzing narrative structures, elements (like story and discourse), and categories. The sources indicate that narratology has its roots in structuralism and has evolved into various schools of thought and approaches, including classical and postclassical narratologies. Mieke Bal defines narratology as “the ensemble of theories of narratives, narrative texts, images, spectacles, events; cultural artifacts that ‘tell a story'”.
Transportation Theory (also referred to as Narrative Transportation Theory) is a psychological theory that focuses specifically on the experience of being immersed or “transported” into a narrative world. This theory examines the cognitive and emotional processes involved when individuals become highly engaged with a story, experiencing a sense of “going into” the narrative world. Key aspects of transportation include focused attention, imagery, and emotional engagement.
The relationship between Narrative Theory and Narratology is that narratology is a core component of narrative theory. While narrative theory is the overarching field of study, narratology provides many of the analytical tools, concepts, and frameworks used within this field to understand how narratives function.
Narrative Transportation Theory is a specific theory within the broader field of Narrative Theory, but it comes primarily from psychology and communication studies rather than literary studies, which have historically been central to narratology. While narratology might analyze the structural features of a story, Narrative Transportation Theory focuses on the psychological impact of engaging with that story, particularly its ability to transport the audience and potentially lead to persuasion.
Transportation Theory and Narrative Transportation Theory appear to be used interchangeably in the provided sources. Both terms refer to the same psychological construct of being immersed in a narrative.

In simpler terms:

Think of Narrative Theory as the entire field of studying stories.
Narratology is a key set of theories and methods within narrative theory, focusing on the structure and workings of narratives.
Narrative Transportation Theory (or Transportation Theory) is a specific psychological theory within narrative theory that explains how people become immersed in stories and the effects of this immersion, such as persuasion.

Therefore, while all these terms relate to the study of narrative, they operate at different levels of generality and come from different disciplinary perspectives. Narratology offers tools for analyzing narratives, while Narrative Transportation Theory explains a particular psychological experience of engaging with narratives.

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Understanding Narrative Transportation Using Manus AI

April 7, 2025/in AI, Artificial Intelligence, Narrative, Storytelling, Technology/by Mark Lovett

In my last post I talked about Embracing Narrative Transportation as a way to enhance the impact of your personal stories. And while I enjoy writing articles about storytelling, I’ve also been exploring AI (Artificial Intelligence) as a way to broaden my research capabilities.

So I decided to see what some of the latest chatbots had to say about the topic of Narrative Transportation with regards to crafting impactful personal stories. In part one, I asked Manus AI what it thought. Below is the prompt that I used, its initial response, and the output it generated. Warning, it’s a long article, but should you have an interest in AI, it’s an interesting read

Prompt:

I’m trying to understand the topic of Narrative Transportation in depth, as it relates to storytelling in general, but more specifically, how we can use Narrative Transportation to create impactful personal narratives.

Response:

I’ll help you understand Narrative Transportation in depth, both in general storytelling and specifically for creating impactful personal narratives. I’ll research this topic thoroughly and provide you with comprehensive information. Let me get started right away./em>

Output:

Here’s what Manus AI had to say:

Understanding Narrative Transportation: Creating Impactful Personal Narratives

Introduction

Narrative transportation is a powerful psychological phenomenon that occurs when individuals become completely immersed in a story. This comprehensive guide explores the concept of narrative transportation, its application in storytelling, and specifically how it can be leveraged to create impactful personal narratives. By understanding the mechanisms of narrative transportation and implementing specific techniques, you can craft personal narratives that deeply engage audiences, foster connections, and potentially transform beliefs and attitudes.

Part I: Understanding Narrative Transportation

The Concept of Narrative Transportation

Narrative transportation refers to the psychological experience of being completely immersed in a story. When a person is transported into a narrative, they become absorbed cognitively, emotionally, and in the imagery of the story, regardless of the medium (print, film, podcasts, video games, etc.).
The concept was first formally defined by Richard Gerrig in his 1993 book “Experiencing Narrative Worlds,” where he used travel as a metaphor for reading. He described it as a state in which the reader—referred to as the traveler—becomes detached from their original reality due to deep engagement with the story.
Melanie Green and Timothy Brock later expanded on this idea, describing narrative transportation as “a distinct mental process, an integrative melding of attention, imagery, and feelings.” They conceptualized it as the experience of being carried away by a narrative.

Key Features of Narrative Transportation

Focused attention – Receivers become so focused on the story they do not think about distractions in their environment
Emotional Engagement – There is a strong emotional response to the story with empathy for the characters
Mental Imagery – Receivers have a mental image of the story in their heads or try to predict what might happen in the future of the story
Cognitive Detachment from Reality – Receivers feel like they are really in the story and not in their real-world environment
Belief and Attitude Shift – Narrative transportation can influence receivers’ beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors, aligning them with the story’s content
Reduced Counterarguing – When transported, the receiver is less likely to challenge the story’s content
Long-term Efficacy – The receiver is impacted even after the story ends, affecting long-term behavior and attitude change

Psychological Mechanisms of Narrative Transportation

Reduced Counterarguing

Transporting stories create a more open, accepting mindset for individuals. When readers are transported in an entertaining narrative, they may not want to interrupt their enjoyment to argue with the story. This reduced counterarguing can occur even when the persuasive intent is obvious.

Connections with Characters

Audience members may:

See themselves in story characters
Come to see characters as friends
Admire the characters

Through these connections, audiences may change their attitudes and beliefs to align with those of narrative characters. Identification with and liking of story characters has been shown to increase the adoption of beliefs advocated by the character.

Mental Imagery

The transportation-imagery model highlights the role of visual imagery in transportation-based belief change. The experience of being transported into a story links vivid images with beliefs implied by the story. This connection between images and beliefs may be one basis for the power of narrative persuasion.

Emotional Engagement

Stories are particularly powerful when they evoke strong emotions. The pattern of emotional experience that occurs as readers progress through a story (emotional flow) can help maintain interest, particularly for longer narratives.

Reminding Readers of Personal Experiences

Stories can prompt self-examination and change by reminding readers of experiences in their own lives that relate to those in the narrative. Individuals who are more immersed in a story show greater generalization of the beliefs implied by the story, but additionally, whether the story brings to mind events from the readers’ real lives seems to be important in determining narrative impact.

Factors Affecting Narrative Transportation

Audience Factors:

World view (e.g., pro-environmental)
Prior knowledge and experience
Attitudes and beliefs
Empathy
Political ideology
Religiosity
Transportability (individual tendency to become immersed)
Need for affect (enjoyment of emotional experiences)
Need for cognition (enjoyment of thinking)

Story Factors:

Fiction vs nonfiction
First-person vs third-person
Well-developed characters
Intent of character
Personally relevant stories
Stories that stay engaging
Coherence and structure
Emotional intensity
Suspense and dramatic tension
Psychological realism
Cultural appropriateness

Part II: Narrative Transportation in Personal Narratives

Unique Aspects of Personal Narratives

Personal narratives differ from fictional narratives in several key ways when it comes to narrative transportation:

Authenticity and Vulnerability

Authenticity as a Bridge: In personal narratives, authenticity serves as a bridge between the storyteller’s world and the audience’s. When authors share their genuine experiences, emotions, and vulnerabilities, they create a unique connection that can be more immediate than in fictional narratives.
Vulnerability Creates Intimacy: Personal narratives that expose vulnerability create a level of intimacy that fictional narratives may struggle to achieve. Research by Hagmann et al. (2024) found that “self-revealing personal narratives create vulnerability by exposing the speaker to others’ negative judgment.” This vulnerability signals authenticity and honesty to listeners, increasing trust and connection.
Real-life Consequences: Unlike fictional narratives, personal narratives carry real-life consequences for the storyteller, which can heighten the audience’s emotional investment. The willingness to incur potential interpersonal costs through self-disclosure signals that the speaker values honesty.

Identification and Social Identity

Shared Experience Identification: In personal narratives, identification often occurs through shared experiences rather than character traits. Research on patient identification in cancer narratives found that shared experiences can create powerful connections regardless of demographic differences.
Social Identity Influence: Personal narratives can activate social identities that influence transportation. According to social identity theory, perceived risk to a patient’s identity increases identification with salient social groups who possess a similar identity.
Transportability Across Divides: Personal narratives have shown the ability to build trust across ideological divides. Research has found that people judge ideological opponents as more trustworthy when opposing opinions are expressed through a self-revealing personal narrative than through either data or stories about third parties.

Mechanisms of Narrative Transportation in Personal Narratives

Personalization and Intimacy

Personalization Effect: Research suggests that personal narratives create a sense of “personalness” that drives effectiveness. Personalness is defined as “the level of intimacy delivered when narrating an experience, or the capability of eliciting a sense of intimacy with the ‘other.'”
<Mental Representation: This sense of intimacy motivates engagement with the content and enables the mental representation of the narrative (narrative transportation), consequently increasing the likelihood of accepting the recommendation or message.

Self-Related Control Beliefs

Empowerment Through Transportation: Research has found that “narratives in both written text and video form with protagonists displaying high versus low self-efficacy can, at least temporarily, affect recipients’ own self-related control beliefs when they experience strong transportation into the stories.”
Mediation Through Transportation and Identification: The effect of narrative manipulation on self-related control beliefs was mediated by experienced transportation and identification, suggesting that personal narratives that facilitate transportation can influence how readers view their own capabilities.

Reduced Counterarguing in Personal Contexts

Disarming Effect: Personal narratives may reduce counterarguing more effectively than fictional narratives because questioning someone’s lived experience can seem inappropriate or insensitive.
Trust Building: Research has found that “trust does not suffer when explanations grounded in self-revealing personal narratives are augmented with data, suggesting that our results are not driven by quantitative aversion.”

Impact of Personal Narratives

Building Trust and Changing Beliefs

Trust Across Differences: Personal narratives have shown the ability to build trust across ideological divides. People are more willing to collaborate with ideological opponents who support their views by embedding data in a self-revealing personal narrative, rather than relying on data-only explanations.
Changing Health Behaviors: Research has found that “identification with the main character in the vignettes was a significant predictor of intentions to participate in cancer research, but only when the mediating role of narrative transportation was considered.”
Self-Concept Changes: Personal narratives can influence how readers view themselves. Research has demonstrated that stories featuring strong protagonists who display high self-efficacy can increase recipients’ own self-related control beliefs when they are highly transported into the stories.

Profound Connections with Audiences

Solace and Belonging: Stories that expose the raw, unfiltered emotions of their creators have the power to resonate with readers in a way that is impossible to replicate. In our own struggles and triumphs, we recognize a reflection of ourselves, and it’s in those moments that we find solace, encouragement, and a sense of belonging.
Shared Human Experience: Personal narratives remind us that we are not alone in our experiences. They create a sense of shared humanity that can be particularly powerful for individuals facing challenges or difficult situations.

Part III: Techniques for Creating Impactful Personal Narratives

Structural Techniques

1. Clear Narrative Structure

A well-structured personal narrative guides readers through your emotional journey with ease. The basic structure includes:

Beginning: Establish your core idea and hook your readers
Middle: Develop your central idea using descriptive language to define your story, setting, characters, and plot
End: Summarize lessons learned, relate your core theme back to readers’ lives, and include a call to action

The ABCDE storytelling framework (from Anne Lamott’s book “Bird by Bird”) provides an excellent structure:

Action: Drop the reader right into the action. No need to “set the scene.”
Background: Once you have the reader’s attention, tell them why it matters.
Development: Build the story up. Where is the story going? What’s at risk?
Climax: This is the tipping point. The “aha!” The “oh no!” The “SURPRISE!”
Ending: Explain what it was all for. What was the lesson?

2. Start with a Strong Hook

Begin your personal narrative with something that immediately captures attention. This could be:

A surprising statement
A vivid scene
A provocative question
A moment of tension

The hook should relate to the core message of your narrative and give readers a reason to keep reading.

3. Focus on Transformation

Personal narratives are most impactful when they demonstrate transformation. Structure your narrative around:

Who you were before
The challenge or catalyst for change
The process of transformation
Who you became as a result
What this means for the reader

Emotional Connection Techniques

1. Vulnerability and Authenticity

The most powerful element in a personal narrative is the emotional connection you establish with readers. To create this:

Be honest and open about how experiences have impacted you
Include all relevant details, even embarrassing or painful ones
Share your feelings as well as your pain
Never be afraid to show vulnerability—this gives readers permission to accept their own
Write from a foundation of authenticity rather than trying to persuade or sell ideas

2. Descriptive Language and Sensory Details

Use descriptive language to paint a vivid picture in your reader’s mind:

Help readers visually experience colors and shapes
Create sensations of temperature, texture, and physical feelings
Incorporate scents, tastes, and sounds
Use all five senses to connect with readers’ emotions
Don’t limit your narrative to a sequence of causes and effects

3. Emotional Flow

The pattern of emotional experience throughout your narrative helps maintain interest:

Create and then resolve suspense about outcomes
Include changes in emotional tone across the course of the story
Balance difficult emotions with moments of insight or relief
Build emotional intensity toward key realizations
End with emotional resolution that feels satisfying

Connection with Readers

1. Make the Reader the Main Character

Your story isn’t really about you—the reader is the main character. To achieve this:

Have clarity around why your personal story is interesting to the READER
Connect your perspective with universal truths
Ask yourself: What’s the problem you want the reader to solve?
Consider: What’s the realization you want the reader to have?
Focus on: What’s the obstacle you want to help the reader overcome?

2. Identify the Takeaway

The takeaway explains why your story is important and creates a deeper emotional tie with the reader:

Connect your experience to something bigger
Identify the universal truth at play
Clarify what your experience says about you, life, or the world
Determine if your story is about frustration, injustice, loyalty, hope, etc.
Make the connection between your story and the message explicit

3. Relevance to Reader’s Life

Make your personal narrative relevant to readers’ lives:

Give readers a “heads up” so they can avoid pain you experienced
Provide relief if they’re currently going through a similar experience
Show how your lessons apply to their situations
Create points of similarity between your experience and theirs
Focus on shared human experiences that transcend specific circumstances

Finding Story-Worthy Material

1. Daily Reflection Practice

Use the “Homework for Life” framework (from Matthew Dicks’ book “Storyworthy”):

Take five minutes daily to reflect on your day
Ask: If you had to tell a story from today, what would it be?
Write one sentence about it
Look for difficult times, moments of growth, and proud or awkward experiences
Create two columns: date and story

2. Identify Emotional Significance

Pay attention to events that leave a strong impression:

What moments do you replay in your mind?
What makes you uncomfortable?
What reveals your vulnerability?
What forces you to confess a character flaw?
What challenges your core beliefs about yourself?

3. Choose Meaningful Experiences

Select experiences that have been transformational:

Events that caused you to rethink or reconsider your point of view
Circumstances that resulted in personal or professional growth
Painful situations that forced you to change your beliefs
Unique life experiences that taught you important lessons
Moments where you overcame adversity

Refinement Techniques

1. Editing and Revision

After completing your first draft:

Edit for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors
Add any extra details you may have forgotten
Remove irrelevant information that doesn’t serve the core message
Ensure transitions between sections are smooth
Check that your narrative has a clear beginning, middle, and end

2. Seek Feedback

Get perspective from others:

Ask friends or family members to read your narrative
Be clear about what kind of feedback you’re looking for
Listen to their responses without taking criticism personally
Consider whether readers connect with your story as intended
Revise based on feedback to improve clarity and impact

3. Maintain an Enjoyable Process

While writing a personal narrative can be emotionally challenging:

Have fun with the process
Relax and tell your story naturally
Remember that the more relaxed you are, the more authentic your narrative will feel
View the process as potentially therapeutic and liberating
Recognize that sharing your story can benefit both you and your readers

Part IV: Practical Applications of Personal Narratives

Therapeutic and Personal Growth

Personal narratives can be used for:

Processing difficult experiences
Gaining clarity about life events
Discovering patterns in your behavior or thinking
Building self-awareness
Creating meaning from challenging circumstances

Professional and Leadership Contexts

Personal narratives are valuable in:

Building trust with teams or clients
Demonstrating values in action
Illustrating problem-solving approaches
Creating connection in professional relationships
Establishing credibility through lived experience

Educational and Inspirational Purposes

Share personal narratives to:

Teach important life lessons
Inspire others facing similar challenges
Provide practical guidance based on experience
Create empathy for different perspectives
Motivate positive change in others

Part V: A Framework for Applying Narrative Transportation in Personal Narratives

Step 1: Understand Your Purpose

Before crafting your personal narrative, clarify:

What you want to achieve with your story
Who your audience is
What change you hope to inspire
What beliefs or attitudes you want to influence
What emotional response you want to evoke

Step 2: Select the Right Experience

Choose an experience that:

Has transformed you in some way
Contains universal themes or lessons
Evokes strong emotions
Demonstrates vulnerability and authenticity
Has clear stakes and consequences

Step 3: Structure for Maximum Impact

Organize your narrative to:

Begin with a compelling hook
Establish context and background
Build tension through challenges and obstacles
Reach a climactic moment of realization or change
Resolve with reflection and meaning-making

Step 4: Enhance Transportation Elements

Deliberately incorporate elements that facilitate transportation:

Rich sensory details to create mental imagery
Emotional authenticity to create connection
Vulnerability to build trust
Universal themes to create relevance
Transformation to inspire hope

Step 5: Connect to the Reader

Make your narrative relevant by:

Explicitly stating the takeaway or lesson
Connecting your experience to broader human experiences
Addressing how your story might help the reader
Creating points of similarity between your journey and theirs
Inviting the reader to reflect on their own experiences

Step 6: Refine and Test

Improve your narrative by:

Getting feedback from trusted readers
Assessing whether it creates the intended emotional response
Checking if the core message is clear
Ensuring the narrative flows smoothly
Confirming that it feels authentic and honest

Conclusion

Narrative transportation offers a powerful framework for understanding how stories captivate us and influence our beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. By applying the principles of narrative transportation to personal narratives, you can create stories that not only engage readers but potentially transform them.

Personal narratives have unique strengths in creating transportation through authenticity, vulnerability, and shared human experience. When crafted with intention and skill, they can build trust, foster connection, and inspire change in ways that other forms of communication cannot.

The techniques outlined in this guide provide practical approaches to enhancing narrative transportation in your personal stories. By focusing on structure, emotional connection, reader relevance, and meaningful content, you can create personal narratives that transport readers into your experiences and leave lasting impressions.

Whether you’re writing for personal growth, professional development, or to inspire others, understanding narrative transportation will help you craft more impactful personal narratives that resonate deeply with your audience.

References

Gerrig, R. J. (1993). Experiencing narrative worlds: On the psychological activities of reading.
Green, M. C., & Brock, T. C. (2000). The role of transportation in the persuasiveness of public narratives.
Hagmann, D., Ho, E. H., & Loewenstein, G. (2024). Personal narratives build trust.
Isberner, M. B., Richter, T., Schreiner, C., Eisenbach, Y., Sommer, C., & Appel, M. (2020). Empowering stories: Transportation into narratives with strong protagonists increases self-related control beliefs.
Lamott, A. (1994). Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life.
Neil, J. M., Gough, A., Kee, F., George, T. J., Pufahl, J., & Krieger, J. L. (2020). The influence of patient identification and narrative transportation on intentions to participate in cancer research.
Strange, J. J., & Leung, C. C. (1999). How anecdotal accounts in news and in fiction can influence judgments of a social problem’s urgency, causes, and cures.
Valenzuela, A., & Galli, L. (2024). The personalization effect: How personal narratives drive electronic word-of-mouth effectiveness.
Van Laer, T., De Ruyter, K., Visconti, L. M., & Wetzels, M. (2014). The extended transportation-imagery model: A meta-analysis of the antecedents and consequences of consumers’ narrative transportation.

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Embracing Narrative Transportation

April 5, 2025/in Narrative, Nonfiction, Personal Stories, Storytelling, Writing/by Mark Lovett

We’ve all had the experience of being pulled into a story — fiction or nonfiction — to the point where the rest of the world seems to fade away. Reading books and watching movies are common examples, but this phenomenon also occurs when we’re watching a play, listening to a podcast or watching a public speaker delivering a talk stage. In each case, we’ll experience the storyteller’s story. This doesn’t happen every time, of course, as a story must capture our attention to such an extent that the narrative’s world becomes our world. And although it’s often associated with fictional stories, it applies equally to personal stories.

So what do we mean by narrative?

Well, if you ask a dozen people and you’ll most likely get a dozen answers to that question, but here’s my take. In personal storytelling, a narrative builds a world in which you (and other characters) interact with life through the properties of space, time, and events. Beyond the characters, settings, and experiences, this narrative also touches on thoughts, emotions, insights, and reflections.

An impactful personal story, which is what I’m all about, seeks to present each narrative element, each story block, in a way that transforms a simple memory into a compelling and authentic story that conveys deeper truths about our life, values, beliefs, insights, and lessons learned.

When well-crafted, personal stories inform, inspire, connect, and engage others. But as I’ve mentioned, not all personal stories are equally effective in this regard. In the balance of this post, we’ll take a look at how we can create more impactful stories by understanding and using the principles of narrative transportation.

This is a subject that has been studied extensively during the past twenty years. Cognitive scientists & social psychologists, as well as literary & communication scholars, have all weighted in on this and a handful of related topics which I’ve included below to provide a fuller picture of what it all means.

Narrative Transportation is the psychological experience of being so fully immersed in a story that you temporarily feel transported into its world, losing awareness of your physical surroundings and experiencing the events alongside the characters. This powerful storytelling effect occurs when a narrative captures your imagination so completely that you emotionally respond to the story as if it were happening to you, often leading to stronger message retention, attitude changes, and even behavioral shifts after the story ends. When stories achieve narrative transportation, audiences don’t just understand the plot—they live it, making this phenomenon one of the most valuable tools in a storyteller’s arsenal.

Immersion in storytelling is the powerful sensation of being mentally and emotionally transported into a fictional world, where readers or viewers temporarily forget their surroundings and become deeply engaged with the characters and events unfolding before them. When a story successfully creates immersion, the audience experiences the narrative as if they were living through it themselves, with all their senses activated and their attention fully captured by the plot, setting, and characters. This state of being completely absorbed in a story world is what allows people to laugh, cry, or feel fear while experiencing fiction, making immersion one of the most sought-after qualities in effective storytelling across books, films, games, and other media.

Absorption in storytelling refers to the state where readers or viewers become so deeply engaged with a narrative that they lose awareness of their surroundings, experiencing a mental transportation into the story world. Effective storytelling creates this absorption by combining compelling characters, rich sensory details, emotional resonance, and well-paced action that captures attention so completely that time seems to pass unnoticed, leaving the audience fully immersed in the fictional experience rather than merely observing it from the outside.

Engagement in storytelling refers to the ability of a narrative to capture and hold a reader’s or audience’s attention, creating an emotional and intellectual connection that makes them invested in the story’s outcome. Effective engagement occurs when audiences become so immersed in the characters, plot, and world that they temporarily set aside their awareness of reality, experiencing genuine emotional responses—whether tension, joy, sadness, or surprise—and feeling compelled to continue following the story to its conclusion. This connection is achieved through relatable characters, meaningful conflicts, authentic dialogue, and pacing that balances revelation with anticipation, all working together to create an experience that resonates with the audience long after the story ends.

Involvement in storytelling refers to the ability of a narrative to emotionally engage and immerse its audience, creating a connection that makes readers or viewers feel invested in the characters and outcome. An effective story draws people in through relatable characters, compelling conflicts, and authentic emotional stakes that resonate with universal human experiences. When a story achieves strong involvement, the audience temporarily forgets they’re experiencing fiction—instead, they empathize with the characters’ struggles, celebrate their victories, and feel genuine concern for their wellbeing. This deep level of engagement is what separates forgettable tales from stories that linger in our minds and hearts long after they’ve ended.

I have captured a number of phrases from the above descriptions that illustrate the effect engrossing stories have on an audience. As you’ll see, while there’s an intellectual aspect to the process, the emphasis is largely on the emotional response that well-crafted stories invoke in an audience.

emotional resonance
emotionally engaging
psychological experience
transported into its world
fully immersed in the story
stronger message retention
achieves strong involvement
time seems to pass unnoticed
completely absorbed in a story world
mentally and emotionally transported
invested in the characters and outcome
empathizes with the characters’ struggles
losing awareness of physical surroundings
experiencing genuine emotional responses
resonates with universal human experiences
senses activated, and attention fully captured
deeply engaged with the characters and events
experiencing the events alongside the characters
creating an emotional and intellectual connection
experiencing a mental transportation into the story

How do these expressions align with your experiences? I think the concept of transportation is most appropriate, as there’s movement, a shift that occurs in our perception of reality. We care about what happens; we get excited and sad, we laugh and cry, we feel tension and relief.

But are these shifts temporary, or is there a longer term effect? Does the effect linger, or is the spell broken once the story ends? That depends on a number of factors, such as how relatable and relevant the story is, but the simple answer is that personal stories based on our experiences, as opposed to fictional stories built for entertainment, resonate more deeply, leaving a lasting impression.

During narrative transportation, our mental energies — encompassing attention, emotions, and imagery — become primarily focused on events unfolding within the story, and in turn, we will become cognitively, emotionally, and imaginatively absorbed in the narrative. By fostering connections with characters and evoking relevant emotions, personal stories can effectively influence how audiences feel about certain subjects or individuals.

What Factors Support Narrative Transportation?

I’m often asked what makes a personal story compelling, and the components of narrative transportation reveal a number of topics to consider. You’ll find some overlap in the list below, as the terms do relate to each other in important ways, but they’re worth considering individually, and they all play a role in telling your personal story.

fluency — refers to the smooth, effortless way a story flows, naturally transitioning between scenes and ideas, allowing readers or listeners to become fully immersed in the narrative world and lose awareness of their physical surroundings.
similarity — refers to the connection an audience feels between themselves and story elements, such as characters, experiences, backgrounds, cultures, beliefs, and values, making a story more relatable and engaging.
relevance — refers to how well a narrative connects with the audience’s existing experiences, values, or concerns, mirroring their own lives in important ways, making the story feel personally meaningful and relatable.
coherence — refers to the logical and meaningful connection between all elements of a narrative — characters, events, settings, and themes — with events unfolding in ways that make sense within the theme of the narrative.
familiarity — refers to the degree to which elements of a story, such as settings, characters, situations, or emotional truths, resonate with a reader’s existing knowledge, experiences, or expectations.
immersion — refers to the feeling of being mentally and emotionally absorbed into a story’s world, engaging our attention, imagination, and emotions to the point where the real world temporarily fades into the background.
logical flow — refers to the invisible thread that connects each scene to the next, each character decision to its consequences, without any inconsistencies that may force an audience to question why events are unfolding as they are.
anticipation — refers to the delightful tension or suspense created when an audience is made aware that something significant is about to happen, causing them to become emotionally invested in what comes next.
believability — refers to the quality that makes a narrative feel true, authentic, and coherent within its own internal logic, while not including any obvious errors or inconsistencies within the story.
engagement — refers to the emotional and mental connection created when an audience is fully immersed in a story and often results in increased empathy and a lasting impact on thoughts, attitudes, or behaviors.
identification — refers to the process by which an audience emotionally connects with a character or perspective within a story, allowing them to see themselves in the character’s experiences, values, or struggles.
sensory details — refers to the vivid descriptions of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures that help create a rich and engaging atmosphere, thus immersing an audience in the narrative.
mental imagery — refers to the process of mentally “seeing” the scenes, “hearing” the dialogue, or “feeling” the emotions described in a narrative, as if they were happening in real life.
narrative quality — refers to how well a story compasses elements like compelling characters, a coherent plot, vivid descriptions, and emotional resonance that draw people in and hold their attention.
engaging dialogue — refers to the artful construction of conversations within a story that reveals characters’ personalities, motivations, and relationships while maintaining authenticity and purpose.
mental simulation — refers to the cognitive process whereby individuals simulate a story’s events, actions, and emotions in order to feel they’re part of the story, thus enhancing understanding and emotional connection.
psychological realism — refers to authentically portraying the inner thoughts, emotions, and motivations of characters, which can foster empathy and engagement and influence beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors.
emotional connection — refers to the bond or resonance a person feels when hearing a story that evokes feelings such as empathy, joy, sadness, or excitement, making the story’s messages or lessons more memorable and impactful.
character development — refers to the process of creating and evolving characters in a story, revealing a character’s traits, motivations, and backstory over the arc of the narrative.
cultural appropriateness — refers to the alignment of a story’s themes, characters, language, and values with the cultural norms, beliefs, and experiences of its intended audience, making it more relatable.

A very consistent finding over a number of studies, across a number of different topics, by a number of different researchers is that transportation leads to greater attitude and belief change. So when people become immersed in these stories, they’re more likely to take the messages of the stories and apply it outward to the real world.
~ Dr. Melanie Green

Why Is Narrative Transportation Relevant?

Dr. Green’s quote explains it rather well, especially the ending. The point of an impactful personal story is to share your experiences, lessons learned, insights, or ideas in a way that fosters understanding, allowing others to take elements of your story and weave them into their story — apply it outward to the real world. The extent to which this happens is related to the extent to which they connect to you and your narrative. Narrative Transportation is how that happens, which is why reviewing the text above can help improve your story’s impact.

This improvement not happens during the writing / editing process, but during your rehearsals. Ideally, you’re able to rehearse your story in front of a trusted friend or family member. That’s when you can solicit feedback. Ask them what feelings arose while hearing your story, or what they were thinking. And if your narrative included descriptive prose, what did the “see”, what mental imagery came to mind?

What Factors Prevent Narrative Transportation?

It’s important to think about how the various aspects of narrative transportation can improve your story, but it’s also vital to consider what might reduce impact. Those factors that limit the positive effects. Here are a few things to consider.

Lack of coherence or clarity — anything in the story that doesn’t make sense?
Lack of realism — does your story depart from reality, or seem false at times?
Errors or inconsistencies — are there any notable mistakes in your narrative?
Confusing narrative structure — are there any disruptions to the story’s flow?
Audience alignment — does your story contradict the audience’s experiences?
Sense of being manipulated — do you come off as having a hidden agenda?

Such situations tend to pull people out of your narrative as they question what you’re saying or why you’re saying it. And as before, this is where feedback from the rehearsal process can identify if any of these issues are present. Ask them if there were times when something you said didn’t make sense, or seemed false in any way. Did it feel as though a certain element could be expanded upon for clarity, or if an important element was missing altogether?

Is There a Downside to Narrative Transportation?

Unfortunately, yes. When engrossed in the narrative world, individuals are less likely to critically evaluate the information presented, making them more open to accepting the story’s perspective. That’s a positive outcome for true stories, but when stories are based on lies — con artists, unscrupulous politicians, and dishonest business leaders, for example — people may be persuaded to adopt beliefs and ideologies that are harmful to themselves, and possibly society as a whole.

History — as well as present times — are full of examples where individuals, organizations, and governments intentionally lie in order to manipulate the thoughts, feels, and actions of the public. We’ll cover that aspect in a future article.

Conclusion

Since our desire is to maximize the impact when sharing our personal stories, reviewing your manuscript from the standpoint of narrative transportation is one way to make that happen!

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Science Storytelling with TILclimate – Farm to table, with a side of fossil fuels

March 6, 2025/in Climate Change, Education, Environment, Science, Storytelling/by Mark Lovett

Climate change stories can be complex, especially when they’re full of technical descriptions and lists of numbers. But when these stories are linked to our daily lives we can understand the issue more clearly. So I had to laugh when listening to this episode of the TILclimate Podcast as I happen to be a fan of tortilla chips — artisan style, of course — and this story highlights how fossil fuels are part of the journey, from start to finish, of tortilla chips traveling from the farm to store.

While this narrative involves a specific food product, you can easily see how the process applies, with minor variations, to a host of other items that end up on our table. In this case, we have farm machinery, giant fans, trucks, fermenters, grinders, dryers, fryers, fertilizer, and even the plastic bag the chips come in.

Instead of people, the cast of characters includes objects, chemicals, processes, but we get a visual sense of how everything works as raw ingredients are grown, processed, packaged and delivered. Instead of a, “This is what climate change is doing to the planet” story, we have a, “Behind the scenes look at how the things we consume contribute to the problem of climate change” type of story.

There are no villains here, no finger pointing or blame, just a real life example of how a food manufacturing process works. And since there are many steps in the tortilla chip supply chain, finding a more sustainable solution involves solving a number of problems.

If you’re working on a personal story that’s founded in science, think about how your technology or research can be explained within the context of a story that your audience can relate to. And if you need help creating and presenting that story, reach out, I enjoy working with scientists who are making an impact!

Transcript

LHF: Hello, and welcome to Today I Learned: Climate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I’m Laur Hesse Fisher.

If you’re like many of our listeners, you might be wondering: okay, so the CO₂ from burning fossil fuels is warming the planet, right? So why haven’t we just gotten rid of all these fossil fuels already?

Because we live in a world that’s currently dependent on fossil fuels, yet a lot of that dependence is invisible to us. So we collaborated with TABLE, an international coalition of universities that helps the public understand our food system. Their recent podcast miniseries is called Fuel to Fork, and it explores all the many ways that fossil fuels are involved in putting food on our plates.

And today, we’re going to get a glimpse into the hard work that is happening to eliminate pollution from the food system—and in doing so, explore the very real ways that our food now depends on fossil fuels.

Even to produce the simplest thing, like a tortilla chip.

JC: I love tortilla chips. In fact, I had some on the weekend, and they were very tasty.

LHF: That’s Jennifer Clapp.

JC: I’m a professor and Canada research chair in global food security and sustainability at the University of Waterloo in Canada. I’m also a member of IPES-Food, which is the international panel of experts on sustainable food systems.

LHF: She’s here to help us follow the journey of a tortilla chip from farm to grocery store, taking note of all the ways fossil fuels are used along the way. So let’s get started.

JP: Well, tortilla chips have relatively few ingredients. They’re made of corn, or in the rest of the world, it’s called maize.

LHF: Here in the U.S., we have over 90 million acres of cornfields. If that were a state, it would be the fifth largest, just barely behind Montana. And if you took a drive through this great state of corn, the first thing you might notice above the vast, waving expanses of green are the machines that tend the corn from planting to harvest.

JP: Farm machinery typically runs on Diesel fuel. And that’s the machinery used to plow the fields, drill the seeds, spread the fertilizer, spread the pesticides, spread the herbicides. Also for harvesting crops, big machinery is used, you know, combine harvesters and other kinds of machines that thresh the grain.

LHF: It’s probably no surprise that these great machines need fuel to run. But what about the quieter parts of a corn farm—like the barns?

JC: Corn has a lot of moisture in it. It’s a heavy crop, and to store it properly it needs to be dried. And farmers typically use giant fans in a barn to dry out the corn and typically heat those barns with propane fuel.

LHF: The two things we’ve mentioned so far—the farming machinery, and drying the crop—make up about half of the fossil energy use on a typical corn farm. There’s one last big chunk of emissions that we’re going to come back to a little bit later in this episode.

For now, though, we’re packing up our corn for sale.

JC: Commodities like corn do travel around a fair bit. If it’s trucked, it’s typically using diesel fuel. And also, if it’s shipped, it’s definitely using oil.

LHF: Those fossil fuels get our dried corn to a factory, where it will be turned into masa, the delicious dough that makes a tortilla.

JC: And what it involves is soaking and simmering, like cooking, these dried kernels of corn for up to 12 hours. And that process is called wet milling.

LHF: For our tortilla chips, this is almost the end of the line: the masa from the wet mill is ready to be shaped, baked and fried. Other corn products will keep passing through more screens and grinders and dryers and fermenters, on their way to becoming things like cornstarch, and corn syrup, and even the ethanol we add to gasoline.

There isn’t good recent data on this, but back in 2001 the US Energy Information Administration did a study of corn wet mills and found that they used 15% of all the energy in, not just corn, but the entire U.S. food industry.

JC: So that gives you a sense of just how energy consumptive it is.

LHF: When you hear about “ultra-processed” foods, this is what it means: the ingredients go through a whole bunch of machines to break them down to their proteins and fibers and oils and such. And it tends to use a lot of fossil fuels—and be less healthy for us, too.

With our tortilla chips, the last machine would be the fryer that makes them nice and crispy and snackable. But there’s one more step before they’re shipped to the grocery store, and that’s packaging.

JC: In my local community I can buy corn chips that come in a paper bag, which really makes me happy. But most corn chips that you’re going to find in a grocery store shelf are packaged in plastic.

LHF: And that plastic is made of—do you know? It’s oil!

Yeah, our food system doesn’t rely on fossil fuels just for energy. Tons of stuff—packaging, farm equipment—is also made of fossil fuels.

JC: You might have seen large sheets of plastic covering farm fields that sort of keep in moisture and keep temperatures warm in the soil, or covering a greenhouse, Herbicides, pesticides; they’re all fossil fuel sort of oil based chemicals. So when we think about fossil fuels on the farm, they’re just, they’re everywhere.

LHF: Remember earlier, when we found that the farming and drying machinery added up to about half of a farm’s fossil energy use? Well, most of the remaining half comes from just one of those fossil fuel-based chemicals alone.

JC: The fertilizer use is probably the biggest use of fossil energy when we’re talking about growing corn.

LHF: For as long as there’s been farming, people have been adding fertilizers like manure and wood ash to soil to revitalize it.

JC: These products really started to be used much more frequently after around the 1840s, when scientific developments led to an understanding about the importance of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium as key nutrients that plants need for better plant growth.

Phosphorus and potash are actually today typically mined from the earth and processed to make fertilizers.

LHF: But the third nutrient, nitrogen, is trickier: there’s no nitrogen rock that we can mine. On the other hand, there is one very abundant source of nitrogen very close to hand. It’s in the air we’re breathing. Earth’s atmosphere is almost 80% nitrogen gas.

JC: And scientists knew that nitrogen was in the air. They just didn’t know how to capture it and make it into a physical, usable form that could be applied to soil.

LHF: And then, in the early 1900s, two German chemists, Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, figured it out. If you react nitrogen with hydrogen, they mix to make NH₃, also known as ammonia. And this became the main ingredient for modern fertilizers.

The catch is that the hydrogen comes from yet another fossil fuel: natural gas.

JC: So the Haber Bosch process really changed everything because people didn’t have to worry about where the nitrogen was going to come from to fertilize crops. And the use of synthetic nitrogen increased massively.And what that’s meant is that more crops can be grown. More land around the world can be cultivated for agriculture, because the nutrients can be continually replenished.

LHF: And on that land, humans are supplying a regular stream of nitrogen, provided mostly by natural gas. Where, unfortunately, it continues to impact the climate in yet another way.

JC: There’s been a tendency to over-apply fertilizer. Just as kind of like an insurance policy that farmers want to be sure that they’re putting enough on the field to ensure plant growth.

But not all nitrogen that’s put down in the field is taken up by the plant. And then soil microbes eat up the nitrogen, and it converts it into a gas called nitrous oxide, which is more damaging than carbon dioxide when we’re talking about climate change. And corn uses a lot of fertilizer, so it has a lot of nitrous oxide emissions.

LHF: Fertilizer is by far the biggest way that humans create nitrous oxide, this highly climate-warming gas. If you add both the manufacturing process and the nitrous oxide, fertilizer has the same impact on the climate as a major country—in fact, it contributes as much to climate change each year as Japan does, which is the world’s seventh-largest climate polluter.

JC: So all in all, the fertilizer industry is pretty significant.

LHF: Okay, so what do we do about all this? You might ask: is it even possible to have our tortilla chips without the climate pollution?

JC: Can I imagine a fossil fuel free bag of corn chips? I think, in this current world that we live in, that’s a bit hard to imagine, given all of the places in the whole production process that have relied on and continue to rely on fossil energy.

LHF: Let’s take farming machinery for a moment. You might say, well, couldn’t we just run these machines on electricity, like switching a gas-powered car for an electric car? And, yeah—we probably could.

JC: But it’s not straightforward. Because a tractor has to have a lot of horsepower, especially for plowing, especially for these sort of harvesting and threshing activities.

LHF: That means that an electric tractor would need to hold a lot of energy in its battery. For the heaviest equipment like combine harvesters, the industry is still waiting on more powerful motors and batteries to hit the market—and to be affordable.

But don’t throw up your hands. There is a lot we can do right now. Like in the drying barns, which can be heated electrically, and the wet mills that can switch to clean power sources. Or what about the problem of overapplying nitrogen? That’s no good for anybody who cares about our climate—but it’s also especially bad for the people buying all this fertilizer that just ends up being wasted.

JC: Because it’s a big cost for farmers. And the big companies are all investing in digital technology that can analyze the type of soil and its fertility, and then provide advice to farmers that says you should only put this much fertilizer in this part of your field. Maybe you want to use a little bit more in that part of your field.

LHF: There are also these things called “slow release” fertilizers, which are coated in a slow-dissolving plastic so all the nitrogen doesn’t get dumped on the field at once. Or, could we produce the nitrogen our corn needs without using natural gas? There are emerging processes that use clean electricity instead, or even engineered microbes in the soil. All of these ideas are being actively pursued right now—and also studied to see what kinds of unintended effects might arise if we start doing things like treating our soils with plastics, or using a lot of energy for AI-powered digital farming tools.

So today, we wanted to highlight the often hidden fossil fuel use in our food system—but we also wanted to highlight the often-invisible solutions that are happening. Because as more and more of us get activated and equipped to tackle this issue, researchers, innovators, investors, and folks working across the food system get creative, and solutions like these become possible.

JC: So it’s a big ask to say, okay, throw that model out the window and start from scratch with something else. But there are models of other things that can work, such as agroecology, which is using nature’s own processes to provide the fertilization of soils by growing different crops next to each other. It’s a big change. And so it’s not going to happen overnight.

But I always think about the fact that the way that we ended up with the agriculture we have today took about 200 years. Farmers did adopt synthetic fertilizers. They did adopt hybrid seeds. You know all of the aspects that we think of as conventional farming today were at one point new technologies. So we shouldn’t think necessarily that farmers are going to be resistant to change. But that change has to be tangible for them in terms of the benefits, and it has to be easy, and it has to be affordable.

LHF: And that’s harder than just saying, keep the fossil fuels in the ground. But in the end, this hard, steady work is what it’s going to take to have a clean economy that offers us a good living and the things that we need. And even the things that we like, like a bag of chips.

That is our show. But if you’re interested in learning more about fossil fuels in the food system, I invite you to check out the entire Fuel to Fork miniseries from TABLE, in collaboration with IPES-Food and the Global Alliance for the Future of Food. Just look up Fuel to Fork on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

And hey, you can also look up TILclimate there and follow us—there are lots more episodes to brush up on your climate knowledge. Or get in touch and ask us your climate change questions! Email us at tilclimate@mit.edu, or leave us a voicemail at 617 253 3566.

TILclimate is the climate change podcast of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Aaron Krol is our Writer and Executive Producer. David Lishansky is our Audio Producer. Michelle Harris is our fact-checker. Grace Sawin is our Student Production Assistant. The music is by Blue Dot Sessions. And I’m your Host and Senior Editor, Laur Hesse Fisher.

A big thanks to Prof. Jennifer Clapp for speaking with us, and to you, our listeners. Keep up your climate curiosity.

And if you want to dive deeper into this topic:

Read more about Prof. Clapp.
For a deeper dive into where fossil fuels are used in the global food system, check out the Fuel to Fork podcast mini-series produced by TABLE, IPES-Food and the Global Alliance for the Future of Food.
For detailed data on the sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the global food system, see this scientific publication from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The data is also summarized in this report, and made available in an interactive tool where you can break down emissions by source, country, and type of greenhouse gas.
Learn more about how fertilizer is produced and why it contributes to climate change with this Explainer from the MIT Climate Portal.
This episode breaks down the use of fossil energy on a typical corn farm. You can find data on this question from the University of Minnesota and Iowa State University.
TILclimate has covered related topics in our episodes on farming a warmer planet and what I eat.
For an overview of climate change, check out our climate primer: Climate Science and Climate Risk (by Prof. Kerry Emanuel).
For more episodes of TILclimate by the MIT Climate Project, visit tilclimate.mit.edu.

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